Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 26, 1994 TAG: 9411280044
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Although Dillon, now 54, had to be cut out of the remains of her car, she was not admitted to the hospital after being checked over in the emergency room. Something went wrong with the X-rays, she said, and no one knew she was being sent home with a fractured sternum, pelvis and ribs and a ruptured spleen.
After suffering dizzy spells and blackouts, she was admitted the next day. Her spleen was removed, and she has seen numerous doctors since then for her other problems, which seem to be getting worse.
The hip, which has become arthritic, and the depression, the result of her illness and the loss of her job, are severe enough that Dillon's doctor thinks she should be allowed to qualify for Supplemental Security Income disability payments. But her first request was turned down, and the second request still is pending.
Despite the fact that Dillon is virtually crippled some days, both by the physical pain and by the depression, she is working hard to have her application approved.
If her request is granted, Dillon will have to live on $446 a month, much less than the $2,000 a month she made while she was working.
Her employer, the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, held her job open for 15 months after her accident, and some of her co-workers donated leave time to her in case she would be able to return. But when it became obvious that she could not, Dillon said, her employment and her medical benefits were terminated. Since that time, she has incurred several thousands of dollars in debt to hospitals.
Dillon hopes she will be able to qualify for a pension through the VA, which would bring in $910 a month. Her SSI benefits would be cancelled, she said, but the pension would give her twice as much income. That, too, is being held up by paperwork.
In the meantime, Dillon has been trying to get along on $157 a month from the Roanoke County Social Services Department and $115 a month in food stamps. Her house payment is $400, she said, and her family helps with that.
Dillon has given up on seeing her doctors, she said. "I'm just frazzled out by doctors." None of them seems to know how to make her feel better, she said. Although Social Services gives her $200 a month toward medical expenses, she often must choose between seeing a doctor and buying her medication. Most of the time, she said, she chooses the medication.
Other programs also have given money to Dillon, including the Presbyterian Community Center. Roanoke Area Ministries has provided her with emergency assistance for her electric and telephone bills with money raised through the Good Neighbors Fund. But Dillon is running out of resources.
"It's getting tough," she said. "I go from day to day." She tries to conserve what little she has, but "there's nothing much left to waste."
Checks should be made payable to Good Neighbors Fund and mailed to Roanoke Times & World-News. P.0. Box 1951, Roanoke 24008.
Names - but not amounts of donations - of contributing businesses, individuals or organizations, as well as memorial and honorific designations, will be listed in the newspaper. Those requesting that their names not be used will remain anonymous. If no preference is stated, the donor's name will be listed.
Gifts cannot be earmarked for any particular individual or family. Gifts are tax-deductible.
Friday's contributors included:
Eric and Diane Lawson, in memory of Jessie Holton
Gary and Mary Pat Metz, in honor of Nellie Rose Spickard
Elta R. Hayden
Ann McAlpin, in memory of her husband, David F. McAlpin
Calvary Baptist Foundation
Robert and Pat Lewis, in memory of J.E. Thurman and V.E. Lewis
W.B. Shepard, in memory of Hazel A. Shepard
Don, Mike, Val, Matt, Elizabeth, Ryan and Jason, in memory of their wife, mother and grandmother, Betty J. Morris
Gladys S. Tayloe, in honor of in honor of all veterans
Malcolm R. Cutler, in memory of Richard E. Carter
Ruth Pugh
ANONYMOUS DONATIONS$125
SUBTOTAL$1,585
TOTAL AS OF 11/25/94$3,980
by CNB