Private Enemies

There's a knock at the door. "who's there?"

"It's Charlotte, Mrs. Jacobs, from Meals on Wheels."

"Don't try to leave that stuff here. I know your trying to poison me."

"Mrs. Jacobs, it's good food. All your neighbors like it. You've refused your delivery three times now. I won't be coming back again if you don't open the door."

"Go away, I know what's in that stuff. You can't get rid of me that easily."

The telephone rings."Hello?"

"It's the front gate, Mrs. Jacobs. A social worker from Memorial is here to see you."

"I don't know any social workers. Tell them you didn't get any answer. They could be terrorists. Why don't you people do your job? Don't you know when someone is trying to break in or are you one of them?"

The door again. "Go away!"

"UPS, mamm. Package."

"Take it away, quick, it could be a bomb."

"I don't think it's a bomb, mamm. It feels like clothing. It's a shirt box from Chicago."

"Get rid of it. How did you get by Security? You terrorists know all the tricks."

The phone. "Hello?"

"Hi Mom, how are you? Did you get my birthday present?"

"I'm doing great. I just finished breakfast with that nice lady from Meals on Wheels. The gift is lovely. It must have cost a fortune to send it all the way from Chicago."

Banging at the door. "We're going to have to break the lock. She must have changed the key again. This is the third time she's pressed the panic button this week. I'm afraid we're going to have to take her in. It's a shame no one is looking out for her."

Author; Caryn Isaacs

Safety First

Julia couldn't understand why Mary complained all the time. Well, this was her last day working for the old woman. She wouldn't miss the whining, but she hoped she could get another job real soon. Besides the money, she needed the telephone to call her mother in Haiti.

"Julia, where are you? I've been up for hours. I need to go to the bathroom."

"Just go in the diaper, Mary. I'm busy now." Julia was finishing her breakfast and looking at the television.

"I don't want to make in the bed. It smells bad enough in here."

"I just washed the sheets last week. OK, let's get you up. This is going to be a busy day."

"Are you leaving me here again?" Julia almost forgot that she wasn't supposed to let on about the move. Mary's daughter was tired of the daily complaints too. She had finally found a place where Mary could live near her. Although Julia thought Mary was doing just fine since she had moved in. Sure, before there had been some problems with falling. But now, the lights came on and off with a clap or a timer. The tub had been changed to a stall shower with rails and a seat. The doorbells chimed if anyone opened a door. Surely, Mary couldn't ask for better care.

"Oh, my feet are cold. Where are my slippers?" Mary's nightgown was open to the back to make it easier to put her on the toilet. Mary could use the bathroom and shower herself, but this is what Julia got paid for.

"You know I had to throw those out. You were slipping all over the place."

"Where is the rug I keep here by the bed?"

"It's in the closet. You can't have anything that you can slip on."

"I could get up myself if this metal bar wasn't here. And why do I have to sleep with these gloves on? My feet are cold, not my hands."

"The bar is there so you don't fall out of the bed during the night. The gloves are so you don't scratch yourself." Julia was tired of explaining the same things over and over."Come on, I have your cereal ready."

"I don't want cold cereal. I want pancakes and bacon."

"You know your daughter turned off the stove so we don't have a fire."

Julia walked right behind Mary. She felt a little sorry for her. Mary would certainly be safe from harm in the Nursing Home, but  she didn't want to think about her own Mother living in a place where safety came before love. 

 

Catch Me If You Can

The reason I'm leaning on one leg and then the other is that if I stand too long on the left one, I may bleed right through my bandage. Even though I scotch taped a Publix bag over the bandage, sometimes it just gushes out. I try to keep the weight off that leg, but the inside of my shoe keeps rubbing on corn on my other foot.

I'm not going to give that Chiropodist another nickle. Medicare paid him a fortune for me already. Last time, he had the nerve to ask me for $10. just to cut my nails. Well, he lost my business. Now, I just go into the emergency room whever they start to dig in.

I'm only waiting on this line for the bus because I had to fire that stupid girl. She doesn't even know how to cash a check. She had the nerve to tell me I wrote it out wrong. I really wasted my money on that half price discount home health policy.

If I didn't need to get my prescription filled, I wouldn't even have left the house. That guy should come here with all I'm paying him. He says he can't get on the bus with his wheel chair. Look at me, with two bad feet, am I in any position to be running?

He should give me his whole bottle of pain killers and keep the cholesterol pills. He says he's getting them from a reputable Canadian pharmacy, but last time I tried to cut them in half, they just disintegrated.

Well, at least it won't be a wasted trip. I can get another load of free plastic bags.

  

There is no place like home.

The girls had taken turns making "something special" for over 20 years. From now on, Ida would be ordering from a menu at an assisted living facility. Rose hoped she could teach her daughter in law how to make some of the family recipes . She wasn't even sure they had Kosher salt in South Carolina. Only Ruth would remain here on her own. " I want you both to have a place setting from this table."

"I never remember eating from these. You always serve on paper plates." Ida didn't think she'd have any use for this fancy stuff where she was going.  Lazy Isles offered microwavable meals in their pantry, if you didn't want what was being served in the dining room that night.

"I'm sure my daugher-in-law doesn't want me polishing silver on her marble countertops . And these glasses would be broken in 2 minutes with the twins jumping all over. Where have you been keeping these?" Rose admired the light sparkling off the water goblet.

"I inherited these things from my mother. Her mother brought them from Hungary.  I've never used them before. My grandmother never talked about them. My mother was always buying new dinnerware from the catalogs ." Ruth lifted some soup from the pot into a turrine with a  matching pattern ladle. " I didn't even remember I had these things in the closet until I went looking for something to give you as going away presents. From now on, I plan to use these for all my meals."

