Posted on 11/19/2012 6:06:55 PM PST by Timber Rattler
In May 1964, Nels and Irene Highberg bought their first and only home. It was a modest, brick rancher -- no garage -- on a pleasant cul-de-sac on the edge of East Petersburg.
The Highbergs raised two sons there. They entertained neighbors there. They grew old there. After 48 years at 6312 Miriam Circle, the Highbergs -- Nels is 92, Irene is 89 -- figured they could manage a while longer. Family and friends agreed.
But the county Office of Aging stepped in last summer, saying for safety reasons the Highbergs must move to a nursing home.
"I ain't going to go," Highberg said, according to Erick Highberg, the couple's 54-year-old son.
When a van arrived Aug. 2 to take the couple to Oak Leaf Manor in Millersville, Highberg sat in a chair in the driveway for many long minutes. He got in the van only after a police officer showed up.
(snip)
Now that the Highbergs are at Oak Leaf Manor, a new worry for the Highberg family is the possibility of another move to a less expensive, state-subsidized facility because their money is running out.
A glimpse of the future for the elderly under liberal rule...
Next up...Soylent Green.
I had not realized that local government could do this, but an elderly friend tells me that she has been receiving weekly visits from social workers who insist she pack up and move for her own safety. Unbelievable . . . and absolutely certain to get worse.
So why did the 54 year old son just stand by and let them take his parents?
officer, several years future: Now then, what’s all this about you old folks not taking your patriotic suicide pills?!? it too unsafe and expensive for the state to allow you to live, you may hurt yourself or get inadequate care as your impotance to society scores are almost zero now.
I guarantee that, after this couple’s money runs out and they are transferred to a dingier facility to wait out their remaining days, the next step will be state seizure and sale of their property to pay the liberal bureaucrats who put them there.
al i know is if they genuinely can take care of themselves, they should stay. if they really can’t because of real problems, they ought to be convinced to move to a place that will give them the help they cannot do for themselves.
i have a 90+ year old neighbor guy whjo is jusr fine, he has his kids stopping by daily, but he does his own chores and has cut down on driving partly because i think his kids get stuff for him. but he’s just fine and shouldn’t have to go anywhere, he can take care of himself fine.
Just cuz some Freepers will ask.
I had to google cause I was sure that “Office of Aging” couldn’t possibly in the USA with the power to evict people from their own homes....
There are these offices all over the place!
Next door neighbor passed away from ALS. Her husband a 100% disabled, retired Marine. In return for in home care they had to sign over their mortgage free home to the state of PA. He can live there until he dies then it goes to the state.
This REALLY bothers me...
You want government?
Then it’s government you get. Enjoy.
You are behind, the first facility already took everything, now it’s just a matter of waiting for the declaration of death. The state facility will extend their life as they only get paid for the live ones, vegetative of not. They get extra to pay for the sedation.
As to their 54 year old son, perhaps had they had a closer relationship they wouldn’t be in this situation. Many abdicated the raising of their children to the government so they could “find themselves”. A high price indeed when the chickens come home to roost.
thank you
“Office of Aging”
Sounds like something out a futuristic movie.
It is wrong, just wrong.....
might better of sat on the porch with a gun...
I’m not saying this is the case with your friend...but I have friend that does social work for the state. He works almost entirely with the elderly in rural areas. Many have no family and little money. Their homes are hazardous. They often have no food or warmth. He actually brings them food, hooks them up with Meals On Wheels and coordinates with local utility companies to keep the lights and heat/ac on.
He never “insists” that they move to safer quarters, but he does encourage them. The few he has been able to convince to relocate usually end up back in their homes in a week or two.
Of course that is their right. But it is heartbreaking for him to see the elderly live in such conditions. His motives aren’t nefarious at all.
Where’s their two SONS!!!!!!!!
This is infuriating to me.
>>This REALLY bothers me...
I know. Soon, your neighbors will be able to report you for anything to the local Revolutionary Council, or whatever our homegrown commies choose to call it.
Just curious..did this happen in the US?
I don’t see how it could happen without getting a court order of some kind.
