Library Collections: Document: Full Text


A Polio's Paradise

Creator: Helen Holt and Frances McGaan (authors)
Date: May 1933
Publication: The Polio Chronicle
Source: Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation Archives
Figures From This Artifact: Figure 2


Page 1:

1  

MERIWETHER INN has been standing for forty years. It has been described as the materialization of a carpenter's nightmare, but its passing will bring a pang to many a Warm Springs alumnus. As soon as we grasped the fact that we were no longer to struggle along on the old sagging porches and under falling beams, we immediately said, "Can we have this? Can we have that?" So many suggestions kept pouring in that a committee was chosen to assemble the most important ones for the architect.

2  

As members of this committee, we shall try to describe those of our ideas which Architect Toombs thinks essential to the comfort of polios. The committee met with Mr. Toombs in a rather apprehensive frame of mind. With every patient suggesting his particular desire, we feared that the architect could do nothing but throw up his hands and run, hoarsely demanding at least a million dollars.

3  

However, such was not the case. The majority of our suggestions were workable enough to warrant adoption. We surprised one former patient residing here who thought he knew everything there was to know about helpful hints for paralysis. He confessed that we had outdone him in Polio Pioneering. Mr. Toombs first gave us a general description of the Hall and its location. The building is to face south about where the tennis court is now. It will be long and low, and will be equally accessible from northern and southern exposures. In fact, it can be reached in wheel chairs, either by ramps or by elevators. The building will also be built so that its floor will be on a level with the other buildings of the Foundation. This, as can easily be seen, is a tremendous advantage. Unless a patient is very weak, he will be able to wheel himself from one building to another without meeting any of the hills which are at present such a drawback to his independence. Furthermore, these level walks will all be covered. Pushing a wheelchair in the rain, with small lakes gradually forming in one's Iap, will now be a thing of the past. These new walks will not cross any roads or drives, thus eliminating danger of automobile accidents. On the whole, the position seems ideal.

4  

We who have stayed in Warm Springs any length of time have become fond of the really beautiful oaks and pines on the campus. The architect realizes this and has promised to preserve practically all of the trees by arrangement of the building and plans for future growth. There will be views from all four sides of the Hall: the campus to the northeast, a wooded ravine to the east, and the golf course to the West.

5  

In order to get some idea of the innovations to be incorporated in the new Georgia Hall, let us suppose that we are entering the completed building. We will draw up under a covered porte-cochere in the center of the building. The doors will be designed not to trap the unwary. Opening and closing doors is very difficult for most polios; therefore, particular care will be taken in order that they may be as manageable as possible.

6  

The most interesting features of the lobby will be the desk, which will be lower for the convenience of wheelchairs. The top surface will project a foot or a foot and a half beyond its support, so that a wheelchair can run straight under it as a convenient desk. It will be in the shape of an arc of a circle to allow wheelchairs to run in close together without entangling back wheels.

7  

Opening off the lobby will be several large rooms, including living rooms, a library, and a game room. The advantage of these individual rooms is that one or more of them will always be flooded with sunlight, regardless of the time of year. The corridors will all be wide enough to allow wheelchairs to pass easily and they aII be equipped with two levels of hand rails on each side for the convenience of patients who can walk with a little support.

8  

The dining room will be the largest room in the building. It will be entirely postless and designed with consideration of use for dinner entertainments, and the Founders' Day banquets which are the year's high spots in Warm Springs. Its position will be carefully considered in regard to both winter and summer sunlight.

9  

But we must stop there. In spite of the modern craze for bedroom stories, we refuse to take you farther than the elevator. Later, when everything is finished and ready, and we have a proper chaperon, we may give you a glimpse of the inner chambers of a polio's paradise.

[END]