THE BLIND MAN

When they built our new hospital, they tried to make it as user friendly as possible. We have 4 entrances to the hospital for patients and family to come in...depending on where they are headed (OB/ER/Outpatient testing/Visiting).

Outside the outpatient testing and ER entrances...between the drive that cars can pull up to...and the sidewalk leading inside...they installed some red brick with little bumps on them. I thought the bumps were there so the brick could drain more easily after getting wet. Their purpose, I later found, is that they are essentially 'Braille' bricks...for those people who are blind, or visually impaired, to 'feel' when they are leaving one surface to another...(ie. off the drive and heading to the sidewalk...or vice versa).

Today, I passed by a new drug store being built near the hospital...and noticed they had similar bricks in their sidewalk...near the drive that leads to-and-from the street. I suppose this is to alert those who can't see...that they are no longer on 'safe' sidewalk...but rather crossing pavement that cars may enter or exit.

Anyway...I thought the concept was pretty neat. The more I thought of it...my mind took me back to the days when I was little, and I used to go to the post office in Vincennes with dad. Due to his work, he was at the post office almost daily. I recalled the blind man who had a little 10 x 10 cubby-hole in the corner of the post office...where he sold magazines and newspapers and gum, candy, etc. His name was Percy Nightingale.

While dad was in line at the windows to pick up mail or buy stamps or whatever...I'd go over by Percy and watch him as he dealt with his customers that came to see him. Percy was an older 'black' man and everyone knew him...calling him by name...and he knew many of them by the sound of their voice and would return their greeting by saying their name. I would watch Percy as he would listen to what they wanted from him...and then watch him walk to its exact location, pick the item up and walk back to the customer. They would hand him the money and...if it was a bill, Percy would feel it and could somehow tell if it was a $1 or $5 bill or whatever...apparently by it's shape or it's size...and he would then give them the appropriate change, wish them farewell and ask 'who's next?'

I was always amazed at how he was able to do all that...while not able to see...any of it.

My trips to the post office with dad were always an adventure...just watching Percy.


Dan