Sen.
Pendleton says he’ll lobby for expansion of Western State
Part two in a two-part series
Part two in a two-part series
By
Nick Tabor, New Era Senior Staff Writer
Twenty
miles north of Louisville, in Charlestown, Ind.,
the small St. Catherine Regional Hospital has a 26-bed facility for elderly
patients who have mental problems.
The
way a nurse describes it, the facility sounds like a far cry from a lush
independent living center. But families, nursing homes and hospitals in Kentucky — including Western
Kentucky — would be in worse trouble without it.
Often
its patients have worked on farms or in auto shops or maintenance departments
for years, said Amelia Johns, a St. Catherine nurse.
When
dementia short-circuits their mental faculties, their bodies remain strong and
even anxious. They can hardly sit still. Sometimes they tear out sinks, and one
patient dismantled his entire bed.
“How
he even took it apart with his bare hands is beyond me, but he did,” Johns
said. “They’re pretty destructive sometimes.”
