The Elderly need to be touched to!

Touch is the most developed sense when an infant is born and continues to play a fundamental role in communication development throughout life until the end.  I have found as I get older (approaching 80) I need human touch more than ever.  Yet, mankind seems to have some aversion to touching the elderly or the sick.

In 2004 I was the pastor at a church in Galveston, Texas.  I got a call from a hospice in Houston, Texas to see if I could administer last rites to a dying patient with H.I.V.  The call came around midnight on Saturday and I explained I was about 80 miles from Houston and it would take several hours for me to get their.  I told the hospice attendant that Holy Rosary was only two blocks from them and The University of Saint Thomas was only three blocks from them and perhaps it would be better to ask a priest from one of those organizations to come.  She replied Father we did and they refused claiming they had a busy schedule the following day, the notice was just too short and the man had no affiliation to their particular organization.  I ask why did she call me or how did she even know about me and she replied a client knew about you. 

Needless to say I went.  I arrived and the man was nothing but skin and bone.  We talked about his family and him for a while and then I lifted him in my arms to pray with him.  He began to cry uncontrollably.  When he was able to speak he said you are the first person that has held me in nearly a year.   The man died before sunrise.

That emotional experience has always stayed with me!  I was always a touchy person , but I became more aware of the importance of touch following that visit.  I firmly believe it is as important as any medical procedure offered to the elderly and dying and possibly more important.

In the past few months I had begun to think that something was missing and I could not put my finger on it.  I finally realized I long to be held/touched.  As a retired priest (celibacy) I was never touched or held.  How would I solve the problem if that was the problem.  I will be honest I began to look on the Internet for sensual massages with a male.  There are lot of listings in the Philippines. I knew I did not want a sexual encounter, nor did not I want any type of relationship.  I looked and looked and finally gave up on the idea.

Frustration, depression, anxiety and anger grew – stupid CELIBACY!

One day my caregiver (male) ask if he could help.  He said, “Father, I do not know what you want or need or if I can do it, but please tell me and let me try.”  He has been my caregiver for ten years.  I thought about it for weeks, but gave him no answer.  One night he came to my room and I said I feel like I want to scream, cuss and destroy something.  He again offered to try and help me and we talked about it even more and I explained how I felt I needed to be held and touched.  He said he would try.  That night he began to sleep with me and we laid close to each other, body to body.

The benefits were immediately.  The next morning I found it had accomplished the following:

It served as a  form of nonverbal communication;

Decreased sensory deprivation;

Increased reality orientation;

Stimulated my mind;

Decreased my pain;

Decreased my sense of isolation and vulnerability;

It created a sense of companionship;

It conveyed trust, hope, and reassurance;

He claimed he felt a personal feeling of reward when intentionally physically contacting another human being.

Over the next month I found:

 it help to promote sleep;

Enhanced feelings of well being;

Decreased blood pressure;

And lab results were better.

Have you ever bothered to noticed how rarely many elderly are touched.  So often, elderly people live alone and have little contact with the outside world.  As their lives slow down or as physical illness takes its toll, many elderly become more and more home bound.  Many move to Assisted Living Facilities and, although surrounded by others, rarely receive the simple gift of a hug.

We must also keep in mind touching someone – even the gesture of a light hug – might be an unpleasant experience for some.  In situations where there has been physical or sexual abuse, a person may be afraid, reticent or uninterested in acceptable ways of being touched.  Many people have grown up without having touch as part of their lives and are not comfortable receiving touch.  In one of my caregiving experiences, after I grew close to a particular client, I once greeted her by asking if it was okay to give her a hug.  I was pleased with her honesty as she told me, “No, no, I don’t hug.  My family doesn’t hug.”  I personally had a an older sister that hated to be touched or kissed and she would be quite rude if you attempted to do so, being from the south we were raised among kissing and touching relatives.

