Franklin (Lou) Payment of Mona Shores describes his childhood as “idyllic.” The son of a Coast Guard officer, he lived on the shores of Lake Michigan all his life—at Charlevoix, Empire and even at the lighthouse at Pt. Betsie. When he graduated from CMU in 1962, however, his first job teaching was on Michigan’s east coast, in Bad Axe.
“It’s nice over there, but it’s not Lake Michigan,” he says. So, when an opportunity arose in 1965 at Mona Shores High School, he moved west to teach art.
In June 1973, Payment’s charmed life changed, ironically at the edge of his beloved lake. Diving off a seawall, his foot slipped, and he landed head first in shallow water. When he awoke in the ICU at Hackley Hospital, he was  “technically quadriplegic,” with limited use of his arms and hands.
Looking back, Payment says, “When you’re 33 and the summer sun is shining,
you think you’re impervious. Nothing bad is ever going to happen to you.” He remembers something else from that day. His principal visited him with a message, “Your job is waiting for you whenever you’re ready.”
For the next year, which Payment spent in hospitals—six months at Hackley and six months at University of Michigan Medical Center, undergoing therapy and surgery and more therapy—the faculty at Mona Shores and friends and family were busy getting ready for Payment’s return. They raised enough money to buy him a specially outfitted van and to make modifications to his home.
“When you have that kind of support,” he says, “You don’t give up.” So Payment went back to school in the fall of 1974, teaching art fromÆs reclining position in a wheelchair.
“I thought it would be hard on the kids, having a handicapped teacher, but they just took it all in stride,” he recalls. And teach is what Payment did, both art and theater, for 21 more years until he retired in 1995. Today, a vibrant 63, he continues his work in the theater, designing sets for both Muskegon Civic Theater and Grand Haven’s Central Park Players.
Although he lives independently with only occasional household help, Payment has from time to time suffered from pressure sores caused by the friction of wheelchair parts. These wounds have become so severe that they have sent him to bed for up to three months, curtailing all activities. During those times, Hackley Visiting Nurse Services has been there for him with in-home care for wound healing.
“Everybody’s so professional,” Payment says of the VNS, “They call between visits. And they are creative problem solvers, always looking for a way to help me to heal better.”
Rob Murray, RN, who is pictured here with Payment, has provided in-home care for him, in collaboration with Sue Carlson, R.N. one of three VNS wound specialists. “He’s a great guy to visit,” comments Murray. “He’s always positive and happy, always focuses on what’s going right.”
With the recent arrival of a new wheelchair designed to minimize the friction that leads to skin breakdown,Payment has been able to avoid pressure sores and was discharged from the HVNS service last fall, but he knows we’re always here if he needs us, just a phone call away, night—or day. |
