Sooo on top of being unemployed for the first time in 40 years, and my mind/body taking it out on me with all kinds of stress-related shit like migraines and panic attacks....I learned a couple months ago that my elderly aunt was being taken advantage of by her home health aides.
They were starting to take money from her. One bitch tried to cash a check for over $200 to pay her OWN cell phone bill (my aunt only has a landline). Luckily the bank teller was alert, called the cops, who got Senior Services to look in on auntie. They decided to take her to a local hospital/nursing home, where she's been since.
She is doing well there but she wants to go home. I can't blame her as it's her home - it's paid for, her stuff is there, she's comfortable, etc. I have to meet with the social worker tomorrow (4/3) to discuss how to accomplish this, and I Have. No. Clue.
There are services for seniors that may help, but I'll be brutally honest. I can't deal with any more stress. Finding aides, determining if they're honest and trustworthy, even just getting to her house (takes 3 buses to get me there) is difficult, and this is on top of trying to find a new job (no luck so far).
She definitely can't move in with me. No room, wheelchair can't fit through doorways. And she wouldn't anyway. She wants the house she paid for.
I think the social worker said once that the dept of senior services or whatever they're called can handle a lot of this (or most of it? can't recall). Am I a complete selfish bitch if I cave and let them do so? I want her to be safe, but I just don't have the resources, physical, financial, emotional or mental, to make all the decisions. I can't even fix what's wrong in my OWN life.
But I'm torn. She's my oldest living relative, my dad's youngest sister. She's a tough old bird, still sharper mentally than she seems at almost 90, but she's been in a wheelchair for over 30 years from a brain tumor/stroke combo, and can't do certain things for herself. I feel like the world's biggest shit-heel if I don't get more involved.
Suggestions? Ideas? Prayers? I know I should have posted earlier in the day, I won't have time to check this before meeting with the social worker.
TL;DR: My 89 yr old aunt needs help with aides & etc, but I am too physically & mentally stressed to do much. I don't know how to proceed.
They were starting to take money from her. One bitch tried to cash a check for over $200 to pay her OWN cell phone bill (my aunt only has a landline). Luckily the bank teller was alert, called the cops, who got Senior Services to look in on auntie. They decided to take her to a local hospital/nursing home, where she's been since.
She is doing well there but she wants to go home. I can't blame her as it's her home - it's paid for, her stuff is there, she's comfortable, etc. I have to meet with the social worker tomorrow (4/3) to discuss how to accomplish this, and I Have. No. Clue.
There are services for seniors that may help, but I'll be brutally honest. I can't deal with any more stress. Finding aides, determining if they're honest and trustworthy, even just getting to her house (takes 3 buses to get me there) is difficult, and this is on top of trying to find a new job (no luck so far).
She definitely can't move in with me. No room, wheelchair can't fit through doorways. And she wouldn't anyway. She wants the house she paid for.
I think the social worker said once that the dept of senior services or whatever they're called can handle a lot of this (or most of it? can't recall). Am I a complete selfish bitch if I cave and let them do so? I want her to be safe, but I just don't have the resources, physical, financial, emotional or mental, to make all the decisions. I can't even fix what's wrong in my OWN life.
But I'm torn. She's my oldest living relative, my dad's youngest sister. She's a tough old bird, still sharper mentally than she seems at almost 90, but she's been in a wheelchair for over 30 years from a brain tumor/stroke combo, and can't do certain things for herself. I feel like the world's biggest shit-heel if I don't get more involved.
Suggestions? Ideas? Prayers? I know I should have posted earlier in the day, I won't have time to check this before meeting with the social worker.
TL;DR: My 89 yr old aunt needs help with aides & etc, but I am too physically & mentally stressed to do much. I don't know how to proceed.
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