University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
KANSAN
Monday, November 1, 1982
Vol. 93, No. 51 USPS 650-640
Old rehab center loses patients
By VICKY WILT Staff Reporter
KANSAS CITY, Kan.-Outmoded equipment and run-down facilities in the University of Kansas Medical Center's rehabilitation department are causing patients to seek treatment at other hospitals and creating a morale problem for employees, the department's chairman said recently.
Employees' attitudes also are affected by the lack of modern equipment and depressing work conditions.
Patients are unhappy with the unattractive surroundings, said John Redford, department chairman, and the department has lost patients to hospitals with more modern facilities.
"I think it affects the morale and we have recruits requiring nurses." Reedford said.
After nurses see better conditions in other hospitals' rehabilitation departments, they seek additional staff to help.
BUT WITH the help of Eugene Staples, hospital administrator, the department is one step closer to renovating the rehabilitation ward, Redford said.
Staples said he was waiting for the facility's operation department to finish renovation plans.
About $200,000 is needed to finance renovation of the department's facilities. That money will have to come from private sources, however, and Redford said that did not please him.
He said he was upset about having to spend his time recruiting companies to help finance his business.
"I don't want to do that," he said. "Besides, going out and recruiting funds is not what I've been trained to do."
JACK ENGLISH, vice president of the Med Center branch of the Kansas University Endowment Association, said the association endowed the department raise funds for the renovation.
"It's just a terrific department. It is one of the oldest and they do a tremendous job. The needed equipment is very expensive so we intend to go all out to help them." English said.
New equipment would go in the department's treatment rooms. But Redford said he was placing more importance on renovating the rehabilitation ward than the treatment rooms. Patients' families do not like to leave them in the ward because of the surroundings, he said.
The rehabilitation department is in the basement of the oldest building at the Med Center and the rehabilitation ward is on the second floor of the same building.
Surveying the ward upstairs, Redford said,
"It's pretty darn dismal."
THE ONLY shower in the ward is inadequate for patients' needs, Redford said. The pea green room has a shower curtain for a door and is cluttered with equipment.
"It's just the pits, isn't it?" Reddor said. He said it would not take much to improve the area, but he said the pits were "very sharp."
“It’s obvious to us, but not to others, about the paint on the wall. In some areas of the hospital, carpet is put up on halfway on the walls. If they would put up carpet here, the paint would not be chipped off from wheelchairs bumping the walls.” he said.
Redford said the appearance of the department's treatment rooms also bothered him.
"WE WEERE told we'd move into a new area when the new hospital was built. Here we are, and when you look out the windows you see brick walls," he said.
Redford stood in one of the treatment rooms partitioned by curtains and looked around at its appearance. The ceiling tiles were yellowing and the area around the vents were black from dirt. He sighed and turned his attention to the only bright spot in the room — the curtains.
"We put up new curtains but they are getting old. They are better than the ones we had before. I think they were dark brown," he said.
The last major renovation of either area was 36 years ago, Refford said, although the administration has repeatedly told him that his department was a priority.
In 1981, $700,000 was appropriated to the Med Center for renovation projects, but the rehabilitation department did not receive any money. Redford and Staples both said they did not know why that department was excluded, and Redford said he could not find anyone willing to tell him.
CHARLES HARTMAN, vice chancellor for clinical affairs, said the $700,000 was for refurbishment of the psychiatry department in the old hospital.
The rehabilitation ward and physical therapy treatment rooms were going to be moved to the fifth floor, Redford said. But administrative teams at the clinic resisted the rest of the room remains, Redford said.
"Now it just sits up there half full of junk and much of it empty," he said. "Some of it is being put to use. Somewhere they found the money but put some nice clean, neat looking offices up there."
Reford said David Waxman, executive vice chancellor of the Med Center, told him the
Hertman said the department had not been intentionally ignored.
The KU Marching Band was in the Halloween spirit during its halftime show Saturday. The band put on masks after playing the final song of the show, and marched off the field in costume. KU lost to Nebraska, 52-0.
State budget base gives false view, KU director says
By DIRK MILLER Staff Reporter
The director of KU's budget said Friday that basing the state's future revenue collections on an upturn in the national economy had not proved realistic.
