Alaska Elders as refugees [internally displaced persons]

I was wondering if anyone else * noticed the impact of the negative conditions in rural Alaska affecting older people? especially if this means older people have to move to Anchorage or Fairbanks. This topic came up recently among the groups that need to be (or should be) prepared to assist those folks, despite Gov. Palin’s and the Republican’s inaction.

If you know of someone else that can give a feel or better yet, actual numbers or examples, please ask them. Post your results in comments below or e-mail me.

* Sarah Palin, the elderly, the disabled, older Americans and rural Alaska

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Site Search Tags: Palin, refugee, migration, community+disruption, can+you+help

Seniors’ And Elders’ Month Proclaimed In Manitoba

October 1, 2007

The province has proclaimed October as Seniors and Elders Month in Manitoba and today, on the International Day of Older Persons, Health Minister Theresa Oswald celebrated the accomplishments and contributions of seniors at the MTS Centre during a Seniors’ and Elders’ Day Community Committee of Winnipeg event with the theme Older Manitobans: Pioneers of our Times.

Seniors and Elders Month is an opportunity for all of us to recognize and celebrate the past, present and ongoing contributions of older Manitobans throughout the province, said Oswald. Manitoba is committed to assisting older Manitobans in improving their quality of life and remaining a part of the communities they have built.

• http://www.nationtalk.ca/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3595

see last year’s post,

• http://theelderlies.wordpress.com/2006/09/07/respect-aged-day/

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Site Search Tags: deadline, aging

Elders losing to extremists in Pakistan

from the June 08, 2006 edition

Elders losing to extremists in Pakistan

By David Montero | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN – To be a tribal elder in Pakistan’s Waziristan region once meant unquestioned power and respect. These days it connotes title to a way of life ruptured by the modern world. Increasingly, it also carries a death sentence.

Some 150 tribal elders have been killed in Waziristan in the past three years. …

Without the authority of the elders, there is little to stop the growing power of radical mullahs and the Taliban they support in a troubled land….

http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0608/p06s01-wosc.html

Neglect of Bethel Elders again

October 2005

We’ve just had the third instance (at least) of an elder denied senior services (transportation) because of neglect. Adult Protective Services has been contacted each time. Cold weather is here and the elder is unable to walk home. The only two cabbies who would have conveyed him can no longer accept him (they are usually not near the senior center when the call comes in and the elder must remain outdoors waiting.) The situation is known to the senior director, who has in the past refused to speak to the cabbies reporting the neglect. The local paper Tundra Drums refused to assist in this latest instance when the cabbie went to them for information.

Aside from APS, where do people go to change the situation? Individuals on the Senior Advisory Board have been attacked by senior services personnel when bringing the issues to public attention (even at a City Council meeting.)

This is why older people must be active in their own lives. These are your services. When the senior services program itself denies services to elders, it is up to the rest of us to protest. We just need ideas to overcome the local news media reluctance to act; the City of Bethel’s refusal to act; and the ONC tribal government’s inaction.

[It should also be noted that the neglect was also reported to the regional health corp. with trust responsibility, Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corp. (YKHC), which runs the personal care program. YKHC was supposed to have an assisted living home opened last month, too, but which doesn't even have a footprint staked out.]

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Technorati Tags: elder, abuse, Alaska, public involvement

Senior Center staff defends care of elders

Trantham remarks draw fire
Senior Center staff defends care of elders (**see note below)

By Jesse Keane, Thursday, 25 August 2005
For the Tundra Drums

Amber Petersen, coordinator of the Adult Day Program at the Chief Eddie Hoffman Senior Center, arrived with other center employees at the Aug. 9 Bethel City Council meeting to object to a radio discussion on KYUK critical of the center.

“We were accused of neglecting, abusing, and ignoring our elders,” she said. “We were accused of shirking our responsibility to make sure elders are taken care of.”

These accusations, she said, were supported on the show by a city council member. “He said that all the horrible things that had just been spoken about the senior center were absolutely true and correct.”

Petersen was joined at the microphone by colleagues and elders. Mary Gregory, a supporter of the senior center, said, “If anyone wants to challenge us, let them try it for one day.”

Mayor Hugh Dyment cautioned his fellow council members on their public statements. Words are very powerful, he said.

“As council members, if we are going to speak in public, we should have the facts at hand,” Dyment said.

Councilman Dave Trantham, who spoke on KYUK about the senior center, expressed frustration that the senior center employees had not tried to speak with him directly before appearing before the council.

“I’m surprised that the mayor allowed it,” he said. “This was probably an attempt to discredit or embarrass me, but it didn’t work.”….

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Neglect of Bethel Elders again -
http://theelderlies.wordpress.com/ 2005/10/19/neglect-of-bethel-elders-again/

The radio discussion was about neglect, not abuse, by the operators of the Senior Center (see letter to the editor, Delta Discovery, posted here
http://theelderlies.wordpress.com/2005/08/17/ letter-to-the-editor-on-neglecting-seniors/ Interesting that the City staff directed the ad hominem attack on Mr Trantham and did not respond to the charges of neglect.

Mr Trantham called in as a citizen; never identified himself as a city councilor; and never spoke for the City Council.

Mr Dyment is a “weak–mayor” [see Wikip] who functions as discussion facilitator for the Council as a whole. Or serves in this case to threaten first amendment protection of free–speech. This is the same Mayor Dyment who believes the City’s restrictive religious oath of office should stay in place or be considered simply as “ceremonial deism”. Not too many small time mayors can get in whacks at the entire first amendment, with facts on neither hand.