This store manager saved a P.E.I. senior from a scam. Now, she's warning others to beware

A convenience store manager in P.E.I. noticed a woman trying to withdraw thousands of dollars after getting a phone call from scammers. The manager says she knew of the nature of the crime because her own mother also fell victim to it. As CBC’s Laura Meader reports, both women now want to warn others. 

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This store manager saved a P.E.I. senior from a scam. Now, she's warning others to beware 

Q&A: Betty Reid Soskin reflects on her life and multifaceted career as a singer, activist and park ranger

Betty Reid Soskin - Andrea Sher

by Autumn Schoolman

Betty Reid Soskin has lived an extraordinary life.

At 98 years old, she is the oldest Ranger with the National Park Service at the Rosie the Riveter National Park in Richmond, California.

Born in Detroit in 1921, she's made the most of her opportunities. She has written a memoir, spoken word albums and autobiographical songs which reflect her most painful and joyous moments. Soskin has worked with the Black Panthers in the suburbs around Diablo Valley and as a file clerk in a segregated union hall in Richmond during World War II. Soskin gives historical talks about her life at the Rosie the Riveter National Park's museum, telling stories of her experience as a Black woman in America.

Soskin suffered a stroke in September of last year and has since been reflecting on her life and the lives she has touched. A documentary on her life titled “No Time to Waste—The Urgent Message of Betty Reid Soskin” produced in association with the Rosie the Riveter Trust aired earlier this month, which focuses on Soskin's mission “to restore critical missing chapters of America’s story,” according to the Rosie the Riveter Trust website. In a phone interview with USA TODAY, Soskin talks about her life and what she is most proud of. 

Can you tell me about your early life and how it has influenced you over the years?

Soskin: I think that when you’re 98 years old, the last thing you have knowledge about is your early life —I’m not sure how it figures in my current life—I am who I am as a result of my being "early Betty.” My early life has pretty much spelled out who I am today. That pretty well describes all of us.

Can you tell me about your work with the national park service?

Soskin: That has been rather remarkable. I have worked for 16 or 17 years, I suppose. I went to work at 85, which was already kind of an odd thing. My work has consisted mostly of getting together with people who are of interest and doing shows that lasted for an hour. 

What has your role in the fight for racial justice been like?

Soskin: I suppose that’s gone on for all of my life. I don’t know when it started and I don’t even know when or if it ended. It has been constant. I have worked with mostly myself. I was not connected to anyone except the Black Panthers and my church. I don’t know if I thought I was working against injustice as much as it was simply something that took up most of my days. I was living in the suburbs with my family as the only black person in the suburbs at the time. The fact that I was working against injustice is incidental to the fact that it was mostly a part of my life. I was doing it without knowing what I was doing. For the most part, it was pretty exciting, I think. 

Betty Soskin

What kinds of things have you lived through that could provide perspective on our country's moment relating to the Black Lives Matter movement?

Soskin: Oh, good heaven. I think that if I were to answer that, I'd have to go at it from as many angles because they’re all asking the same question. I think that everything I’ve lived through connects to the Black Lives Matter movement.

How do you remain hopeful in times that require a critical look at how the country has treated Black people over the course of history? What kinds of things are important in keeping up the momentum?

Soskin: I’m not sure that I’m always hopeful. There are times certainly when I fail that quest for hopefulness. For the most part, I remain hopeful because I’m sure there are others out there working on the same thing. And one of us will some day make it. The people in the streets are now multiracial and that's different, that means that the question is no longer there for me as a black person, it now involves everyone.

In your recent documentary, what is it like to have your story told through that form and why do you think it’s important for people to see it?

Soskin:I don’t know because it took five or six years and because the filmmakers were good friends by the time it was over—I don’t know that I ever saw it as being important. It was simply something that we were all doing. Occasionally, they would show up at the park or take a trip with me and I never really recognized it as being part of a film until it actually came out. Now, I see it and it looks like someone else.

Why is that?

Soskin: I’m not sure why it is. I think it’s the way it is with much of my life now. It doesn’t seem to be really connected. I think that it’s partly because of the stroke. 

Going forward, what is something that you’re focused on right now?

