WHO'S REALLY LOOKING AFTER THE ELDERLY, ANYWAY?
On purpose I remain close to many friends, a good portion dating back as far as elementary school days. And since I started kindergarten in September 1945, many of those friendships are over 60 years old.
As time has passed many of their parents have either died or are in their 80s and 90s and are now living somewhat challenged lives. When I hear about moms and dads, I think about the later years that my own mother and daddy went through, and especially the extra daily attention Patty and I gave my mom for the last ten years of her life.
Today I got an email from one of my friends, and she was telling me that her mom, although still able to live at home by herself, is finding things more challenging as dementia is setting in. For an example, she now has trouble operating her television set.
No longer are there a mere three important adjustment knobs on the TV -- on and off: volume; and channel selector. There's no doubt she could handle those by herself if that were all there were.
Instead, however, there's the remote that has countless buttons that are there to operate other components she doesn't even have. And then there is the problem of needing to also operate and adjust the cable or dish receiver.
I remember that one day my mom was no longer able to do that either. So, like my friend's mom, she was forced to stop watching television. It wasn't until she moved to the nursing home that TV returned as a part of her life, and even then she was at the mercy of an aid coming to change the channel.
The AARP plus countless other services and governmental agencies have as their reason for existence looking after older Americans.
Doesn't it seem they would spend time addressing and solving simple issues like TV adjusting for those whose rights they claim to be protecting?
