Southern Illinoisan from Carbondale, Illinois • Page 3

Carbondale-Herrin-Murphysboro-Marlon SOUTHERN ILLINOISAN, SUNDAY, AAAY 25, 1900 Page Three top national ayem 'outheirn BBIInoi death CHPSI study emphasizes, however, the high ratio of senior citizens Heart attack, stroke and cancer rates as well as 'crude death rate' which means they are eligible for aid in attracting physicians. On the other hand, there may be an excess of hospital beds in Jackson, Perry and Randolph counties. The optimum number of beds per 1,000 persons, as set by the state, is 5.2 beds. Going by that calculation, the three-county service area has 64 excess beds. Bill Costello, CHPSI division manager of planning and review, said having an excess of beds means hospitals in that service area must be reviewed by CHPSI before they can add beds.

But Costello cautioned that the calculations do not mean that any one hospital has too many beds. CHPSI and the state are in the process of re-examining the so-called "service areas' from which hospitals draw their patients. If and when the boundaries of the service areas are changed, so too, will the beds-per-thousand ratios. Among the goals set by CHPSI for the next half decade are to provide more health services in the home, to By H. B.

Koplowitz Of The Southern Illinoisan Because the pace of life is slower and because there is less pollution, stress and crime, Southern Illinoi-sans tend to live longer, right? Wrong! According to a recently-released report by Comprehensive Health Planning in Southern Illinois a health service planning agency, the death rates in 1979 for the 30 southernmost counties in Illinois are above the national average for, heart attacks, stroke and cancer. The death rates per 100,000 people In Southern Illinois for heart attack, stroke and cancer respectively are 542, 128.4 and 227.5 compared to the national average of 34.5, 82.8 and 186.7. The so-called "crude death rate' which takes into account deaths from all causes is 1,231.5 per 100,000 people in Southern Illinois compared to the national average of 888.1. Before you pack your bags and move away, however, you should listen to CHPSI health planner Peter size of a big-city telephone directory, is available at CHPSI regional offices in Salem, Olney, Harrisburg, Carbondale, Anna and West Frankfort. It is full of interesting information.

For instance, 15 Southern Illinois counties have a shortage of physicians. As might be expected, the shortage is the worst in Pulaski County, which has only one physician per 18,600 residents. But even Jackson County, which has several hospitals, has only one physician for every 4,995 persons because the west half of the county has few doctors. The average for the 30-county region is one doctor per 2,874 persons. Twelve of the counties and half of Jackson and Williamson counties have been designated as critical medical manpower shortage areas, Among the goals set for the coming year are to encourage hospitals to work together to share expensive resources such as CAT scanners, to recruit doctors and to improve ambulance service.

"Our. goals focus on a basic level of service rather than to provide super service in those areas that already have good medical service," said Leibig. Leibig pointed out that CHPSI provides advice as opposed to leadership. "We are a planning agency," he said. "We actually do nothing.

But we help others to accomplish goals. We can tell people how to do it, where the money is, here are the problem areas and here is how we can help." Leibig's explanation for the above-average death rate. According to Leibig, Southern Illinois has a higher percentage of senior citizens than much of the country. And older people are more likely die from catastrophic diseases than younger people. Statistics can be misleading.

CHPSI released its one- and five-year plans for health services in Southern Illinois earlier this month. It is' full of statistics. The purpose of the federally mandated agency is to ensure that health services are adequate and economical. In addition to the startling death-rate figures, the reports describe present health services, goals for the future and how those goals can be accomplished. The five-year plan, which is the jVfleuwd warden tells what woo him 'pat on the back' 66 This used to be a sad looking place; there was debris tying all over.

We're not letting up now. We've just started. We're going to continue to upgrade every corner of this institution. 99 mil i hrci 'fiT tJX nil II (M Hic r.r? ill jiS tesprr i Lflwfj K'Sl m-( i 7Str. -KiS'i By Brad Betker Of The Southern Illinoisan Menard Correctional Center Warden James Greer says he "always did like to get a pat on the back." He has received one, from the Commission on Accreditation for Corrections, which made Menard 102 years old the first maximum-security state prison in the country to meet the commission's 465 criteria satisfactorily.