State revenue projections were $6 million more than revenue collections in October and $18 million more than revenue collections in September.
"They were not realistic estimates if they miss by that much," said Ward Zimmerman, the director. "The job of the revenue estimators is to identify all the revenues — not rotate them in wishes."
Darwin Daicoff, professor of economics and a member of the committee that made the estimates, said they had hinged on a projected rise in the national economy.
Dalefoot said the estimates were in trouble "because Kansas" economy is somewhat like the national economy.
ZIMMERMAN SAID, "That is not a legitimate reason for missing the estimates."
Harley Duncan, chief analyst for the state Division of the Budget, said the state's revenue collections were about $29 million below estimates for the first four months of the fiscal
He said the estimates would be revised next month. The budget division makes official statements.
Keith Nitcher, KU's director of business affairs, said the meeting was a critical time when the state assessed what it had spent and what it would be able to spend for the next year
Last month, Gov. John Carlin said he would consider initiating an allotment system in November for the fiscal year, which ends July 30.
Mike Swenson, Carlin's assistant press secretary, said the allotment system was ready to be initiated if needed. The system would take into account the 4 percent voluntary cut made this summer by about 38 percent of the state agencies, including KU.
UNDER AN allotment system, the state would review all appropriations from the general fund to state agencies and award the money as it was needed. The allotment system could be initiated if revenue projections showed the state $^6$ general funding out of money for the year, Duncan said.
KU officials said last month that further reductions would severely hurt the University.
Weather
Today will be cloudy and cooler with a 30 percent chance of thundershowers and a high between 60 and 65, according to the Weather Channel. Will it be from the northwest at 10 to 15 mph?
It will be mostly sunny tomorrow. The high will be between 55 and 60.
It will be mostly cloudy tonight with a low between 40 and 45.
Editor of weekly puts life into paper
By MATTHEW SCHOFIELD
Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
Before the cock first crowns, and long after most businesses have locked their doors for the night, men labor with hot wax and strips of type paper, often called the lifeblood of the Kansas small town.
For these men, the day is not marked by something as mundane as a time clock, but by how fast the blue-lined pages fill before them.
Since the first Weekly Kansan Herald was published in 1854, weekly newspaper editors have written, printed, set type, struggled and worked hours most people would not believe.
"I worked 22 hours last Tuesday," said Loren Litee, editor of the Telenews, Douglas County's only remaining small town weekly newspaper.
Litterer said recently that he was the Telenews only full-time reporter. With two part-time reporters and no wire service, the Telenews staff puts out a newspaper that
WITH 24 pages and a circulation of about
2,400. Littere said, the Teleunes, like many
weeklies, is not a financial winner on its own.
He said his company published a weekly shopper and a monthly magazine to bolster its income.
The Telenews, published in Baldwin, is a combination of three old newspapers: the
Monday Morning
Baldwin Ledger, the Wellsville Globe and the Eudora Enterprise.
Combining the three created some animosity in the communities, Litterte said, because people had been comfortable with the old newspapers.
Jane Richards, editor of the Ledger until it was purchased and combined with the other two newspapers by Monte Miller in 1971, said her paper had been the lifeblood of Baldwin. She said it reflected what was important to the city without going outside those bounds.
"We had lots of local news," she said. "Some of the Baker students used to laugh at the correspondents' columns, because it was all 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith ate dinner with Mr. and
Mrs. Jones, but that's what the paper was, and it meant something to the people."
THE TELENEWS was not as oriented toward Baldwin during its first few years, but it did have a long-standing rivalry.
She said that the Ledger had reacted well to what its town wanted.
"We took out one liquor ad and, boy, did we hear about it. We didn't take out another," she
RICHARDS SAID she raised three of her six children at the newspaper office. Aside from putting 80 hours a week into producing the paper, she left the business with many good
Society has changed considerably, even in the small town, she said. The small town is not as much like a family as it used to be, she said.
"They were great, great years," she said.
"But the paper couldn't have stayed the same."
"When I ran the paper I knew everybody in town," she said. "Now there are so many new faces, even if I still was running the paper I couldn't know everybody."
Merlin Ford, Baldwin mayor and a longtime
See EDITOR page 5.
