Makeup lessons become therapy 

After 8 strokes, heart attack patient relearns the skills needed for `Hap the Hobo' As an occupational therapist, Denise Elsey teaches stroke patients "activities of daily living." The goal is to return them to preavious levels in terms of balance and being able to dress and feed themselves. But one patient - Walter Holmes of Akron - had something more in mind when Elsey asked the 61- year - 0ld man - who has suffered eight strokes in five years as well as a recent heart attack - about his goals, he said he wanted to bse able to stand and wash dishes with his wife. But there was something more he longed to do. "He pointed to a picture on the wall an said, `I want to be able to do that again' " Elsey recalled. "I thought he meant he wanted to be able to paint." The picture was of a clown. The clown was Holmes. Holmes, who has diabetes and is legally blind because of a detached retina in theleft eye, had 25 years of professional clowning under his belt and was not ready to turn in his big, red nose. Elsey accepted the challenge, and she and Holmes went to work in earnest, with an emphasis on dexterity. "He needed to be able to tie balloons.But more importantly, he needed to be able to put on his own makeup," said Elsey, who lives in Green and works for Paul Kroh Home Health Inc. of North Canton. The service provides occupational and physical therapists in the home. "The neat thing about home care is being able to adjust the therapy to meet the patients needs