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Touch
of Gray - January 2003
How
Carolina Meadows Weathered the Ice Storm
Poets at Carolina Meadows
How
Carolina Meadows Weathered the Ice Storm
How did Carolina Meadows and its 667 residents weather what
The Chapel Hill News called the worst storm the region has
ever seen? For four days in December the Ice Storm that cut
off power and heat for more that two million North and South
Carolinians engulfed us too. But thanks to pre-planning and
round the clock work by our more than 320 employees and the
cooperation of our residents we came through this natural
disaster remarkably well.
"Loss of power for four days was bad enough," Rob
Boening, Executive Director noted, "but when you combined
that with short winter days and, far below normal night temperatures,
we had a situation which we hope we will never see again.
Thanks to the efforts of staff and residents alike, our Emergency
Preparedness Plan worked well in getting us through those
tough days."
One of the first things management does in a power emergency
is to check on residents who have lately returned from hospital
or who have special needs like oxygen. Some were transferred
to available beds in the Health Center while others were transported
by bus to rooms reserved in University Inn in Chapel Hill.
Others spent the week with relatives living nearby or in area
motels.
But most of the 545 residents in villas and apartments stayed
put even though house temperatures dropped into the forties
at nighttime. Many had gas burning log fireplaces that worked
and most had hot water because their heaters did not require
electrical switches. Others had small Sterno stoves to heat
morning coffee indoors and some cooked on charcoal grills
outside during the warmer parts of the day - though never
indoors or in the garage of course!
Because of Carolina Meadows foresight in installing emergency
generators, power and light and heat were maintained in our
Club Center. As we shivered in our apartments and villas day
after day, our wonderful staff rose to the occasion. Without
electricity, we had to rely on our Dining Services Staff to
provide virtually all our meals. "Mark Maxwell and his
great staff did an amazing job of feeding the hordes of residents
who descended on the Dining Room each noon-time," noted
Jean Waldner, co-chair of the Dining Services committee.
Administration and staff members pitched in by clearing tables,
pouring coffee, etc. Hundreds of people went to the Club Center
for coffee each morning, and each day there seemed to be more
people in the Dining Room for the single meal served at noon.
Residents were encouraged to take a sandwich home for their
evening meal and not to venture out after dark. Under very
difficult circumstances, a varied array of tasty foods was
offered each day. In the four days we were without electric
service, nearly 1600 people were served in our Club Center
Dining Room.
Emergency generators supplied power to both The Fairways (Assisted
Living) and the Health Center. Three full meals a day were
served in both The Fairways and the Health Center. Elevators
in all buildings were fully operational all through the power
outage.
One good thing about the big storm - if you can imagine anything
good about it - was that the snow on Wednesday cleared up
quickly and employees were able to get to work without assistance.
Many worked overtime all week helping residents unlock garage
doors, check phone lines, help residents pick up groceries,
get to the Club Center. The staff made life as pleasant as
possible for all despite the outages.
Except for the loss of food in residents' freezers and refrigerators,
there was remarkably little storm damage on campus other than
some broken tree limbs on villa roofs. There were few leaks
and some guttering and shingle damage. Work crews promptly
cleared fallen branches and leaves even before power was restored.
Maintenance personnel replaced batteries in everybody's Security
Telephones in a remarkable one-day operation once the crisis
was over.
While all normal club activities were suspended during the
week the Club Center became a gathering place particularly
after dark for many residents fleeing from their cold and
darkened villas and apartments. Activity and meeting rooms
became reading and TV watching rooms. Every Saturday night
movies are shown in the auditorium with popcorn provided.
There was an unusually large crowd at the Saturday movie the
week of the storm. "I know we had a big crowd,"
Rob Roening, commented. "I swept up the popcorn afterwards."
To be ready for storms and power outages, Carolina Meadows
stocks a full supply of egg crate foam mattresses. On Thursday,
Friday and Saturday night when the outside temperature dropped
to the teens, Independent Living residents were invited to
bunk out on the floor of the auditorium, bringing their own
pillows and blankets from home. Staff members stayed on duty
all night to assist those camping out. By Saturday night we
had as many as fifty sleeping in the auditorium or on lobby
armchairs and sofas.
Just before Christmas is a busy time of the year and many
of the scheduled chores still had to be done despite the storm.
On Friday, the second day of the outage, the staff went ahead
with decorating our giant Christmas tree in the lobby and
hanging holiday wreaths throughout the campus. Groups of residents
moved into the auditorium intent on decorating smaller Christmas
trees for display there and in the Dining Room. The camaraderie
was just wonderful as we all worked together, staff and residents
alike. When the sleepers came back that night they were surprised
to find the trees in place among the beds!
As the days passed and power came back on locally, we had
a number of calls from our neighbors in Southern Village and
Governor's Club offering to house residents entail power was
restored. Another nearby Continuing Care Retirement Community,
Croasdaile Village in Durham, had power restored before we
did and offered to house some of our residents. But our power
came back on by Sunday afternoon so we did not need to take
them up on their generous offer.
How did management keep us updated on news as to possible
power resumption and other important information? We maintain
a system of telephone trees operating in each of our fourteen
Precincts. This worked reasonably well in most instances though
only phones not connected to power sources worked. Management
recommends that each resident have at least one independent
phone in the home so that service will still be available
if power fails.
It was a welcome sight on Sunday afternoon as two busloads
of residents returned to the campus from their visit to the
Playmakers in Chapel Hill to see lights again in the windows
and on the streets. Power and heat were back!
