She was referring to Michael Halko, an energetic 90-year-old, known for his unkempt yard and his frequent bicycle runs through town, who found himself trapped in his squalor last week.
After someone called authorities Friday concerned that Halko had not been seen for a couple of days, an ambulance responded.
It took paramedics more than 10 minutes to locate him amid the piles of furniture, boxes, magazines, appliances, and trash that he'd accumulated over several decades.
Only his head was visible.
Halko's son and daughter-in-law arrived, and as they looked on, Norton firefighters formed a 14-person chain to pull the barely conscious and dehydrated Halko out of the mountain of debris. He was sent to Attleboro's Sturdy Memorial Hospital, where he was determined to be in stable condition.
Jim Dinsel, head of the town's Council on Aging for the past 20 years, said it was the most extreme case of self-neglect by a senior he had ever seen.
Yesterday Halko was staying in Attleboro with his son and daughter-in-law, who are trying to determine what to do about his Olympia Road house, which has been condemned by the town.
Diane Halko, his daughter-in-law, said in a brief telephone interview that her father-in-law "is doing all right." She said relatives were aware of the house's condition, but declined to speak further.
Neighbors said Halko had frequent visitors, including relatives who would check on him about once a week. Liu and another neighbor, Nick DelSanto, said the clutter in Halko's yard is hard to miss, but out of respect and deference to his age, they never admonished him to straighten things up.
"He's a nice guy. The last thing I wanted to do was make waves for him," DelSanto said. "I'm not one to tell people how to live their lives."
DelSanto and Liu said their neighbor was a regular sight around town, riding his bike and collecting cans, which he'd take to a supermarket to cash in for groceries.
Olympia Street is mostly single-family houses with neat lawns that surround Norton Common Cemetery.
Halko's home stands in stark contrast. Obscured by trees and brush, layers of trash and junk flow from the edge of the house in the front yard. A car and a truck, covered by tarps and clutter, rest behind a small, metal chair, where Halko would sit and chat with relatives, neighbors and the postal carrier, neighbors said.
Liu said Halko would salvage flower arrangements tossed from the cemetery and restore them for himself and to give as gifts for his neighbors.
"When I first heard the sirens, I was thinking 'Oh, I hope it's not Mike,' " Liu said.
As she heard firefighters breaking glass to get inside, Liu said she asked Halko's son why he didn't just give officials a key.
That was how she learned the house was so cluttered the front door could not be opened.
Norton Fire Chief Richard Gomes said the house was packed "wall-to-wall, and floor-to ceiling, except for the areas that it looked like he had been crawling over. There was no walkable space to get around the house. You had to crawl."
Town authorities condemned the house and ordered Halko and his family to clear it out so that a structural inspection could be done.
Dinsel, who is also director of Norton Human Services, said he reported Halko to authorities as an elder-at-risk, as required by state law, when informed of the conditions of the house.
He said Bristol Elder Services is available to provide meal and housekeeping services to seniors living alone.
Gomes and other area residents said they saw Halko around frequently and would ask him how he was doing. But Halko never gave neighbors any indication that his home was so dangerously cluttered.
"Everybody in town looked out for him," Liu said.
John C. Drake can be reached at jdrake@globe.com.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/09/17/man_90_pulled_from_mountain_of_clutter/
Pinned under 'junk'
BY SUSAN LaHOUD SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
Saturday, September 15, 2007 12:55 AM EDT
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| Norton Deputy Fire Chief Paul Schleicher walks through the trash-strewn front yard of 4 Olympia St., Norton, Friday afternoon. Norton firefighters performed a well-being check on the occupant of the house and found him beneath debris inside of his house. The 90-year-old resident was taken to Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro. (Staff photo by MIKE GEORGE) |
NORTON - Rescuers Friday had to dig a 90-year-old man out of a pile of debris that had fallen on him, trapping him for two to three days, in a house so full of rubbish it took firefighters about 15 minutes to find him.