Yet, when touch is welcome, it can communicate what words cannot.  Touch can say, “I am here for you.” Touch can communicate connection and solace and kindness.  Touch can say, “I love you.  You are important to me.”  Touch can say, “You are not alone.”

The elderly do not require strong touch.  Gentle touch usually suffices.  If you offer some form of massage, be aware that some elderly people have thin skin.  Certain medications may even make skin susceptible to breaking.  Proceed with care.  Offer your hand or arm as support to one who is getting up from a chair or in and out of a car.  Even this simple form of contact can be valuable to the psyche.  If you are in a position where you are bathing or showering an elderly loved one, this can be the perfect time for a soapy back rub!  Hand massages or foot massages are generally appreciated.  Trust your instincts and your love.  Listen to your heart,  follow your instincts, and you will always do what is right.

Touch is a communication that transcends age and time. No matter how old we are, we all love to have our hand held, our backs rubbed, or the feel of a warm embrace.  Seniors who live alone often do not experience the simple act of touch on a daily basis. The reasons vary:  spouses and close friends have passed away, families live in other states, or physical limitations may affect activity and contact with others. Stupid vows of celibacy.  Remember this when spending time with the senior in your life. A simple, encouraging arm around a shoulder or a momentary grasp of a hand conveys a message of affection. Feelings of affection can make a big difference in the lives of seniors.

The sense of touch is so powerful that some experts recommend elderly clients receive regular, professional massages. Massages in general are not meant to convey affection, but use the power of touch in another way. Gentle kneading of muscles helps release tension, can improve blood flow through the body and ease the pain of arthritis. While no affection is involved during a professional massage, oxytocin released in the body during the process produces the same comforting effects. In place of a full-body massage, foot and hand rubs can be emotionally and physically beneficial.

Knowing someone wants to touch you has far more benefits than knowing they are simply doing it for the money.  So if you call for a massage always inform them of your age and health condition.  Tell them you will not accept or pay anyone that comes and makes you feel that they do not want to touch an elderly person or a large person.  You have rights demand those rights.

I will continue in the future to seek out ways to fulfill my need to be touched in the future and will not be cramped by what others thinks.

America land of plenty - REALLY!

 I know that is the view most of the world has of the United States, but if that is true please tell me why government food assistance is growing at such an alarming rate that one in four Americans is enrolled in one of the 15 federal feeding programs. There are 42 million Americans on food stamps and 30 million kids getting free breakfast and lunch at public schools. Fifty million Americans do not have enough food or they are uncertain of whether they can get enough food to feed their families. One in six Americans reported running out of food at least once a year. In many European countries, by contrast, the number is closer to one in 20.

The USDA researchers attributed the rise in use of federal food programs to the recession, and indicated that many of the food banks have reported serving people who never expected to require assistance to feed their families. The number of Americans using food programs will grow even more, before things get better.

In the United States more than half of hungry households are white, and two-thirds of those with children have at least one working adult—typically in a full-time job. In 2006 the U.S. government replaced “hunger” with the term “food insecure” to describe any household where sometime during the previous year people did not have enough food to eat. I do not think using politically correct words make people who are not getting enough to eat feel better. Just like not saying the words ‘Muslim Terrorist” make Muslim Terrorist love us or respect us anymore.

I heard a U.S. politician ask if hunger is really a problem why are there so many overweight Americans. The answer is hunger and obesity are two sides of the same coin, people making trade-offs between foods that’s are filling and foods that are nutritious may actually contribute to obesity. For many of the hungry in America, the extra pounds are the results of poor diet and are unintended side effect of hunger itself.

As the face of hunger has changed, so has its address. The town of Spring, Texas, is a suburb of Houston where I am from. There are curving streets and shade trees and privacy fences. The suburbs are the home of the American dream, but they are also a place where poverty is on the rise. As urban housing has gotten more expensive, the working poor have been pushed out. Today hunger in the suburbs is growing faster than in cities.

