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HeroicStories #843: One Social Worker
Reaching more than 37,000 subscribers in 118 countries, this is...
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HeroicStories #843: 12 January 2012 www.HeroicStories.org
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One Social Worker Story Editor:
by Kelly Kimura Joyce Schowalter
Tokyo, Japan
We are an American family living in Tokyo. Although we visit our
families in the U.S.A. once a year, we didn't really give much
thought to the changes my husband's aging parents and aunts were
going through. Suddenly there was only one person left: his mother.
His mom is a diabetic in her mid-80s, a heart attack survivor with
bad knees, and an independent lady whose English is an increasingly
rusty second language now that she is alone.
Her driving has become more erratic, and she falls more frequently.
The house she loves and has lived in for over 40 years has become
challenging for her. She is faced with making it safer or moving to
senior housing.
We made separate yearly visits to give her more company, but
otherwise could only try to help from afar. Sometimes our help led
to more problems, such as when I arranged to have my mother-in-law's
many medications mailed to her. This eliminated the one-hour drive
that she had been making for years to a military base pharmacy. As a
result, she had to frequently hobble down her steep front steps and
walk up an incline along an open drainage ditch to get to her street
side mailbox.
I applied for a nonprofit community development grant to install a
ramp in place of her steps, but the slope of the lawn made the ramp
too expensive. On other occasions, we couldn't get the resources my
mother-in-law needed right away.
On my last visit, she had trouble standing for more than 10 minutes
because of a fall. On her limited income, she couldn't afford a
helper, so I contacted the county senior services for light
housekeeping services. However, there was a waiting list and it was
months later when the housekeeping service became available.
During the application process, to our surprise, my mother-in-law
was assigned a social worker specializing in senior citizens. I
assumed it this was just to verify that she needed the service.
I didn't realize that Lori, the social worker, could and would do
much more.
Lori makes home visits and takes the time to patiently understand
what my mother-in-law's needs are. She has gone with my
mother-in-law to the doctor, arranged for a mailbox and mail
delivery at the front door, and even pushed through a modified,
affordable version of the stalled ramp project.
Lori has even driven my mother-in-law to see several senior housing
complexes. On top of all this, she emails me updates to let me know
about options and resources.
I know it's Lori's job to know what to do and who to go to in order
to resolve issues common to senior citizens; however, Lori doesn't
stop there. When there is something that would help my
mother-in-law, Lori runs with it and sees it through -- as if my
mother-in-law were her only case.
Thank you, Lori, for making such a difference, both for my
mother-in-law and for us.
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Our last story, "Panic in the Deep End" (#842) described the
author's frightening experience when she and a friend nearly drowned
together in a public pool.
Remarkably, I had the same experience as a teenager. While swimming
I tried to help a tall boy, a non-swimmer, who had stepped off the
shallow end of the pool. Clearly he was drowning, but no one had
noticed. I was right there, so I decided to help. In seconds we were
both drowning. When I read the author's story I noticed that *none*
of the four of us had called for help. Was this just coincidence?
To find out I started googling. I found an amazing description of
drowning which counters everything we've been led to expect. Several
of you sent in the same article, so I'll let reader Michael explain
it.
Michael writes: "As a rule, drowning people don't call for help. Nor
do they make the sort of flailing motions that you see when someone
is drowning on TV. What they DO -- is to paddle ineffectively and
slip silently under the water (if no one is nearby). Or they climb
on top of someone else in an effort to save themselves (like what
happened in this case.)"
He continues: "Sounds like the lifeguard was either not properly
trained, or wasn't on the ball. An alert lifeguard would have
noticed the situation without a call for help. Here's a good article
on the subject: http://mariovittone.com/2010/05/154 ."
Pam from Virginia sent the same article, saying: "Everyone should
see this article."
I agree. Even having nearly drowned as a teen, I had *no* idea my
experience of not calling out for help was typical. I didn't call
for help. The other child didn't call for help. Thanks to Mario
Vittone's article, I now know that is a normal biological response.
We'll have more on this topic next issue, including a link to a
video of what drowning does look like. In the meantime, please go
read and learn: http://mariovittone.com/2010/05/154 .
Pat in Louisiana sent another reply to: "Elves On a Ladder Truck"
(#841). (Full story on our archives:
http://heroicstories.com/archives.html .) Pat: "Many people after
reading this might think, 'Well they're firemen -- just doing their
jobs.' No, they did far more than the jobs we pay them to do. They
spent their own money, took time from their other errands and their
sleep, to be certain a traumatized family came home to a better
life. The senior firefighter said, 'You can't fix the world but you
can mend parts of it.... We have a family to care for.' That's the
reason most of them became firefighters -- to care for their
neighbors and all the people of their town, be it large or small."
Joyce Schowalter, Networker in Chief
*** and Martha in Hawaii
Co-Conspirators to Make the World a Better Place
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