Well folks this story is really personal, but one I am compelled to write about. Bad enough there are so many criminals preying on the elderly, but when a form of fraud and abuse is perpetrated against the elderly by a tax funded government agency I am going to speak out against it!

There is mounting anger over the failure of our various agencies and courts to properly deal with child abuse, and I am grateful for the coming opportunity to vote for Jessica’s Law here in my native state. But I am finding the elderly to be at increasing risk as well as children.

One of the things that come with old age is an increasing awareness of how many unscrupulous people are all about preying on the elderly. Every month the AARP magazine warns of the various scams being perpetrated against the elderly. We see these being the subject of TV newscasts, talk shows and newspapers, there are mailings from various government agencies in the face of a stream of commercials touting products like electric scooters, medical alert “services,” nostrums of a seemingly infinite variety, etc.

There is outright and rampant fraud perpetrated where even homes are stolen from the elderly by forged deeds for example. This actually happened to my grandfather and it took enormous effort and expense to clear this up and bring the guilty party to justice. There are the many frauds by charlatans promising cheap drugs and medical procedures, the multitude of scams promoting mortgages, home repairs, and nowadays the ubiquitous threats of identity theft with which to contend. The elderly are an easy target for these things since many are not able to keep pace with the ingenuity of criminals, especially in an electronic age of computers.

Few of us plan to get old, and few can anticipate the many indignities that come with old age. Bad enough our bodies begin to betray us as the various systems and functions start demanding attention never before experienced while we were young and filled with the vigor and vitality of youth. But it is of no avail to try to explain these things to those who are young, because they have not yet become old; and unlike the elderly who remember their youth the young are unable as yet to look back, the truism of “I have been young, but you have never been old.”

But none of the elderly are so at risk of predators than those living alone. Those fortunate who have loved ones to care for them do not have to live with the many difficulties, and yes even threats those living alone face. This has been especially hard for me since I have been such an independent man all my life, never having had to ask the help of anyone.

However, even as independently as I have lived always doing and providing for myself there came the time when I had to swallow my pride and begin to accept my increasing limitations. And so it happened I began to look at what is euphemistically called “Senior Services” here in Kern County. And I began to get an education in what the elderly living alone are facing.

My first foray into Senior Services was Meals on Wheels. Now I don’t know about the service elsewhere, but the tip off for me as to further efforts to enlist the aid of these agencies should have been when half the time these “meals” would only qualify as hog fodder. Not even the resident cat would touch some of these “meals.”

Further education into Senior Services began about two months ago with a call to a Sharon Caughlin, advertised with College Community Services and having the title of “Case Manager Supervisor, Senior Outreach Coordinator.” She came by about a week later, but seemed unimpressed by my situation, especially since I am still able to drive though very limited in doing so and confine myself now to the valley. Seemed simple to her; if I could still drive despite my physical limitations in other ways like emphysema I didn’t need any help. That I was elderly and living alone without any family did not seem to move her either.

Well, accepting I couldn’t expect anything from this “Case Manager” and having a list of all the Senior Services provided throughout Kern County I called a local number promising “In Home Supportive Services.” The blurb looked promising, declaring help for the elderly not yet needing a hospice to “remain safely at home; an alternative to assisted living.”

The lady answering was a Melody Batelaan here locally in the Kern River Valley. She told me she would contact the appropriate persons in Bakersfield and they would call me. So, no one locally was available to meet with me. I waited nearly ten days and nothing. So, I called Ms. Batelaan again. But she seemed annoyed by my calling a second time and told me because of the Labor Day weekend and other matters there was a backlog of cases and to be patient. I thought nearly ten days was being patient.

Hearing nothing from Bakersfield I decided to take another tack. There was a number for “Adult Protective Services” stating it was “a program for any senior or dependant adult who is at risk physically, emotionally or financially or in danger of suicide or neglect.”

So, I called that number. With the loss of my daughter a year ago I continue to suffer deep depression, so much so my doctor prescribed medication for me which I am still taking. The lady answering was “Cynthia.” She was very kind and listened to me. Then, she asked me many personal questions to see if I qualified for assistance. Satisfied that I did qualify, particularly because of the deep depression, my physical limitations and living alone and without family, she said my request would be sent to the “Aging and Adult Services Department” and someone there would be in touch with me.

There were further delays; further calls on my part before I was told it would be a week to ten days before anyone would be out to see me. So, I waited anticipating a call to confirm an appointment. I had been told the person being sent would be a Mr. Lewis McBratney.