In the 90’s I vacationed in Hawaii and was shocked when a waitress told me that three families were living together and all the adults held down two jobs and were having a hard time surviving. I returned to Houston and shared the story with many. I decided then I would never want to live in Hawaii. But, today we have the same problem in Houston. There are families where all adults are working, but their income is not enough to keep the family consistently fed without assistance. The root problem is the lack of jobs that pay wages a family can live on, so food assistance has become the government’s—and society’s—way to supplement low wages.

We hear American people and American politicians talking about the 99% and the 1%, but what about the 16% who don’t have enough food to eat. President Obama recently described economic inequality as “the defining challenge of our time.” The Democratic Party has decided to make inequality the main theme of their political campaigns. And yet, despite the current vogue in Washington for talking about inequality, the same political leaders have paid little attention to the hunger crisis which is now ravaging America’s poor communities.

The Democrats criticize the Republicans for not caring about the poor, but it does not seem to me the Democrats are really willing to champions the poor. All I have seen from Obama and his administration is a lot of talk about the poor and little action. Democrats tend to frame inequality as either an abstract issue or a division between the rich and the middle class. It doesn’t surprise me that there’s this huge disconnect, because the people most affected by poverty aren’t part of the conversation.  The Democratic and Republican politicians are having a national conversation on poverty without poor people.

Thirty percent of households with seniors indicated that they have had to choose between food and medical care and 35 percent had to choose between food and paying for heat/utilities. Nearly 1 million seniors living alone do not have enough food to eat on a regular basis or rely on food banks and charities.

Veterans are more than twice as likely to need help with food – a disgrace.

With all the poverty the USDA recently found that about 96 billion pounds of food available for human consumption in the United States were thrown away by retailers, restaurants, farmers and households over the course of one year. Fresh fruits and vegetables, fluid milk, grain products, and sweeteners accounted for 2/3 of these losses. This is not all the fault of retailers, restaurants and farmers the Federal government must take some of the blame because of Federal Laws that prohibit these products from being given to food pantries or directly to the poor because the government claims they fear food contamination.

The total cost of hunger - loss of work due to sickness, free clinics, etc. – is said to be about $90 billion a year. In contrast, it would only cost about $10 billion to $12 billion a year to virtually end hunger in the United States.

The world already produces more than 1 ½ times enough food to feed everyone on the planet. That's enough to feed 10 billion people, the population peak we expect by 2050. The major problem is people cannot afford to buy food.

Hunger must stop being a silent crisis in the United States! Hunger in America is something the American government seems to not want the world to know about. If they did they may realize they may not be able to depend on America too much longer for foreign aid.

Teachings of Pope Francis - Part V

Our goal is not to proselytize but to listen to needs, desires, disappointments, despair and hope. We must restore hope to young people, help the old, be open to the future and spread love. We need to include the excluded and preach peace.

You cannot know Jesus without having problems. We only come to know Jesus on the daily path of life … in order to know Jesus; we need to enter into a dialogue with Him. If you don’t pray, you don’t know Him.

What will my cross be like? We do not know, but there will be a cross and we need to ask for the grace not to flee when it comes.

Faith contains the memory of our encountering God.

A people who do not take care of their elderly and their children have no future. The only commandment which brings with it a blessing is the fourth, the commandment which regards honoring our parents and the elderly.

God is in every person’s life even if the life of a person has been a disaster. You must try to seek God in every human life. There is always a space in which the good seed can grow.

Charity is simple: worshiping God and serving others.

Let us respect creation, let us not be instruments of destruction! Let us respect each human being. May there be an end to armed conflicts. May hatred yield to love, injury to pardon and discord to unity. Let us listen to the cry of all who are suffering and who are dying because of violence.

We can all flee from God. This is a daily temptation: not to listen to God, not to hear His voice, not to hear His promptings His invitation in our hearts.

Are you able to find the Word of God in the history of each day or do your ideas so govern you that you do not allow the Lord to speak to you?

