It’s been a good long while since I put up a blog. I’ve had something to say but honestly was reeling at the idea that it had to be said. And it was going to be so darn long.
Let’s talk about ageism.
I always knew it was a bit of a “thing.” Sure.
But COVID has brought to light the fact that our seniors are incredibly devalued in our society. It isn’t helped by an Alberta premier who declares in the legislature,
“It is critical as we move forward that we focus our efforts on the most vulnerable, on the elderly and the immunocompromised,” adding that “the average age of death from COVID in Alberta is 83 and I remind the house that the average life expectancy in the province is age 82.”
Factually accurate at the time (we now have an average COVID death of 82), it was nonetheless unsettling. That average age of death includes people aged 27 to 105, remember. Every one of them matters to me. Let’s look at COVID deaths in our province. Out of 318 deaths:
- 2 were age 20 to 29
- 2 were age 30 – 39
- 3 were age 40 – 49
Then we see things begin to climb a bit, around triple for each decade older:
- 8 were 50 – 59 (Hello Granny18, mild asthmatic)
- 26 were 60-69 (Hello Grandpa18, heart attack survivor)
- 79 were 70-79
And yes,
- 223 were over 80
So he’s not wrong; it does affect the elderly more than the rest of the population. Now let’s unpack,
“…It’s critical we focus our efforts on the most vulnerable, on the elderly and the immunocompromised.” Many people have taken that to mean that anyone over 60 should stay home for months while they blithely go about their lives. This guy. Stay home for months, stay away from our family.
Me too, because I can’t bring it home to him right?
They attack me when I suggest those people have a right to feel safe in the community, feel that their community might be interested in protecting them as much as they are able, help THEM to continue living THEIR lives. Yes, we’ll act responsibly in our actions to protect ourselves, but help a sister out, okay? I’ve been accused of being “scared” and told to “go hide.”
I’m not scared when I put a seatbelt on, and I expect others to belt up too. I’m not scared when I don’t drink and drive, and I expect others to do the same.
To protect others.
One fella posited that drunk driving killed more people than COVID has. He was in the U.S., so I looked up the U.S. numbers. 10,000 people were killed by drunk driving in 2018 versus 229,000 U.S. COVID deaths as of this writing. Why is it that people are okay with drunk driving laws but think a mask or gathering restrictions are horrific? Why? Because it’s mostly “old people” who are dying.
Damn it. Old people hold our history; they hold so much wisdom we could learn from; I love several of them and lost several “too soon.”
Who are these “old people”?
My husband is 66. Please don’t make him the 26th death in his age group.
Don’t write off someone’s Dad, Mom, Grandpa, Grandma because they are over 70 or 80 or 90 or even, by jove, 100.
70’s
My Dad, a huge volunteer with the Alberta Council on Aging while still running a company, died from Cancer at 76. The Premier of our Province presented him with a volunteer award just four months before he died. In the month before his death, he received the Queens Jubilee medal to recognize his efforts for his community. I still remember thinking he had so much left to do.
My brother in law retired from politics at the age of 70.
80’s
Rachel Wyatt published her first novel at the age of 82. I have an article about her up on my bulletin board to remind me there’s still time to get my book published.
An Ontario man named Bill Wall began riding in the Ride to Conquer Cancer in his early 80’s. He rides tandem because Bill is blind.
90’s
Bill turned 92 this year. He is still riding in the Ride to Conquer Cancer, raising $21,168 for Cancer.
Byrony Burrell is a 94-year-old British Twitter phenom (@lifeofbryony) with 67,000 followers. She shares humour,
“If I could go back in time to 1947 when I was 21 and speak to myself about life in 2020, the talk of a global virus would probably scare my younger self less than hearing her older self describing talking to a doorbell, surfing nets and webs on an apple and typing on tablets.”
And wisdom,
“You know nothing about a person when you first meet them. You may see age, race, gender or clothing, but what does that really tell you? Nothing. Assumptions pop into your head because your brain likes to categorize things, but that way of thinking limits your outlook on life.”
100
Her countryman Captain Tom celebrated his upcoming 100th birthday by setting a goal to raise money for the National Health Service during the onset of the pandemic. The Captain walked the length of his garden back and forth 100 times, in 10 lap increments, assisted by his walker. He planned to complete the laps by his 100th birthday on April 30. His goal was 1000 pounds. Cute right? 24 hours later, he had raised the equivalent of 11,666 Canadian dollars. As his fundraiser wrapped up, Captain Tom had raised almost 33 million pounds (almost 57 million Canadian Dollars.)
100-year-old Captain Tom was knighted for his efforts. The youngster who laid the sword upon his shoulder was the 94-year-old Queen of England.
Some seniors are in care, who won’t be able to hike, volunteer, write novels, join Twitter or even do laps in the garden. They matter too. We owe it to them for what they did for us before their minds or bodies gave out. My mother in law was a phenom, walking every day and babysitting Great-grandchildren into her 70’s. Dementia found her. She was still valuable to our family. We remembered all her years of helping us, and dementia brought us the unexpected gift of her talking more about the war years in England.
Will many of these people over 80 have died anyway? Maybe. But not like this. Not. Like. This.
This is not a painless slipping into the night, and they deserve better from us.
Alberta cases are rising rather alarmingly these days, with Edmonton already cancelling elective surgeries as they near capacity. Yesterday’s report from our Chief Medical Officer Health told us we had 15 deaths since Friday. We added 581 cases on October 30, 525 October 31, 592 November 1, 570 November 2. More concerning for me are the increases in hospitalizations and ICU admittance. Alberta overall has 167 (27 in ICU) in hospital, 100 of those in the Edmonton zone. What we need to worry about is two weeks out. A majority of the cases have untraceable origins. Someone out there spread it, and we don’t know who they are or who they were in contact with.
The young won’t necessarily be alarmed, but they should be. Although the young rarely die unless they have comorbidities, it does happen. Even those with a mild case are still sometimes taking a long time to get back to their pre-COVID selves. This thing spreads so easily. We have outbreaks in hospitals and nursing homes despite extreme measures to prevent spread. One nursing home outbreak was traced back to a family gathering. Dr. Hinshaw once said we shouldn’t fear COVID, but we should RESPECT it.
What does respect look like?
Stay home if you’re sick.
Limit your circle.
Practice Physical Distancing.
Wear a mask where physical distancing might prove difficult.
Sanitize or wash your hands frequently.
Try not to touch your face.
Sanitize high touch surfaces regularly.
It’s such a simple way to show respect for the seniors in your community.
(We’ll talk about care facilities another time…)
Path to Pasture 