Not Funny Anymore

Last night from Washington Journal, CNBC (7 pm Central Time):

The subject experts represented areas of Public Health and Mental Health in a pandemic.  Callers were mostly older, with heartbreaking questions and concerns.  My points:

1.  We are flooded with lovely feel-good stories on our local and national news channels.  Birthday/anniversary celebratory car parades for little kids, school graduates, retirements, anniversaries.  Folks 'visiting' their grandparents through nursing home windows, sharing songs via ipads and such.  All sorts of nice gestures happening.

2.  What we dont see are lonely elders in fear.  Minimal or total lack of being able to comprehend all of what they hear/know about the virus, and about the future.  If you aren't already there yet, as you age you will find out that your comprehension of new and mixed and changing information isn't what it used to be.  Your ability to follow TV announcemers is slowed.  You might not understand the reasons for (or logic behind) different states' orders.  They cancel doctor appointments and don't take their prescribed meds for fear of running out.  

3. With the news of the ER doctor in New York, one lady (living alone) is so depressed she expressed that she feels the same way...suicidal.  Financial, utilities, medical, social reasons.  She believes her neighbors don't like her so she doesn't seek connections, believes her family (children, grands) have "written me off."  Her voice was cracking with tears.  She admitted she had skipped appts. with her mental health provider and "probably need my medications adjusted."  They gave her the sucide hot line number.  Later in the program another lady called saying she is in the same city as that caller and asked if the moderators could give the depressed lady her number as she wants to help her.  They said they will help make that connection.

4. One elder caller said that these days so many "resources" are dependent on having smart phones and high speed Internet/other connections.  She lives in an area without great reception. doesn't have that level of knowledge to understand how to connect.  She'd had a stroke, her vocal cords are paralyzed so it is hard for her to talk and be heard easily.  She feels left out of the medical system on account of this.  Certainly telehealth is moving very fast and becoming the prefered method with which to connect with medical health providers.  It is good, but maybe it isn't so accessible yet to everyone in the country, especially isolated elders.

Elders (and others) are fearful, folks, and have nobody to guide them through the maze of information and how to access what they need. 

So, look not just to the cute and wondeful citizens of your areas having 3rd birthday or HS graduation.  Look for those living alone, maybe the sad and grumpy among them.  Jump in and take a hand.  Even a phone call, ask if they need anything.

Regarding Public Health, I've gained a new respect for this specialty in medicine, which doesn't get the respect and resources it is due.  Many of us are clueless about the importance and impact on community and global health, the roles of Public Health in past epidemics and pandemics.  And why more emphasis and dollars to other sectors of our overall health?   Read all about it.

And how sad about that ER doctor.   I am surprised there aren't more.  My experience doesn't compare, but I vividly recall the feelings of distress when we would be swamped/overloaded patients for various reasons, staff stressed, patients upset.  It gets to you.  Especially in an ER.  And day after day, no break in the action.  There will be more cororna suicides, I fear.

Its sad because volunteers would help alot - but also potentially add to the threat.     Retirement homes are locked down like Guantanimo Bay.     I deliver packages for Amazon as a side hustle - pre-virus I'd deliver to the residents in a nursing home directly.   Just a minute of conversation would brighten their day.    Now I leave all their packages with the security guard at the parking lot entrances.     Nobody but staff gets in or out.

ANd thats good to keep them physically safe, but like you say there is an emotional toll too.   Likely they will have to stay in the circumstance even as restrictions are lifted for the rest of the public.

Long before this crisis, seniors were squirreled away in isolation, where their medical needs were met (often poorly) but not their emotional needs. And many more live alone and without much human contact.

I think all the touchy-feely stuff is like the upbeat, jazzy songs and the flag-waving during the Blitz. You don't want to think about random death falling from the sky.

I'm infuriated about how politics has continued to get in the way of the federal government doing its job. How a governor's Trump-loyalty is the factor that determines whether a state receives federal aid. How relief money has been stolen and given to giant corporations. I think our senior population gets hurt more than anyone else by all that--they're often the last to be considered, but the most needy.

In my town, we have a lot of senior outreach. I tried to volunteer for Meals on Wheels and they said that their volunteer force had already increased by 400%. Another organization is doing senior visits for elderly shut-its. Another group of volunteers is phoning seniors daily to check up on them.

So I have some hope that while our society craps on seniors, that doesn't have to be the case. I'm in a caring and compassionate community. And yes Virginia, we're very liberal here. That's correlated with common decency.

Right, PJ, just a minute of conversation would brighten the day of a lonely senior, or any isolated person.  Remember the lady who bought all the Watkins extract products from the salesman, who was physically impaired himself, because he would spend time talking to her on his rounds?  At her death they found the stuff in every room, unused.