Posted on 02/26/2006 4:41:16 AM PST by SheLion
A WOMAN in a wheelchair must go outside into the cold weather for a cigarette even though she is 93 - because smoking is banned in her nursing home.
Gladys Gornall, known as Chris, of the Norwood Lodge Nursing Home in Nore Road, Portishead, took up smoking 10 years ago after her husband died.
Daughter Joan Mock, 68, says it is the only thing she has left that keeps her happy.
And she says she fears her mother is more likely to die from exposure to cold winter weather than from smoking.
Mrs Mock said: "She's 93, she's in a wheelchair and she has to smoke outside. Last week I had to stand outside with her with an umbrella over her while it rained. We know it's not politically correct any more, but she is old and she will die of hypothermia rather than smoking at this rate."
Mrs Gornall said: "I'm sick and tired of going out there in the cold. I'm fed up with the whole situation. What else have I got to look forward to? I've got no other pleasures."
Mrs Mock said the home used to have a small room where smokers could light up. But she said the smoking ban in the building has now been enforced for health and safety reasons.
She said: "For God's sake, what can she do? There aren't any other smokers in the home now. This is all she has left as her bit of independence. It's so pathetic."
She said relatives of other residents at the home have sympathised with Mrs Gornall's plight.
The only real health problem the pensioner has is osteoarthritis in her knees.
Mrs Mock said: "She says they aren't going to stop her having a fag."
Mrs Gornall moved into the home with her husband, Albert, in 1996 but he died within weeks of their arrival. She took up smoking soon after his death.
Gill Lee, group operations manager for Belmont Care, which owns the home, said the non-smoking policy had been in place since before Mrs Gornall went into the nursing home. She said: "We've had a policy for years in Norwood Lodge of no smoking, mainly on health and safety grounds.
"Mrs Gornall, her daughter and her social worker had a meeting with the matron in May 2005 to explain to her the no-smoking policy in the home, and this was confirmed to her in writing."
She said none of the staff smoke inside the building. But she would not comment on whether the company's policy on enforcing the smoking ban had been tightened.
And she said allowing Mrs Gornall just to smoke in her own room would be "even worse".
She said: "To allow smoking in their room would cause even more health and safety issues."
They are lying to you or they have no sense of smell.
Well, my one girl friend turned around and inVESTED in one. So do you think she was LYING TO ME????
They cost over $300 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Get a grip young one!
In fact, she was so impressed that she bought TWO of them!
I've been battling a lung disease for the past 2 years and just finished taking steroids for 7 months. I'm telling you steroids make people act very ugly. If you ever run up against someone on steroids and battling a lung disease, you will meet your match in the arguing. I guess it would end when you blow a big puff of nasty smoke in their face. They would not be able to breathe at all.
I believe the issue could be the effects on the other old people and how many old people die of pneumonia every year. That was one of the first symptoms that I kept coming down with before they figured out that my rheumatoid arthritis was attacking my lungs. I can smell smoke coming through my car's air conditioner when the person in front of me is smoking at a stop light with their window open. The first time that happened, I was trying to figure out where the smell was coming from and now I just turn it to recirculate at all stop lights.
I'm also wondering why no one has mentioned that if the daughter feels so strongly, maybe she should take care of her mother at home.
About this oxygen thing, it is not explosive, or on it's own flammable. It is used in conjunction with acetylene or propane to create greater heat in the flame for welding and cutting, also to cut, or oxidize the hot steel. That it is explosive on it's own is drivel. I know because I have used this stuff all my life. You ought to see me light my cig with an oxy-acetylene torch. Cool!
Not very sick. She should move to a nursing home that allows indoor smoking.
Isn't it explosive because it is under pressure or is in liquid form?
on it's own flammable... ooops on it's own even flammable. That's better.
I have a novel idea. Why doesn't the daughter let her live with her? Then she can smoke in the daughter's house to her hearts content.
I was kind of pleasantly surprised that another relative who has never had a smoker in the family actually found her an ashtray and told her she wasn't about to go outside and smoke when she was a guest at her house.
Oxygen used in cutting or medical isn't in liquid form. It is compressed gas. Acetylene and lpg can be liquid. Commercial oxygen is an oxidizer, meant to be added to another gas for maximum effectiveness. It is around 1500 psi in the bottles I own, but it is regulated down to about 30-50 psi for welding and cutting. I can go to the garage and hold a cig in front of the oxygen bottle, and get a pic if anyone wants.
Then why doesn't everyone smoke in the operating room? What's up with the no smoking around oxygen tanks? hmmm?
On second thought, I do agree completely with you! How SICK is it that this old woman's daughter would put her up in a nursing home! That is TERRIBLE. What kind of daughter is this?
The only thing it does is make the flame burn hotter, also once the steel is to temp, you push the oxygen handle on the torch, and the oxygen stream blows the molten steel away. That is why on the bottles it doesn't say FLAMMABLE. It says OXIDIZER. Gee I actually use it in a flammable device. Ever work in a weld and fab shop. Didn't think so.
Sorry, I'm stupid about this stuff. However I'm trying to learn.
I would imagine it's pretty close. The medical stuff might be a little more pure, but that's probably the only difference. I get my oxygen and acetylene from AGA,{now Linde gas} the same source that supplies Union Hospital, where my wife is an O.B. nurse. Hey, we all got stuff to learn about. I sure the heck am no know-it all.
So then, Mrs. Mock could simply take mum out of the nursing home and let her live with her, right?
Not that it has anything to do with the issue at hand, but the daughter is 68 years old, no spring chicken herself.
I would imagine it's pretty difficult for a woman her age to tend to a wheelchair-bound patient.
Your compassion is moving.
See #59.
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