Today let us all ask ourselves do I remain caught up in forms of material security, taking refuge in my own projects and plans. Do I truly let God into my life?

God asks us to be faithful to Him in our everyday life, even if we are sometimes unfaithful to Him, He remains faithful to us. He never tires of stretching out His hand to lift us up, to encourage us to come back and tell Him of our weakness, so that he can grant us His strength.

Saying “thank you” is such an easy thing and yet so hard! How often do we say “thank you” to one another in our families? These are essential words for our life. “Sorry,” “excuse me,” “thank you” - If families can say these three things, they will be fine. How often do we say “thank you” to those who help us. All too often we take everything for granted! This happens with God. It is easy to approach the Lord to ask for something, but do we thank Him.

God invites us to pray. Prayer makes us feel God’s presence. Persevering prayer is the expression of faith in God.

If money and material things become the center of our lives they seize us and make us slaves.

The Kingdom of Heaven is for those who do not place their security in material things, but in love for God.

 

Do politicians really care about the sick and elderly?

Why does U.S. law require perfectly good medicine that could be given to the poor and elderly be destroyed?

In the eighties and early nineties a group of us violated the law and risk being arrested picking up the medication of people who died of A.I.D.S. and passing it on to those living with A.I.D.S. who could not afford medication. We would have someone stay at the home when we knew the patient was about to die and secure the medicine before public health care workers arrived.

Public health care workers, nursing homes and hospices must destroy medicines of deceased patients according to U.S. law. Nursing homes, public health care workers, and hospices must also destroy unused medicine when doctors prescribe a new medication or stop a medication. Some medications can be sent back to the pharmacy if the facility has an in-house pharmacy, but most medicines (hundreds of pounds daily) are destroyed.

In my opinion this profits no one but the pharmaceutical companies. The government claim they are protecting Americans from outdated medication or possible errors in distribution. Ask someone who cannot afford to purchase their medications because of insurance co-pays or do not have insurance if they would prefer the medicine to be destroyed or distributed by charitable organizations or selected pharmacy’s for free or a low cost. In a free society why don’t the people in need of these medications have a choice?  

There are people who have to choose each month whether they will buy medications or buy groceries. It is estimated 50 million people in the U.S. fail to fill needed prescriptions each year because of the cost.

Some with cardiovascular disease have said they take less medicine than prescribed due to cost and fifty percent of them were more likely to experience angina, strokes or non-fatal heart attacks. For many others, cutting back on medicine led to faster health declines, increased hospitalizations and premature death.

Even Medicare Part D medication is destroyed. Why can’t the government devise a program where the medication is returned to a government pharmacy (Veteran Administration) and be utilized. This would save millions of Medicare Part D funds yearly. Is this because the pharmaceutical companies do not want such programs developed?

Injectable drugs in syringes packed in tamper proof packaging are destroyed. I do not understand why medication in tamper proof packaging must be destroyed. It seems to me to be a total waste. The government claims they do not want these drugs to fall into the hands of the wrong people who may abuse them.

The D.E.A. destroyed 6400 pounds of medication picked up in one week in nursing homes and long care centers in two counties in the state of New York. Nationwide they collected and destroyed 742,497 pounds last year. This does not include medication facilities that were allowed to destroy unused medications in-house. I cannot even make an intelligent guess of what 742,497 pounds of prescription drugs would cost retail, but I am sure it would be in the billions of dollars.

There is a nonprofit organization called Sirum, which was founded by three young Stanford graduates who use the internet to try and match patient and medicine.  Their goal is to save lives by saving unused medications. They are using technology to bridge this gap between surplus and need. The medications are sent to selected clinics to be distributed. They charge 25% of the retail cost for the drugs they recycle.

Forty states have enacted laws authorizing the reuse of medication. The State of Iowa recycled $52 million in unused drugs to the poor last year. These programs are small and are State authorized and not authorized by the Federal government.  Change is coming, but it is slow because people fear recourse from the Federal government.  Few in the medical industry know about these small recycle programs and only about 25 medications are allowed to be recycled.

