Taking Care of the Elderly

    My husband and I rented the movie "Going in Style" with Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, and Alan Arkin. I thought that it would be a funny movie to see, especially since I like both Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine- sorry Alan, I haven't heard of you before.... There were many parts that were funny, but there were also some heartbreaking truths in it that I think should be addressed.

    The movie begins with Michael Caine's character, Joe, in the bank. He's talking to his banker about his mortgage costs. When he spoke to the banker before, the banker told him that the chances that Joe's rates go up were rare, but possible. He led Joe to believe that they wouldn't rise. Well, they did. So Joe mentions that he had tried to call several times to try to get things righted and no one has been helpful and passes him off. The banker looks up Joe's account and says that it's still in the orange which means that his mortgage isn't critical and that he will only have to worry when it's red. It's at that time that the bank gets robbed. One of the robbers burst into the room that Joe and the banker are in and is kind to Joe because he's elderly and tells the banker off because the elderly need to be treated with respect.The incident is frightening and intriguing to Joe.
     Afterwards, Joe goes home and discovers a red tag on his door. It's an eviction notice and the bank is going to take away his home. To make matters worse, Joe and his friends go to work and discover that the pensions that they were promised were taken away. After much thinking, Joe decides that he wants to rob the very bank that robbed him. It takes a while to convince his friends, but when he does, they decide to take only what was supposed to be given to them from their pensions.

    Throughout the whole movie, you see that people don't really take these men seriously because of their age. Others either take advantage of the men or they take pity on them.

    According to www.statisticbrain.com, the average number of elderly that are abused each year is 2,150,000 each year which is 9.5% of those who are elderly, but that's still more than it should be. The average age of those being abused is 77 years old. My grandparents are almost 70.

If you read this article www.ncoa.org, you will read about 10 different scams that are common to scam the elderly. Unfortunately, many times when an elderly person is scammed, they never report it because they are afraid that their loved ones will decide that they are incompetent and take over their finances or put them in a home or because they are embarrassed that they were trusting enough to let it happen.

     We should be talking to our grandparents and ask questions and inform them of what could happen. Never dismiss them when they tell you stories or their concerns because when the time comes, they may not want to open up to you because of pride and embarrassment. I have grandparents and one great-grandparent that are still alive. I hope that they haven't been treated inferior because of their age. In a day when racism and sexism and all of the other isms are more prevalent, I think we forget to stand up for one that is probably the most important- ageism. No matter what our race or gender or preferences, everyone in this world all has one thing in common- we are going to get old. These are our people and one day we will be like them. Let's take care of them the way that other cultures do. Without them, we wouldn't be here.