...In
June 2005, Frank Beazley was elected to another two-year
term as president of Patients for Progress, Zambarano Hospital’s
advocacy group. He often said that someone younger should
take over, but he remained essential at 76. With the group
still unsuccessful in one of its longest battles, they really
needed him.
...In
the name of saving money, a bureaucrat had taken a stubborn
stand on a small issue.
...For
years, Zambarano had subscribed to cable television —
but only TV sets in a few common areas were wired. Televisions
in patients’ rooms received a signal from a rooftop
antenna, providing a limited choice of channels. Patients
turn in early at Wallum Lake, and those wanting a greater
selection to pass the evening hours were frustrated. Frank
and his peers were denied a simple pleasure.
...In
the summer of 2004, a family offered to pay for their son’s
cable, but after discussion, Patients for Progress did not
support the plan: it would be unfair to the many other patients
who could not afford service, they decided. Instead, the
group authorized Frank to petition for funding to provide
cable to every patient room.
...‘‘The
residents and family members would be very happy to see
this dream come true,’’ Frank wrote to Lt. Gov.
Charles J. Fogarty. ‘‘I hope you will be able
to share good news with us.’’
|
Frank meets with Zambarano administrator Irene Nichols.
Journal photo/Mary Murphy
|
...Fogarty
met with Cox Communications officials, and Cox engineers
determined that from a technical standpoint, all of Zambarano
could be wired. But the state pledged no money. Frank wrote
again to Fogarty, and to other politicians. The lieutenant
governor brought the issue to Kathleen M. Spangler, acting
director of the state Department of Mental Health, Retardation
and Hospitals, which operates Zambarano. Frank followed
up with a letter.
...A
lawyer by training, Spangler had her supporters —
and many unusually blunt critics. Acting director since
March 2004, Spangler testified at a Senate confirmation
hearing the following June.
...‘‘In my opinion,
she is totally unprepared for this role and she has no real
connection to the clientele served by MHRH,’’
said Robert L. Carl, former director of administration and
ex-head of MHRH’s division of developmental disabilities.
Carl claimed that Spangler seemed ‘‘uncomfortable’’
with handicapped people. Others who testified echoed Carl’s
opinions.
...The
committee never voted on Spangler’s nomination, and
her ‘‘acting’’ tag remained.
|
Frank
and Bill Feole, president and vice-president of Patients
for Progress, lobby James Benedict, chief operating
officer for Eleanor Slater State Hospital, at a January
meeting to expand cable TV services at Zambarano.
Journal photo/Mary Murphy |
|
|
Kathleen Spangler, former
acting director of the Department of Mental Health,
Retardation and Hospitals listens to Dick Freeman,
CEO of the state hospitals during a visit to Zambarano
last November for a meeting of Patients
for Progress.
Journal photo/Mary Murphy |
...ONE
DAY last autumn, Frank went to Zambarano’s
medical library for the monthly meeting of Patients for
Progress. Bathroom improvements, a new bus, the upcoming
book fair, and a shortage of nursing assistants were on
the agenda — but once more, cable TV dominated. More
than a year had passed without results.
...‘‘The
whole thing is in the hands of Kathy Spangler,’’
Frank said.
...A
hospital administrator suggested that Frank invite her to
Zambarano.
...‘‘I’m
going to call her and we’ll meet,’’ Frank
agreed.
...Tom
Theroux offered his opinion. Born with cerebral palsy, Tom
speaks with difficulty.
...Frank
translated.
...‘‘Tom
says that if she doesn’t say OK would it be all right
if we went to see her.’’
...Tom
spoke again.
...‘‘What
he’s trying to say is we present the problem to her
first and if it’s not an OK thing with her, then let’s
take it up with the governor.’’
...The
group endorsed that strategy. Frank telephoned Spangler,
and she agreed to visit Wallum Lake on November 3. That
morning, she canceled. ‘‘The elections are coming
next year,’’ Frank said. Tom was right: this
was an opportune moment to raise the issue with the governor.
...Two
weeks later, Spangler visited Zambarano to commend the staff
for having been re-accredited by a national oversight agency.
After lunch, she met with patients in the hospital auditorium.
She sat at a table facing Tom, Frank, a man paralyzed by
electrocution, a helmet-wearing man with a seizure disorder,
a man left with quadriplegia in a car accident, and several
others. All were in wheelchairs. Others with a stake in
the issue were upstairs, bedridden.
