By GENE KEMMETER
of The Gazette
Anne Klesmith is a public health nurse in Portage County. She's been one since the early 1970s when the county and city of Stevens Point health departments merged.
She was working at St. Michael's Hospital when Ruth Gilfry, the county's first public health nurse, asked her to join the county's health department to work on improving public health.
Gilfry, described as "gentle in nature but fierce in spirit," worked to bring immunizations and tuberculosis testing to schools. She would stop at houses where she saw diapers on the clothesline and offer help. Klesmith tries to follow in Gilfry's footsteps.
Klesmith's 85 now and isn't about to retire. When Portage County officials talked to her about retiring because she had reached the retirement age, she quit and went out on her own to continue working for public health.
A congenital heart condition has put her in the Portage County Health Care Center. She now uses a walker to get around but that isn't slowing her down as she remains concerned with issues about health care.
Gazette: How did you get into the health care field?
Klesmith: "I was working at the Banta Corp. in Menasha when World War II broke out and I joined the Cadet Nurses Corps in 1943 and went to Wausau for public health education.
"Because I was one of the older cadets, I was selected as one of the nurses to work in public health nursing. When I got married (to the late Felix Klesmith), I worked nights at St. Michael's Hospital. When the children got older, Ruth Gilfry came to the house and asked me to work with her as a county nurse. She helped develop my philosophy that we had to look at the families.
"Ruth developed the school health program and, the county wanted to cut that out. We said they shouldn't and they didn't, although the schools have had to come up with the money to fund it now. It's very important.
"When you look at the groups of children, I just feel so strongly the school system is so important to the economy. We need to provide so they can get into the work force."
Gazette: Was there any other factor that may have triggered your involvement in public health?
Klesmith: "My older sister had Down's syndrome and that interested me in public health. In the old days, people would ridicule people with mental handicaps. I remember walking with her and people would make comments to her. I would get so angry.
"My mother had died and my father and I both worked so we had to put her in Northern Colony (an institution for mentally handicapped people) and she lived until she was into her 50s, which is a long time for people with Down's syndrome.
"That's another whole element of the society that I have a commitment to, those with mental handicaps.
"We have to alert the public to the greatest need. We can't just close our eyes to it. You've got my all. I didn't die when I prayed to die. I don't have to give up my call and give up my access to the public."
Gazette: Many people your age have retired to a quieter life, but you've maintained the pace you had throughout your employment years. How do you keep going?
Klesmith: "I can't retire. My focus is on helping people. People need a good public health system. I ask if Ruth Gilfry was here, what would she say. What we need today is government funding so we can insure good public health and turn the tide on what's happening.
"We have the pressure groups that are providing for the elderly. For me the focus is on the children, on the youth. They have to develop the skills.
"Look at the growing population of elderly needing services and the youth who are working is getting smaller. The ratio isn't there to support the seniors."
Gazette: Before you were stricken with your heart problems, you had sold your home and moved into the Maples Too Motel, 3416 Church St., Stevens Point, to work with the homeless. What is the homeless situation in Portage County?
Klesmith: "I moved into the Maples Motel to work with poor people. They weren't getting any assistance because they fell through the cracks. I would loan them money, and I got a few people in the community to give up some money so we had a fund to give them food or shelter.
"Agencies are closed at 4 p.m. on Friday and don't open again until Monday morning, so they need help. I had a woman come in with a baby and she needed help to get diapers. We have fractured families with so many problems and it was really a rescue mission.
"What we really need here is a rescue mission for weekends when agencies aren't open. The Salvation Army can't take all those in need. We're looking to help those that are unable to get help. I don't gamble, but I've asked my kids to spend a dollar a week on the lottery. If I win, we'll get a rescue mission.
"We need a qualified staff to deal with druggies and the mentally ill. We can't find people sleeping outside and just put them on a bus for the South where it's warmer. People in the South don't want to deal with another group of our 'snowbirds.'
"Now that I don't have a car to get around, I haven't been able to get over to the Maples to find out what's going on. I'll have to do that soon."
Gazette: What do think the public can do to improve that situation, as well as dealing with other health problems?
Klesmith: "We have to look at the schools and the great needs for children to become skilled people. Because of the cuts (in school funding), what will happen to the preparation of these children. We've made strides. We have improved the situation where kids can get into the skills.
"I see children building houses for Habitat for Humanity and I think we need more of that. What can we do for the kids?
"John Cundiff, a New York journalist, wrote 'Americans are poor problem solvers' and those words have stuck with me through the years. I agree with him.
"When you attach moneys to a program so a politician is elected, that only helps a few people. I see the have-nots and a greater number of them and wonder how do you change things. That's my concern."
Gazette: Now that you're living at the Health Care Center, you've witnessed the situation for many of the elderly. What concerns has this situation raised?
Klesmith: My major concern living here is the needs of the elderly and especially what we need here. When the Health Care Center Committee met here for dinner, I went to meet with them early and let them know what I felt.
"The Alzheimer's patients are interspersed with other people and what we need is a separate Alzheimer's wing. If we had some way of getting a wing to move them out of here, I think it would be important to the staff.
"We have needs here. The government interference, the ratio of the staff puts heavy burdens on everyone. They burn out. I had that at the hospital. We need to look at the pressures here for the staff, to make it more comfortable for them to do their jobs.
"There's also religious issues. I want an apostolate of the dying, an ecumenical group of all religions. There was a lady dying three doors down from me and I didn't know it. I could have gone in there to pray with her in her last days. Or the apostolate could have.
"People come in here and many don't have family. We used to have parish visitors, but they were all older people and many have died now. The younger people are so involved with their own lives, they don't have time.
"There is a need for parish visiting. St. Joseph Parish used to have Sister Alexine, but she's retired now. There are some people who come, but the apostolate could be ecumenical to visit all, whether they're Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist or whatever.
"If I know about someone, I have friends that I can call if there is some need, but I can't keep up with everyone."