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-- Programs and Services -- Contact Information A sight to behold
By Jane Green
Rosemary Platt is one special lady. Chair for the Council on Aging in Sandisfield and on the board of Southern Berkshire Elderly Transportation for 10 years, Platt went through bypass surgery, came back and kept on going. Northing ever seemed to get her down, a real fighter. Then two years ago her life came to a standstill. She went into Septic Shock. She was put in a drug-induced coma to save her life. When she woke up she was blind.
Did she say no to life? You bet she didn’t. She spent two years with the Lee Regional Visiting Nurse Association doing physical therapy and rehabilitation at home to get back to being able to function.
Blind and in a wheelchair, she spoke with her husband Willard and some of her family and said, “I just can’t sit around and not be productive.” Her family members encouraged her to go back to her senior center. She tried, but many members felt it would be too much for her to undertake under the circumstances. She returned home and felt it was the end of her world and fell into a depression, but not for long.
The strength that Platt has always had, won and came through. Her mind ran full speed again. “I may have gone blind, but nothing was wrong with my brain.” Springing into action, she approached Grace Zbell, Director of the Claire Teague Senior Center in Great Barrington. “I want to start a support group for the low vision and blind.” Zbell was very supportive as she always is and didn’t hesitate to say yes.
Well, Platt was up and running. She had flyers made and was on her way. Now, the group meets twice a month. They talk, exchange concerns, have lunch at the senior center, but more important than all those things, they laugh so much that they have to close the door to the library, “We are so noisy,” beamed Platt.
The group has seven regular members. Platt says, “We have serious times and happy times. Everyone is welcome.”
Platt went to the local shopping centers to inquire about having a clerk assist the seeing impaired with their grocery shopping. Price Chopper came through with flying colors. They have a staff member who meets one of the members at the door and stays with her until she is checked out.
Southern Berkshire Elderly Transportation picks everyone up and transports them home.
Platt has come through a trying time of her life, with her positive outlook. “I thought I was alone, trapped in a small black box. My new friends have made my world bright again.”