#133 - DB

(Sorry about the late post, but I was busy Who Dattin all night!  Go Saints!!!)

I have a friend who is very smart. She is a lawyer by profession, but has chosen to use her skills in a different arena than a lot of lawyers do. She is an advocate for the elderly.


If I had a dollar for every time one of my older patients told me, "Don't get old sha...it's hell!" I would have a lot of dollars. Getting older is something that we don't like to think about, but if we are lucky, it will happen to each of us. When we are in the "prime" of our lives...whatever that age may be, we feel like we will always be able to take care of ourselves. We save our money for a rainy day, we take care of minor aches and pains, and we keep going about our lives. Then one day, it gets harder to bend down to tie our shoes...we can't get up from the floor, or if we are real unlucky, we break a bone that takes forever to heal. Aging is inevitable, but we should all be able to age with the same dignity and pride that we live with now.

#133 advocates for just this. So many times, children forget about their parents. It's just too much trouble to "deal" with them because they don't understand enough. They repeat themselves...They worry about things that are minor to us, but major to them...They nag us... I could go on and on. But...the fact of the matter is, just like our parents cared for us when we were children, it is our responsibility to take care of them when they can no longer take care of themselves. When I did home health care, I saw so many examples of neglect of this patient population. Elderly living in poverty with no one to feed them or bring them meals, no one to help them bathe, no one for them to talk to. Sometimes it was so bad, that you would think they had no children or relatives, but then it got worse when you found out they did. Their children sometimes lived right next door, and just did not care or did not take the time to care for their parents.

Anyway, I could go on and on with story after story, but let me close by saying that I am glad that there are people in this world who don't just talk the talk, they walk the walk. #133 works hard to protect the rights of the elderly. I have no idea what she makes, but I know that she does not do it for the money; she does it because it is the right thing.