Bricker receives fourth HOPE award
Clark Bricker, professor of chemistry, sang the Crimson and the Blue after receiving the 1982 HOPE award before Saturday's football game. It was the fourth HOPE award Bricker has received.
By JEANNE FOY Staff Reporter
Alabama KU's football team lost to Nebraska
saturday. Clark Brickler, professes chemistry,
but is not available for admissions.
Before the football game, Bricker was announced as the 1982 HOPE award winner. This is Bricker's fourth Honor for The Outstanding Athlete or award. He also won in 1966, 1970 and 1979.
"I was just as elated as I was the first time. Because the students give the award, the recognition doesn't get old," said Bricker, who taught 28 years and after 38 years of teaching, 20 of them at KU.
He said winning the award four times was a little embarrassing.
Lindsey Welch, HOPE committee co-chairman, said about 50 seniors took part in the final HOPE vote on Oct. 15, 19 and 20. She said the turn-out was average.
THE OTHER HOPE finalists were: Joe Jones, associate professor of occupational therapy; Louis Michel, professor of architecture; Edward McBride, professor of mechanical engineering; and Timothy Bengtson, associate professor of journalism.
Only seniors may vote for the HOPE winner.
Last year, Gene Martin, professor of pharmacy,
won the election.
Bricker, whose name will once again be inscribed upon the permanent plaque in the Kansas Union listing the names of former HOPE and other teachers to what say made him such a nounual teacher.
"We have some great teachers here at KU. Lots of faculty are devoted to their students. I really don't know what I do that seems to be attractive to students," he said, "I take a definite interest in students without becoming involved in personal lives, but other teachers do that, too."
Bricker said he tried to inspire his students by showing him his enthusiasm for chemistry.
"ANY STUDENT who has taken my class realizes that I'm really interested in what I'm doing. I think that's the biggest thing a teacher sees. HOPE goes 5."
Heat, operations to be curtailed during vacation
By STEVE CUSICK Staff Reporter
William Hogan, associate executive vice chancellor, said that some KU employees would have to take compensatory time or vacation for time off for a (4) work day period Dec. 27-30.
Officials will turn the thermostats down for the week of Dec. 24 to Jan. 20, Hoean said.
Officials at the University of Kansas have decided to turn down the heat and curtail operations in some campus buildings for a week during winter break, a KU official said.
The temperature will be 45 degrees in the buildings with reduced activities, he said. Other campus buildings will have their thermostats set at 60 degrees, but the University libraries and buildings housing critical research, animals and buildings will be kept at normal temperatures, he said.
HOGAN SAID the move was designed to help reduce the University's utility bill and he said that the university would be able to
Classified employees affected by the move can use a combination of compensatory time, vacation leave, one-day discretionary vacation and without pay to make up the time, officials said.
Unclassified workers affected by the reduced activity can take the time from their annual
Faculty members planning to do research may find their plans altered. Some professors may be asked not to use their offices that week, officials said.
Richard Cole, president of the KU chapter of the American Association of University Professors, said the period of reduced activity could hurt some faculty grant writing.
"I KNOW there are a lot of people who are unhappy about it and I know that there is a lot of work that goes on then," he said. Cole said faculty members often were scrambling at time to finish research grants before early January deadlines.
"I guess people will just have to work around it," he said. "I know that we have to take some measures. I sure hope they save enough money to make it worthwhile."
"One would also wish they would turn off the sneakiness when it rains."
Cole said he could not say whether the reduced activity was the best step to take, but he did not. "It's hard to tell," he said.
Some members of the Classified Senate said they were not opposed to curtailing operations in the city.
"I think everyone pretty much is willing to make sacrifices," said Gall Hamilton, president of the Senate. "I think basically the decision was a fair decision."
FRANK BAILEY, a member of the Classified Senate and assistant director for communication and transportation in facilities operations, also said the decision was fair.
Bailey said he was pleased the decision had been made far enough in advance to allow people the time and space to do so.
Hogan said about one-fourth of the space in campus buildings would be affected by the rain.
Officials have not yet selected all of the buildings that will have the heat turned down, Hogan said. But he said Flint, Marvin and some halls would be operating at a reduced level.
University officials have been studying the proposal for three months, Hogan said.
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