Every member of the Staff, without exception, made an extra
effort to make us as safe and comfortable as possible during
those trying days. ." I know of no one who found the
big Ice Storm fun or comfortable, "said Dick Ballard,
President of the Residents Association. "However there
was never any doubt that safety for all and comfort for residents
was assured." We're glad it's over and we'll probably
be talking about it for years! -- Des Reilly, Resident
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Poets
at Carolina Meadows
Eleanor Kilgour is one of ten poets
living at Carolina Meadows who have something discerning to
say about the purpose and meaning of poetry, and why they
frequently choose poetry rather than prose to convey the shades
and subtleties of their lives and the lives of others. "In
the small hours of a summer's night my thoughts run all about
like mice in an old house." This line from one of Eleanor’s
poems suggests that the point of poetry is to capture and
put into words those random thoughts that might otherwise
be dismissed, or completely forgotten, in the routines and
distractions of daily living. And she goes on to express the
satisfaction she feels when "corralling and disciplining
my thoughts" until they result in a completed poem.
Virginia Sampson explains, "Poetry can say things that
can't be said any other way. I like to see if I can catch
with words a mood, a moment, a feeling. Often the unsayable
can be expressed only through accurate metaphor. Laying two
unlike things side by side, the third image these two
give can be nearer the mark of what a poet is trying to express
than pages of exact description or even photographs."
Nannette Melcher describes the process by which her poems
come to completion. "They begin as a a result of something
I feel or see or hear. Phrases drift in my mind, sometimes
for a few days, and if they show promise I write them down."
Melcher refers to the sense of release that results when she
creates a poem, "from the feelings and images that inspire
it," while Herbert Carson speaks of poets in general
when he says, "Most of all we want to share our love
for the beauty of language and the power of words."
Some of our Carolina Meadows poets began to express themselves
poetically as children or young adults, while others discovered
their fondness for cadence, rhyme, and the spectrum of words,
much later in life.
Elizabeth Bolton tells us she received commendations for her
writing while still in grade school. She adds that her father
often talked to her about writing when she was growing up.
"Words are like pearls, he told me. Strung together,
they make something beautiful."
Eleanor Kilgour reveals she was lulled to sleep at the age
of three by her mother's singing. "But it was the words
that fascinated me," she says. "Then, at four, I
soaked up the endless supply of poems my grandmother kept
in her head and shared with me when I 'helped' her bake bread."
Carol Griffin grew up in a small Long Island community where
the public schools insisted that students memorize poetry.
She went on to major in English at the University of Michigan,
and when not working on memoirs and short stories, she has
been writing poems ever since. She says, "I find it difficult
to write prose and poetry simultaneously, so I might write
poetry for a month and then put it aside to return to prose."
Like Griffin, Madeleine Hammill was exposed to poetry in public
school. During her sophomore year at Nazareth Academy High
in Rochester, she published her verse in the annual anthology
of the National High School Poetry Association. Virginia Sampson
also wrote poetry at an early age. "It was the beat of
the line, the puzzle of fitting together the sounds of words
in a poem that I played with by the hour. Then there were
years in high school when I wrote a poem a day in Latin or
history class."
Others at Carolina Meadows started writing poetry much later
in life. Herbert Carson recognized his fondness for poetry
only after retiring from a long career as professor of humanities
and philosophy at Ferris State University in Michigan. He
has heard it said that the impact of poetry "is like
dropping a rose petal down the Grand Canyon." If this
is so, he inquires, then why do people write poetry? "Because
they want to describe an interesting character, narrate a
fascinating experience, express a sudden insight, vent a deep
emotion, or puzzle over life's mysteries."
Ross MacDonald turned to poetry following his career as a
physicist and electrical engineer. "Like many scientists
I love music and poetry," he says. 'When I'm not doing
physics or listening to Mozart or Bach, I may be found writing
poetry or reading science fiction. I characterize my poetry
as generally romantic, fanciful, but with a bite."
Two more CM residents who found poetry later in life are Joe
Patterson, a retired surgeon-anesthesiologist and Edward Robie
who worked as a consultant and professor of management.
Patterson says, "The sudden change from the world of
science and medicine to literary pursuits was totally unexpected."
Writing in rhyme or free verse, he has produced five books
of poems, the most recent being a 325-page anthology. He says,
succinctly, "I write poems because they come to me. Because
I have to. Because it seems the right thing to do."
Ed Robie, who characterizes his work as verse rather than
poetry, says, "As far back as I can remember, the verses
of A.A. Milne provided great enjoyment for me and my brothers."
He tells about how he and his brothers upended furniture in
their living room to provide an appropriate setting for the
Three Little Foxes. "Such characters as Jonathan Jo with
his mouth like an 0, and a wheelbarrow full of surprises,"
he adds, "became our friends."
All of our poets indicate That they are primarily motivated
by the pleasure and joy of composition. Even so, several have
had the personal satisfaction of seeing their work published
in VOICES, the Carolina Meadows literary magazine, and in
its predecessor, MEADOWSCRIPTS. Others have published in arenas
beyond Carolina Meadows. Betty Bolton, who has chaired a UNC-TV
program for poets for a number of years, brought out along
with her many short stories and memoirs, a collection of poems
titled The Heart Speaks. Both Carol Griffin and Virginia Sampson
have seen their work appear in national literary magazines.
In 2000, Nannette Melcher won first prize in a competition
sponsored by Mount Olive Press for her collection of poems,
"Star Dust." And in 2001, she won first place in
a Poetry Council contest for sonnets. -- Carol Klein &
Amos Hawley, Residents
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