Experienced Tylersville Road for the first time

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by Wilson513

We should set up a thread for this in Retirement, but I am of the opinion that the type of elder care needed today is a lot different that what was needed just a decade ago. As elders, we really only need a few things each day and more or less constant monitoring as our needs increase. The monitoring is a different task than it used to be. The idea of going to a retirement home is pretty unpleasant to me and I am going to do what I can to avoid it.

Yes, retirement homes vary in direct proportion to both your physical and mental needs. My mother came to live with us when she began forgetting things like pans on the stove, imagining things like her grandkids being at her house when they were not, it was signs of dementia setting in. Her doctor diagnosed what she called sundowner's disease, meaning when the sun went down she started to get a little loopy. By that time she was 92, nearing 93. Physically she was pretty good.

By that time I had already installed an elevator in our house for my wife, but my mother would not use it, saying it was too complicated. If you ever try to argue with a 92 year old German woman, forget it. She insisted on using the 2nd floor stairway to her bedroom, as she was not old! I still kick myself for not being more forceful and insisting she use the elevator. She had just turned 94 when she took a tumble down the stairs. Not sure how far but it must have been a good one. Fractured her arm in two places and also the shoulder joint. But it was the blow to her head which caused the most damage. She had fluid buildup around the brain and the doctors told me that was a big problem. The fluid did eventually dissipate but the effects did not. The arm and shoulder bones healed just fine, they showed me the xrays and commented remarkable for a person her age. But she was unable to function anywhere close to previously.

That was when we had to put her in a nursing home. We selected Cedar Village here in Mason. It is a Jewish affiliated facility and I figured they would know how to get the most out of the government. Frankly a great facility. When we first entered her they acted surprised when my brother and I said NO this is a pay as you go case. Our mom and dad were very frugal and even at today's rates she had about 10 years put aside.

What I remember the most was the slow decline. I would talk to the nurses and they would tell me this is what is going to happen, her mental capacity is deteriorating to the point she will not recognize she is hungry and refuse to eat. When that happens, do you want us to feed her intraveneously. We responded NO, she was always adamant about not being kept alive with extraordinary methods and we had the documnts. It took about 18 months and was a slow but steady decline. She was 95.5 years old when she passed.

To say our elderly needs are different is probably correct. Individual circumstances vary considerably. My wife has considerable mobility problems, very difficult to endure, such that she needs a motorized wheelchair to get around on a daily basis. With our elevator, she can get arouund with a walker on our 2nd floor, from the elevator to the bedroom/bathroom, though very slowly.

Like you I feel very priviledged in my lifetstyle. I can afford to have a person come in during the week and help my wife enjoy her endeavors. Jan now drives the mobility van to haul my wife's wheelchair. Frankly it is a pain in the ass to have to strap in and out. They go to card stamping clases in Blue Ash, arobic water exercises at the Mason Community Center, lunches about everywhere, plus occasionally a few out of state trips where the wife pays all the expenses and her caregiver does not turn her time in.

[Briolat21]

wow..

My husband works at 75 and tylersville. We drive that every day. Generally, the key is not to be there between 4:30 and 5:30. The rest of the day - its very passable.

However for some reason - yes at 5:00 - all chaos breaks loose.

Of course, I still think that no on in the entire region knows how to drive - so the lack of turn signals, slamming on of breaks (causing routine fender benders), people shooting through red lights on a left turn... of course that makes for a lousy commute.

Maybe along with better traffic management, you could actually instill real driver's training courses so you also have BETTER DRIVERS.

Other than that - just avoid rush hour.

Besides - VOA has some decent restaurants, for us hicks out in Lebanon to spend our money in. VOA is almost civilization by our standards!

[unusualfire]

VOA? Where is that? I thought it was Liberty Twp or West Chester.

[woxyroxme]

Originally Posted by unusualfire

VOA? Where is that? I thought it was Liberty Twp or West Chester.

It's on Tylersville Rd. east of Cox, the main building is still there but all the antenna equipment is gone.

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by unusualfire

VOA? Where is that? I thought it was Liberty Twp or West Chester.

That stands for Voice Of America. Back during the cold war, the VOA

complex was huge, covering most of the land between what is now I-75 and Butler-Warren road along Tylersville. There were radio antennas everywhere you looked. It was the radio voice of the US broadcast to behind the Iron Curtain, on the air 24/7 sending our message to primarily the Soviet Union. Most of the broadcasts were short wave so they could carry half a world away. It was truely the Voice of America, the only complex of its kind in the US.

When the US govenment decided to shut the complex down, they deeded the land to West Chester Township, with the provision a portion could be used for commercial development, but the majority for park land. The current commercial development along Cox road north of Tylersville is part of that property. The original brick building where the broadcasts originated from is accessable off Tylersville and is now a museum. The remainder of the land is identified as the VOA park and administered by West Chester Twp

People need to recognize it was the only audio voice of its kind from the entire US to penetrate the Iron Curtain. I doubt if any but a small percentage of people in Cincinnati even knew it existed. The VOA park land itself is 435 acres. I would estimate the land which was dedicated to commercial development to be at least 40% as large or the total original acreage around 600.

Just down the road along Tylersville into Mason is the Blaw Knox Tower used by WLW radio AM. This was the tower from which WLW broadcast with 500,000 watts of power from in 1934 to 1939. This was when the maximum power of a station was 50,000 watts, which is typical today. No wonder WLW was known as the nation's station. Not only did they have the power, but they had a clear channel, meaning no other station in the entie US could broadcast on the same freqiency. I remember reading that people in Australia would tune into WLW broadcasts. We have a powerful radio legacy in Cincinnati which we should all be proud of.

I know the power is reduced, but if I have my car radio turned to AM, the WLW signal overwhelms whatever I have my radio tuned to. Maybe it is just the crisp signal off of that Blaw Knox Tower, but whatever it dominates.

[neilworms2]

People need to recognize it was the only audio voice of its kind from the entire US to penetrate the Iron Curtain. I doubt if any but a small percentage of people in Cincinnati even knew it existed. The VOA park land itself is 435 acres. I would estimate the land which was dedicated to commercial development to be at least 40% as large or the total original acreage around 600.

It was quite the facility, I remember it very well going by it as a kid when heading towards Cincy. ;-)

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by neilworms2

It was quite the facility, I remember it very well going by it as a kid when heading towards Cincy. ;-)

I remember when we first moved to Mason and it was operating. Our church had a small scale amplifier and speaker system so the congregation could hear the sermon. I am quite sure it was not a radio based system, just simple amplification. But for some reason, if the weather conditions were right we all either heard WLW-R broadcast through the building or broadcasts from VOA. Whatever our pickup methods were they came though loud and clear. Frankly I think it was the type of microphones used. Their signals just dominated due to the power.

I also remember when my dad's uncle had a small farm near the WLW Everybody's Farm in Mason from which they originated agricultural associated broadcasts. My uncle said during their 500,000 watt broadcast days, the incandescent lights in his chicken coops would glow even when the power was turned off, and you could get a tingle from the fencing around his property even though it was not electrified.