If Y2K, and the following worldwide problems are more than a mere BITR, then what will happen to the elderly. Someone should give it some thought, and try to provide for them. Why should they be left at the mercy of the lawless bands?. Food for thought, HH.

-- The Happy Hoarder (relief@coastalnet.com), November 27, 1999

Answers

why also should they be left at the mercy of nursing homes and retirement communities that have not prepared? i have seen first hand evidence that likely many of these types of communities are NOT preparing AT ALL for y2k because they are run by DGIs.

i am truly concerned about our senior citizens. many of them have it hard as is. how will they get through this?

i am also concerned about state/private homes for mentally ill or developmentally disabled. many of these are run by DGIs who may not have prepared and some of the children/adults who live in these facilities MUST have electricity to run medical devices.

-- tt (cuddluppy@nowhere.com), November 27, 1999.

Happy Hoarder: Assuming the elderly are not independent, their families are responsible for them. If they have no families, then they are indeed in trouble. Unless you are independently wealthy your own resources can cover only so many. Hard decisions will have to be made and those decisions will be modified by the severity of the computer, terrorist and economic problems we face in one month. Not a pleasent scenario.

-- Neil G.Lewis (pnglewis1@yahoo.com), November 27, 1999.

I have spent two years trying to make GIs out of the owners of a small nursing home near me. They are wonderful people and the most caring and concerned people there are...but they just cannot fathom it could get that bad. They have on hand one week's supplies in food and water(drinking only)because the State makes them have it. The place is on a lake and the owner is no dummy. So I am sure that he will be bailing water out of it for toilets, baths, etc. Maybe he has a sump pump. But can you imagine a nursing home without water?????? It may sound callous, but I am grateful that my parents have passed away in the past two years. Both of them, like their daughter, would have been instant GIs, but unable to care for themselves. And I doubt that I could have taken care of their emotional needs with the world coming down all around them. And how would you bug out if necessary? We have my MIL but she is such a tiny thing that her son would toss her over his shoulder and go.

Taz

-- Taz (Tassie123@aol.com), November 27, 1999.

I worked through our church ministry program as a nursing home preacher. Our church had 6 different nursing homes, each man assigned to a different home to deliver a gospel message to the elderly. It is a truly great and challenging ministry. Many have been forgotten by families. Sorrow, misery, and stench abound. If you want a blessing, walk into any nursing home with a Bible and simply visit, talk, and read a few verses to some hungry soul who desperately wants company, wants to be loved, wants to believe that someone cares, wants someone to simply touch them and give them a handshake or hug. There have been hundreds of time when a tearful elderly saint would look into my eyes and tell me with great joy how merciful and good God was to her while she was wheelchair bound and bent with arthritis and pain. When you get like that, the only comfort there is is Jesus Christ. Anyway, I delivered a message last spring on the millenium bug problem and what kind of difficulties in could present to a very affluent, roll-royce type of nursing home. It was not a doomer scenario, just a BITR scenario message about asset management and warning their loved ones. The resident chaplain asked my pastor that we not return again, as the message stirred up questions about y2k that their chaplain could not answer. His head has been and still is in the sand. Sadly, the theme in many churches is shoot the messenger. Put your head in the sand, God will take care of you. This facility is huge, with 250-300 residents and extended care patients. They have backup generators and little else. If problems arise beyond the BITR scenario, hopefully their families will care for them if they can. In many cases, their children are hundreds of miles away and see them only on the holidays. Many will be left to the mercy of the state.

-- trafficjam (bottleneck@ahead.now), November 27, 1999.

The director of a county-run transitional home for recovering drug and alcohol folks told me they don't expect much of a problem. They have their normal week's supply of food and some candles.

Our hospital, one of two in the county, discovered that the contingency plan of many area nursing homes is to transport their patients to the hospitals should power fail.

No one I know at the mental health facility where I work is GI; needless to say, they have developed no plan to prepare or assist our outpatient clients, despite my urgings. The county mental health department has made no plans for the homebound mentally retarded.

It's as if the whole world is convinced they can simply believe it away. The tragic absurdity of it all is almost more than one's heart can bear.

-- Faith Weaver (suzsolutions@yahoo.com), November 27, 1999.

You've heard of triage?

-- (suckitup@dealwith.it), November 27, 1999.

I have grandparents who live deep in Dallas. They are both in their 70's and neither of them are in good health. The only reason they are not in nursing homes is b/c they are still doing a good job taking care of each other. My grandfather is blind in one eye, deaf in one ear and can barely walk for the arthritis in his back. My grandmother has artificial heart valves that are going on their 13th year in her body (they usually don't last quite this long). She has more medical conditions than I can count and probably takes around 25 different medications DAILY. Without her blood thinner (coumadin) alone, she would die. The blood would become too thick to be pumped by the artificial heart valves. She has high blood pressure and melanoma on her face. I only pray that if things are bad, they go peacefully and quickly. B/c if my grandfather is not able to get the four blocks to the store for her prescriptions, if the store is not open, if the pharmacy does not have its supplies, etc etc etc, she will die. Also they do NOT live in a good area as far as the social factor goes. If there is any kind of social upheaval, they will be a prime target. Older people in a nice big home in a nice neighborhood surrounded on all sides by seedier neighborhoods. I can cry to think of it. They have not listened to me at all. I kept hoping they would go to my aunt and uncle's in the country, but then where would they get their prescriptions???

I have another grandmother who lives in far east Dallas--and an even worse neighborhood. She hears gunshots at night NOW, but cannot afford to move (or won't--one or the other). We have invited her to our home for the rollover, don't know if she will join us yet or not. She is my only GI relative. She, too, is in her 70's and in relatively good health, except for the occasional stroke.

I have an uncle who is a raging alcoholic. He can't handle reality the way it is NOW--imagine him if things are above a 5 or 6. He will find the first firearm he can and use it on himself. He's tried it before.

Now I'm depressed.

-- preparing (preparing@home.com), November 27, 1999.