I live in an apartment complex. There are a few elderly residence in their late 80's early 90's. They live alone. Two of them are on the 3rd floor. Neither one can do stairs, or walk without a walker at their best. They get zero exercise and are alone 24/7. One of my neighbors does weekly shopping for one of them and she is the only person interacting with him. The other resident has no one interacting other than an occasional 5 minute visit from her son.
My concern is for their safety. One of them was taken to the hospital via ambulance because she fell - which is happening more and more. Any time she has to go to the doctors the fire department has to get her down the stairs.
I guess my question is, does medicare cover a companion for elderly disabled people? What type of assistance can they get for day in and day out help and care? I am more than sure showering is a major risk for both and not to sure how much of that goes on either.
Do you think I should call social services? I don't want to stir up hornets nest, but I am concerned for their safety and well being. I can not take them on because I have enough pressure being my brother's caregiver, but I don't like seeing the danger they may be in.
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What about talking to the neighbor that delivers the groceries? She may have more info. Not everyone has children. They may have never married either. Who knows what their circumstances are.
Falls are scary. My mom falls.
Partly because you have enough to deal with, I'm sure; but even more so because nobody has asked you to!
Normally I would say that it is *never* wrong to report your concerns. How can it be wrong? You see something that could be a problem, you say so, the right people look into it. What's to object to?
But going just on what you have said so far, I think it would be better first of all to do little bit of friendly contact of your own and just see - they may be of the Fiercely Independent variety of elder, and they may be using ways of coping that you didn't know anything about. Or, it might be worse than you realised, in which case you'll have something specific and significant to report to social services and can ask them to act on it.
Do you know these elderly people to talk to? Would it surprise them if you called in for a little chat?
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The Area Agency on Aging should be able to help them sort through this and see if they qualify for one program or another depending on their health and finances.