My mother, in her late nineties suffered from osteoporosis and arthritis so that she needed to use a…a…a…WALKER! To her this was an insufferable fate.
It was more than annoying when she wanted to travel about her apartment between the bedroom and kitchen, so that too often she relied on clutching the top of a bureau or the side of a door jam when rushing to see if her coffee water hadn’t all evaporated while she’d become involved with meticulously trimming the dead leaves off of her potted plants. With a wobbly gait, this behavior ended up in a few falls over a two year period, a couple of which left her with serious injuries, like a broken arm.
But more sorrowful to me was that my mother felt so socially disgraced with that aluminum walker sliding before her when on the street that she chose to get her breath of air well after dark…and then on the quiet street behind her apartment building where no one was likely to notice this bent woman with her hundred years of history all alone shying away from the stranger parking his car or the neighbor out with her dog.
Was my mother the only elder in her community to feel ashamed that her body was degenerating? Is it likely that the self-esteem of Morningside Village elders will be so high (in a culture that discriminates against the old) as to allow them to reveal their needs for help and to accept it when offered? We will find answers to these question as now we begin our efforts to invite elders to join the “Village” and as we listen to their spoken and perhaps unspoken words about what their needs really are.
Irene Zola
Tags: aging in place, community organizing, eldercare, eldercare village, elderly, geriatric depression, seniors, Volunteers, walkers
