The last pint of blood

[Cyrano]

A few months ago, one of my neighbors, a lady in her mid-80s, moved into a senior care center. She’s a wonderful lady who is fully with it mentally, but can’t physically care for herself any longer. (And she’s on Medicaid which our prick of a Florida Governor, Rick Scott, is trying to take away from her.)

I stopped by yesterday to say hi, and she asked me to read her phone bill which she could not understand. (Her eyesight is failing.) There was an extra charge on the bill for $3.25.

I called AT&T and found out that the charge was because she had asked an operator for help in reaching a number she was calling. I asked if they could wave it due to her circumstances. The answer was, “fuck off,” although the actual words used were, “We don’t do that.” (In olden times, thieves used a mask and a gun. Now they just send you a bill.)

The care center she is in takes her entire social security check, but lets her keep $35 a month. It’s not enough for her to get her hair washed, dried and set each week. (Friends chip in so that she can have a phone.)

For anyone who doesn’t yet get it, there is no longer a social safety net when you get old. Dignity in old age is a thing of the past. Our government has sold us out. And while the Republicans would call this lady “a welfare queen,” the Democrats don’t seem to give a rat’s ass if she lives or dies.

Those who rule us really do want that last pint of blood. It’s about all that far too many have left, but what the hell. It’s probably worth something in the “free market.”

[patrice]

1. My family could tell you horror stories that add up to:

Elder care is such a pressure-cooker; there is such a high HIGH level of need all of the way across the economic spectrum; answers are so very very specific to the tiniest little personal details; staffing shortages in nursing and amongst CN/MAs are so intense; and people are so needy and hence accepting of answers, ANY answers, even wrong ones or CYA answers, that valid care which authentically and appropriately supports quality of life requires such absolute and utter diligence that most families are NOT able to provide, no matter whether their loved one is in somekind of care facility, in transition, or at home. And, believe it or not, money does not necessarily buy you what you need and you may not recognize that fact until it's too late and you're faced with some very very hard end-of-life decisions that involve systemic dependence upon the use of morphine.

[patrice]

8. Read this: "Wait and see until it's too late to do anything about it and then

get hospice to carry the ball and a preacher to make everyone feel okay, even good, about it all."

I'm not saying that is the conscious intent of individuals, but, rather, something that is much more powerful; it's the system in which "care" is supposed to occur.

[BeFree]

16. Saw it happen with both my folks

And I wondered if it was best.

I think it was. There really was no other course.

Thankfully, both had loving family around who knew the end was near and were ready to accept.
There was no suffering once the drip commenced. I only hope I am so lucky?

[RoccoR5955]

2. That's it...

When I get too old to care for myself, I'll just suck a tailpipe, and be done with it! Less of a burden all around.

[patrice]

4. Sorry to say, there may very well be some people who are consciously or otherwise counting on that

"solution".

[formercia]

5. That's what the boys want you to do.

Be creative.:evilgrin:

[onethatcares]

6. problem with that.

sometimes we slip a little and don't notice the downhill progression.

Trust me, I thought of that too but when is too early?

[Cyrano]

7. For so many, suicide is preferable to old age and/or helplessness.

That really tells us the horrifying truth about what America has become.

[patrice]

9. It's so bad that I personally have heard Director-of-Nursing in LTC, a job that easily STARTS at

very high-five or even six figures, called "The Worst Job in the World."

[jmowreader]

10. Money isn't everything

I don't care if it was a seven-figure job. It would still be horrific.

[patrice]

15. We found that who the individual person you are dealing with in LTC makes more of a difference than

how much they make.

Exactly who that person is, what kind of personality s/he has, is what makes all of the difference in the world in what happens when someone answers a call-light.

[demodonkey]

22. Definitely my plan, after having to deal with medical predators because of my mother's illness.

Money drives our whole health "care" system. Pretty much no one really cares about anything except MONEY.

Without an adult child or someone to act as your advocate against the medical system, you are nothing but a piece of meat to these predators. Death would be far preferable.

[BeHereNow]

3. As the adage goes- you can best judge a society...

by the way it treats the elderly and the children.

We register a massive FAIL on that measuring stick.

BHN

[Cyrano]

23. I guess I'd go a little further than "FAIL."

We are being ruled by barbarians. And the damned thing is that, no one seems to know how to change it (short of a second American Revolution).

[LiberalEsto]

11. When a friend of mine moved into assisted living

3 or 4 years ago (Sunrise Assisted Living), she was in a regular wheelchair without a motor. She was unable to push herself around in it beyond moving around her new apartment. When I visited her a couple of days after the move, she told me she hadn't eaten since moving in.

They wanted her to pay an attendant $3 one way to push her to the dining hall! And she didn't have the money, so she didn't get to eat. In other words she would have to pay $6 to be pushed to every meal. What an outrage!

My friend was too meek and too ill to make a complaint, but I called our minister, who straightened out the management immediately. I went out and got food. A few days later my friend got a motorized wheelchair, possibly through medicare or some charity.

[MouseFitzgerald]

12. I know senior citizens

who are eating cat food to survive. No joke.

[Cyrano]

13. No, it's not a joke. I see it in the supermarket.

I have run into a couple of people in the supermarket who live in the same complex in which I do. And I see cat and dog food in their carts, but they don't own pets.

Welcome to a very ugly, uncaring, despicable America.

And welcome to DU, MouseFitzgerald.

[BeHereNow]

14. I agree with "Ugly & Despicable."

I listen to Washington Journal every morning.
Some of the callers know the tune and can call it what it is,
but a surprising number of callers are hateful, ignorant fucktards
who blame their economic woes on people who use food stamps.
You know, elderly citizens who can't afford to eat.
Or young people, who are increasingly living in squatter communes
because they can't get a job at Starbucks or McDonalds.

We are a disgrace as a nation when senior citizens and children and young adults are hungry,
unemployable (with or without college/high school degrees) and let's not even get into healthcare.

Meanwhile, the never ending wars continue- no funding problems there.
That people like the Palin clan, and other millionaire pop icons, are even given airtime is disgusting
and an insult to the people who are suffering in this country.


BHN

[Wilms]

17. ^

:cry:

[Lilyhoney]

18. Please help your friend to sign up for free phone...link...

https://www.safelinkwireless.com/Safelink/

Since she has Medicaid, she will qualify for the free phone with free minutes. This is a great program. She can enroll online or a paper application can be found at the health department. It only takes about two days to get the phone.

Please help her to get on this program. Then her friends can save their money or help her to get her hair done.

Lilyhoney

[Ilsa]

19. You are awesome! Thank you. nt

[demodonkey]

20. Except some rotten nursing homes won't let residents have cell phones...

... I had horrible issues with several of them on this when my mother was in there for therapy. My mother wanted to bring her cell phone with her, and we were told NO. If she wanted a phone she would have to pay a $35-50 connection charge for a landline -- even if she was only going to be there for a few days.

It seems that other residents, often with dementia, steal the little phones (and other objects.) The for-profit nursing homes claim they "can't afford" enough staff to keep an eye on the residents who wander. It's easier for them to tell everyone "no cell phones." Oh, and maybe they get a commission (kickback) from AT&T or some similar corp when their residents have to pay numerous fees to get and keep a landline connected.

[Cyrano]

21. Thanks for the info, Lilyhoney

I'll get it done for her. It's not a cellphone, so there shouldn't be a problem.