Peruvian Old Folks are Left to Fend for Themselves
The lockdown in Peru has not affected everyone equally. Instead of purposefully protecting the elderly population, they have not only had their income taken away, but now have to expend more energy and risk their health fighting the crowds to obtain food in the few markets that remain open. Here are just a few of the elderly folks we’ve been helping. Please pray that we can do more!
Romanian Nursing Homes
Currently, our friends there are helping provide for elderly Romanians in two different villages, with the numbers having recently grown due to the virus lockdowns and fallout.
Right now the greatest needs are bedding for new arrivals and fuel for the upcoming winter.
In their own words:
“There are typically 4 beds in a small room and the pastor (Mircea) and his wife found many homeless elderly that had no place else to go. The need is for the basics: blankets, pillow, sheets (about $80 per person). There are 80-90 persons there are any one time. Special mattresses are also needed for each resident, but they cost $150/each.
Please contact us if you can help!
*Did you know that the average cost for ONE person in a US nursing home is about $5,000-$13,000 per month? Americans are privileged to be able to afford that kind of care, even if it is still often inadecuate.
The Loneliest Place in America
The video below will bring tears to your eyes, as it does mine. But its what you don’t see that should break your heart. Let me explain…
Having spent years visiting and ministering to family and friends in nursing homes, and nearly two years (while still in high school) providing direct care as a CNA (Certified Nurse Assistant), I am absolutely positive about two things:
1) Anyone who has ever spent time in a nursing home can testify that there are always residents who receive NO VISITORS. No one regularly comes to talk to them, sing with them, pray over them, read the Bible to them. Isolation (quarantine?) from the outside world is their “normal” way of life. There are always folks at nursing homes like the lady in the video, but many no longer have a loving husband there to minister to them! When nursing homes open up again, why not “adopt a grandma” in your town?
2) If you are in need of a job, I guarantee that a nursing home near you is in need of loving, patient nurse assistants (CNA). Certification is fairly simple, and although the pay is not great (that’s a whole nother story), it is an amazing opportunity to bless many of the most neglected people in our communities. Nursing homes need Christians who will not not only feed, clothe, and serve the elderly, but also pray, encourage, and share the Gospel with them!
The Deadliest Place in America
Tragically, a quick glance at the statistics will show that we have failed miserably to protect the most vulnerable among us from the coronavirus.
If even a tiny portion of the trillions of dollars that have been thrown around during these past couple months would have used to *strategically protect our elderly nursing facilities, the overall fatality rate could have been cut drastically, and thousands of our grandparents might still be with us.
Unfortunately, our same elderly neighbors who remain “out of sight, out of mind” most of the time, also remained out of our nation’s coronavirus calculations until it was too late.
If I was living in America right now, I would be working as a Nurse Assistant at a local nursing home, isolating myself for real in order to have the opportunity to care for those who are chronically under-served even under normal conditions.
*Imagine something like a Special Forces (of caregivers) being deployed to protect our most vulnerable with a fully-funded, well-guarded, targeted security blanket
