Herald and Review from Decatur, Illinois • Page 3

Decatur, Illinois, Monday, September 24, 1984 Page A3 Central Illinois zz 5. 1111 wii-ii i 'awy lv 3 v. 1 1 i Fundraiser scores a hit About 1,200 persons attended the fourth annual Circa 1900 days at the Scovill Children's Zoo over the weekend. They enjoyed such activities as a "great train robbery," folk music, bobbing for apples and visiting with the zoo's regular residents. Zoo director Mike Borders said the activities helped raise about $2,000.

The money is to be used to buy a Galapagos turtle and also to buy a family of ring-tailed lemurs to develop an exhibit. Circa 1900 was the last major activity of the season at the zoo. Regular hours now will be noon to 4 p.m. weekdays and noon to dusk weekends through Oct. 21.

after which the zoo will close until spring. Photos by Jan Abbott Ben Zolno, 6, gets some tomahawk tips from John Tipsword of Decatur. Ben, son of Candace St. Lawrence of Mount Zion, recorded his first hit at the Circa 1900 festival. City hospitals plan changes for second and $50 for third are given as well as the top prize in each state.

"It (the tassel) was still hanging down Saturday (Sept. 15). It seems like they could have held it up for the measurement," Mrs. Schuler said. "But I know the contest rules call for the measurement to be of a standing stalk." Cornnuts which roasts the kernels of a tall variety of Peruvian corn, salts them and markets the product as "Giant Toasted Corn" supplies packets containing four corn kernels each for home gardeners to plant.

This year was the first time Mrs. Schuler had entered the annual Wind ruins contestant's chances By RON INGRAM Herald A Review FarmBinimu Writer Disaster befell Virginia Schuler's tall corn before it could be officially measured for a national contest sponsored by a snack food company. "I guess the wind beat the tassel against the house and it broke off," said Mrs. Schuler, of 3227 Valerian Drive. She had planted the corn on the south side of her home to try to protect it from the wind while giving it favorable growing conditions, but the stalk had grown as high as the eave.

As a result of the accident, the official measurement of the stalk Sept. 15 came in at 15 feet 8' inches rather than the 16 feet 6 inches she submitted to Cornnuts Inc. of Oakland, to become one of seven Illinois finalists in the firm's annual tall com contest. Seven finalists were chosen in each of six states Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Ohio. Winner of the grand prize of $1,000 and an expense-paid trip to San Francisco was Jeff Martin of Clay City, with an entry of 21 feet 8 inches.

Honors for top Illinois stalk and $200 went to Jean Taft of Rochester in Sangamon County, with a measurement of 17 feet 8 'a inches. Mrs. Schuler finished fifth among the seven Illinois contestants, too far down to win a prize. Awards of $100 By DICK ZAKER Herald 4 Review StaH Writer The Decatur area, in a sense, would have two new nursing homes if proposals by Decatur Memorial and St. Mary's hospitals are approved by a state board.

Decatur Memorial is planning to convert 60 of its unused beds into a nursing home unit, while St. Mary's wants to create 40 nursing home beds out of 40 of its hospital beds. Public hearings on both of the plans are scheduled at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the county board room of the Macon County Building, 253 E. Wood St.

That will be the first step in a process that leads to final consideration by the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board, an arm of the Illinois Department of Public Health. The first review after the Tuesday hearings is to be in early October, by the South Central Subarea Advisory Committee Project Review Committee. That group will report to the Sub-area Advisory Committee at 7 p.m. Oct. 8 at the Decatur Family YMCA.

This group's recommendation on the projects is to go to the East Central Illinois Health Systems Agency at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 25 in Champaign. The East Central group's approval or disapproval will be sent to the state Health Facilities Board, which probably would consider the projects in December. The proposals are in keeping with a trend among hospitals to find new uses for beds that are generating little or no revenue.

Already, such smaller Central Illinois hospitals as Dr. John Warner in Clinton, John and Mary Kirby in Monticello and Jarman Memorial in Tuscola have asked state permission for similar proposals. The only difference is they would be able to "swing" any of their beds from medical-surgical uses to long-term nursing care. None of those proposals have aroused controversy. Decatur Memorial spokesman Bill Homoky acknowledges the hospital wants to make some money from the now-empty beds.

"We want to efficiently use facilities and overhead that are no longer needed for their originally intended purpose," he said. "This is another step in our diversification, as the community sees this hospital transform into a multi-faceted health care center." Decatur Memorial already is planning to open a Life Center in the Hickory Point Mall to encourage better physical health and stop bad health habits. St. Mary's also is branching out in the health care field. A sister corporation is to jointly develop an outpatient surgery center with a Tennessee firm next to the hospital.

