Honor the elders
IT’S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN, a chance to honor our elders during the month of May, Older Americans Month 2021. After what we’ve seen in 2020, how much more aware are we that our elders, especially those in minority groups, were particularly devastated by the now infamous coronavirus? Perhaps we were shocked by the sheer numbers of elders who died in retirement communities and nursing homes. How did they even contract the virus since many folks in these institutions don’t get out and about very much?
It seems obvious to me that the virus came through the doors every day with those who were responsible to care for the residents. Until we finally knew what was happening, even family members brought the virus into the facilities.
The theme for this year’s Older Americans Month is “Communities of Strength.” I see this as an attempt to encourage us to do what Pope Francis and George Washington Carver challenge us to do in the quotations above. I’m sure you’ve seen the outpouring of love and energy accompanying some of the lessening of visitation rules among the elders and their families. I’ve heard people say that they were not aware of how much they missed their loved ones or did not appreciate how much their loved ones missed them until they could no longer visit them on holidays, birthdays, and anniversaries or even be there when they were dying. I hope the reawakening of the need we all have for connections with family continues with even more visits and experiences when this pandemic is finally over. The loneliness and isolation brought on during these unusual times was also something that contributed to the deaths of some of our elders. Hopefully, we will be better at building “Communities of Strength” in the years ahead.
So how do we build communities of strength not just for our elders but for all who need love, compassion, and support throughout one’s life time? I think the pandemic taught many folks that putting Mom and/ or Dad in a nursing home with so many frail elders may not be the best decision. Some families do choose to care for their parents in their own homes or take them to their home with the support of siblings, children, and professional caregivers. There is a movement among many states to put monies into home-care services, which will help families to keep their elders at home. Even existing retirement communities and nursing homes have been developing new ways of caring for the elders in their facilities that are focused on a more social model rather than the medical model adapted from acute-care systems.
Think about what kind of community of strength you would like in place all along your own life span. I used to tell my gerontology students at Lourdes College that if they wanted to see a particular program or service in place when they were elders that they needed to work on such a program or service when they were younger so it would be there when they needed it. I remember one example of such a need back in the 1980s was home food delivery to our elders and people with disabilities and transportation issues. I’m amazed at what has happened since the pandemic just in this area of need. It addresses the common need for food by people of every age, culture, and economic status.
Remember, as we honor the elders, we will someday be honoring ourselves as we are encouraged to “love our neighbor as ourselves.”
Sister Mary Thill is a Sylvania Franciscan Sister. She can be reached at mthill@sistersosf.org.
We must reawaken our collective sense of gratitude,
appreciation and hospitality, helping the elderly
know they are a living part of their communities
and sources of wisdom for the younger generations.
+Pope Francis
How far you can go in life depends on your being
tender with the young, compassionate with the aged,
sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant
of the weak and the strong—because some day in life you will have been all of these.
+George Washington Carver
