The US is starting to fill up with those 90 and above. It has become commonplace for us to see people in their 90's up to 100. Modern medicine is keeping people alive to an old age
Its always amazing to me how many people are living in their own place at that age. A lot of them
shouldn't be living on their own. Something happens and they are discovered in an unkept apartment or house unable to really care for themselves. They are brought to us, often times in a disheveled state, dirty clothes with urine stains when they didn't make it to the bathroom.
We clean them up, throw away the awful soiled clothes. Do tests. They are of course, dehydrated, probably have a UTI. BP is up, they haven't been taking their meds. They can't remember the last time. They are bruised from falls.
They pick at a meal with give them. Not much of an appetite these days.
A lot of the time they don't have children or their children live across the country.
So here they are with us now. They are past the point of assisted living. Next stop: nursing home. They will be propped up in the hall there in a wheelchair with the other 90 year olds, waiting to die. It won't take long. Nursing homes are the worst place for them. Depressing. Understaffed. Things like the flu or intestinal illness spread like wildfire in such an environment.
What are we going to do with all these very elderly folks? Nursing home beds are going to run out. Then what?
You know what will happen. The big nursing home companies will build more. This is the American way, where there is an opportunity for a buck, someone will do it. Especially in health care. Look at the stock market; one of the strongest sectors is healthcare. It's almost a sure thing.
ReplyDeleteThe solution will be to draft the older elderly. The warmonger corporate fascists need constant war to keep the profits rolling in. If grandpa is 93 and can push a button to summon his nurse he can push a button to have a drone bomb a jihadi wedding. Corporal grandpa reporting as ordered, sir.
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