I work with the truly old. My patients are almost exclusively seventy and above. Most are eighties and above.
We see so many people hospitalized for malnutrition. We see so many people who are 70+ and either homeless in the most expected sense—living in streets and the woods, while pieces of their body rot away on them because they can’t afford medications they need—and those who are forced to stay in horrific living situations because they have no other options.
The impoverished elderly are one of THE most vulnerable groups because they tend to have very few people they can rely on in any way and they tend to be multiply disabled.
What does a homeless eighty year old do when they have a stroke? What does a homeless eighty year old do when they break a hip? When they develop a UTI because they don’t have access to enough water and sanitary ways to clean themselves, causing weakness and an altered mental state?
Often times, they die. They die miserable, horrible, preventable deaths. Those who live often never go back to the same level of independence they had before, cutting years off their life. Because what does a homeless person do after returning to a homeless life when they’ve had that stroke and they’ve been medically cleared?
So. You hate old people or whatever? Sorry you don’t like that rude guy in the checkout line and hate your aunt. These are real people who are incredibly vulnerable and nobody cares about.
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