Soskin: I don’t expect there to be much more after the stroke. I’m sure that my time is pretty much up but I think I am satisfied that I have lived my life well. I’m sure that the kids will carry on. I’m not sure that I have any expectations beyond today. 

Can you talk to be a little bit about that feeling of satisfaction? What are some moments that you’re proud of?

Soskin: I met with the Obamas in Washington, which was probably the high point of my life. It was absolutely unbelievable. I was invited to participate in the tree lighting ceremony and was brought back to Washington with my two granddaughters and participated in that. I look at it now and it seems almost unreal. I think that the first time I sang one of my songs at the Oakland Symphony was more than I would have ever dreamed possible. 

Can you tell me what that was like?

Soskin: It was rather amazing. It was something I never had dreamed and it turned out to be wonderful.

What inspired your songwriting over the years?

Soskin: My life, I think. I think that I didn’t ever publish anything. I was writing music as I was going along and I was doing something that I literally could not do. I could not read music but I was writing music and playing by ear. It was rather remarkable. Some of the songs, which are all autobiographical, just spilled out what I was doing at the time. Now, they are as if they were written yesterday. They are so in tune with what is going on. 

Could you tell me about those times and what the songwriting process was like? 

Soskin: I was going through a rough break. It was an attempt to keep my sanity—and I kept it through music. It was quite wonderful. 

How would you align the messages within your songs with the current state of the country as far as the fight for racial justice within the Black Lives Matter movement?

Soskin: I think that I could line up a song or three for each decade. I think that there were victorious songs and there were others that were not. They were painful and I lived them, too.

So you really put yourself into your music. When you look back at your songwriting and your work, how does it make you feel?

Soskin: I feel like I have lived my life fully. I don’t have any regrets. I don’t have anything that I feel I left undone. I feel like I’ve had my life and I’ve lived every minute of it.

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Q&A: Betty Reid Soskin reflects on her life and multifaceted career as a singer, activist and park ranger

Alabama Senior Citizen Medically Kidnapped and Forced onto Drugs Against Family Wishes

Nancy Scott is very concerned about her mother’s well-being, and now she cannot even talk to her.

Just as Child Protective Services and a judge have almost omnipotent, unchecked power to decide unilaterally that the relationship between a parent and a young child is not worthy of being preserved, Adult Protective Services and a probate judge have the same power to sever the relationship between an adult child and their elderly parent.

Sometimes the relationship has endured for longer than the judge and social worker combined have been alive, yet with the stroke of a pen, a senior citizen can be completely torn away from their own children.

The wishes of the elder can be completely ignored, and documents assigning power of attorney to a trusted adult child can become meaningless. Medical and financial decisions are placed into the hands of a court-appointed guardian who is often a stranger to everyone in the family.

Nancy Scott, a retired English teacher from south Alabama, wrote to Health Impact News describing the medical kidnapping of her 102-year-old mother, who is also a beloved retired schoolteacher known to her former students as “Ms. Gregory.”

St. Vincent’s Hospital and the Alabama Department of Human Resources (DHR) seized custody of Marian (Gregory) Leonard in February 2018. She is being held against her will, forced by a Jefferson County, Alabama, court into Hospice care, even though she has no terminal illness or disease. She is elderly, but her mind is sound.

Nancy has always enjoyed a close relationship with her mother, but she has not seen her since midsummer. At that time, Ms. Gregory begged to go home. She told Nancy:

If you don’t get me out of here, they’re going to kill me, and they’re going to kill you.

She is being drugged against her will and has told her daughter that she doesn’t want the drugs. There have been times that medical staff have said that Ms. Gregory had dementia, but Nancy says that this is because of the unnecessary psychotropic drugs that doctors put her on. When she was under care of doctors who removed the medications, her mental state drastically improved.

Ms. Gregory’s Story as Told by her Daughter

Here is their story in Nancy Scott’s words, written just before her visits were stopped:

My mother, a 102 year- old retired English teacher from south Alabama, wakes up every morning and asks, “When can we go home?”

And I tell her every day, “I’m working on getting us home.”

