Los Angeles



Tuesday 22 April 2008



Today we were greeted by the sound of a helicopter buzzing above our H.O.M.E. As we watched, the ‘copter came in for a landing in the car park on the other side of our chain link fence. Now THAT was interesting . . . Just as we were wondering if we should be rushing inside and bolting the doors and windows, a large number of what we hoped were school children started rushing towards it. As no sounds of combat ensued, we assumed it was some kind of educational demonstration. Jill gazed longingly through the fence thinking that, even though it wasn’t a horse, a ride on that helicopter might be a bit of fun.



Richard Daggett collected us at 11.00am for a look around the Rancho Los Amigos Rehab Center. Once again, we were provided with lunch, this time at the hospital canteen. Richard has really taken us under his wing and given us much more of his time than we had any right to expect. He introduced us to a number of people at the volunteer centre, one of whom had fond memories of visiting Australia (mainly Sydney) on a 5 day trip as a chaperon to half a dozen school children. I suggested she might enjoy it even more if she came for longer without the kids, to which she readily agreed! We then wandered over to see the general orthopedic and pulmonary clinics. Rancho is a large rehab hospital and there were numerous patients waiting for assessments and consultations. Interestingly, as well as the standard car accident cases, a number of spinal chord injuries treated at Rancho are caused by shootings among gang members. (You can see why we might have been a bit apprehensive about the helicopter incident.) For several decades, Rancho has had the services of Dr Jacqueline Perry, a brilliant orthopedic surgeon who later became the Head of the Polio Clinic. Dr Perry has had a hospital wing named after her and still does the occasional consultation at the age of 90. We didn’t get to do any actual clinical observation today but will be attending a specific post-polio clinic on Friday, together with other scheduled appointments to view a range of management techniques and options available at Rancho.



Southern California boasts 13 polio support groups, each attracting an average of between 12 and 18 attendees at any given meeting. The Rancho Post-Polio Support Group is one of the larger ones and Richard sends out 700+ monthly newsletters to people around the area. Tomorrow we will be meeting with members of this support group for lunch (of course) at a Mexican restaurant. That should please Jill’s penchant for chili.



One service worth mentioning is the very low cost (approx $2.00) pick up and drop off ‘taxi’ service called “Access Services” run by the consolidated Transportation Services Agency (CTSA) for Los Angeles County. Access Services is responsible for the administration of Access Paratransit, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandated paratransit transportation program for Los Angeles County and is committed to improving the mobility on public transit of persons with disabilities. Additionally, as the CTSA, Access Services is responsible for coordinating transportation programs of the various social service providers in the county. It is means tested for low income rehabilitation patients and takes people not only to and from hospital, but also for appointments and even social outings. Richard did mention, however, that there was the possibility of a bit of a wait. This service is across LA and is paid for by a 0.25% tax contribution. The other interesting practice they have in California (not sure yet about other parts of the country) are specific disability licence plates for cars. They still use stickers for temporary disability but for those with a permanent disability, plates are the go.



Back we went to Richard’s house so I could hook in to his wireless internet system to upload the previous day’s report and check emails. Once there, however, Richard started showing us a number of photo’s and presentations he had on his computer – all of which were so fascinating that we totally lost track of time. One of these photo’s was of Richard shaking hands with Jonas Salk, whom he met in the 1980’s. That was pretty impressive! By all accounts, he was a lovely man. If you haven’t yet read “Polio: An American Story” by David Oshinsky, it’s well worth trying to borrow/ordering from your library. It tracks the history of the American polio epidemics and the efforts made to produce an effective vaccine - focusing on Albert Sabin and Jonas Salk’s totally different philosophies and approach to the task.



By 6.30pm, it was way past Jill’s bed time and her energy levels were quite depleted. Surprisingly, Richard still showed no signs of flagging and offered to drive her the few blocks to H.O.M.E. while I got cracking on the internet. I finished at around 7.45pm and decided I had better let Richard get on with his own life while I got some exercise by walking. Richard assured me it was only a few blocks away and gave me specific instructions. Although it was becoming quite dark, I felt confident that I would be H.O.M.E. in no time, and promptly proceeded to get horribly lost. Unfortunately, I was also lugging my fully loaded briefcase and had on my nice, NEW sandals. My problem was that I had turned down the wrong street, knowing that something was off, but thinking that any minute now I’ll find another street that will take me in the right direction. This particular street, however, was made up of a number of dead-end courts and was long enough for me to develop a few choice blisters from my lovely shoes - so off they came. Eventually, I gritted my teeth, turned around and walked the length of the street back to where I had gone wrong. Not even a block further down was the actual corner Richard told me to turn . . . So, down the RIGHT street this time but by then it was very dark and I was a bit tired and emotional and couldn’t make out any landmarks at all. Richard to the rescue again! By phone, he gave me clear, calm instructions and within 5 minutes I was walking through the front door of H.O.M.E., safe and sound.