Learning to take care of others and the country

Dick Doyle

Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2009 | 3:23 p.m.

Shortly before Christmas, my wife and I began a mind-altering phase of lives — a phase that has been experienced by a growing number of people every day.

We became caregivers.

Our next door neighbor, one of the most vital 86-year-old ladies you would ever imagine, fell in her home in mid-December, and because she didn't want to wake us, she spent most of that night on the floor of her living room. She has an emergency call necklace she wears, but, by an agreement with us, it tells the emergency HQ to call us. She didn't want to wake us, so she waited until 8 a.m. — 10 hours — before she called us to tell us she couldn't get up.

We got her into her favorite chair, brought her some food and water and, shortly thereafter, she was as bouncy and talkative as she had been when we visited a few days earlier.

Two days later, she fell again. This time we were able to coax her into our car and into the local hospital emergency room. After several hours, she was examined, given some medication to take home and we brought her back to her house, telling her to rest, take the medicine as ordered, eat on schedule, drink plenty of water and call us if she had any more problems — day or night.

Ten days before Christmas, she fell again, this time badly bruising her face and doing damage to one elbow. This time, we called 911.

The fire department showed up en force and after a very through exam and emergency treatment, our neighbor was taken by ambulance to the aforementioned local hospital.

After another lengthy wait after she was taken into the waiting room by wheelchair, another exam and the pronouncement that the doctor, despite x-rays and an even more thorough exam, couldn't find anything wrong, she was to be released. She pronounced that release would not be practical as she lived alone and, "I cannot walk." That response gave her a night in the hospital and an even more thorough physician.

She was dehydrated to the point where her lower body would not support her, the doctor said, and a massive infusion of potassium, calcium and a major IV infusion followed. My wife and I tried to be with her as many hours as possible. Our neighbor, this lovable community volunteer, the first person to welcome us to our new home in Las Vegas, was baffled by what was happening to her.

The hospital moved her to a rehab facility on the east side of Las Vegas, where she spent the days we were out of town for Christmas.

When we returned, we were told she wasn't showing improvement (a Medicare requirement) and would be moved New Year's Eve to another rehab facility between Lake Las Vegas and Henderson. We negotiated a short extension in her stay, but two days later she was moved.

She is in that Henderson facility where they are taking good care of her — as personnel have in each of the facilities that treated her — but she hasn't gotten any better.

In the meantime, we've been in contact with her relatives — most of whom are in Iowa. Her sister-in-law was due to visit for three days as I write this column.

My wife and I have been watching over her home, paying her bills, cleaning out her refrigerator, etc. — all the things caregivers do. This experience has also shown us how important it is to have our "house" in order — our finances, our up-to-date checkbook, our emergency phone list, our house key with another trusted neighbor — everything that would help a relative or neighbor step in and know what to do next.

It's been a strain, but we're happy to be of help. After all, that's what friends and neighbors are for, isn't it?

•••

From what I can gather, Nevada is in as bad a shape — if not worse — than most states. Our foreclosure rate remains the country's highest, our visitor count is dropping like a rock, people aren't putting $20 in the video poker machines as often as last year, grocery prices aren't just inching up: they're jumping up; and gasoline prices are beginning to climb again.

We've got a new president, a new Congress and new energy in Washington. The magic word has gone from "change" to "stimulus."

The government is going to open a new money-printing plant, it appears.

It all scares me. First, billions have been handed out, apparently without a receipt, to the banks and financial institutions whose greed and carelessness helped to bring about the financial collapse.

The new government wants to give people money to spend to make businesses whole again, the same businesses whose transfer of millions of jobs to foreign countries laid waste to the employment opportunities for Americans.

They want to help people whose homes are in foreclosure while many of these homeowners refinanced their homes at least once and pulled wads of cash out of their house values and spent that cash unwisely as their mortgage interest vaulted upward.

I'm not big on handouts. I was a pre-schooler when the Great Depression ravaged this country in the 1930s, but I do remember from my history lessons that America got something back from its citizens when it pulled our parents and grandparents out of their misery — they got results from public works programs that put thousands of people to work, paid them reasonable wages and produced facilities that are still in use today — like Hoover Dam.

Not much is different today than it was in 1935: Millions are out of work, poverty is growing, the nation's infrastructure — roads, bridges, dams and seaports — are badly in need of repair and renewal.

I believe the politicians who make the decisions in Washington — and other places — can turn this national disaster around quickly if they do something more than just print and give away money. How about giving us hope, work and a better future?

That's why we elected you.

Dick Doyle, a community volunteer and former newspaper editor, is a columnist for the Home News. He can be reached c/o the Home News, 2360 Corporate Circle, Third Floor, Henderson, NV 89074; by fax at 434-3527 or e-mail at [email protected].