The phone rang today. I looked at the caller ID to see my parents’ number. I answered and Dad replied, haltingly and hushed, that they were in trouble. Mom was missing. My mother suffers from an undiagnosed dementia. Numerous appointments at hospitals and consultations with neurologists have returned no answers. Regardless of whether or not we, or medical professionals can name it, this specter gives her a dangerous wanderlust.
OMG. What an ordeal! So glad she was found safe. The tracking bracelet seems like a good option, and the door alarms. Better than an internal-keyed deadlock, which could be a problem in a fire.
I can't get long term care for medical reasons--no restrictions on pre-existing conditions in that line of insurance. What I do have is a house that for reasons having nothing to do with me is worth a fortune (thank you tech industry focused here, for making my taxes pretty much intolerable) Luckily my son lives near by; unluckily my disabled daughter lives with me, so he'll be burdened twice. The only solution right now is to live forever. At least that will let me read all the books I buy.
But I may ultimately use my mom's solution. She had the opposite problem--a side effect of an experimental drug caused basically galloping MS--demyelization in spades. Her mind was just fine; her body just wouldn't respond. My stepfather struggled for the whole time (she went from golfing in December to unable to sit upright or move her hands by May). Finally he had to put her in a nursing home--something she vowed she'd never do. And she died the night she entered it: knowing my mom, it was sheer willpower.
I've always thought of Social Security as insurance, with our "taxes" actually being premium. But thinking of socialism as ownership of the means of production by the workers, it actually fits as socialism. American workers (at least those in work covered by social security) do own their rights to the benefits. The idea that it is some kind of "gift" that can be rescinded by Congress is absurd. It's as if a life insurance company could rescind a fully paid up policy because they just don't want to DO that anymore.
I have a friend in a small town who is struggling with the same problem: a husband who needs more care than she can provide due to her own health issues (his issues are physical, not mental). And her adult daughter is struggling, in a nearby small town, to afford daycare--or rather to FIND it.
Seattle has just instituted a long-term care benefit workers can enroll in regardless of health. I don't know the details because I am not a worker anymore. But if a local community can come up with such a thing, so can a larger entity--state, if not federal.
Best of luck at finding a solution. My thoughts are with you.
OMG. What an ordeal! So glad she was found safe. The tracking bracelet seems like a good option, and the door alarms. Better than an internal-keyed deadlock, which could be a problem in a fire.
I can't get long term care for medical reasons--no restrictions on pre-existing conditions in that line of insurance. What I do have is a house that for reasons having nothing to do with me is worth a fortune (thank you tech industry focused here, for making my taxes pretty much intolerable) Luckily my son lives near by; unluckily my disabled daughter lives with me, so he'll be burdened twice. The only solution right now is to live forever. At least that will let me read all the books I buy.
But I may ultimately use my mom's solution. She had the opposite problem--a side effect of an experimental drug caused basically galloping MS--demyelization in spades. Her mind was just fine; her body just wouldn't respond. My stepfather struggled for the whole time (she went from golfing in December to unable to sit upright or move her hands by May). Finally he had to put her in a nursing home--something she vowed she'd never do. And she died the night she entered it: knowing my mom, it was sheer willpower.
I've always thought of Social Security as insurance, with our "taxes" actually being premium. But thinking of socialism as ownership of the means of production by the workers, it actually fits as socialism. American workers (at least those in work covered by social security) do own their rights to the benefits. The idea that it is some kind of "gift" that can be rescinded by Congress is absurd. It's as if a life insurance company could rescind a fully paid up policy because they just don't want to DO that anymore.
I have a friend in a small town who is struggling with the same problem: a husband who needs more care than she can provide due to her own health issues (his issues are physical, not mental). And her adult daughter is struggling, in a nearby small town, to afford daycare--or rather to FIND it.
Seattle has just instituted a long-term care benefit workers can enroll in regardless of health. I don't know the details because I am not a worker anymore. But if a local community can come up with such a thing, so can a larger entity--state, if not federal.
Best of luck at finding a solution. My thoughts are with you.