...Frank
began the meeting with a question:
...‘‘Are
we or aren’t we going to get cable?’’
...Spangler
didn’t answer.
...Instead,
she said that she was ‘‘very concerned’’
by any plan that would bring cable to Zambarano but not
also its sister facility, the Cranston campus of Eleanor
Slater Hospital — and wiring both, she said, would
require ‘‘pretty significant cost.’’
In fact, initial estimates put the cost of installation
at Zambarano at about $7,500, with annual subscription fees
somewhat less. With MHRH’s budget of more than $496
million, that was chump change, as one sympathetic administrator
called it.
...After
more than a year, Frank’s patience was thin.
...‘‘We’d
love to just lie in bed and relax, have our cable and watch
it,’’ he told Spangler. ‘‘We’ve
been barking on this thing now since last September.’’
One of Frank’s pleasures was watching Monday Night
Football, which had been broadcast on ABC but was moving
to a cable channel. Without cable, a highlight of his week
would be lost.
...Spangler
said it might be possible to move funds around within her
department’s budget, but additional state money was
not an option.
...The
acting director closed with a civics lesson.
...‘‘I
cannot increase the bottom line, it is what it is,’’
she said. ‘‘Not a question of a guilt trip —
it’s a question of being upfront and not dissembling
around how we finance. It either is or it isn’t. No
is not something anyone ever wants to hear; fewer people
want to say it. But at least with a yes or a no you can
move forward. And until we get the final numbers in from
Cox and see what those dollars look like we’re not
even at a maybe.’’
|
Jennifer
Raspallo-Vanasse, a therapist at Zambarano, holds
the music for Frank as he sings with the choir.
Journal photo/Mary Murphy |
...FRANK
WEARS a Santa hat during December and decorates
his room in holiday colors. He sends Christmas cards reproduced
from his paintings.
...On
Thursday, December 8, he traveled with four other patients
to the Emerald Square Mall. ‘‘It’s always
nice to be up here in the wintertime,’’ he said
as the van started off through snowy woods. ‘‘And
I don’t have to drive — I just sit back and
enjoy it!’’
...Frank
was hungry when he arrived at the mall, so he took the elevator
to the food court. He ordered pepperoni pizza, which an
assistant cut and fed to him. He drank his coffee through
a straw. Frank pronounced his lunch ‘‘belly
good!’’ and laughed at his little joke. He shopped
for three hours, spending most of the $160 he’d withdrawn
from his patient account. With his white beard and red hat,
he looked like Saint Nick, and he drew attention all day.
...‘‘That
was Santa!’’ one boy said.
...‘‘Yes,’’
said the boy’s grandmother, ‘‘that was
Santa in a chair.’’
...‘‘Thank
you for the nice smile,’’ a man said.
...‘‘Merry
Christmas!’’ Frank said.
...As
he waited for the van to return, Frank sat by the children’s
carousel. He smiled. It reminded him of all the good times
at Rocky Point.
...‘‘Another
happy, happy day,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s
always a beautiful day when you can get up and get around.’’
...On
the following Sunday, Frank sang with the choir at Zambarano’s
Christmas party. With his blue eyes, freshly trimmed beard,
and remarkably unwrinkled skin, he looked beatific. His
seventy-seventh birthday was on Tuesday, and one of his
best outside friends, Janina Fera — daughter of Janie
Callahan, his ‘‘guardian angel,’’
who died in 1990 — brought a cake and presents.
...On
Tuesday, Frank delivered the newspapers and mail as usual.
He had someone open his birthday cards and scratch the instant
lottery tickets a staff member gave him. Another person
started to tell a joke about an elderly man who likes young
women, but when he got to the part about a genie willing
to grant his wishes, he forgot the punch line.
...‘‘If
you get a call from the genie,’’ Frank said,
‘‘tell him one thing: I just want a call from
the director on my birthday.’’
...Patients
ordinarily take their meals in their rooms and Frank ate
dinner at the regular time, 4:15 p.m. Darkness descended
on Wallum Lake. After watching the evening news, he went
downstairs to the recreation room to play bingo. He was
in bed by eight. He set the timer on his TV and drifted
off to sleep.
...Spangler
didn’t call.
 |
Frank
talks with Sen. Paul Fogarty, D-Glocester,
after Frank testifyied against
the privatization of Zambarano-run group homes.