Time passed once more, but to my immense surprise and consternation I chanced to open my front door yesterday and there was a card stuck in it that identified Lewis “MAC” McBratney, C.A.D.C.-II Senior Outreach Assessment Response. There had been no call to confirm his coming by, and I had not been told when he would come by. Now, all I had was a card to show for my nearly two months trying to get someone to talk to personally about my situation.

While answering the questions for Cynthia, which I assumed this Mr. McBratney had received, I made my situation very clear. I lived alone, and living in the country I had no nearby neighbors. Special attention to my situation under these circumstances had to be given when anyone came by in order to meet with me.

Well, Mr. McBratney had come and gone. If he knocked or rang the bell I didn’t hear any of these. And from here where I write at the back of my home I often do not hear a car pulling into my yard.

All this time and effort and now all I had was a business card to show for it! I was angry, to say the least. The card did have an email address so I immediately sent the following note to Mr. McBratney:

Sam Heath 9/18/2006 1:01 PM: I may have been in the bathroom when you left your card. I just don't think you tried very hard when you came by and I will pass this on to  senior services here in the valley. Surely you have dealt with enough seniors living alone to know you can't just knock or ring the bell and expect us to come running.
Samuel D. G. Heath, Ph. D.

That afternoon I received the following reply:

From: "Lewis McBratney" Sent: Monday, September 18, 2006 3:24 PM. Subject: Re: Do what you feel is necessary, I rang your bell 3 times and knocked on the door. There will be other opportunities to discuss this in person on my next visit, or if you like I do not have to visit you again. The choice is yours.

Incensed by this callous response I immediately sent this note:
    No, the choice was yours! You could easily have come to my back door which was wide open! That you did not bother to do so leaves me in no confidence whatsoever in any good intentions for my welfare or that of other seniors in similar circumstances and I will convey this to the appropriate parties in government.

This provoked such an insulting reply that I immediately deleted it! Those suffering dangerously high blood pressure will understand my doing so. I had every right to assume this person had all the personal information I had given Cynthia. But while I deleted the insulting message, it contained his telling me I should consult a doctor for my “condition!” He even had the unmitigated temerity to tell me he had “diagnosed” me as suffering from depression! All of this information was given Cynthia, but this government bureaucrat apparently hadn’t even read the report!

My Ph. D. is in Human Behavior. And here is some bureaucrat making an instant diagnosis of MY mental problems, oblivious to the circumstances I had already described to Cynthia and of the sheer ridiculousness at best of his instant “evaluation” of my need of consulting a doctor! There are the many vicissitudes of old age any professional dealing with the elderly should be expected to know, expected to deal with and never be insulting to the elderly because of these!

Well folks, this is where the rubber meets the road, downright personal and without any polish, just the ugly facts. This is my experience with Senior Services here in Kern County. And you can believe I would not be getting so personal were it not that I fear there are other seniors like me out there suffering the same indignities at the hands of taxpayer funded agencies of which Mr. McBratney may be too typical.

For example, seniors living alone do not always keep up with things like whether their door bells are working, they may not hear a knock at their door, they may well spend a lot of time in their bathroom and be hard of hearing, they may spend a lot of time lying down and napping. And of course there is the increasing hazard of the elderly, especially those living alone, of mixing or missing medications that may leave them incapacitated. And if they are living alone without any family to care for them too often they fall prey to this form of elder abuse I am describing by government bureaucrats, from those holding positions where we have every right to expect them to be fully aware of such limitations on the part of the elderly and act accordingly.

In my case, to not even receive a phone call confirming an appointment, to be left not knowing the hour or even the day when someone would come by is to me unconscionable! At the very least it is unprofessional by any standard. But in my case as well, what these bureaucrats had not foreseen was my being a scholar and academic, a professional writer and still possessed of an especially keen mind. And having been very politically active all my adult life I will follow through on my promise to let those of my political acquaintance know how seniors like me are being mistreated by those that consider themselves to be “untouchable” and above any criticism or personal accountability.

There will be usual protestations on the part of bureaucrats, of their “impeccable credentials,” and “successes,” of how “hard” they tried to help, they will have their stories confuting me to be sure. But this is all whitewash, something we have come to expect from all such bureaucrats. And for those of you who may have elderly loved ones, take the responsibility to stay well informed about how the various government agencies are dealing with them.