Decatur Memorial proposes to have its nursing home unit ready in January 1985, while St. Mary's has set a March target date. More information about the St. Mary's plans is unavailable because hospital officials have not responded to questions about the nursing home project that were asked more than a week ago. 1 1 "Ur VW' ")fmTm in-if I it il pmmmm ') i i I -1 vS-Un' v.

A- i ft- 1 rY VV 1 v. i- -V i' Agency questions hospitals9 plans proven it has the necessary workers for the proposed skilled care unit. Decatur Memorial wants to create its nursing care unit in a sixth- floor ward it closed in July for lack of use. Hospital spokesman Bill Homoky said 50 to 75 workers were transferred to other hospital departments, but none laid off. The nursing home proposal of Decatur Memorial would lead to the filling of three registered nurse, four licensed practical nurse and 15 nursing aide positions.

The plan also would call for the spending of $55,000 for construction to create a room for dining and day activities, and $5,000 for dining room furniture. St. Mary's would spend $43,500 to discontinue 22 medical-surgical beds and 18 pediatric beds for its nursing unit. That would cut in half the number of beds the hospital has for children, but only an average of 46 percent of them were in use on an average day in 1983. Homoky said the new Medicare cost-containment system, known as Diagnostic Related Groupings, has cut the length of stay for many older patients, "but not before it's medically necessary." the skilled care to be provided at the Decatur Memorial unit would be the additional time to recover that patients often need after severe illness or injury before returning home, he said.

The charges for that care would be "half or less" of the daily room rates of $162 at Decatur Memorial, he said. The specific charges for the skilled care have yet to be decided. Questions about the need for St. Mary's and Decatur Memorial hospitals to convert some of their beds to nursing home use are being asked bv the staff of the East Ctr.tral Illinois Health Systems Agency. "It appears that the best alternative has not been selected by the applicant," the staff says in its reviews of both applications.

Both hospitals "should have considered a multi-institutional agreement where the total number of beds being converted would not result in a medicalsurgical-pediatric bed need as well as a general long-term nursing care bed excess." The Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board analyzes the needs for various types of health care in regions of the state. In the region that includes Macon and DeWitt counties and part of Piatt, Moultrie and Shelby counties, for instance, the board's statistics indicate an excess of 68 medicalsurgical and pediatric beds. Taken together, the proposals of the two Decatur hospitals to convert beds to nursing home use would actually create a need for 32 beds. Similarly, the state board's statistics indicate Macon County needs 99 more nursing home beds. However, this does not count the increase of 24 beds granted to the Northpark residential center in a recent state board meeting.

The St. Mary's and Decatur Memorial projects then would actually create an excess of 21 nursing home beds. The analysis from the East Central Illinois Health Systems Agency also suggests neither hospital has Photo by Jane Jankowski Fiddlers Chlores Warlow (left). Mount Carmel, and Colin McCoy, Chicago, warm up before the contest. Urbana girl wins fiddle contest tensely, lured by the prize money.

McCoy won the state championship in 1980 and 1981 and this summer took first place at the Wisconsin State Fair. Archie Smothers of Pana, president of the fiddlers association, captured second place in Sunday's 70 years old and over division, the same contest he won a year ago. Smothers said he has played the fiddle for more than 40 years, but has never read a sheet of music. "I learned to play by ear and by listening to other fiddlers," he said. "My father played, and my Ringo won the 70 and over competition and Miss Krause, the junior division, allowing them to compete for the state championship.

Each of the 13 fiddlers vying for the title appeared on stage with accompanists to perform hoedown and waltz tunes. Contestants were judged on their ability to play, timing and tone. Three judges listened to the performances over a speaker system from another building. They knew contestants only by number and selected five finalists, who then played again before the winner was named. By JANE JANKOWSKI NraM SlaH Writer SHELBYVILLE They came from throughout Illinois Sunday to fiddle away the afternoon.

Thirteen contestants competed during the 20th annual Illinois Old-time Fiddlers Association state championship, and enthusiasts filled the Chautauqua Auditorium in Shelbyville's Forest Park to see 13-year-old Allison Krause of Urbana walk away the winner The teenager, and second place finisher. Ernest Ringo of Shelby ville, had qualified for the contest only minutes earlier by winning preliminary events. Defending champion Chlores Warlow of Mount Carmel settled for third place, and another former winner. Melody Staff of Vandalia, placed fourth. Two-time winner Colin McCoy of Chicago returned to compete for the $200 first prize after taking a year off from the contest, and finished fifth.

McCoy, 31, has been playing for 22 of years and said the atmosphere at the contest is not relaxed. "There's not much jamming," he said, as contestants prepare in.