Only Michael Halko's head was visible when firefighters did finally locate him in his home at 4 Olympia St, according to Fire Chief Richard Gomes.
After he was found, it took rescuers another 45 minutes to pass Halko out in a 13-person chain because there was no discernible path in the house.
Gomes described Halko as a "common figure," frequently seen biking around town.Police and firefighters had checked on the home after family members expressed concern for Halko's safety.
Halko was dehydrated and possibly bruised, but did not appear to have suffered serious injury, Gomes said. Halko was taken to Sturdy Memorial Hospital in Attleboro. A person in the emergency room Friday evening said that the hospital does not release information on a patient's condition.
Gomes said Halko's single-family home near the corner of Olympia Street and Route 123, next to Norton Crossing and which is largely obscured by trees and bushes, was filled "wall-to-wall, floor almost to ceiling with debris." There was anything from electronics to newspapers and magazines. Gomes said he would not be surprised if the stacks did not represent decades of collecting by Halko.
Under a law new this year, rescue personnel must report "self- neglect," Gomes said.
"This is the worse case of self-neglect I've ever seen and I've been on the job for 36 years," he said. He said Halko may have been trapped under the debris for a two to three of days.
Rescue personnel responded to the home Friday afternoon after a call from Halko's family seeking a well-being check, according to police.
A man who said he from the Attleboros and was later identified as Halko's son, Leonard, was at the house, waiting for help to secure the outside doors and windows about 5:30 p.m.
He described his father as reclusive. "He got himself stuck in his collection of junk," he said.
The younger Halko said the family had feared that his father, who has had triple bypass heart surgery, had suffered a heart attack after it was found that he hadn't collected his mail from the box in his yard for "several days."
Halko said his father doesn't drive and rides his bicycle everywhere. He also chops wood. "He's probably healthier than I am."
The younger Halko said he had not talked to his father since the incident, that they were going to visit him after getting the house secured as required by the town. He praised police and fire personnel for their response to the situation.
He said his father has been asked in the past to take care of the clutter, "but he shuffled it around, more than picked it up."
He attributed his father's habit of accumulating "junk" to having gone through the Depression.
A small portion of the yard which could be viewed from Olympia Street revealed piles of items. One of the many was topped by an aged yellow-and-white-striped patio umbrella. There was a vehicle hub cap resting aside a pile covered by a tarp. Others were indistinguishable heaps of material. There was also a clump of scraggly, plastic-potted flowers near the street.
"The inside was worse than the outside," said Gomes, who responded to the scene and called a special hazards unit as well as an engine from Mansfield for help in case the building collapsed. The units ended up largely acting as manpower to help bring the older Halko out of the house, he said.
Gomes said the situation, tactically, was treated similar to that of a collapsed structure because of the piles and piles of debris which firefighters were forced to walk on and around to get to Halko, extricate him from, and balance on to get the man outside the house to the ambulance.
"It's the first time we've handled it like a structural collapse in a home," he said. "We've seen some homes in poor condition, but this was the worst."
Gomes said both the building and the yard were condemned by the town's inspectors and no one will be able to live on the property until a plan for cleanup is submitted and approved. The structural integrity of the building will also have to be checked. It was cordoned off by emergency tape Friday.
Gomes said that he contacted the council on aging as well, so that regional services might be tapped to ensure Halko has a place to go following his release from the hospital and to receive follow-up services.
A neighbor, Cindy DelSanto, who has lived two houses down from Halko's for the past 10 years, said she had not known the man's name, but was familiar with him because he collects bottles and cans from neighbors. "He's a nice guy, very friendly," she said.
DelSanto said that much of the debris in the yard is hidden behind the bushes and that her family has never complained about the situation.
http://www.thesunchronicle.com/articles/2007/09/15/news/news1.txt
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The front yard of Michael Halko's home in Norton is also cluttered. Last week, Halko, 90, was found trapped under clutter inside. (ARAM BOGHOSIAN FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE) By John C. Drake, Globe Staff | September 17, 2007
