{This is the first article in my new series, Wednesday’s
Woman. Each week I will feature a story
of an inspiring woman. If you know someone
who should be featured, please let me know!}
 |
| Corrie Ortner |
Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing to do. But to hold it
together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true
strength.
~Maya Angelou
When I came up with the idea for Wednesday’s Woman, the
first person I thought of was my friend Corrie Ortner. I met Corrie on a Dave Matthew’s Band message
board about seven years ago. We connected
instantly online, met up for a few DMB shows, and visited each other a few
times before I left California in 2006.
We haven’t seen each other since a brief Spring Break meeting in Las
Vegas in 2007 because she is in Oregon and I am in Ohio. But we keep a close watch over each other on
Facebook.
December 27, 2011, Corrie
posted her first update about her elderly neighbor, who I will call Sandra (name changed for anonymity).
What started out as an update about a quick trip to Sandra's home to help her find her lost
phone, has turned into a series of updates about an elderly woman who is a
domestic violence survivor, scholar, aromatherapist, world traveler, and
hoarder. Corrie and her 10 year old
daughter are cleaning out Sandra's home.
Corrie doesn’t have to do this. Sandra didn’t ask for help.
Facebook Update, December 27, 2011:
OK, friends. I need help. I just went over to my neighbor's
to help her find her phone. . .She’s elderly and lives on SSI. Her place is in
horrid condition. It looks like an episode of hoarders but all garbage-mostly
paper stacked higher than the bed with a few paths going through. It's a small
place-probably 450-500 sq feet-like a studio apt. . . She lives there with her
dog-it doesn't look like she's washed her bedding or clothes in months. She
also has bad pain (hip and knee) problems as well as depression issues. I want to
find a way to get her help-or get a group of people together to go in and help
her clean up. It seems like she wants to get it cleaned up... Ideas,
suggestions anyone?
Corrie received supportive comments on her December 27th
update and promises from locals to help. Friends from far away promised to send donations to put towards cleaning supplies.
Facebook Update, January 6, 2012:
Operation clean up the neighbor's house commences this
weekend! DHS got involved and will check in again in a week and a half. I'd
like to get it cleaned up and give her the chance to keep it that way through the
next visit. Any help is greatly appreciated-we'll probably work Saturday and
Sunday and into Monday and Tuesday if necessary. This won't be an easy task and
will involve long sleeves, grubby clothes, gloves, and a dust mask if you're
sensitive to dust, dander, etc. If you can't help with cleaning, any donation
of cleaning products, boxes, garbage bags, etc would be appreciated. LMK if you
can help out!
She's a very nice lady-this is a great opportunity to help
someone in our community in need.
***
Subsequent updates included the fact that she and her 10 year-old daughter had begun the clean-up and it was worse than what
they imagined.
But there is progress being made.
And Corrie will continue until the job is done.
 | ||||||
| Corrie in her respirator |
***
I contacted Corrie via Facebook last week asking her if it
would be OK to feature her story here.
Following are excerpts from her replies:
Sure! Any awareness of the ordeals seniors go through in our
society is very welcome! More updates later-I'm off to clean again right now.
I'll take some progress pictures!
AND
Wanted to send a quick update with more info than I share on
my posts. I'm overwhelmed by the amount of support. Sandra told me today that
she really can't believe that all of these people who don't even know her are
so generous. I told her that she had earned it.
My sister sent me $75 to help with supplies and my
respirator. Someone I haven't seen in over 25 years has offered to pay to have
her carpet cleaned or replaced. Another friend (in Oklahoma) is sending some
money, underwear, socks, and toiletries. My aunt is sending a check on Monday
to help with everything. I'm so touched-I can't even begin to explain how
amazing all of this is. I wish I had more help from the local community, but I
don't know a lot of people here so it's tough to get out there and find people
to help.
I spent over an hour on the phone on Friday being referred
from agency to agency, being given numbers to call for this, getting promises
to call back, reaching agencies that are there to help seniors only to have to
listen to a quickly spoken message with a lot of press 1 now, etc. After this,
I'm not surprised that there are so many seniors in this country who don't
receive help. Many are afraid that they'll be carted off to a home (the last
resort), but I can't imagine how anyone with any type of cognitive or hearing
impairment (many seniors) can navigate this system when I had a difficult time
.
. . . Friday I found a water damaged purse in the closet where her water
heater had flooded. It was a really cool hand tooled "hippie"
purse-among the mushed molded papers, I found a menu from a pizza place in
Queens, a flyer from a flea market at Picadilly Circus in London, two crystals,
baggage claim tags from JFK, and a notebook. In the notebook, there was an
entry from 1990 that went something like this: "Here I am in Sisters. I am
safe and I am OK. I will be positive and do everything I can to save money until
I can afford to move continue on with my life." Yet she's still here. She
has two PhDs. Went to Stanford. Grew up in Pasadena and New York. Has lived in
Atlanta, England (where she was an aromatherapist), NY, CA, and retired to Bend
to train dogs. She left an abusive relationship to move to Sisters and left
everything behind in the process. In sorting through her stuff, I've found half
of her dishes are Waterford.
The details about her life are just what she's told me-I
don't know if it's exaggerated or not, but by that age, I think that we all
should be able to live out the rest of our life believing whatever we need to
believe to keep us going. I keep finding more and more tidbits that confirm her
facts. It's really amazing.
***
Being unemployed, Corrie faces many challenges in helping Sandra. She doesn’t have the resources that would make helping Sandra a little easier. What Corrie does have is a genuine compassion
for those who have suffered and struggle to live. She puts her feelings of compassion into
action. This is something so many of us
fail to do. We spread the word, we
send money, we write. How many of
us respond to someone in need with action? We know of at least one. Her name is Corrie Ortner.
Corrie Ortner is Wednesday’s Woman.