The accreditation is for three years. Menard will be reviewed again when the three years are up. "The visiting committee commends the institution for its valiant efforts toward being an outstanding correctional facility in spite of its age and severe inmate population overcrowding wrote George Sullivan, superintendent of the Oregon state correctional system, and the head of a team that inspected Menard in January. Announcement of the accreditation came recently in Atlanta. Menard scored about 95 percent on the accreditation inspection, up from 90.4 last year when it was temporarily denied accreditation because it did not meet several "life-safety" standards, including adequate fire protection.

Since then, Menard has spent $35,000 in new fire equipment, including more extinguishers, more fire hoses, and fire exit signs in the cell blocks. The prison also has quarterly fire drills for every work assignment, Greer said. Roads within the prison also have been resurfaced at a cost of more than $70,000, Greer said. On a recent visit, there were marigolds beginning to bloom on the road islands. A new prison medical building should be ready in about 90 days.

And the laundry and dietary facilities have undergone or are undergoing upgrading. establish more and better ambulance services and to find more doctors for medically underserved areas, Leibig said the quality of ambulance service in Southern Illinois ranges from excellent in Jackson County to underserved in portions of Franklin, Hamilton and White counties. CHPSPs goal is to have enough 24-hour ambulance services staffed with emergency medical technicians to reach any area in the 30 counties within 30 minutes. Home health care services are increasing slowly because of a shortage of funds. But Leibig said more service would be worthwhile because it would make health care more convenient and reduce hospital costs.

"1 i Carbondale and Preparation for Parenthood for a project called Holistic Family Planning for Teenagers. The Greater Egypt Health Council will meet at 4 p.m. the same day and at the same location to adopt and-or amend the committee's recommendation for approval or disapproval of the above applications as well as to act on a a century ago. It was an account written on the flyleaf of an old book owned by James Green, Woodlawn Cemetery caretaker, of a service that was supposed to have taken place "April A.D. 1866 the last Sunday" at which John Logan was the principal speaker.

The book, often referred to as a Bible, was in fact 44Antiquities of the Jews" by Josephus. Green was not strong on spelling. Col. E. J.

Ingersoll, who is supposed to have led a parade of 219 veterans that day, came out "Coneal Inge-rsall." Whether Green wrote his memo right after the ceremony or years later (and perhaps confused the date) remains a mystery. The U.S. Postal Service not long ago turned down a Carbondale request for a commemorative stamp in honor of that "first" Memorial Day in Carbondale because of insufficient evidence it actually was the first. Logan's widow, Mary Cunningham Logan, tells another story. She wrote, in "Reminiscences of the Civil War and Reconstruction," about how she visited Civil War battlegrounds in Virginia in March 1868 and saw hundreds of Confederate graves decorated with "flowers and wreaths that had been laid upon them by loving hands on the occasion of their Decoration Day." She wrote that when she told her husband about this, "he was much interested and I remarked to Memoml for those prisoners.

Green said. "This used to be a sad looking place," said Greer. "When I took over as assistant warden in 1977 (and Michael P. Lane, now assistant director for the state's adult prison, took over as warden), there was debris lying all over. Nobody cared." Now, Greer promises, "We're not letting up now.

We've just started. We're going to continue to upgrade every corner of this institution." In a civil case ruling earlier this year, U.S. District Judge James L. Foreman said "gross" medical care deficiencies contributed to the deaths of five inmates between 1974 and 1977. Greer now takes great pains to point out that Menard has eight doctors who work on the prison grounds.

At least one is on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The doctor on duty, Greer said "lives" in a room in the hospital unit and has his own bed and shower. "He (Judge Foreman) hasn't been looking at anything in two years," Greer said matter-of-factly. "He hasn't been here since early 1977. It took him two-and-a-half years to make a decision.

A lot of things can be done in two-and-a-half years." Adolescent pregnancy topic of meet I i Guards patrol Menard segregation unit; bird bath Also, the storm drains that accreditation people once called "open sewage" are in the process of being covered, even though they hold nothing more than rainwater. The segregation area, a point of criticism for those who complain of poor prison conditions, was reasonably clean considering it was dinner time (and considering the warden knew a reporter was to visit that afternoon. But Director Gayle Franzen's office in February issued a memorandum to state prisons that news media could show up night or day and be welcome to tour the facilities, as long as the prison administration was aware reporters were on the grounds. (The edict apparently did not include the date in March John Gacy was transported to Menard. Security then was very tight.

