Jim Hill: Reagan spends quiet night in the hospital

Jim Hill

CNN Correspondent Jim Hill has been at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, monitoring former U.S. President Ronald Reagan's recovery from a broken hip.

Q: How concerned should people be about the possibility of a complete recovery for the former president?

HILL: About 350,000 Americans break their hips each year. It is a concern with the elderly because of slow healing, overall health complications and a lack of mobility that they can suffer without a complete recovery.

Q: Have any friends, relatives or loved ones visited Reagan at the hospital?

HILL: His wife, Nancy Reagan, has been with the former president since the accident at the Reagan home in Bel Air, California, and accompanied him to the hospital and has been at his bedside, according to a family spokeswoman. We have not seen any evidence of visitors coming to the hospital and Mr. Reagan apparently spent a quiet night.

Q: Have you seen any gathering of concerned people outside the hospital?

HILL: The family spokeswoman Joanne Drake has requested that people send their best wishes, donations and so forth to the Ronald Reagan Foundation rather than by coming to the hospital or sending flowers. Also the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library is in Simi Valley, California, which is perhaps 30 miles from the hospital here and people may want to go to that area rather than come to the hospital.

So, we have not seen anyone gathering here to receive word on the president's health. There's no gathering, no vigil. Earlier this morning, we walked into the hospital and found the welcoming area virtually deserted. There is a night desk person, and other than that it was deserted.

Q: How heavy is the reporter coverage where you are, outside the hospital?

HILL: There are, I would say, a half a dozen news crews that have taken positions outside the hospital overnight.

Q: What is the latest word on Reagan's health?

HILL: Mr. Reagan, according to Drake, arrived at the hospital alert, in good humor and in stable condition. We do know that Mr. Reagan's health has been in decline from Alzheimer's disease since 1994, when he announced in an emotional letter to the American people that he had the disease and would be stepping down from public life. His continued decline because of Alzheimer's disease has forced him to make his trips to his Los Angeles office much less frequent in recent years.

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Saint John's Health Center
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library

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