COLD FISH IN A HOT CLIMATE

 

I have noticed lately that, here in New Mexico, fewer people exhibit warmth or smile at you. I believe it may be a cultural thing.

It can be very offputting, especially when dealing with the medical profession. I have run into this at the "Senior Health Center" of the local university, where the staff is cold and lacks empathy. It makes me wonder why these people entered this profession, but there are pockets of this coldness in other areas, so it could just be a local trait.

This clinic is attached to a teaching hospital, and you could imagine that their attention is more focused on their personal educational goals, except that, in the 25 years I have been getting my medical care through various clinics of the university hospital, I have had a couple very kind and compassionate doctors, but ever since the last one retired, I have had a awful time getting comfortable with a doctor.

The people at the Senior Health Clinic seem particularly hard and unfeeling, which is sad when you remind yourself that they are dealing with a most vulnerable population.

Coming from California originally, I have also had some wonderful medical care and was accustomed to staff and doctors having a lot of personality and exhibiting great personal warmth.

Perhaps this hard bitten attitude toward seniors is just a reflection of the direction of American culture at this time. It does not help to have authority figures in the news denigrate various groups of vulnerable people. It is only a matter of time before they start advocating for old people and the disabled to be eliminated through euthanasia.

The greatest offense, according to people in some areas of government, seems to be uselessness or vulnerability. It makes me wonder how our seniors and the disabled will end up, when everything is said and done. I have the comfort of the familiarity with The Lord, and of course I will endure through the strength that God gives me - but I often wonder what life would be like if the people who were being paid to care for me at least pretended to actually CARE.

Of course, when hiring staff for any hospital clinic, you can't mandate compassion, caring or warmth. It's just unfortunate that the culture of that particular clinic, which is a fairly new one, has developed into one that is hostile toward their chosen demographic.

I recently had a really horrible experience with them. There was a hugely incompetent thing that happened, and the staff was clearly not interested in fixing it. I went through weeks of phone calls trying to get the situation normalized, and then my doctor and the clinic director ambushed me at my appointment and harassed me about it.

They were trying to mask the ineptitude of their staff, but I am not buying it. I am even having a hard time getting switched to a different clinic. They say that, even though I do not feel safe at that clinic, they have decided I will remain there.

Apparently, I have reached the age where people are starting to try to exert their will over me - for things that are within my freedom to choose for myself. Since I am nowhere near losing my marbles, I will keep a grasp on my freedoms, thank you very much.

You read about such things happening to seniors, but it is still a surprise when it occurs to oneself.

Unfortunately, I will have to look outside this rabbit warren of clinics and hospitals where I have gotten my care for the last 25 years. Apparently, in those decades, UNM has reached a size where it is unwieldy and a corporate mindset has settled in.

There are never enough doctors in this town, it has grown so big so fast, and it may be a while before I can find something that suits me, but I ask that you all pray for me so that I can find some facility where smiles are not so rare.

I also ask that you pray for my ministry for ELDER ORPHANS to be taken up by my parish. I keep hearing that it is a good idea. There are meetings and memos and all those things, yet no one calls me to discuss it with me. I know how to organize it without costing us anything at all, and yet weeks go by and nothing happens.

Things move VERY slowly in this arena, and now that the Christmas season is upon us, no one seems able to do anything "new" until Christmas and New Years are well behind us. I come from a very small, very secular and anti-religious family - and now I am a hermit - so the holidays have never occupied much more of my consciousness than any other feast day.

I have already had discussions with the manager of the elder care organization of which I am a client. They are ready for me to direct Catholic caregivers through their system. All that has to be done is to advertise on the back of the church bulletin for volunteers, but the parish drags its feet like a very old and very tired woman.

I suppose this is common with religious organizations. I encountered the exact same thing when I was in the Hindu convent. It took forever to get anything done, and when it came to individuals cooperating with one another, it was like pulling teeth!

Please pray for me that this thing does not "die in committee" for lack of interest in my demographic or by others less familiar with this area squashing it in favor of other things they find more interesting.

In the meantime, I pray for you, as you pray for me.

God bless you all!

Silver Rose

FEAST OF OUR LADY OF FATIMA, 2022

 

The thing I particularly love about the Fatima apparitions is that they were witnessed by multiple people. In the case of the picture, above, which appeared in a newspaper of the day, in 1917, thousands of people witnessed "The Miracle of the Sun" for which there was advance notice...thus the presence of all these people who watched the sun dance in the sky.

I understand skepticism about apparitions, especially some of recent note that appeared to be somewhat shady - but what about a miracle witnessed in the modern age by thousands of people and reported on by the media? What about that?

My personal "take" on miracles is they usually happen to strengthen the faith and the resolve of the people. I suppose they serve to interest others in the spiritual life, but for me, it gives me something to hold onto in my dark days.

Lately, I am having some dark days. Lots of pain, the disabilities are making it more and more difficult for me to move around, and I cannot do many things I used to be able to do. I fight off an uncharacteristic depression, and thinking about the miracle of the sun really helps to buoy my spirits.

FORTUNATELY, I can still write and paint. I am working on that novel and organizing my painting table so that I can start painting the series of small paintings from some photographs I have taken that feature the Southwestern sky.

I AM RESURRECTING THE JEWELRY MAKING: When I lived in Northern California, I used to sell necklaces that featured gemstones. I am now learning wire-wrapping and plan to be selling my things at a local store that takes their wares to an art show on the weekends. I will also sell to personal friends and readers of my blog who show interest. When I have a few things produced, I will post them here and on Facebook.

