Spring Break
Bailey remains hospitalized
Brian R. Coburn
Issue date: 4/23/07 Section: Inside WCC
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Bailey, who was scheduled to officially retire from his post as an English professor at U-M at the end of the year, has remained in the U-M Hospital's intensive care unit since the accident.
Bailey was out to lunch with a friend and driving east on Pauline Boulevard when another car crashed into his driver side door, badly injuring him. According to the official police report on the incident, the other driver disregarded a red signal at the corner of Pauline and Seventh and struck Bailey's car, sending it off the road and into a sign post.
While Bailey was rushed to the hospital with broken ribs, bruised lungs and a fractured pelvis, the other driver refused hospital attention. Bailey's friend suffered only minor cuts. The police report states drugs and alcohol weren't a factor in the accident.
Since the accident, Bailey still doesn't have the ability to communicate verbally and remains on a ventilator. He began occupational therapy at the beginning of April and doctors predict a full recovery.
Bailey's wife, Julia Huttar Bailey, acknowledged in a broadcast message sent on March 26 that her husband's road to recovery will be a long one.
"He does seem to get a little better each day," she wrote. "But we don't anticipate a straight incline. There will be bumps on the road, and it's going to be a while yet till we can really bust him outta there."
Huttar Bailey established a website for her husband on CarePages.com. On it, Bailey's family and friends can write messages to wish him well and also receive updates from Julia and Bailey's son, Andrew, who flew in from England to support his father throughout the recovery process.
Bailey, 67, has been on the WCC Board of Trustees since 1974. To underscore his status as beloved member of the WCC community, the school's most recent library is named after him and currently displays an extensive feature of him near its entrance.
WCC President Larry Whitworth used his allotted time at the March 27 Board of Trustees meeting to wish Bailey well.
"We are following his recovery with rapt attention," Whitworth said. "The outpouring of sympathy has been incredible."
Whitworth encouraged those attending the meeting to visit Bailey's CarePages site and said he looked forward to the day Bailey returned to his seat on the board.
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