Emergency Preparedness For The Care And Protection Of Our Elders
You pride yourself on being more or less safety conscious and emergency preparedness minded. You don’t skydive, race cars, mountain climb, bungee jump, or play a part in other “Bucket List” activities that might perhaps void your life insurance. You don’t even ride on roller coasters, just in case there is a phrase excluding it hidden deep within the fine print. You gave up water slides years ago.
Ailing in health, finding yourself a bit less swift and agile as Michael Jordan cutting to the basket in his prime, or just a bit awkward or ungraceful, you fret at times about living alone in your home. Railings put in for support in tactical locations around the house may already have been suggested by your children and installed. The shower or tub may also have supplementary no-slip patches. You understand that if you ever had a heart attack, one of the best things you could do to save your life is to cough deeply and hard (continuously). You also have chewable aspirin in small packages in your wallet at all times to take in case of heart attack as well. Training yourself to self-administer the Heimlich Maneuver by sitting in a chair or putting your back up against the wall and aggressively thrusting up and in the thumb side of your fist by grasping the fist with the other hand was crossed off your list a few years back already. As soon as they figure out a means to self-administer CPR, you’ll get in on that class, too.
You’ve been pondering lately all the necessary utility shutoffs you’d need to do in case that big earthquake comes they’ve been talking about the potential for for years. And you substitute the batteries in your smoke detectors two times per year at daylight savings time adjustment just as the local fire department recommends. You also have a carbon monoxide detector plugged into the wall in the hallway going to your room. A fire extinguisher is in the closet just off the kitchen, and another one is in a separate closet at the opposite end of the house. An emergency car kit is in the trunk of your car as well as a 72 hour kit in the garage. What you would really like is another railing in the middle of the garage bolted to the floor that you could hang onto and pull yourself out of the car with, and to get yourself steady before you walk into the house.
Beside all of this, you suppose you are satisfactorily prepared, although something that your nurse daughter said recently has been eating at you a little. She had “dotingly” recommended that you get one of those silly necklaces with a button that you press in case you fall and can’t get up on by yourself. Well, you think you can still manage to get to your feet if you needed to, and you want to still feel somewhat independent. “It’s just preventive,” your daughter said to you, “in case you broke a bone and couldn’t move.” You’re still mulling it over, thinking she may be right. Why not? If it’ll make her feel better, you rationalize. And so you get on to ordering a medical alert system. And then you call up your daughter to report it to her. She’s happy, so you’re happy, and you get on with your life.
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