Eddy - The Mayor of Montauk Manor
By Beverly Maher
I had just
closed my chicken and rib restaurant. I am not a person who enjoys sitting
idly. I found an ad in the paper to be your own boss and sell a product that
was advertised to be the best product for your skin. The company was Newskin. I
liked the idea that I may be able to work from home. I contacted the promoter,
he invited my partner Bob, and I to come to his home, meet his wife, and see
what the company could offer me to promote the product. They were in West
Babylon, not far from my own family. When we pulled up to the house, there was
a farm stand just to the left of the house. It was dark, so we were not able to
see much. They were a nice couple. Joe was younger than Joanne was. He was
promoting Newskin she was supporting his venture. In our conversation, Bob and
I learned the farm stand was a mutual venture. We were also informed; Joanne
owned and operated five adult homes on Long Island as well. Ambitious and
interesting people. I liked the product. I told them I would try it and signed up.
I had been doing it for a few weeks when I mentioned I was looking for part
time work to supplement my income between sales. Joe mentioned his wife was
looking for an administrator for one her homes in Lindenhurst. I called Joanne
and she told me to come down the next day to find out the details. We walked
around the huge house and she told me what she expected of an administrator. I
met the residents they seemed gentle enough. They greeted me with smiles. The
cloud of smoke that greeted me was surprising. The main door, which was
actually the back door, enters into the smoking room. They had coffee cups and
there was not much conversation going on. Most of them looked disheveled,
whiskers on their chins. Some could use a shower. Joanne explained how the
state regulated the home and everything had to be to the state's standards. The
state regularly visited the home to ensure the safety of the residents. The
house had a capacity for 29 beds, meaning 29 residents could occupy the home at
one time. Joanne had 24 filled and it was very important to fill the rest. That
would be the administrator's responsibility. I met the cook, who doubled as the
aide, and I met the housekeeper. It was a good feel. I wanted to take on the
challenge and asked Joanne when I could start. I had not mentioned to Jim or
Joanne that I was leaving Bob. I was considering living in Suffolk County to be
near my family already. I was waiting for the School year to
be finished for Lauren, my special needs daughter. I started the next Monday.
The last state visit was posted on the wall and I took it to my desk. There
were 80 violations on it. I knew that would be my priority, both to learn the
violations and to fix the violations. I left the door open to be able to listen
to goings on outside my door. The smoking room was right outside the door.
While I was reading, I heard a faint knock at my door. A man's head peaked in
and asked if I had a minute. Sure, come on in. "I'm Eddy." He stated.
"I'm Beverly, come in and have a seat, I replied." Eddy went on to
tell me how he became a resident of Montauk Manor. His substantive demeanor was
impressive. I certainly was curious as to why he was here. He was a man of
about 60. Too young to be one of the elderly residents. Montauk Manor was
diversely mixed with elderly residents, some Vets that were elderly, but most
of the residents were mentally ill. Eddy told his story.
"I was
married for 25 years. I got depressed a lot. I kept losing jobs. One day I
broke down and did not want to do anything. They put me in a hospital and put
me on Lithium. It started to get better, but my wife did not want me back. We
had a daughter. She is such a good daughter! She lives in the
neighborhood!" His voice had a pitch, one you would hear if someone was
from the city. "I go to her house and I get to see my grandkids, we have
dinner together, it's great!" "That is nice Eddy." He was clean,
he was shaved, his matching outfit seemed out of place at Montauk Manor. I
found out the residents called him the mayor. I could understand why.
For the next
couple of months I was very busy. I found a book for case management and found
out that I would have to write about all the residents and keep up to date any
and all issues corresponding to them. I would take some time out of my day to
leave the office and talk to the residents. I informed Joe and Joanne that I
lost interest in selling Newskin. I was excited about the new venture. Rob was
25 years old. A handsome young man. He was clean and never had to be reminded
to take a shower. He wore very nice clothes. As I would learn he would receive
a package from Florida, where his parents lived. His mother made sure he had
everything he needed to keep up with his appearance. Rob was one of the few
residents who did not need to borrow money for cigarettes and coffee right
after they received their allowance. That was a common theme. I would see this
throughout my adult home experiences with the exception of Merryville.
Merryville was an adult home that specialized in Alzheimer's and Parkinson victims.
Rob paced; he walked with a tempo. He did not speak. He knew how, he just chose
not to. He would answer if spoken to, but only single syllable answers. He
would awaken at around 8am, have breakfast and start pacing. He would go to his
room walk to the end, turn around and walk to the living room. He would get to
the end, turn around, and walk to the smoking room. He would have a cigarette
standing and start pacing again. He did this all day long only stopping to eat
and nap. His mother would occasionally call to speak to him. He simply answered
in one syllable, yes, no. I spoke to his mother on a few occasions before I
handed him the phone. She told me the medication he was on now was a miracle
med. He used to be uncontrollable, at least now he was calm.