"How can you do that? Aren't you afraid they'll break?"  Ruth's friends were almost afraid to sit down at the familiar kitchen table, that was now covered by an antique lace tablecloth. 

" I may have thought that when I put them in the attic after my mother passed. Then when Herb and I moved here, who wanted to fuss?  Now, my own daughter lives in South America, saving the rain forest.  My son's wife has things from her own family. Please, let's make a toast."

The crystal tinkled in their shaking fingers. "We've sat here through the birth of our grandchildren, the loss of our friends, the cruise brochures and the operations. Even though we may be apart, when we eat with these,  it will be like coming home."   

 

    

 

American Justice Part 1

They're lined up around the block." LaVerne looked out the window. The guests attending the Grand Opening of the Starzinsky Elder Lifestyle Improvement Center were dressed to the nines, despite the black puddles of slush on the sidewalk. The only flaw in this picture was the man sprawled out in a pile of wet cardboard across the street. He had been there for as long as she could remember. The crusted blood and his broken face marked him as something to avoid.

LaVerne still couldn't believe how smoothly things had gone during this year, transforming the Star Ortho-Surg Clinic into this welcoming home of an innovative program for the community. The federal auditors had taken most everything, except the lease on this prime real estate right across from the Verizon headquarters. It was LaVerne's quick thinking that had brought the Verizon Retirees Assoc. together with the community leaders to fund the project.

Dr. Tony Star took a fast look in the back seat of his classic Mercedes. "The Russians won't miss a couple of hip replacements here, a few knee repairs there." He paid them plenty for the referrals their No-Fault scam provided. He knew he'd be basking in the sun, spending the cash that was now stashed in the Mercede's boot, long before the Courier News caught wind of the Attorney General's investigation into fraud at the clinic.

Dr. Star was lost in a fantasy where an ice cold Mohita was being brought to him by a nubile young native girl. No more Russian Mule Sweat for him, after he collected on this last procedure. Lieutenant Dan had great insurance.  The seconds pins, Dr. Star used on the Lieutenant's son, wouldn't hold up for any fancy footwork, but the savings were paying for Dr. Star's Cessna. He thought he remembered something about the kid going to college next year anyway.     

Author; Caryn Isaacs

American Justice Part 2

PLEASE READ American Justice Part 1 FIRST!

He heard, more than felt the fist that broke his jaw. Dr. Star couldn't see where the blows were coming from because his eyes were rapidly filling with blood from a cracked skull. He couldn't breath through his broken nose. The cold on his crumbled teeth brought him to his knees and he scraped his face against the bumper of the gleaming classic Mercedes. He struggled to stand. He thought he could make it to his office across the street, but this was the 15th. The 15th was the one day of the month that garbage was still collected. The brakes on the city garbage trucks were also a victim of Dr. Star's hand picked Mayor's budget cuts.

Dr. Star was catapulted against the pile of cardboard boxes leaning against the Verizon headquarters.  He didn't know how long he had been sitting there. From time to time he could see someone in a uniform would come by to bring a cup of coffee or some soup. Dr. Star alternately yelled obscenities and pleaded for recognition. He was sure someone from the clinic would be looking for him soon.  

LaVerne turned from the window. " Dan, can't you get that guy to move somewhere else. I'm giving my speech in front of this window and I don't want the guests to be reminded of the rest of the city's problems."

"Sure, I'll get my son to call a few friends from the Precinct. He loves to help out here. It will be good practice for him when he is a doctor, himself.  Mike's really grateful for the The Anatoly Starzinsky scholarship. After his legs were ruined by that quack, he didn't think he'd get to go to college.    

LaVerne agreed, "If  you and your son hadn't been here, on the same day that Dr. Star disappeared, we may never have found all that money in Dr. Star's car. Your being a policeman must have scared him into leaving the car behind."

"Yea, I call that real American Justice."  

Author; Caryn Isaacs

 

The Perfect Partner

Here are some American health system partnership arrangements that have changed the way we receive and pay for care. 

1960     The patient and the doctor are partners in health.

You feel sick, you call the doctor's home. His wife says he'll be right over.  He leaves you some medicine and you give him a check. If you don't get well, it was just your time to go.

1970     The patient and the employer are partners in health.

You feel sick, you go down to medical. The staff gives you some medicine and tells you to go back to work and enroll in the company exercise class.  If you don't get well, you can always go on disability or collect on your pension.

1980     The patient,  the clinic and the insurance company are partners in health.

You feel sick, you stop at the clinic in the mall. They do some tests. The secretary gives you a prescription. You wait for your pills to come in the mail. It's all billed to your insurance plan. If you don't get well, you can pursue the options up to the maximum of your plan allowance. Then you can pay the bills from your pocket or claim bankruptcy.

1990     The patient, the provider and the payer are partners in health.

You feel sick, you call your primary care facility. A nurse practitioner discusses your symptoms. She says they will call in a prescription to your pharmacy plan.  If the medicine doesn't work , you can come in next week for an approval form to see a specialist. Your HMO pays the bill. If you don't get well, you can change HMO's or your heirs can sue for malpractice.

2000    The Consumer, the Supplier and the Provider are partners in health.

You feel sick, you go on the Internet to upload your symptoms to the Provider Benefit Manager's web site. You wait for EMail competitive bids for alternative treatment options from Suppliers. Enter your card number to have the amount deducted from your health savings account. Print out a receipt and bring it to any Super Store for Self-Directed Healthcare.  If you don't get well, call the consumer health partner support group.

Author; Caryn Isaacs