Sunday, November 18 ,

1990 - North Shore News ~ 25

hot line will help seniors in distress

WHEN I heard this story I thought of you. I thought of
myself, t00, and any of us who could so easily run into the
same scary situation. Where do you go for help?

Here’s the scenario:

An elderly man lives alone in a
third-floor apartment without ele-
vator service. Another = resident
becomes aware that his) curtains
haven't been opened for several
days, and that his car is in its
usual spot so it’s unlikely he’s on
holiday.

She fevis it isn't her place to in-
terfere but does know the woman
who regularty drops in to check
on his health and welfare. She
therefore phones this friend to
alert her. Let’s call the friend
Florence, short for Nightingale.
She’s a senior lady of the junior
variety.

It isn’t easy to gain access to
the old chap, as he is rather hard
of hearing, but sustained jabs on
the front door bell finally elicit
release of the lock there. Florence
toils up to the top floor and
assails the door with fists andthe
heel of her shoe until the poor
man drags himself to undo the
bolts and bars.

He is ill. He is really ill, runn-
ing a temperature, without food
or drink in the last 24 hours, not
too clear on the passage of time,
not too steady on his pins, feeling
really rotten.

To Florence, it looks very much
like a case of the current flu,
which she is not anxious to have
and which, frankly, peeves her a
bit. She had pressed Fred to join
her when she was having her own
flu shot, and he had dismissed the
idea as ‘‘just for those old folks.”
Fred’s 77.

She phones the doctor they've
shared for years, but it’s his pro-
fessional day. His office nurse
suggests she bundle the patient up
and bring him in when the
substitute doctor can see him.

Our heroine describes the con-

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dition of the patient, not con-
ducive to exposure to the ele-
ments, plus his considerable bulk
as opposed to her own, and the
daunting prospect of three flights
of stairs. down and up again.
She'd rather not.

There is therefore conversation
with the substitute doctor. A
temperature reading is needed.
Florence flies out, as fast as those
three flights will allow her, pro-
cures a thermometer and calls
back the results of the examina-
tion. {tis extremely high.

The doctor thereupon prescribes
medication, and calls in the
prescription to the nearest phar-
macy. They can’t deliver until
possibly five o'clock. So Florence
goes to fetch the pills, along with
some tins of soup and fruit juice,
and sees that he is made more
comfortable before she simply has
to leave him to attend to her own
affairs. She makes sure she goes
over the pills consumption with
him, and leaves written notes.

Next day, armed with his only
set cf keys, she is back, to find
him worsened. Their regular doc-
tor is now available for a report,
and responds in person after his
office hours, diagnosing
pneumonia as the problem, and
prescribing accordingly. During
that long day, Florence has per-
suaded her patient that he should
have the telephone closer to him,
and goes out to fetch the allow-
able length of cord.

He suffers still from in-
coherence and fatigue but the pills
seem to be taking hold, though he
remains very weak. He is still not
completely well, even as this is
written, and has lost considerable
weight along with his zip. He is
sufficiently compos mentis to in-
sist he no longer needs all that

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You c .... help foo.

For more infornalion contoct

atD.
7d

4673 Catling Avenue
Ottewa, Onlanio K2A 321
(613) 725-2194

Canadian Wildlite Federction

Eleanor

THE VINTAGE YEARS

telephone cord in his bedroom.
Wants her to get her money back.

What we all want to know is,
what's the best way to get help for
this kind of situation? [1's great
that folks like Florence will get
involved and do their utmost, but
there needs to be professional at-
tention at the start of such an ill-
ness,

One could call 91! and invite an
ambulance, but that can be pretty

traumatic for an elderly sufferer.
He could be properly: terrified.
Besides, the strung-out facilities at
the hospitals in these times suggest
that the fewer unnecessary admis-
sions the better.

As for the ‘'whar-ifs?”, we
don’t want to conjecture on the
possibility of no one noticing the
curtains and the car. But it makes
us think that it wouldn’r be a bad
idea to know who one’s neighbor
is, and cultivate some sort of trig-
ger signal.

We tend to be excessively
private in Canada, worse in our
old age, especially apartment
dwellers. Don’t intrude, don’t
make a fuss. When you read over
the foregoing, it seems a pretty
silly attitude, even when you are
in vigorous good health.

For the chronically ili and frail,
still indomitably independent, the
use of the Medical Alert device
makes a lot of sense. And there
should be someone nearby with a
duplicate key to one’s home place.
Privacy is one thing, stubborn
isolation can make a lot of trouble
for the rescue squad.

Now for the good news.

Our local health departments
have been studying this very situa-

They've encountered their
share of frantic relatives and
neighbors. [In cooperation with
Lions Gate Hospital they have or-
ganized a Quick Response Pro-
gram that will respond to a call to
986-7111.

Memorize it, stick
‘fridge,’ and thank your
stars.

It’s just out of the egg, which is
why you've not heard much of it
up to now. But it will mean
someone with the expertise to
make an assessment will be on
your doorstep very quickly, and
will be able to put in train the
procedure best suited to your im-
mediate situation.

It's taken some fancy organiz-
ing, as you can imagine, and the
cooperation of all the various
layers of our health care structure
to coordinate the necessary people
and machinery to this real need.

Ideally, the sufferer’s doctor
would make the call to them, but
as Florence's experience demon-
strated, that isn't always possible.
Crises are no respecters of
weekends and the midnight hours.
It's just a very comforting,
strengthening thing to know that
hefp’s at the end of the line.

tion.

it on your
lucky