Bill Mandel Struck by Car

The terrible news is that Bill Mandel was hit by a car. I'm forwarding the following from Bob Mandel, Bill's son.

For those who know that his program was terminated, I'm pleased to report that Amelia Gonzalez and Tracy Rosenberg came up with a plan to have him have a 10 minute weekly commentary on KPFA. More on this when Bill recovers.

Bob wrote the following Tuesday evening to distribute to Bill's friends and comrades.

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Just got home. Was at hospital from noon till 6. He's mentally recovering very quickly; we'll see about the impact on an 88 year old body tho officially no bones are broken. The scary part was till 2 p.m. yesterday up to which he had no idea whatsoever of who he was, etc. He was talking in a mix of Yiddish, Russian and Polish. Today the difference is startling and Billness in every verbal/mental sense has returned with the qualifier that his short term memory has been in decline for quite a while now.
One bit of good news is that the accident was literally that and, according to the driver who hit him (who will remain nameless and anonymous and who has been helpful), it was not Bill's fault at all: he was walking in a crosswalk at about 6:00-6:30 and the guy just didn't see him. That's positive in that it indicates it was not failing memory or loss of focus on Bill's part that led to his being hit.

He's been in Highland ER all this time; tomorrow afternoon he will either be transferred to Kaiser Redwood City--preferred because in the Kaiser system they specialize in neurosurgery---or Oakland Kaiser. The Highland neurosurgeons are positive he needs no surgery at this point; but given our experience with Kaiser's innumerable mistakes and grotesque sloppiness' which debilitated mom for years (they missed her heart problem for a decade, at various times tried to give her medicines to which they knew she had fatal allergies, etc) we have been fighting like hell to get him into the Redwood City facility just in case....However, there are no beds available! So...

The immediate need now is for getting the very beginnings of physical rehab going. Sitting up, maybe walking with help a little, moving his arms and legs, seeing if he can turn his neck to the right where the damage to ear and head occured, etc.

Thanks to all for concern, thoughts, etc. Visitors will be welcome once he's in either of the Kaisers,

Bob Mandel

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--- Les Radke
--- (510) 669-1842
--- les [at] ix.netcom.com