Journal photo/Mary Murphy |
...THE
NEW YEAR began without any response. ...Frank’s
patience was gone.
...‘‘I
am sorry to say that I have not received a letter, telephone
call or any communication from the acting director on this
matter,’’ he wrote to Governor Carcieri. ‘‘Her
lack of responsiveness and continued delay in contacting
me has resulted in my decision to seek closure on this matter
by contacting other resources, as all efforts have been
exhausted.’’
...Patients
and relatives at the January 8 meeting of Zambarano’s
Family Council were seething.
...‘‘Maybe
she should be in a wheelchair for a week,’’
a relative said.
...‘‘She’s
cold,’’ Frank said.
...‘‘She’s
saving nickels and dimes on this and probably spending millions
on some nincompoop project.’’
...Events
accelerated after the meeting.
...In
late January, two legislators whom Patients for Progress
had enlisted in the campaign, Sen. Paul W. Fogarty and Rep.
Edwin R. Pacheco, made a public plea to the acting director.
‘‘We appeal to you to expedite the process and
approve the proposal for cable at Zambarano,’’
they said. ‘‘The patients have waited long enough.’’
Spangler maintained her silence.
...Other
forces were at play.
...Realizing
that the Senate almost certainly would not confirm Spangler,
Carcieri decided to withdrawn her nomination. Meanwhile,
news coverage of the cable issue moved an anonymous donor
to contact, through her lawyer, officials at MHRH. The woman
offered to pay for five years’ of cable service to
Zambarano patients. Cox Communications agreed to absorb
the installation costs.
 |
Governor Carcieri congratulates Frank in
July after Patients for Progress won in its battle
to get cable TV in the residents’
rooms.
Journal photo/Mary Murphy |
...IN
MARCH, House and Senate committees heard testimony
on proposed cuts at MHRH. To save $800,000, the budget that
Spangler submitted would shift control of four group homes
operated by Zambarano staff to the private sector.
...The
move would not affect Frank, but he empathized with the
residents: replacing longtime staff with newcomers would
be profoundly disruptive, he believed. So twice in one week,
he traveled to the State House to testify. He spoke of the
disruptions of his youth, when he was moved from orphanage
to orphanage to foster home. ‘‘I would love
to see you in my shoes — pushed around like that,’’
he told legislators.
...And
by the way, he said, if money was so tight, why didn’t
the governor forgo his salary? After all, he was a millionaire.
...Two
weeks later, Frank was back at the State House to celebrate
Zambarano Day, which he’d helped found. Resolutions
honoring Patients for Progress were introduced in the Senate
and House, and Sen. Fogarty proclaimed Frank the ‘‘honorary
39th senator.’’ Frank toured the State Reception
Room, adjacent to the governor’s office. When Carcieri
learned Frank was there, he came out to say hello.
...They
talked and then Carcieri invited him into his office. Frank
had given Carcieri one of his paintings two years before,
and the governor had framed it and hung it on his wall.
...‘‘I
keep thinking someday I want to get myself a sailboat like
that,’’ the governor said.
...Frank
had something else on his mind: the MHRH budget, which would
curtail the very art program at Zambarano where he learned
to paint. Frank said that cut, along with others, was ill-advised.
...‘‘First
I’ve heard of that,’’ Carcieri said. ‘‘We’ll
find out.’’
...After
the visit, Frank was asked if the painting on Carcieri’s
wall was the original.
...‘‘I
told him it was!’’ Frank said.
...He
laughed. Politicians weren’t always straightforward,
so why not a harmless fib for one of them?
...In
truth, the governor’s painting was a print.
...AS
HE NEARED 80, Frank had created a legacy. He had
been true to Sister Rita Marie’s admonition of almost
seventy years: You know, Francis, you’ll always be
rewarded one way or another by helping people out.
...But
Frank did not consider himself heroic.
...He
considered himself fortunate.
...‘‘It
could have been worse. I could have been like some of these
people I’m looking at today that can’t talk,
can’t hear, can’t see. I look at them and I
think: Why should I be mad? These are the people who should
be mad because they’re frustrated, they’re blind,
they can’t hear, they’re brain dead. And here
I am enjoying life.
...‘‘So
why should I be mad at the world? No way. You’ve just
got to take what’s there for you, enjoy what you can.’’
TOMORROW
| EPILOGUE
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