Old Age is All New Territory

For John, BLUF:  We are a mobile society and we need to look out for each other, especially in old age.

This is a news story about old age, hoarding and homelessness.  It is a very sad story, because it is about a bright person who grows old and, perhaps lacking local support, goes down hill and dies alone in their apartment, and remain undiscovered for months.  Think it can't happen?  It did to Barbara Salinas-Norman, "a Chicana activist, a bilingual teacher, an author, a publisher and an artist". Here is an article by Anne Constable, "Writer and activist Bobbi Salinas dead several months before family finds body", in The New Mexican.

Ms Salinas was an educated person:

Salinas earned a bachelor’s degree in education from California State University in Los Angeles and a master’s degree in public health education from the University of California, Berkeley.

A master's degree in public health education.  She was educated in a way that should have helped her recognize her situation and cause her to seek professional help, if not help from relatives.  As it was, she didn't.

Stories from friends and family suggest Salinas’ life had been unraveling for some time.  She often slept in her car and washed up in the bathroom at a local library.  The gas and electricity had been turned off in her condo because she wasn’t paying her bills.  She ate at soup kitchens.  Her home was in foreclosure.

Her point of contact appears to have been Ms Peggy Trujillo, a librarian at the New Mexico State Library.  Did Ms Trujillo know who to talk to about this situation?  Was there even a person to talk to?

This is the kind of situation we should all be on the lookout for.  There is a line between being helpful and being intrusive, and part of cultural growth is knowing that line and that it shifts with each person.  But, that said, we need to be prepared to help our relatives, friends and neighbors as they move on in years.  Cases like Bobbi Salinas are to be avoided.

And, this is not to say that no one cared about Ms Salinas.  Her sister, Edna, lived 700 miles away, as the crow flies.  Contact attempts were made, and finally the sister and her husband, Mr Louis Ponce, drove back to Santa Fe, to check up.

Salinas’ body was discovered by her brother-in-law, Louis Ponce, who said Friday that he had become concerned about her because he hadn’t heard from her for a long time.  He and his wife, Edna, Salinas’ sister, decided to drive from their home in East Pasadena, Calif., to attend a Cinco de Mayo celebration at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque.  A niece of Salinas was dancing at the event.

May we be more lucky.

Hat tip to the Instapundit.

Regards  —  Cliff