CHAPTER 218: YEAR OF THE MASKS 2021
“Tahisha, I promise, I am lookin’. Jobs don’t go fallin’ off seafood trucks, y’know.” He chuckled thinking it funny, him working at the fish and shell food warehouse as a security guard and all.
“T’ain’t funny, Esau Yakime. That a bad neighborhood, don’t know what all happens. They don’t even let you carry no gun.”
He laughed again. “Don’t need no gun, babe, got my mace.” He slapped the canister hanging from his belt.
“Yeah, that gonna stop some gangsta with a gun.”
“I’m lookin’, okay. Look, I gots to go, it gettin’ late. Ain’t gonna help me get no better job I gets fired off this one.”
He drove down to the warehouse district near the docks. He knew she was right, right as rain. It was in a bad neighborhood, but in the year he’d been doing night duty nothing had happened and he meant it when he told her he was looking. It was tough times for an uneducated man to get a job, especially if he was Black and even more especially when they figured out he was Muslim. A lot of them acted tolerant, but he saw distrust in their eyes. He was right. They always found some excuse. He was lucky to have what he had, lousy hours and lousy pay, but something. Tahisha wouldn’t much like it if he wasn’t bringing home some jingle.
Excerpt from a short story called Esau the Terrorist by Myself and Stuart, 2021
2020 saw the coming of the great Covid pandemic.
It began in January of 2020 and then hung on throughout 2021. Lois, Laurel and I all got the two Maderna Vaccination shots and the booster. By the end of the year there was talk o a fourth shot. This was the result of a new variant called omicron, which sounded like something out of science fiction, The first countries to order a fourth shot were Israel soon followed by Germany. For most of two years everyone was hidding behind masks. Just as people were led to believe things were easing up, people began getting sick and dying all over the world again.
Lois couldn’t stand the masks, said she couldn’t breath with them.
My children were made worse off by the nature of their jobs. They had to ware the masks all the time, at least Lois and I could remove them in the house. You couldn’t recognize anyone anymore. Faces were always hidden. Here is how I looked without the mask in mid-December 2021.
I got bad news just before Thanksgiving. My favorite aide, Brandy, was leaving. She wasn’t happy about the mandate to get the Covid Vaccination, but that wasn’t why she was moving on. She needed more money to meet her expenses. They do not pay healthcare help enough. Bayada was paying her $14 an hour and she was able to get a medical
warehouse job paying $19 an hour. That gave her an increase of $200 a eek. She had worked in warehouses before, most notably Amazon. She is an excellent worker and a very caring person, but the Aide field just didn’t pay. I really miss her. I went two weeks with no aide and then got temporary aides. There is a real shortage because the pay is so low. Mel, one of the temporary aide announced she was leaving Bayota. She was able to get job offers at Saint Francis Hospital and Christiana Care that paid more. December 39 will be her last day. It is ridiculous. I feel being a health care aide is tough, but essential job. Mel has four degrees and experience, but they still don’t offer as much as entry-level people at a fast-food joint are getting.
For instance, my son had assembled the tree and put on the lights, but when Brandy came she took it upon herself to trim it She didn’t have to do that. . She did a great job without the extras.
Brandy also baked two pies for our Thanksgiving, a Pumpkin and an Apple.
Bad things happened just before Thanksgiving. Lois got out from her bed to her chair in the living room, but then she couldn’t get up from there. She sat in that chair for most of three days, even unable to lift her head.
I called our Doctor Nicole Scott (Right) who treated both Lois and
myself as our primary. She came to the house. She examined Lois and recommend we call 911, which we did.
Within minutes four paramedics came in. Four, why four? I always only got two! They took her vitals, then placed her in a wheelchair and rolled her out to an ambulance and whisked her away. I remember the year before when I was similarly whisked off. It was as if I feet off the face of the Earth. No one knew where I was. I just kind of disappeared. I knew I was in Wilmington Hospital then and I knew that was where they took her now, but nothing else.
Dr. Scott saw them off and in doing so intercepted Lois’ Physical Therapist who had just pulled Up. Nicole explained to the Therapist, Anna, and the women left and haste been back since Lois is now in a Nursing Rehab facility.
Lois was kept in Wilmington Hospital a few days, where she had a CT Scan and then she was sent off to Manor Healthcare on Foulk Road.
they took me a year ago. That was Acadia Rehabilitation on Silverside while Lois went to Manor North on Faulk Road. Perhaps not too surprising since both homes are owned by Arcadia Corporation. Perhaps this is where Lois got the idea she was in Arcadia Collage taking a course in Music. (My Pasture speculated they may be giving her Music Therapy.)
They recently informed me on the phone that they were thinking of discharging her on December 24. As much as we want her home, and she wants to come home, this is a terrible idea. She can’t do normal things, such as walk without some one assisting her; she can’t even stand up without help. She can’t take care of her bathroom needs alone or bathe herself. In my ALS condition I can’t take care of her. They just can’t send her home yet. I think that would be abuse.