Previously sold, but unused medication, brought back to special pharmacies for resale or donation could provide a low-cost source for patent protected medicines. Pharmacies in Mexico and Canada are doing brisk business from Americans crossing the borders to buy medicine. Internet pharmacies are also doing a brisk business in the United States selling both reimported American made medications and low-cost foreign-made products. Which do you think is safer foreign made medications without government regulations or recycled American medications with government regulations that are perfectly good? 

Other countries have opted for pharmaceutical price controls and/or curtailing patent protection, but such actions run counter to American free-market ideology and political realities. Plus lobbyist are too strong in the United States to ever allow this to happen. 

Leftover drugs prescribed for American patients with HIV are now being recycled for use overseas. 'Aid for AIDS in Manhattan' — a nonprofit group with branches in Italy, Spain and Switzerland collects drugs after US patients with HIV switch prescriptions, stop medications, or die. The group passes these very expensive retroviral medicines along to more than 500 people with HIV throughout Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America. American law makes it illegal to redistribute these medications to the poor in the United States, but says nothing about exporting them. If these drugs are not safe for Americans to take then why is our government allowing people in Third World Countries to take them?

Nursing homes and other healthcare facilities are not the only possible sources of recyclable medicines. A more important source may be medication in consumers' homes that is unused. As I said earlier we collected thousands of dollars of medications in homes. 

“Expired medication” also represents a potentially large source of supply of medicine for a recycling program. As things stand now, expiration dates get a lot of emphasis. For instance, there is a campaign, cosponsored by some drug retailers, that urges people to discard tablets or capsules when they reach the date on the label. It turns out that the date on the label is often much earlier than the official expiration date. Pharmaceutical companies admit most drugs would be okay to use 18 to 24 months after the expiration date.  Very expensive medications are being dumped, being wasted.

Obviously, much discussion and planning is needed before medicine recycling could become a reality on a large scale for example new laws, regulations about what might be recycled, individual pill packaging for the selected items, rules about who might be eligible to return medication, who might be able to purchase it, rules for exchanging the old pills for a new prescription and how to pay for the infrastructure support.

It might be wise to concentrate at first on recycling from nursing homes and other facilities where there is an unbroken chain of accountability for the medicine. Such medication has never been out of the hands of accountable healthcare workers, and there is a clear trail of when it was purchased for whom and why it was not used. Recycled medicine would have to be individually packaged or still in its sealed original container.

Federal law could be changed. Individual tablet and capsule tamper-resistant packaging, including bar code identification of manufacturer, date of manufacture, expiration date, medication name, and dosage would bring us close to the possibility of recycling appropriately chosen medications. Such a system, combined with appropriate safeguards to assure product authenticity, is worth discussing.

We will never know if any plan for medicine recycling can be safely done unless we begin the discussion. This means we would have to overcome the greed of pharmaceutical corporations and retailers of medication. 

 

Teachings of Pope Francis - Part III

Every Christian is called to be a bearer of hope that gives serenity and joy. We first must experience the joy of being consoled by God then we can bring joy to others. This is important if our mission is to be fruitful: we must feel God's consolation and pass it on to others!

Today no one in our world feels responsible - we have lost a sense of responsibility for our brothers and sisters. The culture of comfort, which makes us think only of ourselves, makes us insensitive to the cries of other people. It even leads to the globalization of indifference. We have become used to the suffering of others: it doesn't affect me, it doesn't concern me, it is none of my business! We are a society which has forgotten how to experience compassion.

Young people are the window through which the future enters the world. We must give them space. We have to create the material and spiritual conditions for their full development. We have to pass on to them lasting values that make life worth living.

The young have the strength and they do the carrying and the elderly are the ones who give life's wisdom. We do the elderly an injustice when we set them aside as if they have nothing to offer us. We need them both.

