V
Page 10/The Battalion/Tuesday, February 5, 1985
Language barriers hamper MDs
Associated Press
PORT ARTHUR — A woman
suffered an attack of appendicitis
while on a ship in the Gulf of Mexico
and was transported by helicopter to
Port Arthur’s Park Place Hospital.
At the hospital’s emergency room,
she was unable to communicate with
doctors and nurses because she
spoke only Russian.
Emergency care was adminis
tered, but discussions between the
woman and those trying to care for
her were delayed until two transla
tors could interpret the woman’s
words.
The problem was not that she
spoke Russian, but that she spoke
the language in an unfamiliar di
alect, and the first interpreter had
trouble understanding the woman,
said Pat Adams, director of commu
nity relations at Park Place.
A rabbi from Beaumont finally
was able to understand the woman
and translate coversations between
doctors, nurses and the patient, Ad
ams said.
Most doctors and nurses in the
Port Arthur area don’t get to hear
unfamiliar languages in unusual di
alects, but some emergency care pro
fessionals find themselves face to
face with people who don’t under
stand a word of English.
The shipping industry and the ar
rival of refugees have provided Port
Arthur with an economic base and
cultural diversification, but they
have also produced communication
problems similar to the one with the
Russian woman.
Some foreign seamen, visitors to
the city and Vietnamese residents
have found themselves confronted
with medical emergencies. Many of
these people face the task of commu
nicating pain to medical profession
als who
not speak the same lan
guage.
“Ninety-nine percent of them are
seamen,” said Jerry Rowley, R.N.,
clinical coordinator of nursing at
Park Place. Many of the non-English
speaking emergency patients are not
residents, she said, but people just
passing through the city.
“Expressions of pain and fear are
universal,” said Jan Dengler, R.N., at
Park Place Hospital. Rowley and
Dengler can recall situations where
they have pantomimed their way
through emergency room episodes.
Talking is not always necessary when
pain is evident, Dengler said.
Family members of foreign-
speaking patients can be helpful if
they speak English. But the family
may panic if they cannot understand
what is happening to a relative un
der emergency care.
Recently, a Vietnamese man who
had severely injured his leg on a
shrimping boat was able to talk with
the hospital’s medical staff, Dengler
said, but his mother could not un
derstand enough English to be suffi
ciently informed about her son.
“She freaked out,” Dengler said.
The woman remained frightened
until another family member arrived
,to assure her of her son’s safety and
condition.
“We usually try to bring them into
the room and show them that their
relative is OK,” Dengler said. “We
can’t tell them they are OK over the
phone.”
Although there are problems in
treating some non-English speaking
people, Rowley and Dengler agree
that communication problems will
not get in the way of treatment.
“We pantomime a lot,” Dengler
said, “but if it is impossible to com-
Overdue
Library book returned after 47 year absence
Associated Press
HONOLULU — A book at
least 47 years overdue from the
USS Arizona’s library has been
returned to the Arizona Memo
rial.
The museum has only two
other volumes from the library of
the historic battleship, sunk in the
Pearl Harbor attack on Dec. 7,
1941.
This third book, “The Incur
able Filibuster,” was delivered
Dec. 7 by University of Hawaii
scientist Gary McMurtry. The
book had been checked out from
the ship’s library before 1927.
The book, an autobiography
by Col. Dean Ivan Lamb, deals
with war and revolution in Cen
tral and South America.
How the book found its way
from Pearl Harbor to California
and back again is an adventure in
itself.
McMurtry said he was in Santa
Rosa, Calif., visiting Jim Sipher,
who had heard about the book
from his landlord, George La
Favre.
Sipher introduced McMurtry
to La Favre, who asked McMurtry
to return the book.
La Favre described how he ac
quired the ship’s book from a
close friend named Murdoc G.
Henry.
He said a sailor from the Ari
zona had been reading the book
and became interested in a part
describing how author William
Sydney Porter adopted the pseu
donym O. Henry and his connec
tion with Murdoc G. Henry in
Honduras.
Murdoc Henry was superin
tendent of all the banana lands in
Honduras for United Fruit Co.,
La Favre said. He said Henry had
visited with Porter, who also was
in Honduras and “had probably
the only civilized abode in the
area.”
“It was claimed at the time that
Porter adopted the name of O.
Henry because (Murdoc) Henry
was in demand all over the plan
tations and they were always call
ing, ‘Oh, Henry, oh, Henry,’ ” La
Favre said.
