Institutionalized People Marginalization 2022

 

Waking up another day to hear New York Agencies on Aging have No Standing in the Field of Institutionalized Elders and Severely Disabled Individuals. Ombudsman, Legal Aid, Where is @MedicareGov ?? Quality Organizations? #Ageism is Rampant. https://t.co/IEsRwA6VYy https://t.co/AvscdjgCN1 pic.twitter.com/BAmjyIVCAY

— Mary Gerdt Parler:Alvarita1 (@marygerdt) July 22, 2022

Nursing Homes, A Most Restrictive Setting

 

Hello, please find the unroll here: How can a Governor turn his/her back on Most Vulnerable Citizens of… https://t.co/54rg9r6m5r See you soon. 🤖

— Thread Reader App (@threadreaderapp) January 10, 2022

Link to Skipinnish

Another mind bending video from Skipinnish

Holly Williams, "Waiting On June"

family,


As I watched Holly Williams again,
this video showed up...
leading me to a tearjerker beautiful tribute to Holly's grandparents,
and all about
aging, love,
work,
war, faith,
legacy,
patience,
history.

Canadian owned Vermont gaz threatens US Landowners

We happen to flip on Vermont abc 22 last night with Lauren Maloney...
She's quite a good anchorwoman.
So she had an interview of the women of Monkton,Vermont who are challenging
Goliath Gaz.

Below are links to press..

Fox 44: http://www.mychamplainvalley.com/story/d/story/residents-feel-pipeline-pressure/27833/abq_qVnjV06-Fe8ZWAMrwA

WCAX channel 3: http://www.wcax.com/story/24765383/vt-homeowners-fight-natural-gas-pipeline?clienttype=generic&mobilecgbypass

Here's the link to Burlington Free Press article on the same...
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20140219/NEWS02/302190041/Vermont-Gas-puts-eminent-domain-on-the-table-over-natural-gas-pipeline-debate-Monkton


Will post more as I get it in.

Say a prayer or light a candle or send good energy to these women.
Wherever you are,
They need all the help they can muster.

Snow

Snow coming

6-15 inches

predicted in the VT/NY Champlain Valley
maybe more in the mountains
depending on where in the Northeastern US you are.
So the Ski industry is salivating, the plow truck drivers are resting up,
we are taking what comes and rolling with it as much as we can.

Christmas was nice and quiet,
quieter without Mom on the phone,
recapping where everyone was and what they were doing.
Every Christmas forever was connected with Mom somehow,
We actually trimmed the tree before
so I could tell her on our Sunday call.

When we visited once,
Mom told me, "I hope you are taking notes!"
It surprised me, said with almost a threatening tone.
She was always so tolerant of circumstance gone south,
plans gone awry, expectations failed.
Now I realize she was a victim of institutionalization,
even my ultra tolerant Mom. Even the strong but quiet woman
who bore 7 children without a whine or a wimper.
Reminding me we have to completely revamp our eldercare before the baby boomers need it.
Oh wait, too late.

First step,
At Adult day programs, call it the "Club", serve faux drinks,
replace all the Glenn Miller with Steve Miller and
look at truly multigenerational centers.
Next step. Do you know it is up to each of us to create the milieu that meets the needs of our individual community? I like the idea of a virtual adult day,
we could attend from home and avoid the bumpy upland travel.


Finally, thought I would post a storm photo from 2010.

 

Ageism and the Empty Chair

The story lingers of Mr. Clint Eastwood's famous monologue with an empty chair.
Did anyone else notice that Journalistic Ageism was afoot as Mr. Eastwood voiced his beliefs and opinions?
The news people often implied old fogey-isms, stereotypes, "incoherency", "speaking off script", attributing Mr. Eastwood's age was equivalent to certain senility.
Mr. Eastwood's speech was criticized because
he touched several nerves. He spelled out his opinions, legal in the US.
He had great timing, he broke boundaries, and he could because
He is Clint Eastwood!
He left many with a vision implanted of that empty chair.
Brilliance? or senility?
Or being a great director!

Just be careful if you find yourself engaging in Age-ism:
Defining elders' actions and labelling elders using negative stereotypes.
This was all about free speech and the reactions were about ageism.
Leading me to reiterate:
Freedom of speech is still fully intact in the US in all spectrums of age.
Now If you don't like that, go tell a chair.

 

Ageism

Ageism.

At first glance, It really is a strange looking word.
3 vowels, breaks the normal rules of pronunciation.
To say out loud, say it like 2 words: Age and ism.
What got me going again is how subtle this word's meaning can be.
Hard to explain.
The following are generalities.
I realize not everyone thinks this way and not everyone
in the US has the same feelings or attitudes or prejudices.
But the media feeds us info and we select what we read, what we pay attention to, and what we rant about.
In the US in general, we value youth to a distraction. We are raised to expect to enjoy youth, being young, doing young things. We likewise are bombarded with youthful images that the media feeds us: photos of celebrities, notables, politicians. TV, magazines, advertising, just look around.
I started looking at the recent rash of skiers going off trail.
One after another, a skier would have that fantasy run all alone ending up on the wrong side of the mountain.
Reported like this:
Lost skier found after spending cold night on the mountain in 10 degree weather. Joe Blow from [insert state they are from here-never Vermonters] skied off trail at about 3 pm yesterday. he called 911. rescuers worked to find him. blah blah. cold and tired, blah blah.
how cute.
Not one thing about how he endangered the lives of the rescue patrols, nor that he was negligent nor how he took rescue people away from Vermonters' emergencies, nor how this kid was just being plain stupid. A foolish young man, a
rapscallion, a man who should just go sit in a rocking chair.
They do not even charge these people. Freebie.
What if they had left their junk on the mountain? Does the town fine them with littering?
Now look up the press about Poppa Neutrino. The old man who sailed Lake Champlain on a homemade raft that he had checked out by the coast guard. He crashed on some rocks in a storm. And that is where the ageism began.
The press loved humiliating him, calling him everything short of foolish old man......
I can read.
Now, one skier after another, with likely very little real experience goes lost and must be rescued (unlike Poppa who was an experienced ocean sailor).
And the reporting has not changed.
This morning to WDEV's credit, they reported ski areas are beginning to think about charging for rescues.
But come on,
Poppa was accused right off as simply being too old.
So we baby boomers better get used to ageism. Before you know it, we won't be hip anymore.
As I explain options to consumers, I am reminded we still have to deal with the society we live in.
When I feel ageism is wrong and needs to change,
I also accept that I am a dreamer.
It takes more than me to change all this cultural bias against aging.
When I was younger, I might not have seen this phenomenon.
Guess I am feeling my age today.