Anyone who is a man or a woman of hope - the type of hope which faith gives - knows that even in the midst of difficulties God acts.

Christians should be joyful, they should not be gloomy. Christians cannot be pessimists! They do not look like someone in constant mourning. If we are truly in love with Christ and if we sense how much He loves us, our hearts will "light up" with a joy that spreads to everyone around us.

Regardless of our difficulties. Regardless how great they may seem, God never allows us to be overwhelmed by them. Always know in your heart that God is by your side. He never abandons you! God is our hope! Les us maintain a positive outlook on reality.

If we want life to have real meaning and fulfilment "Put on faith." "Put on faith," Put on hope," "Put on love."

Do not water down your faith in Jesus Christ. Take care of the two ends of the population: the elderly and the young. Read the Beatitudes and read Matthew Chapter 25 it is the standard by which we will be judged.

Where does Jesus send us? He sends us to everyone. The Gospel is for everyone. Do not be afraid to go and to bring Christ into every area of your life. He wants everyone to feel the warmth of His mercy and love.

Young people, Jesus Christ is counting on you! The Church is counting on you! The Pope is counting on you!

I ask you is your heart filled with desire or is it a closed heart, a sleeping heart, a heart numb to the things of life? Where is your treasure, what are you longing for? Jesus told us: where your treasure is, there will be your heart. Do you wish to do good to others, to live for the Lord and for your brothers and sisters?

We are to go forward in life with love, with the love the Lord has sown in our hearts. God's love has a name and a face: Jesus Christ. Love for God is manifest in Jesus. It is a love that gives value and beauty to everything else. God in Jesus always opens us to hope.

If there is no hope, we are not Christian.

Following Jesus means being involved.

Following Jesus entails giving up evil and selfishness and choosing good, truth and justice, even when this demands we sacrifice.

Becoming acquainted with other people and other cultures is always good for us, it makes us grow. If we isolate ourselves we cannot develop culturally. If we seek out other people, other cultures, other ways of thinking, other religions, we go out of ourselves and start that most beautiful adventure which is called "dialogue". Dialogue is very important for our own maturity, because in confronting another person, confronting other cultures and confronting other religions in the right way, we grow, we develop and mature. It is impossible for peace to exist without dialogue.

In our day we pass in front of so many doors that invite us to come in, promising a happiness which later we realize lasts only an instant. Let's not be afraid to cross the threshold of faith in Jesus. Enter through Jesus's door.

Are you Christians by label or by the truth? Being Christian is living and witnessing to faith in prayer, in works of charity, in promoting justice, in doing good.

Should Social Security and SSI laws be changed immediately?

The U.S. budget deal comes with a Social Security surprise: the media reports a provision could take $50,000 out of some Americans' lifetime benefits.   The media should report that it takes from Americans that are abusing the system.

The deal President Barack Obama and congressional leaders have reached would end a strategy, called ‘file and suspend’ that retirees are using to get more money out of the Social Security System. A strategy that should have never been allowed in the first place!

The rules for claiming Social Security are enormously complicated, and a law passed in 2000 made them even more complicated by creating the opportunity to 'file and suspend'. File and suspend is a rule that practically no one knows about unless they are financially secure and have tax consultants or financial advisors. It certainly does nothing to help the poor elderly or middle class trying to survive on Social Security and it certainly depletes the Social Security fund faster.

The longer you wait to start receiving your Social Security benefits, the higher your monthly benefits will be. File early and you lock in a lower benefit. Wait until 70 and you lock in your maximum benefit. The monthly check for a single person who files at age 70 can be 76 percent higher than if he or she had filed early at 62.

