5 Comments

1. 

   georgia hedrick on November 27, 2011 at 3:47 pm

   Now that I am 72, I am on the ‘each one, reach one’ of the elderly. I am learning how much help is needed everywhere!!! Thank God for this new building.

   Let tell everyone what I just recently learned.

   The good part of this Thanksgiving was that my husband and I were invited out to another family’s Thanksgiving Celebration. Someone had reached out to us. The sad part is that ‘stuff happened’ on this Thanksgiving day that I cannot forget.
   And, thankfully, I learned two new things:
   1–the elderly are generally fearful and 2–many handicapped elderly couples do not take care of their living quarters, simply because they cannot.
   I did not plan on learning this. It just happened. Here is how it came to be:
   An elderly woman that we were to also take to this family dinner could not be reached by phone. We went to her house, only to learn that she had fallen and couldn’t get up. Because she was of the mindset that feared the outside world, her doors were double-locked. Only she had a key. She was inside; we were outside and we could hear her calling for help. We called 911 who had to enter by a second story window. When we got inside, I saw that she had vomited all over herself. I learned that she had been on the floor for 2 hours.
   Time was passing and the other elderly family that had invited us were hungry and waiting for us. Someone was appointed to help this elderly woman and to stay with her. We drove to the second couple, the oldest being 97. We carried the dinner there. (They could not travel.)
   We arrived and set up the Thanksgiving Dinner. That’s when I had my second discovery: grease and dirt and dust were everywhere. Because they had a dog, his hair was everywhere. But this couple could not clean because they were in motorchairs, due to medical problems. They could not reach and scrub their kitchen counters. They could not sweep their floor. Plus, their motorchairs (as they moved about) had caused nicks and dents and gashes in the walls. Saddest of all, they feared anyone they did not know so that they would not hire a cleaning service.
   Lesson #1 learned: Always give a copy of the key to your house to a neighbor you trust. This means that we must reach out to become that trustworthy neighbor. Lesson#2 learned: Find the elderly nearby. Make friends. Give a gift—to even one couple, perhaps of those automatic floor sweepers that move about freely, cleaning the area.
   We fight for the unborn and the about-to-be-born, as well we should. Yet, I wonder, why are we not fighting for those who are already born, have lived, grown old, and now are at the edge of entrance into the next life? Why are we not fighting for the preservation of Medicare and Social Security for the elderly as hard as we are fighting against abortion? Lastly, are we, at least, reaching out and checking up on just one other elderly person or couple nearby?
   EACH ONE REACH ONE. Let this be our battle cry as we move through our own Great and Final Adventure.
   gh

   • 

     jbf on November 27, 2011 at 4:01 pm

     Thanks for sharing this experience. I can’t help but think of what might have happened if you had intended to go there.
     I also appreciated you Lessons Learned.

     Thanks

2. 

   Georgia Hedrick on November 27, 2011 at 4:30 pm

   What scares me even more is: how many other frightened elderly people lived locked up inside their houses? Plus, this lady who fell had one of those buzzers hanging on her, but she was too frightened and almost hysterical to remember she had it.

   We have got to take care of our elderly more! The only way I know is: visit someone nearby who is older than you are.
   (My definition of elderly is: ‘you have less years to live than you have already lived.’ gh

3. 

   jbf on November 27, 2011 at 5:00 pm

   It makes all the more important to reflect on the series of articles about aging done by Sr.Maria Angeles
   http://famvin.org/en/2011/11/22/caring-for-elderly-sisters-challenges-in-light-of-our-charism/

4. 

   georgia hedrick on November 27, 2011 at 9:28 pm

   Love what is written! We need more or the quotes from the elderly who are biblical. We forget too easily! gh