He said the sailor, whose name
is unknown, had apparently
wanted to learn more about Por
ter. He knew somebody in the
United Fruit Co. who told him
about Murdoc Henry, who had
retired and was living in a pent
house in San Francisco.
La Favre said the sailor, after
finding Henry, “brought the
book and showed it to him, and
for some reason decided to give it
to him.”
When Henry died, his wife
gave La Favre the book.
Teams gather to inaugurate
World Cup soccer stadium
Associated Press
MEXICO CITY — The national
soccer teams from Mexico, Poland,
Bulgaria and Switzerland are in
Queretaro this week to inaugurate
the Corregidora Stadium, the 12th
and final stadium to be used in the
1986 World Cup tournament.
On Tuesday, President Miguel de
la Madrid will inaugurate the $13
million stadium, named after a hero
ine of the 19th century Mexican War
of Independence. The stadium has a
capacity for 40,643 fans.
Joao Havelange, president of the
International Federation of Football
Association, and other top interna
tional soccer officials will attend the
inauguration.
The tournament starts Tuesday
afternoon with Mexico playing Po
land and Bulgaria playing Switzer
land. On Wednesday, Mexico plays
Switzerland and Bulgaria plays Po
land.
Game times Tuesday are 11 a.m.
and 1 p.m. CST and 5 and 7 p.m.
CST Wednesday in Queretaro, 138
miles northwest of Mexico City.
The three European teams are
fighting for spots in the 24-team
World Cup competition next year.
The tournament here will give them
a chance to try the turf and get some
practice under ideal weather condi
tions.
As a host of the World Cup, Mex
ico qualifies for the tournament au
tomatically. The only other team
certain to qualify for the World Cup
tournament is defending champion
Italy.
The Mexican team is coached by
Yugoslav-born Bora Milutinovic,
who called 31 players for the tourna
ment.
The tournament will be the first
match of the year for the Mexican
team after a fairly successful 1984
visit to Europe and South America.
Switzerland, current leader of
Group Six in the World Cup elimi
nations in Europe, arrived Saturday
night from Bogota, Colombia.
Swiss coach Paul Wolfisberg said
chances to return to Mexico for the
World Cup.
“We have played two games so far
and we have won them both,” he
said of the elimination tournament.
“We have to play the Soviet Union
soon and, if we win, our chances of
being here for the World Cup will be
very good.”
In Group Four of the World Cup,
Bulgaria is tied for second with Yu
goslavia. The Bulgarians lost 2-1 last
of pla
week to a team of players from the
professional teams in Mexico’s Ja
lisco state.
“The trip affected us last week,”
Bulgarian Coach Ivan Vutzov said.
“Our rhythm was off.”
Poland’s Coach Antoni Piechcnic-
zek told reporters that he did not
know much about the Mexican team
other than it had a good year in
1984.
“We came here to train our play
ers and to provide a good show,” he
said.
Student lobby says tuition hikes
could hinder economic growth
Associated Press
AUSTIN — Although boosting
tuition at state universities would
raise money for a financially
strapped state government in the
short term, it would cost Texas in
the long-run by reducing educatio
nal opportunities, a students’ group
said Monday.
“We believe that the future pros
perity of Texas is directly related to
the education of its citizens,” said
ohn Tarbox, 25, Houston, a mem-
er of the Texas Student Lobby.
“For Texas to emerge from an
economy based primarily on oil and
agriculture to a more broad-based
economy bolstered by the strength
of the nigh technology industries,
education will be essential,” Tarbox
said.
The student lobby, a statewide or
ganization representing college stu
dents, said proposals before the Leg
islature to hike tuition would make it
difficult for some poor students to
attend college.
The stuaent lobbyists said they
don’t think lawmakers have looked
at all the ramifications of such a deci-
up only a small part of the total cost
of a colle
sion.
“The rush to raise tuition has not
been a careful, deliberate study of
Texas’ policy,” Tarbox said.
“Rather, it has been treated as a rev
enue issue in a nearsighted attempt
to balance the budget and avoid po
litical difficulties.”
The state is facing a $1 billion
shortfall between the revenue it ex-
g ects to take in during the 1986-87
udget years and the amount agen
cies currently are spending.
