Today's issue of the Carroll County, Maryland, Times shows today's date on A-5 as Saturday, April 11, 2010.. and on page A-6 as Saturday, April 10, 2010. This allows the reader to feel as though he or she is going back in time as they turn the page. What a pleasant gimmick for such a beautiful sunny, windy, 50-ish Spring day!
A wonderful thing happened today (or yesterday, as the case may be).. I lifted up a pile of old newspapers and found a copy of the non-defunct Weekly World News from September 18, 2006. (I loved that sheet!) Just look at the news items that I missed!
01. Giant Crocs Attack! Monster reptiles attacked monster trucks at a racetrack.
02. Old Folks live in Daughter's Pool. These poor folks needed assistive living, but couldn't afford it, so their good-hearted daughter allowed them to spend their twilight years floating in her backyard pool. Because of the chlorine in the water, they didn"t even have to worry about toilet breaks.
03. Robin Goodfellow, British Pub owner has started to serve his patrons fairy wings. This has become a great draw for Barrie's Tavern.
04. An item about "Your Bottom Dollar" that perhaps I shouldn't mention.
Excuse me for a moment.. my favorite radio station is playing the Met broadcast of Die Zauberfloete, and I want to hear the Queen of the Night's famous aria. Herr Mozart may have been accused of using "too many notes" on this work, but I don't think that there is one wasted note in the whole opera. Why did Wolfie have to die so young? Who could imagine what other masterpieces still lurked within that massive brain in that little bitty body?
I'm back again.. let me jump to some Wait Wait items:
05. (Notice how I number everything.. its my excessive compulsion, sorry.) A gentleman from Georgia tried to eat a "double wicked" fast food sandwich and messed his jaws up so much that he had to have surgery. (Well, it had to happen sometime.)
06. Did you know that the first Bobby hired by the City of London was fired four hours later because of drunkenness? Do policemen have alcohol level tests in the US?
07. Another Georgian, a Congressman I believe, recently said that Guam will probably tip over if we send any more military people there.
08. Senator John McCain told reporters that he is not a maverick, in spite of the title of his book and his electioneering slogan. I guess he might be trying to become a true Conservative to get the future votes of the Tea Party guys.
09. Fewer NERDS are being produced in the US. Our technical future looks bleak. (Is there a song called: The Revenge of the Nerds?)
10. The guy who invented Wine in a Box has died. Wine snobs deride boxed wine. However, I see not much difference between boxed and bottled wine. In fact, based on wine that I have made over the years, I want to make this statement. Believe it or not, with a little care, and with a little equipment, and a little container of grapes, and a little sugar.. you can make wine in your kitchen that tastes just as good if not better than these bottles of French wine that are selling for astronomical prices. In fact, if you have a Mickey Mouse balloon to place over the top of a bottle, you can do as good a job as any of the California wine makers. This is of course my opinion.
This made me think of wine that I have been aging in the garage. I decided to try an old bottle. I uncorked and decanted a bottle of peach wine that I laid down in 1975. The cork had almost disintegrated but not quite. Opened and poured, there was not much bouquet.. in fact, Elaine took a sip and thought that it ranked (maybe a good word) among the worst wines she had ever tasted. But, for me, after a little unpleasant ropiness, I found it tasty.. perhaps more like a very sweet fortified wine. So, score one for me.
I still have some beet wine and peapodwine aging. Recently, I gave away my beer and wine making equipment to my son in law, John, an excellent brewer. So now, I will concentrate on kitchen wine, using my Mickey Mouse balloon. Don't knock it til you've tried it.
11. And of course you have heard of the crook who was chased by the cops until he climbed over a wall and found himself in a prison yard. What I didn't know until now was it was a woman's prison!
12. What about that guy who was discovered giving mouth to mouth rescusitation to a possum that may have been playing possum.
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Showing posts with label the aged. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the aged. Show all posts
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Thursday, October 08, 2009
A Horrible Event
A 100 year old woman was found strangled at Brandon Woods nursing home in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts. This woman was in good health and had been out shopping with her son earlier in the day. This disturbs me even more than it normally would because my mother and step-father were residents of this facility for some time in their later life.
Was this a case of euthenasia by some nurse who believes that a 100 year old person has lived long enough? Was it the act of some nutcase elderly patient? Brandon Woods had a number of nutcase patients, if I recall correctly. Thank God that my sister was able to keep tabs on the situation of our mother and at one time found a fellow patient striking her.
Yes, fellow patients as well as care-givers can sometimes be a problem for incapacitated seniors.
During my TRIAD Conference on October 29th of this year at Carroll Lutheran Village in Westminster, Maryland, Ms. Toni Katz will be telling us about drug abuse at nursing homes and hospice locations. I've heard this lecture and seen the secretly filmed activity of some care-givers. Some nurses have even taken pain patches off the bodies of terminally ill patients and sucked the drugs out of the bandages! Toni also can tell lots of stories about the physical abuse of patients.
There is an ombudsman program in Maryland where nursing homes are visited by caring persons who listen to the complaints of residents and take measures to have abusive situations corrected. I hope that the program is being used in other States as well.
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Was this a case of euthenasia by some nurse who believes that a 100 year old person has lived long enough? Was it the act of some nutcase elderly patient? Brandon Woods had a number of nutcase patients, if I recall correctly. Thank God that my sister was able to keep tabs on the situation of our mother and at one time found a fellow patient striking her.
