Sad

Monday, January 12, 2009

A couple of days ago I wrote about my neighbor who has some dementia going on. This morning I met the two daughters of another neighbor out in front of the house. Their 94 year old mother lives alone in her home also (happens to be right next door to the woman I wrote about the other day). A couple of days ago one of our neighbors saw her standing out in front and when asked she said that she was waiting for a ride although she didn't know from whom. The daughters were contacted and she ended up spending the greater part of a 24 hour day in an ER. She was given IV antibiotics for a urinary tract infection and the daughters were given the assurance that once the infection cleared, mom would be back to "normal". I think the daughters got the short end of the good advice stick on this one.

I can't get these women out of my mind. They are all alone in their homes. I am in no way making any judgment about this but rather am concerned. We are starting a small initiative to see if we can get some support for these daughters and their moms if necessary. We think we will be successful if we can get two of them to talk to each other and understand they are not alone in this situation. The biggest problem with this island is what I call the Irish curtains--oh no, everything is fine in my house.

We'll see. We are coming up with a date for a meeting with one of the ministers on the island, a social worker, myself, a woman on the island who works for the NYC Department of the Aging and a friend of mine who took care of her mother with Alzheimers for seven years. There has to be some way to give these people some support.

It is worrisome to think about these women and I definitely do know that I am thinking about myself also. I remember how much my mother worried and worried about losing her mental faculties and I understand that worry more every day.