[humanser] How Do We Care for the Elderly

[JD TOWNSEND]

Hi and thank you for this article.  While   Linda Chavez is correct about 
the aging, I do not agree with her impression of unions.  Having worked in 
Skilled Nursing Facilities, Assistive Living Centers and Adult Day Care 
Centers I have seen the struggles of both patients, families  and staff. 
And, in my family, my parents aged and died, needing all the help available 
to do so with dignity and comfort.


I did not miss the fact that, although blind, her mother had been an 
independent elder.  The aging blind population is growing even faster than 
the elder population.  With state blind services focusing on the children 
and employment of adults, it is left to a wide variety of private agencies 
to provide services.  It concerns me that, with funding for all services 
dwindling, what is to become of these programs.  And, who is monitoring them 
to actually do a creditable job?


JD Townsend, LCSW
Daytona Beach, Florida, Earth, Sol System
Helping the light dependent to see.