You’re welcome. I trusted the poster, I just wanted to be able to email a link.
This is SO wrong on SO many levels....
“”I had not realized that local government could do this, but an elderly friend tells me that she has been receiving weekly visits from social workers who insist she pack up and move for her own safety. Unbelievable . . . and absolutely certain to get worse.””
That is so sad, now I know why I while never let “helpers” into my home..
They would have moved me in a hearse after I had taken out some the Van driver, and hopefully some Social Services creeps.
I remember when my mother became ill with pneumonia. She was 85 and her health had been fading. We took her to the hospital tho the home health nurse said not to. I am certain she wanted mother to die from the pneumonia which they say carries them off quietly.
We took her to the hospital and the Dr. cured her of the pneumonia but she could not walk then so we admitted her to a nursing and rehab. She only had 30 days of the rehab and it seemed to be working. We could get her up to a walker but she could not quite manage it.
After a couple of weeks, Mother had been working on her own trying to get to where she could walk. If she could walk she could have gone home with Daddy who tho older than her, was in good enough shape to help her.
Mother asked us to take her home and she would show us that she could walk. We did and it broke my heart seeing how much Mother wanted to be at her home and how hard she tried to walk, but she just couldn’t do it.
One of us made sure we visited her every day and that was clearly the height of her day. In only a few weeks her systems began failing. Finally she told the nurse she was ready to go home, by which she meant to go to heaven and see her loved ones who had preceded her. They gave her morphine and no food or water. I wanted to keep her alive but I realize now that living under those conditions, and knowing it was constantly getting worse, Mother wanted to take the burden off her children and made her decision.
One of my cousins was with her praying with her when she expired. He said she moved her lips just as she died. She had been in a coma for 10 days. I am certain in my mind that her last words were of her children.
She was the best person I have ever known.
No kidding. This hits home because I'm 57 and taking care of my 84 yr old mother. I made her a promise that she would never go into a nursing home. They come to try and take her out of here and it's going to be ugly.
I can see that happening one day in California.. except the elderly couple — or lone elderly — will be forced to move out of their three, four, or five bedroom suburban home so that a “more-deserving” favored, young family with children, including an “undocumented worker” family, can have the house. It should be easy to get enough signatures to put such a proposition on the ballot.
What if you wanted to die in your own home? There is more to this story that we are not getting told however, I would rather die “less” old in my own home than kept “alive” longer in captivity, at a nursing home.
They best wait until I can no longer squeeze a trigger before the try to pack me off.
i too am 57 and made the same promise to my Mom back in the 80's, she died at home in peace... God bless you
Sounds as if the one son was right there but he was left out of the loop while the "office of aging" decided what was going to happen to his parents. Read the article ... it's an eye-opener.
whenobamacare is fully implemented, that is how they will get rid of the elderly and infirm.To wit: Put them into nursing homes. Kill them and when and if inquiry is made regarding their demise reply,"We can't discuss the case because of confidentially laws.,p>Kinda like Germany in the 30s. One would be arrested, placed in a camp, killed. Later the familt of the deceased would get a message to come to the police station to pick up their ashes.The death certificate would read: Cause of death: Heart failure.
Unfortunately you will not be kept alive for long in a nursing home. Dehydration. It’s happening now. They tell the family it’s a very comfortable alternative.
Lancaster, PA news article
...until they have stolen it all, then they can kick you to the curb..
That was the way things used to be. However, the office of aging types have “gone active”, which means they are on the hunt to find seniors living at home who pass their checklist for being put in nursing homes.
Hospitals are a big part of this. As part of admissions now, there is a standard question: “Do you feel safe where you live?” If they answer “No”, then the government owns them.
They also use other, more arcane criteria. For instance, they cross check what prescriptions elderly people are taking. If they could “potentially debilitate”, then they can argue that they should only be dispensed by a health care worker, in a nursing home.
I’m sure they have all sorts of other formulas. But if an elderly person passes any of their formula, then the mechanism begins to put them under institutional control.