Here are the laws for discharging a patient:
- The resident and their authorized family member/legal representative must be notified of the pending discharge or transfer in writing at least 30 days in advance of the discharge date. This notice must also include the reason(s) for the discharge and the steps the facility has taken to resolve or address these reasons. Emergency situations are the only exception to this 30-day notice rule. According to the National Long-Term Care Ombudsman Resource Center, “Verbal notice is not an official discharge. All discharges must be in writing.”
- The facility must prepare a summary of the resident’s mental and physical health status.
- A comprehensive post
- -discharge plan of care for the resident must be provided, which will assist the resident in making alternative arrangements for care and/or housing. It will also guide their care team (family caregivers, future care providers, doctors, etc.) in providing follow-up care. This written discharge plan must include the location to which the resident will be discharged (which must agree to admission) and information about required medications, therapies, services, care and durable medical equipment.
- A resident and their representative have the right to participate in all aspects of discharge planning.
- The nursing home is required to arrange a safe and orderly discharge of all residents along with their belongings and any personal funds.
None of these steps have been taken. There has been no written notices of any kind issued. There was a casual telephone suggestion that she might be discharged on December 24, but that was two weeks ago and I have heard nothing since. Given the the date I am keying this chapter is Christmas Day, December 25, she will not be coming home tomorrow.
Also I can’t afford aide for her until Medicaid approves her. Here are the people who can get Medicaid, if they can get through the bureaucracy.
I sent in a long application to Medicaid almost two months ago. I know they got it because their medical person called a couple weeks after I mailed it asking a ton of questions. This person said she was done with age medical part and I would hear from the Financial Person next. This was over several weeks and we have heard nothing from this person, even though I have called and my Social Worker has tried to contact her. All we received was this woman’s voicemail, but no response back and that was a week ago. It is Christmas week so it wouldn’t surprise me If she took off for the holidays. I bet she is quick to collect her paycheck and the needy be damned.
I tried calling Medicare and same thing. Leave a message and perhaps someone will get back to me in my remaining lifetime. I guess to be fair, my healthcare workers tell me every place is behind, working with short staffs because of the Covid.
So Lois was not home for the Holidays this year. For sixty years
we had celebrated thanksgiving together. In the early years we ate alternating between my parents and Lois making the feast. When we kids came we always had Thanksgiving at my parents and Christmas at our place, so the kids could enjoy what Santa brought. As everyone grew older, it became more complicated. My children had work schedules and that made getting together more difficult. We began eating at restaurants because such a big dinner was hard on my mom, especially after my grandmother passed away, and the distance of travel between us and them was also a burden. In later years, after my folks were gone, Lois
and the kids and I would go to the Buffett at the Gables of Chadds Ford Since the pandemic hit in 2020 we couldn’t do that anymore, but we still joined together, but now in 2021, for the fist time, Lois and I were separated by fate on the holiday.
I decided to keep our Christmas traditions going, even if we couldn’t all be together. Darryl came just before Thanksgiving and set our tree up and put on the lights. My aide, Brandy trimmed the tree and the room when she came to tend to me. She also baked our two pies, one pumpkin and the other apple. My son has his own family, but my daughters both came on Thanksgiving day. Even though Laurel had to work that morning and Noelle had to leave for her job in the evening, they still cooked a dinner for us. Here I thought we would only have Frozen TV dinners. We had turkey, with gravy and mashed potatoes (frozen dinners). The girls cooked the rest, candied yams, stuffing, glazed carrots, green bean carriole, stuffed shells, cranberry sauce, and corn. Along with the pies, Noelle made rice pudding. It was definitely a meal to say thanks for. We were stuffed.
But with Thanksgiving came sad news. My wife had been transferred from Wilmington Hospital to Manor Healthcare and there she is staying, who knows for how long, and I haven’t been able to see her since those paramedics came. The photo is a temporary aide
named Mel, who was here when Lois was taken by the paramedics. Mel has just informed me she is leaving Bayada for a job at S. Francis Hospital. These heath care workers are just not paid enough.
I lost my regular long time aide Brandy, just before Thanksgiving, the best aide I ever had. She left Bayada to take a job in a Medical Warehouse because there she could get $200 a week more than in the health care business. Now I am without regular aides.
It is very difficult to get aides these days. Now only don’t they get paid enough, but Covid has thinned the ranks. I went for a couple weeks with no one and now I get temporary aides, different ones each week.
This is Helen, who has come four times. She is nice and a hard
worker, but is from Ethiopia and I have difficulty understanding her and she doesn’t fully know American ways.
The one who has come several times has been. Francine. I told her I would remember her name because I once had a secretary at Wilmington Trust named Francine (pictured on left — the one without a beard), but the next time this aide came I had forgotten her name. Francine was the last to give me a bath and first after Brandy left.