Further upgrading of the segregation unit is planned, Greer said. Glass block windows, stainless steel plumbing, and new electrical wiring that will allow larger, better light bulbs are planned. Menard's "Death Row" condemned unit now has six inmates. Within a month, the unit should have a walled-off outdoor recreation area Southern lUlnoUan Photo by JERRY LOWER WS9 ILT l-vi, yj cvK5-v: vy When was the Day? "'Kill i a a .1 a Southern Illinoisan Pnotos by JERRY LOWER brightens prison yard full agenda of other issues. Among other things the council will review and comment on three area hospital's cost allocation plans for uncompensated services; the hospitals are Memorial Hospital in Carbondale, Herrin Hospital and Washington County Hospital.

The above meetings are open to the public. For more information, call Sharon Yeargin at 549-3306 him that I had never been so touched At this, she wrote, Gen. Logan said "it was a beautiful revival of the custom of the ancients in preserving the memory of the dead" and promised to issue an order for decoration of graves of Union soldiers. "Since his (Gen. Logan's) death," Mrs.

Logan wrote, "there have been many who have claimed for themselves or their friends the authorship of Decoration Day, but the story I tell here contains the true facts as to the origin of Memorial Day." There are conflicting accounts. of whether the first official Memorial Day celebration in Carbondale (after General Order No. 11) was May 30, 1868, or May 30, 1869. And Mabel Thompson Rauch (she was one of the Thompsons on whose land much of the Southern Illinois University-Carbondale campus was built) wrote in a May 30, 1937, article in the Los Angeles Times that a formal memorial program was presented at Woodlawn Cemetery in Carbondale on April 5, 1867, fully a year before Logan issued General Order No. 11 to the GAR.

Now that you are thoroughly confused, let me add the comment that perhaps it really doesn't matter how Memorial (excuse me, Decoration) Day started. It is important that Americans still see fit to honor their war dead each spring on whatever day they deem appropriate. The Greater Egypt Health Council's Project Review Committee will meet at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, at 603 E. College, Carbondale, to review two adolescent pregnancy prevention projects.

The two applicants are the Shawnee Health Service and Development Corp. for a project called the Adolescent Health and Pregnancy Program and the City of Mondays. Memorial Day was set on the last Monday in May. This year, the federal holiday happens to fall on May 26, but in a number of states the holiday is being celebrated from April 21 (Confederate Memorial Day in Alabama) to June 3 (Confederate Memorial Day in Kentucky and Tennessee). How did it get started? That depends on whom you are talking to and where.

The late Southern Illinois historian John W. Allen, in "Legends and Lore of Southern Illinois, mentions three principal claimants Boalsburg, Pa. (May 30, 1865); Columbus, Ga. (April 26, 1866); and Carbondale, 111. (the last Sunday in April 1866, although this is referred to as April 27 and April 29 in different accounts).

The Carbondale story, very briefly, is that three returning Civil War veterans held an informal service April 13, 1866, at the Crab Orchard Christian Church southwest of town and that the idea caught on and a formal service was then held at Woodlawn Cemetery in town. About the only concrete evidence of this "first" Memorial Day in Carbondale burned up in a fire over half Byline B.G. By Ben Gelman Sunday News Editor Of The Southern Illioinsan MEMORIAL DAY now generally called Decoration Day will be celebrated Monday in Southern Illinois. That much is certain. When it was first celebrated and in particular when and how it was first celebrated in Carbondale are less certain.

It depends on which "historical" document you read. It is a recorded fact that on May 5, 1868, Southern Illinois native John A. Logan, commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, issued General Order No. 11, designating May 30 of that year 'for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defence of their country during the late rebellion The GAR was the official organization of Union veterans of the Civil War. Eventually, Memorial Day became a national holiday, celebrated on May 30, although several southern states observed it on different dates.

On June 28, 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson, in keeping with an idea that Americans of the Great Society ought to have some long weekends to tour their country (unaware, unfortunately, that not many years later there would be a gasoline shortage) signed a bill that changed the dates of four national holidays, starting in 1971, so that they would all fall on Summer fun's a-comin' 7orfrer3 Taurus Raoos (top) and Gregory Polmore of Towns-end's International Fiberglas South Holland, sandblasted Hcrxin's community swimming pKl last week for summer use..