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Tuesday, September 26, 1989 / University Daily Kansan
Volunteers help KU Med Center Unpaid staff give 40,000 hours
By Melanie Matthes Kansan staff writer
For many patients at the University of Kansas Medical Center, a volunteer worker is more than just the person who delivers the mail each day.
Helen Copland, a 64-year-old volunteer, remembers reading mail and writing checks for a patient whose hands were too bandaged to perform the tasks himself.
"He used to think of every excuse to keep me there," she said. "I would spend 30 or 45 minutes just in his room."
Copland, like many of the volunteer workers at the Med Center, said she liked feeling appreciated after a hard day's work.
Alberta Radenic, a 69-year-old volunteer, said, "You get more satisfaction out of this than anything else. When you come home, you're tired, your feet hurt, but you feel good."
Diane Clark, director of volunteer services at the Med Center, said volunteer's duties included deliverings and mail, monitoring the surgical writing room, escorting patients and visiting them in their rooms.
She said that people volunteered for many reasons. Some people are lonely or retired and need a place to spend their days, Clark said.
The 123 Med Center volunteers range in age from 23 to 92, but most of the volunteers are older and are retired, Clark said.
Jim Bushfield, a 75-year-old volunteer, has been retired for eight years but said he looked forward to going to work each week.
"When you retire you gotta have a reason to get up in the morning," he said.
The work may give some Med
Center volunteers something to do after they retire, but it also provides friendship.
Helen Franke, a 76-year-old volunteer, said the group of volunteers spent a great deal of time together outside the Med Center. They often go to dinner, the theater, ball games and even on vacation together.
"One of the pluses of being a volunteer is the new friends that you make," she said. "When you get to be our age, you have to make new friends because your old ones keep dying."
Clark said volunteers usually were people who wanted to be around other people.
The volunteers' jobs can become difficult, she said.
Bushfield sat quietly for a moment as he remembered one child who had spent a great deal of time at the Med Center.
"There was one patient who came in several times," he said, nodding at the wound and lowering his eyes to the floor. "Bleeding hemia, and after six months he died."
Copland said, "You feel so helpless sometimes," she said. "You want to do so much for them, just like that baby. There is a sense of frustration because you can't do more."
Volunteers give warmth and comfort, Copland said.
"They represent someone to the parent or the family whom they can rely on," she said.
Volunteers provide about 40,000 hours a year,the equivalent of 20 full-time employees,Clark said.
"Their value can't be equated in terms of money," she said. "They aren't motivated by a paycheck. The value is more in interpersonal terms. They provide the human touch."
Political changes continue in Hungary
The Associated Press
BUDAPEST, Hungary — A government decision to have the Communist red star removed from public buildings and places illustrates again the significant political changes happening in the country.
The change was most apparent this month when Hungary defied its Warsaw fact ally, East Germany, and decided to let thousands of East Germans cross its border to the West.
A string of important political events has accompanied this move.
In February, the ruling Communist Party said it would be willing to loosen its hold on power by setting the stage for the introduction of a multiparty system.
In a series of negotiations, the Communists and the opposition agreed on draft legislation for the transition of Hungary to a multiparty democracy, which will be discussed in Parliament this week.
Removal of red star marks shift in mood
The first elections allowing participation of opposition parties since the 1947 Communist takeover are scheduled to take place by June 1990.
The government decided on Thursday to order the removal of publicly displayed working-class movement symbols to show that it is serious about the separation of party and state.
But the process began earlier. In June, workers took down the enormous statue of Lenin near Heroes' Square in Budapest, ostensibly for repairs. Now the municipal council has recommended to the Communist Party that another location be found for the statue.
Next, the enormous red star on top of Mount Janos, the highest of the Buda Hills, was removed.
Two weeks ago, a man dressed in work clothes arrived at the reception desk of the Veszprun University of Chemistry, claiming to have been called to fix the TV aerial on the roof. He was allowed access and departed 40 minutes later.
Officials later discovered that he had sawn through the pylons holding
the enormous red star. The police were still looking for the man, seeking to charge him with damage to public property.
Near the city's Chair Bridge, on a circular traffic island, a flower bed had been planted with red flowers in the shade of the sun. At the time of the Communist takeover,
But the university board of directors issued a statement which said the red star would not be put back.
On Saturday, the municipality sent gardeners to rearrange the flowers into a non-political shape.
After telling reporters of the Cabinet decision to have the red star removed from government and other public buildings, government spokesman Zsolt Baknok was asked when the huge star would be taken off Parliament building.
Coors expands, buys Stroh Brewing Co.
The Associated Press
GOLDEN, Colo. — Coors Brewing Co. has agreed to pay $25 million to acquire most of Stroh Brewing Co., the nation's third-largest brewer, Coors officials announced today.
The deal will give Coors ownership of such brands as Strohs, Schiltz and Schneider, continuing a drive begun in 2015 to establish a store from a regional to a national brewery.
Strob's place as the third largest, said Rob Klugman, Coors vice president of development.
Coors, which has been the fourth-largest brewing company, will take
Peter Coors, chairman, chief executive officer and president of Coors Brewing Co., said the acquisition would provide Coors with an opportunity to achieve its vision of becoming a major, long-term factor in the U.S. brewing industry.
Coors Brewing Co. is a unit of the Adolph Coors Co.
February and announced Aug. 31 it was laying off 300 of its 1,500 white-collar employees nationwide.
The Detroit-based Stroh has been looking for potential partners since
The 139-year-old company had been suffering financially since it went national by acquiring Jos. Schilt Brewing Co. in 1962.
Stroh was unable to make inroads on the growth of Anheuser Busch, which dominates the industry with a 41 percent share of the national beer market, far ahead of Miller's 21 percent and Stroh's 11 percent.
Besides Stroh's, Schlitz and
Schaefer, the agreement would allow Coors to acquire Signature, Old Milwaukee, Red Bull, Silver Thunder, and St. Barts, as well as the licensing rights to Piels and Augsburg.
The acquisition also includes plants in St. Paul, Minn.; Tampa, Fla.; Winston-Salem, N.C.; Longway, Texas; and Allentown, Pa.
Stroh said it would keep breweries in Memphis, Tenn., and Van Nuys, Calif. In its announcement, Coors said it would pay $425 million for the Stroh assets.
Man charged in blast that killed 6 firefighters
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An 18-year-old man was charged yesterday with murder and arson in the explosion that killed six Kansas City firefighters Nov. 29.
Bryan Sheppard, of Kansas City, Mo., was indicted Friday by a Jackson County grand jury. The indictment was signed yesterday by Circuit Judge Lee E. Wells. Sheppard was charged with knowingly burning something and with six counts of felony murder because of the deaths resulting from the fire.
Sheppard could face up to life in prison if convicted of felony murder.
The six firefighters were responding to an early-morning fire at a south Kansas City construction site when the explosion killed them instantly.
According to police records filed in court yesterday, an anonymous caller reported seeing Sheppard and another man, 19, run into the 19-
year-old's residence shortly after the fire and explosions.
The 19-year-old has not been charged.
Chris Sciarra, 21, has said in interviews that he overheard Sheppard talking about the case in August while they were both in the Jackson County Jail.
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