To help offset that difference and
generate more money for universi
ties, Lt. Gov. Bill Hobby last week
proposed raising undergraduate
resident tuition from $4 per semes
ter hour to $8 per hour in 1986.
Tuition for other students also
would be increased, and the boosts
would raise about $120 million more
for higher education, Hobby said.
At present, Texas undergraduate
tuition is the lowest in the country.
But the students said tuition makes
lege education.
“The cost of attending a Four-
year, public institution in Texas is al
most identical to the national aver
age,” said Mitch Kfeindler, 22, Dal
las, a fdrmet- student body president
at the University of Texas.
"Even more surprising, the cost of
higher education in Texas is sub
stantially higher than the average
cost of attending college in other
states in the southwest.”
Meg Brooks, 22, of Austin, said
the students see several options to an
across-the-board hike if the Legis
lature does raise tuition.
She said lawmakers should con
sider smaller increases phased out
over a longer period of time to allow
parents and students time to pre
pare for the additional costs.
Brooks also said lawmakers
should make certain that sufficient
funds are put aside for Financial aid
for students who otherwise couldn’t
afford the increase.
municate we always render emer
gency care.
Problems occur when a medical
situation is not an emergency, but
medical personnel need consent to
treat someone, Rowley said.
Information about drugs a person
may be taking is needed before
treating someone in any case, Row-
ley and Dengler said.
Rowley said there are many more
drugs available to Euroupeans than
to Americans •
Rowley, a member of the Olympic
Village Polyclinic in Los Angeles,
said the organization of the clinic
during the Olympics enabled most
people to be treated without a hitch.
Even with the many countries rep
resented, Rowley said, she remem
bers only one problem with commu
nication, when a man from Tibet
presented a slight problem for inter
preters because of a rare dialect.
A list of interpreters was available
at the clinic, but Rowley said most
people who could not speak English
could speak French.
Dengler and Rowley are able to
converse in a small amount Spanish,
and a number of Park Place Joy
ces are bilingual.
Inns face
economic
hardship
Associated Press
HOUSTON — Houston hotel op
erators are trying to cope with a sag
ging market that has seen occupancy
levels dip to just 44 percent, well un
der the 70 percent rate considered
break-even.
“Houston always had the extra
kick from the oil business,” accord
ing to Jerry Carpenter, a partner in
the acountmg firm of Ernst 8c Whin-
ney.
The November occupancy rate
fell by 7 percentage points from
year-ago figures, the fourth consec
utive month that levels dropped
from the previous year, says an anal
ysis compiled by the Houston ac
counting firm of Laventhol & Hor-
wath.
John Keeling, who follows Hous
ton hotels for the firm, said the lag
ging numbers make some hotels
good targets for sale.
Others, meanwhile, are being
shopped around by their owners.
But Keeling said some firms
looking for a buyer of their hotels
“have been insulted by the (low) of
fers they are getting.”
Houston has more than 30,000
hotel rooms in 110 facilities.
“We’re trying to survive 1985 and
hope 1986 will be better,” said Sonny
Look, a principal in the Houston-
based Sunbelt Hotels Inc.
Department
complying
with lawsuits
Associated Press
AUSTIN — The commissioner of
the Texas Department of Mental
Health and Mental Retardation said
Monday his agency is doing all it can
to comply with federal court rulings
to upgrade services.
Testifying to a Senate subcommit
tee, MHMR Commissioner Gary
Miller said the court orders have
“placed extreme pressures on the
department.”
“We have on occassion been
found to be in non-compliance with
provisions of the settlement when we
oelieve and still believe that not only
were we in compliance but we ex
ceeded in the compliance,” Miller
said.
He blamed differing interpreta
tions of the settlements in two law
suits brought by patients of state in
stitutions.
The department currently has a
$590 million budget to run eight
state hospitals, 13 state schools, 31
community mental health centers
and other programs with a total of
25,900 employees.
David Pharris, a member of a re
view panel appointed by U.S. Dis
trict Judge Barefoot Sanders in the
settlement proceedings, told law
makers that his panel has seen com
pliance and improvements through
out the department.
Pharris said the department origi
nally lacked adequate individualized
treatment plans, protection of pa-
* : oe-
tients from those with aggressive be
havior, a poor staff-to-patient ratio
and requirements for placement of
patients who no longer needed to be
institutionalized.
Since then, Pharris said, he has
been “impressed with new programs
on aggressive behavior patients and
improvements in staff ratios.”
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