Josephine was
a gas. She would walk all over town. All she wanted to do was work and earn
money so she could buy coffee and cigarettes. She worked for Joanne. Joanne had
a flower stand right next to Montauk Manor. When she needed Josephine at the
farm stand next to the house, Josephine would walk the distance and work for
the day. She was very small and frail looking. Her work ethics were
extraordinary. She had the ability to work long hours even on hot days.
Josephine was outgoing, very friendly. My sister came by once with a couple of
her daughters and they loved Josephine's banter. She told them how beautiful
they were. She shared a few funny stories with everyone. We all chuckled.
Josephine was on medication for depression and anxiety. At that time, she was
compliant with her medication and she was able to function in her day-to-day
life. In private, she would tell me stories of her many mood swings and why her
family was not anxious for her to live with them.
We had a few
vets in the house. They were sweet, soft spoken and polite. They smoked and
drank coffee throughout the day. The aide had to guide them to take showers and
change their clothes. She would also shave them when she was not cooking. The
housekeeper was good. Montauk Manor was a mansion and she was expected to keep
up with all the residents' rooms. I discovered through the violation sheet how
important it was to make sure the residents were not doing anything like using
extension cords irresponsibly. The cook and I would help Helena, the
housekeeper in the afternoons, after lunch. Helena would assist with the lunch.
After we changed all the curtains in the living room and had it painted we
started tackling the bedrooms. If they needed painting, we had Joanne set up
the painter. We would do curtains and drapes, depending on the need. Before we
knew it, Montauk Manor was looking like a real home.
That summer I
decided to create a garden and grow the vegetables for the residents. Joe came
over and roto tilled the grass covered area that would be our garden. I chose
the area in the back, outside the smoking room window. I wanted the residents
who did not go out to watch the progress of the garden. I worked hard to clean
out the grass and get the soil ready. Eddy would be smoking his cigarette and
watching me. The vets would be outside watching, smoking, drinking from their
dirty Styrofoam cups. Eventually the garden was ready for planting. I planted
tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, string beans. I planted anything we could use in
the day to day cooking. The garden started to look like a vegetable garden. The
plants were growing and we were all able to see nature grow. Eddy was watching
me pick the weeds one afternoon and he announced, "We have a real victory
garden!" His daughter was picking him up that day and while he was
waiting, he said, "I am going to buy you a new pair of sneakers. Those
sneakers you are wearing are all worn." I smiled at his thoughtfulness. I always wore white keds in those days.
A couple of
weeks later Helena ran into my office. She told me that Eddy looked sick and to
come immediately to his room. After seeing Eddy, I called 911. They rushed him
to the hospital. His daughter called and kept us abreast of his progress. He
was having thyroid problems because of taking Lithium and would no longer be
able to take it. When he returned to Montauk Manor all were very happy to see
the mayor home again.
The state came
in and inspected our home. I received a few violations and I had fixed all the
old violations. One of the violations was that I was not a licensed
administrator. I applied for my administrative license. I had all the
qualifications except one. I did not have the experience in adult homes. This
was my first and only experience. I would need five years to fulfill that goal.
I was at Montauk Manor for one and one half years. I counted this towards my
license. I had a long way to go.
I worked in a
number of adult homes after that. Some hired me to assist with bookkeeping or
general assistant to the administrator for helping with correcting violations.
One hired me as a coordinator because they would not replace the incompetent
administrator they had. Sometimes I worked as an aide, just to get the time in.
Two years
after my time at Montauk Manor I was visiting my own daughter in Brunswick
Psychiatric Hospital. Lauren had started exhibiting signs of schizophrenia
while I was at Montauk Manor. It was difficult to find the right medication to
keep her from experiencing the strange world of mental illness. As I walked to
the back where the entrance was, I saw a man sitting on the stone bench with
the sun beating down on him. He was squinting and I kept staring to see why he
looked familiar. As I got closer, a smile started forming on my mouth. He was
covering his eyes with his hand to block the sun, but it was unmistakable. As I
got closer, I noticed he had at least a week of growth on his face, his clothes
were dirty and he looked disheveled. He was wearing a pair of sneakers. They
had no shoelaces; they were well worn and dirty. He noticed me. We smiled
together, when our eyes met. "Hello Eddy." "Well hello
there!" he said with that pitch in his voice. I did not ask why he was
here. "Nice sneakers Eddy!" I said. He looked down at the white keds and said,
"They're yours, I bought them for you that day I went with my daughter
shopping. Do you want them?" "No thank you Eddy, you keep them for
me.""Ok" he replied "Take care Eddy." I answered. I
walked into the hospital to visit my daughter, my eyes starting to well up. He
was gone when I came out. It is a sad world for the mentally ill.