THE HOUSE IS IN CHAOS, however. I have tried for so long to get some help cleaning, and except for a few visits from a kind friend who brought me groceries and paper goods and did some of my dishes, I have no help. (You have heard this song before.) If I sell the novel and if it does well (likewise with the jewelry) I may make enough money to move into a more appropriate situation and pay for some help in the house.

BUYING A PROPERTY AND SHARING IT WITH OTHER RELIGIOUS LADIES had been my dream for years, but I am obviously having to scale back my dreams and goals. I will be 68 this year so, while I AM slowing down with age and pain, I have lots of plans for the future. I just have to make sure they are reasonable, attainable goals.

IN THE MEANTIME, IT IS TIME TO FLOG THE WISH LIST AGAIN: I try really hard to be as independent as possible, but there is only so much I can do. I regularly "fall behind" with food and vitamin items, so I offer here a link to my wish list:

WISH LIST FOR FOOD & HOUSEHOLD

THANKS SO MUCH to my readers for your help throughout the years. As you know, "the government" does not do much toward helping senior ladies like me. It is one of America's dirty little secrets. I have a couple friends here in town who help me whenever they possibly can, but I hate to have them burdened with me and hope that others will chip in a little bit.

I suppose if I had not been written out of my father's will after he got Alzheimer's or if I had been married to a financially stable man rather than spending most of my time as a monastic, things would be different for me, but we must deal with what IS, right?

With the observance of the feast day of Our Lady of Fatima, I feel confident it will all work out. I am being watched over and protected, and all of YOU are part of that.

God bless us all!

Silver "Rose" 

CORONA VIRUS HITS MY TOWN, AND ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE

Picture of the Corona Virus

Yesterday, one of my neighbors came home after an exhaustive search for groceries to stock the pantry in preparation for a self-imposed casual quarantine. She described the mayhem she encountered; the long lines, empty shelves and packed parking lot.

All my senior neighbors are assailed with various forms of auto-immune disorders, and they cannot afford to contract a dangerous virus on top of it. Even the "common" cold can devolve into uncommon, serious illness and possibly death.

Many of the folks that are on the low-income program in this apartment complex are single, disabled seniors living on whatever social security they've managed to accumulate after many years of working. Because we have spent a lifetime working and paying bills, we have paid "too much" into social security and now, although our income is very low ($1100 a month, on average) we fall between the cracks, when it comes to government help. We don't get any. No food stamps. No discounts on our utility bills. We get a small discount on our rent, through a city program, and that is IT.

I have tried to explain the reality of this situation to people who sincerely believe that all disabled people are sucking at the teat of the state. I had one wealthy woman tell me she believed that "the government" had to pay all my expenses, including the moving truck to get me from one apartment to another. Many people on social media have expressed the firm conviction that the disability rolls are besieged with massive fraud. They have no idea how terribly difficult it is to be accepted onto the disability program, but they don't let facts keep them from blabbing their theory widely. Their toxic ignorance is widespread.

We all know that we are supposed to be kind to the old and the sick, but if the extreme right wingers can claim we are not actually sick but are "faking it", then they will have an excuse for putting barriers up to anything that might help us. They applaud Trump's efforts to cut the food stamp rolls, which are already inadequate to meet the need.

The fact is that the U.S. does a very poor job of taking care of its disabled and elderly citizens and no one should be surprised that many of us have had to resort to begging by starting Go Fund Me campaigns and Amazon "wish lists" to make up the shortfall.

Widely available statistics, if anyone should decide to simply Google the facts, demonstrate that the U.S. pays far less to its seniors than other countries. We are number 25 on the chart, far below Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, The Slovak Republic (!), Greece, Latvia, Czech Republic, and KOREA. Check out this chart and the
 ARTICLE ON THE CENTER ON BUDGET AND POLICY PRIORITIES WEB PAGE

Ironically, because of our illnesses and allergies, our diets need to be a nutrient dense as possible. In addition, speaking for myself, I am terribly allergic to preservatives and pesticides. They cause me to have dangerous asthma attacks.

This may not sound like a big deal, but I was recently given some old yarn and, when I started crocheting with it, I suddenly could not breathe. This is why I don't typically accept yarn that has been opened and sitting in someone's house for a year or two or three. I rather like breathing.

Because of the asthma, the corona virus could be deadly for me.

When this Covid virus emergency settled in, and I started hearing about people deciding to "self-quarantine," I realized that I have NO "emergency" supplies at all. I already have trouble keeping food in my house for my monthly needs. This month, I had to buy eyeglasses, and the money had to come out of my food budget because I do not have discretionary income.

Now, here I am, very low on funds, unable to stand in the long lines at the grocery store, and needing to get some emergency supplies into the house. The other disabled ladies in my apartment complex are likewise situated.

Clearly, it is time to launch another Amazon food list.

My aim is to try to get enough supplies in the house to share among the other disabled senior ladies who live here. Amazon has my address and will ship to me direct. They always let me know when a parcel is coming, and I am typically home all the time anyway.

If you are able to help, we would all appreciate it.

AMAZON WISH LIST FOR FOOD

If you have any questions about this list or any preferences we might have, just leave a comment on this blog post OR send me a message on my Facebook messenger space.

TO GET TO MY FACEBOOK PAGE, CLICK HERE.

Thank you, in advance, for your help, and God bless. I will report on donations received in another post.

God bless us all - stay safe out there, people! And if you can stay home - do it!

Silver Rose
Sannyasini Kaliprana