Yes, fellow patients as well as care-givers can sometimes be a problem for incapacitated seniors.
During my TRIAD Conference on October 29th of this year at Carroll Lutheran Village in Westminster, Maryland, Ms. Toni Katz will be telling us about drug abuse at nursing homes and hospice locations. I've heard this lecture and seen the secretly filmed activity of some care-givers. Some nurses have even taken pain patches off the bodies of terminally ill patients and sucked the drugs out of the bandages! Toni also can tell lots of stories about the physical abuse of patients.
There is an ombudsman program in Maryland where nursing homes are visited by caring persons who listen to the complaints of residents and take measures to have abusive situations corrected. I hope that the program is being used in other States as well.
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Wednesday, July 15, 2009
A Real Cool Grannie
Anne Arundel County (Maryland) has ruled that it is not illegal to put a dead body in a freezer. Recently, an 83 year old grandmother was found on top of the frozen broccoli in a family freezer. She had died a few weeks earlier and the family decided to keep her "on ice" until they worked out the details of her funeral. This reminds me of several things.
For years, during the Winter, Alaskan women have been putting their dead husbands into snow drifts in their back yards to keep them handy for when the Spring thaw comes and the Social Security Field Rep visits. This is the "Proof of Death" that is necessary for them to file for Survivor's Benefits. (Some of my fellow workers at the Social Security Administration told me that this is absolutely true.)
My son is always kidding me (I hope!) that when the time comes, he will pick out a nice big ice floe to put me on, just like the eskimos do.
What to do with old folks is becoming a massive problem as our aged population soars. There are several options (besides the ice floes and freezers).
The aged (with money to keep) can stay in their homes and apartments until they die. The problem is, before they die, they may become unable to care for themselves, at which time they may go to live with relatives (if they have any), become residents at Nursing Homes, or have helpers come into their homes to help them (and in many cases, help themselves.)
The aged (with some money to give away) can go to live in a 55 and older community without assisted living. When they can't manage, they will have to find an assisted living facility that will take them in (and many will "take them in.") (I've found that people in these types of communities believe that they will never need help.)
The aged (with extra money to give away) can go to live in a 55 and older community with assisted living. In which case, when they can't manage, they will be able to get help for all of their normal needs. However, when they need medical help, they will have to find a Nursing Home. (I've found that people in these types of communities believe that assisted living will be all the help that they will ever need.)
The aged (with a lot of money to give away) can go to live in a Continuing Care Facility where Independent Living is automatically followed by Assisted Living, followed by Nursing Care, followed by a pine box. Some of these facilities will keep you even if you run out of money.
The aged (without money) can become homeless and look for heat-emitting sidewalk grates to sleep on until they die and go to a pauper's grave.
Thank God for Social Security. Most Senior Citizens now have some form of income. Before Social Security the average old person had nothing, and had to rely on the goodness of relatives or churches. However, even today many old people have to be very frugal with their income, often cutting prescription pills in half to make them last longer.
I've written this mainly to draw your attention to the decisions that must be made in our rapidly aging society. Hopefully, I have made you reconsider your own decision to let old Uncle Charlie finish out his days on a melting mass of ice or as a cryogenic specimen in someone's basement.
For years, during the Winter, Alaskan women have been putting their dead husbands into snow drifts in their back yards to keep them handy for when the Spring thaw comes and the Social Security Field Rep visits. This is the "Proof of Death" that is necessary for them to file for Survivor's Benefits. (Some of my fellow workers at the Social Security Administration told me that this is absolutely true.)
My son is always kidding me (I hope!) that when the time comes, he will pick out a nice big ice floe to put me on, just like the eskimos do.
What to do with old folks is becoming a massive problem as our aged population soars. There are several options (besides the ice floes and freezers).
The aged (with money to keep) can stay in their homes and apartments until they die. The problem is, before they die, they may become unable to care for themselves, at which time they may go to live with relatives (if they have any), become residents at Nursing Homes, or have helpers come into their homes to help them (and in many cases, help themselves.)
The aged (with some money to give away) can go to live in a 55 and older community without assisted living. When they can't manage, they will have to find an assisted living facility that will take them in (and many will "take them in.") (I've found that people in these types of communities believe that they will never need help.)
The aged (with extra money to give away) can go to live in a 55 and older community with assisted living. In which case, when they can't manage, they will be able to get help for all of their normal needs. However, when they need medical help, they will have to find a Nursing Home. (I've found that people in these types of communities believe that assisted living will be all the help that they will ever need.)
The aged (with a lot of money to give away) can go to live in a Continuing Care Facility where Independent Living is automatically followed by Assisted Living, followed by Nursing Care, followed by a pine box. Some of these facilities will keep you even if you run out of money.
The aged (without money) can become homeless and look for heat-emitting sidewalk grates to sleep on until they die and go to a pauper's grave.
Thank God for Social Security. Most Senior Citizens now have some form of income. Before Social Security the average old person had nothing, and had to rely on the goodness of relatives or churches. However, even today many old people have to be very frugal with their income, often cutting prescription pills in half to make them last longer.
I've written this mainly to draw your attention to the decisions that must be made in our rapidly aging society. Hopefully, I have made you reconsider your own decision to let old Uncle Charlie finish out his days on a melting mass of ice or as a cryogenic specimen in someone's basement.
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