Countdown to the Community Health Fair Sunday July 29th- CPR “Staying Alive”

So three Truxton Circle houses of worship, Masjid Muhammad, Mt. Sinai, and the hosts Fourth Street Friendship 7th Day Adventist are all getting together to promote health with topics covering teen depression and suicide, diabetes, and screenings. This will happen on this coming Sunday at 1611 4th St NW.

One of those things will be a nice little review (well a review for me since I’ve taken CPR classes) of CPR. This will take place in the Above Dining Hall at 1:30 and 3:30. Part one will be calling 911 with Shuron Abdullah M.Ed, MS, HCM, RRT. Part 2 in two parts with CPR Instructors “Push hard and fast” with Romone Watkins, and “Stayin’ Alive” with Danny Rosette. Get your hands on a dummy and possibly come to the rescue of a relative, friend or co-worker.

Homelessness close to home and 3000 miles away

Homeless stuffSo this is personal.

We knew my sister-in-law was one kind of homeless. That kind of homeless where the person is couch surfing. Recently we discovered she’s a different kind of homeless (living in a truck) and close to the classic kind of homeless of being on the street.

At this point someone, maybe you, are saying well I and the Help (she’s his sister) should do something. And I respond, it is so friggin complicated and we are doing something, but that something won’t stop her trajectory to the streets.

We’ve concluded that my sister in law has some serious mental health problems (she self medicates), along with the anger management issues (yes, that can fall under mental health), add to that she’s on the other side of the country, we cannot provide or impose the kind of help she needs. Those anger, drug, and mental health problems have irreparably damaged the bridges other family members made available. The ‘something’ we’re doing is trying to salvage the damage left from the last time family helped. She managed to drain her mother’s retirement, leaving my diabetic mother in law destitute with no life savings or assets, so we’re trying to keep the old woman alive from 3000 miles away.

Instead of going on and on, I’ll say eldercare is expensive, unbelievably complicated and oh so emotionally draining. There is not enough left to do anything for the person who caused the eldercare abuse (and there was serious financial and emotional abuse*), except to pray for her.

From where we stand homelessness is complicated and there is no simple long term answers.

 

*We don’t know if there was physical abuse, mother in law is tight lipped about the whole thing. We do know sister in law has physically abused others.