In 1984, Charity hospital elevators in the central area were operated by residents from an organization that cared for the “mentally challenged.” Whenever you got on the elevator their job was to manually close the elevator door and program the elevator for the floor that you requested. Normally this was not a problem, unless the person running the elevator was having a bad day or did not like you. Then you may in the stopping on every floor except the one he wanted to get off that. Usually, as a resident, we are in a hurry to get where we were going and couldn’t place, time. Therefore, was to the physicians benefit to ingratiate themselves to the elevator operator. Around 1985 or 1986, the elevators were upgraded to automatic elevators similar to most that we are familiar with today. However, as the state still had a contract with the “mentally compromised” elevator operators, therefore, even though all that was required was to push a button, they were still in control of the elevator. It took a couple of years before their contract ran out and that particular job was deemed unnecessary.
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