For this and other reasons, elderly people should never go to an Emergency Room or check into a hospital without a younger “bodyguard” to insure they are neither neglected nor fast tracked to state control.
Thanks.
I didn’t see the entire article posted upthread before I asked.
I type slow, lol.
My guess is that a relative wanted them gone. Sad, very sad.
My grandmother passed at the age of 86. She had lived alone in her beach house for about 10 of those years. She fell in the shower, broke a hip and 2 weeks later she died. Fortunately , she died at home, right where she would have wanted to die. I can’t imagine anyone taking that wonderful lady from her house.
If I need help I will find it. Anyone trying to force their will on the situation will not be appreciated.
Several years ago my wife’s grandfather tripped, hit his head on a bathroom sink, and died. He was 96 and for the most part was able to provide for himself. The family wanted to move him a nursing home/retirement community. He wanted no part of if. My mother-in-law wanted to go to the Dept. of Aging to have something done. I was one of a few that took his side in this family argument. He died before anything could be done. His death could have happen the same way no matter where he lived.
For years he was a hunting and fishing buddy to me. He was conservative to the core and fiercely independent. I had a frank talk with him one time in which he made it clear that he would rather die than, “be put out to pasture”.
I briefly mourned his death until I woke up and recognized my selfishness in focusing on my loss instead of celebrating his great life. He lived his life on his on terms, and that was what was most important to him. He was at ease with death.
There should be no Dept. of Aging. Agencies like these are formed out of fears and laziness. Families, churches, and communities need to take care of their own, not a government bureaucrat. There are many lessons to be learned by caring for our elders. Passing that responsibility onto the government forgoes those lessons, often times out of our own fears, e.g., death.
My wife’s grandfather taught me about life and the importance to live it on my own terms. He also taught me not to fear death, especially if I live my life on my own terms.
1. Never let anyone from the government into your home without a search warrant or a court order. These days you should also deny entry to "off-duty" government workers. Be careful who you associate with. Private helpers may also pry and denounce.
2. If possible, have a Durable Power of Attorney in a trusted associate or family member. Once again, choose very carefully-a hostile party with a DPA can literally destroy you. But if a DPA exists it is much more difficult for third parties (like the government) to assert guardianship over you.
3. Don't ignore anything, especially not court proceedings. If you are unlucky enough to be targeted, get your own lawyer pronto. The court appointee will NOT be on your side.
4. You can't be paranoid enough these days. Anticipate and prepare early. If you must trust, be doubly sure to verify-even if it is a family member. There are going to be a lot of desperate young people soon.
they loved us and took care of us when we were defenseless, and as men we didn't back down when it was our turn to repay them
Most likely the son just can’t wait for his parents to die so he can do whatever he wants to his parents’ house, plain and simple.
But Uncle Sugar knows best.
Considering what home care costs, it's probably a good deal.
My proposal for older people on fixed income who can not afford to pay their property taxes is just to leave them alone and place a lien on the property. It will eventually be sold and the government can collect their money then. But there is no reason to throw those older people who have paid their taxes for generation out at this point.
Leave them alone to live out their days.
Bless you.
I hope people understand that knowing your way around your own place and things has inherent value. People live longer because of just that. Uproot them and they are immediately without their bearings.
We moved in with my mom when it was clear she could not live alone. She almost fell down the stairs trying to get upstairs to the bathroom and her bedroom. She signed the house over to us and we were able to build on an addition with a bedroom and bathroom so she would not have to climb the old farmhouse stairs. There was no way we would put her in a nursing home. She died 9 years later, after enjoying a good meal and strawberry shortcake for desert. She died, peacefully, in her own bed in the middle of the night. Our parish priest had been in a few days before to visit and bring communion. What a great way to go!
This is exactly why I thank the good Lord above for giving me the strength to take care of my mom who will be 86 Wednesday and has dementia. She lives across the driveway on our property. Her and my daddy moved up here 30 years ago (he passed 20 years ago). I will fight tooth and nail to be sure my mom passes away in her own home. It’s hard sometime but I’ll stand over her grave with no regrets. I’m truly blessed that I can do this for her.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.