Under 'file and suspend', married workers can file for Social Security and then immediately suspend their benefits. Their benefit checks won't start arriving in the mail, and the value of their eventual benefits will keep rising as if they hadn't filed. In the meantime, their husband or wife can apply for a portion of the spousal benefit they are entitled to once their spouse has filed. In other words the couple does not really need their Social Security benefits to survive. They allow their spouse to draw the spousal benefits and wait until age 70 for the other one to draw. This allows the one to draw benefits immediately and the other to get about 76% more when they begin to draw at age 70. This is but another example of the rich getting richer and the poor worrying if their Social Security benefits will last until they die. GREED!

Couples who 'file and suspend' are double-dipping. They're getting the extra benefits that come from waiting until age 70 to file, while also accessing benefits early. Boston University Professor Laurence Kotlikoff estimates that file and suspend can boost lifetime Social Security benefits for many couples by $50,000.

The loophole even provides a clause if you try 'file and suspend' and do not like it you can suspend it and be paid a lump sum for all the back benefits from age 62 that you did not collect and it is paid in one check. I wonder how many wealthy elderly use the program as an insurance policy.

The legislators and President now call 'file and suspend' an "unintended loophole," and there is evidence that Congress never meant to create the strategy. The 2000 law that allowed it was the Senior Citizens' Freedom to Work Act, aimed at encouraging older Americans to work if they wanted to. It only took 15 years for them to discover the loophole and try to correct it. I have to give credit to President Obama for proposing to close the loophole last year claiming it was a strategy that mostly benefits wealthier retirees. Nancy Pelosi said that the Obama health care bill had to be passed before they could read it.  I guess the same happen with the Senior Citizens’ Freedom to Work Act.

If passed in its present form, the bill would end 'file and suspend' for future retirees. It would make it impossible for people to access their spousal benefits while their spouses are still waiting to access theirs.

It also stops children of Social Security beneficiaries, who have their own version of 'file and suspend'. Social Security sends a monthly check to children of beneficiaries who are either under 18 or are adults who were disabled when they were young or attending college. These children wouldn't get their checks until their parents start getting theirs.

The budget deal would end 'file and suspend' in six months for everyone using the strategy. They are trying to amend the bill so it would not affect those presently using the strategy and would only affect those that intend to use the strategy in the future. I SAY STOP THE STRATEGY FOR ALL NOW!

Most people don't know how to take full advantage of Social Security. The Social Security Agency Administration should be doing more to help retirees find legal ways to maximize their benefits. The truth is that a larger percentage of rich people than poor people are eligible for government money because of the gap in knowledge. Most people don't even know about the thousands of government giveaway programs because most of these programs are funded by Washington, but administered through either the states or little-known organizations. The 1% know about the venture capital and special "loans" they can get from the government and do not have to pay back.

Did you know that a legal alien that has a sponsor, a person who signed an agreement with DHS to provide support for them can have the sponsor’s income and resources count as their income and resources which may entitle them to more S.S.I. benefits? If a sponsor agreed to support the alien why is the government involved in supporting them. SSI is not Social Security it is a U.S. Welfare Program.

Did you know legal aliens from Haiti or Cuba are automatically eligible for SSI for a maximum of seven years from the date DHS granted their immigration status.

Did you know legal aliens who are blind or disable can draw lifetime SSI?

Did you know you can be a “deemed qualified alien” for SSI if you, your child or parent were subjected to battery or cruelty by a family member while in the United States?

Did you know alien immigrants seniors are allowed to collect SSI even if they have children who have money and could support them. I know of an alien from India who owns two dry cleaning shops in Houston, Texas who has brought his mother, father, mother-in-law and father-in-law over and they all draw SSI. I wrote my Congressman to have it verified and he advised me that it was legal. I question the man from India who was renting space from me in a strip center and he told me that his pastor in India teaches them how to do it. To make matters worse his father owns a drug store in India being run by another son.

It is no wonder the U.S. is trillions in debt. The government admits billions of dollars are paid in fraudulent funds each year for Social Security Disability Benefits. The Government Accountability Office identified 36,000 people who have received $1.29 billion of disability overpayments at the same time they were working and earning wages.

