Cathy Cress

Expert in Aging Life and Geriatric Care Management

Rural Living Elders Greatest Risk to Perish in Massive Western Fires

ELDERLY 2XMORE LIKELY TO DIE IN FIRES

The U.S. Fire Administration estimates that older adults are more than twice as likely than the general population to die in fires. One-quarter of the Paradise residents, in the devastating fire that burnt down an entire California town in 2018, through PG&E Malfeasance had a disability which is double the statewide statistic. One geriatric care manager who lives there, lost his home and practice trying to rescue a local older client.

Decades of research confirm that the physical limitations that accompany advanced age make it much more difficult to escape disaster, but so do the social isolation and stubbornness that experts say are common among the elderly.

BREATHING PROBLEMS FOR SENIORS UBER RISK IN FIRES

The elderly are at the greatest risk for fire-related breathing problems according to the CDC.So if they just live in fire-prone areas and do not lose their home the very air they breathe can make them ill or actually kill them. Wildfire smoke can in the worst cases be deadly, especially among older people. Studies have shown that when waves of smoke hit, the rate of hospitalizations rises, and patients experience respiratory problems, heart attacks, and strokes.

In 23 counties, older Californians overwhelmingly choose to live in fire-prone areas. Including in San Luis Obispo County, where 82% do live in rural areas.

That means nearly 2 million older Californians live in areas where wildfire is a formidable threat. It is not only the elderly who are losing homes in these rural Forest fires but those in facilities.

According to NPR in San Francisco, there are more than 10,000 long-term care facilities in California, from six-bed assisted living homes to large nursing centers.

Their analysis found that 35% of these facilities are in risky areas. With as many as 105,000 residents to safeguard if fire comes, these care home operators must now consider how to evacuate during a pandemic, a more complicated and difficult task.

California is aging faster than the rest of the country. In 10 years, the state projects the number of people over 65 will grow to 8.6 million.

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY FIRES TURNED REDWOODS INTO INFERNOS 

In my county, Santa Cruz, wildfires in our Santa Cruz mountain forest burnt down 25 % of our county in the past month. Among the many senior facilities damaged was Brookdale Senior Living which was evacuated due to smoke damage and inhalation by residents, along with the Kaiser facility. Both had to send patients to the Bay area, where the Brookdale case, frail confused elders were sleeping on cots close to each other, risking COVID -19 and exacerbating their confusion, according to one daughter who moved her mother to her home in Santa Cruz permanently.
ELDERS COLLIDE WITH CLIMATE CHANGE

“There is absolutely a colliding of the events of both population aging and climate change,” said the University of South Florida gerontologist Kathryn Hyer.

TRUMP ANSWER CA MANAGE FOREST- YET FEDS CONTROL 57%- CA 3%

President Trump claimed when he came to California a few days ago that the problem with wildfires was forest management. Governor Newsome agreed but pointed out that 57% of California forests are managed by the federal government and 3% by the state of California. When it was pointed out in that state meeting that the problems with the forest were rooted in climate change, Trump’s answer was, it will get colder, you’ll see..

Trump has rolled back regulations, like auto emissions that prevented climate change- now ravaging our forests .“As a historic figure, he is one of the most culpable men in America contributing to the suffering and death that is now occurring through climate-related tragedy,” Jerry Brown, the former California governor who made climate change his signature issue, said in an interview on Sunday

It seems that it is only getting hotter, harder to breathe more dangerous for all Western residents

but radically  more so for elders, who are number 1 in health problems, number 1 risk in COVID and breathing problems and live at home or in facilities in the middle of these mammoth forests, turned into infernos  of death

 

 

Save Post Our Office -Shut Down is Devastating Threat to Elders

The Slowdown by the US Postal Service is Calamitous to Older Americans

They grew up with the mail reaching Americans regardless of their political party. Older people knew it as the beloved circulatory system of their communication and now much more that. For them, it was “enshrined in the Constitution.”  Article 1, Section 8 says: … The U.S. Constitution, in 1789, authorized Congress to establish “Post Offices and post Roads”, because they grew up taking civics, which was zeroed out of the national curriculum to our peril.

 In an NPR interview, a postal carrier states “I mean, for goodness sake, I think the Grand Canyon, we reach people via donkey”.

 Now every American and the elderly seem to be getting their mail by donkey

This slow down to mail is a crisis for seniors. It is about “not getting” the ” Much more than that” I talked about. Older people depend on the timely mail delivery of everything from prescription medications to Social Security checks, to Va checks and free VA meds sent in the mail. The Postal Service says it’s also the leading delivery service for online purchases. They vote online as they do not want to risk getting coronavirus in the crowded precincts or stand in long lines in the November cold. So elders use the PO to get groceries, emergency supplies, pay their bills by mail, get VA Checks, and send the precious cards from their grandchildren.

Shelter in Place Takes meds on-line delivered by PO

During COVID -19, elders medications not arriving on time in the mail becomes critical to their health. Seniors are supposed to shelter in place, so online delivery by the PO gets them the medications they need, delivered to their home. They are told not to go to the pharmacy and risk infections. A whopping 20 percent of adults over 40 who take medication for a chronic condition get those pills by mail order, according to a survey by the National Community Pharmacists Association.

Wildfire Tornados, Hurricanes, and COVID The Trifecta of death this Summer

On top of this, we are in the spine-chilling season of weather emergencies. The West just started the brutal wildfire season where California is now having wildfire tornados. Deep in the hurricane season this month, when climate change has doubled our chance of these fearsome storms the East coast is threatened daily by these mammoth storms actually 2 right now.  In an escalating COVID-19 calamity where elders are the most at risk for death, they are faced with mind-bending double disaster threats.

The CDC is telling seniors to shelter in place

and get their meds and emergency supplies on line in their warning” Give yourself more time than usual to prepare your emergency food, water, and medicine and medical supplies. Home delivery is the safest choice for buying disaster supplies;” But the mail slowdown and nasty weather have colluded to stop this lifeline. So deliveries are not the safest choice if they do not get there before the disaster. Seniors cannot always go to shelter because people are less than 6 ft apart, so older people are going to die at home or end up in the COVID infected hospitals in November Twindemics without all the medication they need. They will die needlessly if their write-in ballot never shows up or they are reduced to standing in freezing lines at the polls.

PO Destroying Huge Machines That Sort the Mail to Slow it

That lifeline is being cut by the head of the Postal Service the US postal service, laying off workers, 33 top supervisors, taking mailboxes off the street dragging off out over 50 huge bar code sorters worth millions and destroying them wrecking the very equipment that makes the mail go fast—–make all those critical ways to destroy the PO- a beloved circulatory system in our country.

Call Your Local Congressman or Woman

If you work with seniors, have them in your family or care for them to do this to help. Call your representative in Congress and tell them you want them to save the Post Office. They want to get re-elected and if enough constituents tell them that this is a critical issue – they act. You might not have had civics but this is how government works, according to Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Do not allow our post office our elders our American to dissolve and die. Rage Rage at the Coming of the Night.

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