SATURDAY STORY - JANUARY 23, 2021

 SATURDAY STORY - JANUARY 23, 2021

Not much of a story, but a comparison

Dorothy - 1990

It was a tough day for Alex and Jen.  They took the car keys away from Alex’s Mom, Dorothy.  Dorothy was a sweet senior lady at 87 years-old.  But, in the past two years, she had two accidents (both her fault) and got lost in the AustinTexas area three times.  True, the area was growing by leaps and bounds and there were new roads, and even some of the old roads became dead-end roads as new express lanes were added to Mopac, 183, I-35, and other standard roads.  

It wasn’t that Dorothy was necessarily a bad driver as that the area just had gone crazy.

Dorothea - 2030

Dorothea was still zipping around town at age 94.  She hadn’t had an accident for over 10 years, she hadn’t gotten lost, her car insurance premiums were down.  Her daughter Jenny and partner Alexa had worried about Jenny’s Mom still driving - but she was still a great driver.

Dorothy - 1990

Dorothy had something cooking on the stove - a pan of green beans and then a kettle of spaghetti noodles.  She had been watching TV (which was pretty loud since her hearing wasn’t as good anymore), and she just lost track of time until the water boiled off and the beans and noodles pans started smoking.  The alarm sounded while the room filled with acrid smoke. She had been talking on the phone with her friend Carol and Carol was in the middle of a juicy story about Max, the senior playboy neighbor who had tried to hit on Carol and just couldn’t hang up and put the phone down.

Dorothea - 2030

Dorothea laughed at herself.  She had put on some green beans to cook and then was watching TV.  The stove sensed that the beans had not been stirred for five minutes and that the water level was very low and turned off the burner and sounded an alarm.  Dorothea was in a conversation with her good friend Nancy when the alarm went off.  Nancy was talking about their friend Julie - and when the alarm sounded, Dorothea put the phone on Bluetooth and checked out the kitchen.  There was no problem, the beans were done.  

Dorothy - 1990

Dorothy was trying to get the Christmas decorations down from the top shelf in the closet and she fell.  She yelled, cried, but nobody could hear her. She couldn’t get up and laid on the floor for hours until Jen came by to check her out.  Jen took her to an emergency room to get checked out.  She was deeply bruised, dehydrated, and needed to be in a rehabilitation center for a few days.

Dorothea - 2030

Dorothea was getting the Christmas decorations down and she fell.  As soon as she realized she couldn’t get up, she spoke the security word “crayon” (a word that she would not have said unless she had an emergency).  Within a few minutes, a parametric nurse was at her house.  Dorothea joked with the nurse as they rode in the ambulance to the emergency room. Jenny met up with her at an emergency room in about half-an-hour where she was released.  (Jenny did berate her mother saying when she needs to do something like getting things down off shelves she needs to call for help.)

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Seniors like to live in their own homes.  In 2030, Dorothea has an autonomous car, where she can say “Take me to the store”; “Take me to church”; “Take me to the senior center”.  She ‘drives’ but doesn’t drive.  Devices like ‘senior-smart’ applications, home controls (like Amazon’s Alexa, Google Home, or Apple Siri) can help seniors with many things - including getting help when needed.  

Being surrounded by your things - pictures, furniture, kitchen, pantry, etc. can help a senior maintain continuity.  Uprooting can be difficult (but not impossible).

One area that has grown since 1990 is assisted living facilities.  Somebody like Dorothy in the 1990 scenario will be well served in an assisted living center - as well Dorothea in the second example.  

Assisted living is generally like apartment living without living quite alone.  Most (all?) assisted living facilities provide meals.  For Dorothy or Dorothea, they have cooked food for sixty or more years.  Why not let somebody else do it (with balanced nutrition).  

Likewise, assisted living generally has group activities - such as bus rides to events, bingo, group singing, and even worship services.  You don’t have to participate but my guess is that at age 94, many of Dorothea's friends have died - so making new friends needs to be part of life.  

My parents loved their assisted living facility.  (Even if my mother cheated at bingo to get a miniature candy bar!!!).  In a city, they went to baseball games, to parks, to music events.  They had different ministers visit (generally once a month), so they felt like they were in a faith community.  

And, my father was like Dorothy - as he had his first (ever) accident at age 92 - and their car was totaled.  

So, seniors - we need to enjoy our senior years!!  And, technology (and autonomous vehicles) will help us stay independent, healthy, safe, and happy!!!

LOVE WINS!!!

Hugs!!!

Karen