It is worth noting that current Federal law prohibits the Social Security administration from paying a financial reward to an American citizen who reports a case of Social Security disability fraud. This law should be changed immediately. Give an incentive to report fraud!

Philippine Culture - Take care of Parents?

When I first came to the Philippines the culture norm was that children took care of their elderly parents and grandparents, but a few years after arriving in the Philippines I saw that culture tradition begin to erode.  It was common to hear Filipino’s be critical of Westerners, especially Americans, for putting their elderly in nursing homes.  They would argue that we were disrespectful of our elders and that Filipino people would never do that.  Well, times have CHANGED!

I never put my mother in a nursing home, but now that I look back I believe it would have been better for her and the family if I had.  She had Alzheimer’s and there were times when caring for her at home were nearly unbearable.  At the time I foolishly thought nursing homes were where the young dump elderly parents and grandparents when they no longer want to be bothered with them. 

At the present moment there are two bills before the Philippine Congress that reflect the growing problems Filipinos have with the elderly.  House Bill 1514, filed by Representative Augusto Syjuco, allows the elderly to ask the courts to compel their descendants, whether legitimate or illegitimate, to give them financial and other support.  If younger Filipinos were caring for older Filipinos there would be no need for Representative Syjuco to file such a bill.

There is also a bill in the Senate, Senate Bill 1809, filed by Senator Mirian Defensor Santiago, which proposes the establishment of a government assistance program for elderly victims of abuse, whether physical, emotional or sexual, as well as neglect or abandonment by caregivers, financial exploitation and health care fraud and abuse.  Again, if younger Filipinos were caring for older Filipinos there would be no need for Senator Santiago to file such a bill.

I have heard many horror stories of the retired persons’ SSS or GSIS card being taken by their children or grandchildren, who then withdraw the monthly pension to use mainly for themselves rather than for their parents or grandparents.   I know of elderly people that have been put out on the streets by family members to beg for pesos to simply survive.  I doubt there is anyone in the Philippines that has not seen an elderly lady or man sitting on the sidewalk begging. 

How many bills are already on the books to curb the ills you find in the Philippines that are never enforced.  We all know that if established laws to fight corruption were enforced there would be little to no corruption.  I would suspect that these two bills if passed will not be enforced either due to lack of funds.

The elderly problem is only going to get worst in the Philippines.  In the 50’s Filipino’s generally died in their 50’s.  The time span to care for the elderly was short, but now Filipino’s who die in their 60’s are thought to have died YOUNG.  Complicating matters is the cost now involved in caring for the elderly.  Most elderly suffer from hypertension and diabetes and the cost of medication can run into the thousands of pesos each month.  Factor in diseases like Alzheimer’s and the cost runs even higher. 

The job situation in the Philippines requires many Filipino’s to work abroad.  The money sent home naturally goes first for the needs of the young and what is left may filter down to the elderly.  It is not only a monetary problem.  The O.F.W. simply cannot be home to give personal care to the elderly.

The numbers of elderly will continue to rise in the next century, but I do not think Congress can legislate parental or elderly care.  The government must strength the safety net they provide for senior citizens.  The Philippine government and society as a whole must begin to provide facilities for the elderly to go to and feel safe and be properly cared for and be given the opportunity to socialize with people their own age.  Nursing Homes/Assistant Care Living is not a dirty word as many Filipino’s believe. It often is better than the alternatives.

The Philippines has a population of people aged 60 and over of 7 million. This is projected to grow to 19.6 million by 2040, as a result of the lower fertility and lower mortality rate.

UPDATE: The abuse problem continues - June 22, 2014 MANILA from the Inquirer—with the growing number of aging Filipinos, various sectors are calling for the passage of laws to protect the elderly against abuse, described by many as a “hidden disease.”

At the commemoration of the World Elder Abuse Awareness Day at the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) in Quezon City last week, experts noted how senior citizens are constrained by shame to admit to being victims of abuse from members of their own families.