Brandy had spotted a wound on the back of my right ankle during the last bath she gave me. She was required to report it.
nurses visiting me off and on. One patched it up and the other was a wound specialist checking on it.
Also calling upon me weekly are a series of Therapist, Physical, Occupational
and Speech.
But none of these hang around that long. Most of the time I find myself alone.
Laurel lives here, but she works six days a week at the SPCA. She is only here in evenings, but sometimes she works on several nights and weekend as a cat sitter. On Tuesday evening, after work, she has bell practice. She plays bells at her church on Sunday mornings. She also goes for nature studies at Ashland Nature Preserve on Sunday afternoons. Laurel clears our home thoroughly every Sunday evening as well as doing other things for us.
Noelle has two full time jobs, both at Veterinary Hospitals and she only gets one day off a week on which she often runs errands for Lois and me.
Darryl has his own family, but he still comes here once or twice a week and does a lot of the heavy lifting.
So 2021 will coming to an end in a couple weeks. We won’t have Lois at home this year on Christmas. They told me at Manor that she might be sent home on December 24, which makes no sense. She is only 50% better in everything they mentioned and with my ALS I can’t help some one so badly off. She cannot walk with out someone helping her. She cannot stand unless someone gets her up. She can not attend to her own bathroom needs nor bathe herself. There are other issues. My Social Worker says they could lose their license if they send a person home who can’t be properly cared for. I have not heard anything further.
On Christmas evening the night manager at Manor called. I thought perhaps they were going to allow her to speak to and wish us a Merry Christmas, but instead he had just called to inform me they had moved her from 207B to a new room, a private rare, 210. There was no explanation as to why, but giving the laws, and noting Lois did not come home on December 24, I expect sh will be in Rehab until at least the end of January 2022.
We will need medicaid to cover any aid she might need or equipment. Medicaid is dragging their feet. We have a very poor health care system in this country. I called my Medicare case manager with some questions, but all I got was her voice mail and she hasn’t returned my message. Of course it is the beginning of Christmas Week so maybe everybody is away. Maybe I will hear from her after New Year’s. Not holding my breath.
Maybe we would have gotten more attention if we had been substance abusers, been boozers or druggies?
I think we have a squirrel in the attic, so I was about to call an exterminator. The thing kept scratching and driving us squirrelly.
But I haven’t heard it the last two days. Maybe it found it’s way out. Or died. I hope it escaped.
Just about all the Christmas Gifts actually made it before Christmas. My temporary aides wrapped them and Aide Francine mailed my Christmas Cards. I hope the cards get to the person addressed. I can no longer write clearly. I put short note In each card that I cannot write and Lois was in Rehab.
The girls came for Christmas. Although each worked part of the day. Animals don’t take holidays and must still be fed and cared for and both my daughters work with animals. Laurel and I decided we would order n Chinese food from Wing Wah for Christmas. We’ll take a page from “The Christmas Story”. I expect no duck with the head still attached however.
December 30, almost the past day 0f 2021 did not go well. Besides being dreary and rainy things seemed jinxed. I called Noelle and dent her out to make a couple deposits for. The one at M & T Bank was no problem, but where I really needed to get money in my account was at Citizens. My balance is getting low. My Social Security Check is scheduled for January 3, Monday. That will actually be the official New Year’s holiday. Maybe I will get the heck early because of this and it will come tomorrow, the last Friday of the year, but I can’t count on that. So I really wanted to get the birthday money I had received in the bank now.
Citizens Bank only has two offices near me, a branch on March Road in Branmar and another branch located in the Acme Market on Naaman road. Would you know there stem was down and Noelle couldn’t make a deposit.
Then Mel, one of my temporary aides was here today. This is her last day, she has quit at Bayada. She went down and brought up my wash, which she washed yesterday. Usually my aide will bring up my finished laundry, fold it and lay it on a bench in the computer room. Mel brought a bag up and left it on a chair in the living room. When she left, I dragged it back to the computer room with great difficulty expecting to put my clothes away. I start to remove them from the bag and discovered everything was still wet. The bag was too heavy for me to get downstairs.
My nurse was here to change the bandages on my ankles. She took the wet clothes down and out them in the drier. I’ll have to ask my daughter to check them whence gets home. I was very disappointed. This was not how an aide was supposed to do things. Frankly I am glad she won’t be back.
On Monday I am supposed to get a new temporary aide. I know nothing about this one. I need a regular aide.
Now it will be a quiet New Year’s Eve 2022. Probably next year will bring a new variant of Coved. The would seems to be falling apart. Hmm, has anyone read Revelation 6 through 16 lately?
Well, Merry Christmas 2021 and Happy New Year 2022 and whatever comes. After that we will see if I have another chapter or two of life to tell.
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