Home is south Alabama, known as the “Wiregrass.” My mother has been in the custody of the Alabama Department of Human Resources since February 1, 2018. I now have a very good attorney, but the first attorneys I had, did absolutely nothing except take my money and never filed an appearance. I just hope it’s not too late.

Medical kidnapping usually involves a child or children, but in my situation, my elder mother—was kidnapped by the Alabama DHR. She was in St. Vincent’s Hospital for what would have been a 3-4 day stay because of a UTI and a mild case of the flu.

DHR issued a court order for “protective custody” on February 1, 2018, and stated in the order that she could not leave the hospital without a court order. I was not allowed to know what I was accused of because DHR sealed the records. One attorney I hired was also not allowed access to the records. The first GAL leaked some of the information to me along with other “grapevine” news.

I finally learned that I was accused by DHR of taking my mother from a facility against medical advice. However, I provided a report from a physician at a local hospital who had given me full permission—and his blessings—to take her out of the facility on the day she and I left.

[Note: documentation of this has been provided to Health Impact News.]

No allegations of abuse or neglect can be found in the (almost) five years I’ve been taking care of my mother. A couple of phone calls by DHR could have proven that I did not take my mother anywhere against medical advice (and never have). However, DHR jumped into the case. Now after spending several thousand dollars of the tax payers’ money, this organization is still trying to find something to justify the hasty, costly decision to take charge of my mother.

Since she has been in “protective custody,” my mother has gone from getting up every day, eating a regular diet, and sitting in a recliner, to being bedridden. She has asked to get up, but Hospice has said, “No.” She left St. Vincent’s with bedsores.

St. Vincent’s Hospital, Birmingham, Alabama. Photo source.

After the medication overdoses at this hospital, it’s a miracle she is alive. The doctors at St. Vincent’s assured me they were not giving her any medication—-she refused to eat or drink for one month and slept most of the time. After a family friend (another physician) came to the hospital to check on her, I learned what she had been given.

The hospitalists in charge of my mother’s care at St. Vincent’s had been giving her Scopolamine, the “date rape” drug, and then proceeded to label her as “demented.” They also gave her Haldol and Ativan (against my written request not to do so).

These doctors also gave her a cough medicine that she could not metabolize. The guidelines for avoiding such medications were in her hospital records, and I reminded them to check this medication against her medical allergies.

She almost died from the medicine mistake, and one hospitalist, Dr. Wheeler, refused to consult with an anesthesiologist regarding the best treatment for her to help her get over the mistake with the medicine. Dr. Wheeler told me, “No, because of her age.”

Probate Judge Alan King (Jefferson County, AL) appointed a conservator and a guardian (GAL) for my mother even though I provided documentation that I had not done anything against medical advice.

When Judge King issued an order after a March 20, 2018, hearing, neither my attorney nor I were allowed to receive a copy of the order for several weeks. The clerk at the probate judicial office told me that until the court costs were paid, we were not allowed a copy of the judge’s order. DHR was responsible for the bill, so getting a copy of the order was delayed almost a month while everyone waited for DHR to pay the bill.

Judge King also insisted that my mother leave the hospital under hospice care although she has no diagnosis of any terminal illness.

Prior to the hospitalization, she ate a regular diet, got out of bed every day (with the help of regular caregivers), and enjoyed having her hair done.

The Director of Nursing at the current facility told me that she had tried to get Hospice to agree to add a low dose of Zoloft for my mother at bedtime. Hospice told me that they were under strict court orders not to discuss any medication issues with me and refused to add the Zoloft even though she had been taking this medication for over 30 years.

Early on, my brother called the former GAL and told her that no one was able to look after the best interests of my mother any better than I because I knew all of her medical allergies and was extremely careful with her care.

In addition, the court-appointed Jefferson County conservator and St. Vincent’s social workers selected a facility in Jefferson County, a three-star facility, that always seems to be short on staff. The court refused to allow my mother to leave Jefferson County (Birmingham area).

The facility in Troy, Alabama, which I presented to hospital social workers as an option, much closer to her home and friends, has a five-star (Medicare rating) and is almost $2000/month less expensive.

Why all this taxpayer money to hold an old woman in “protective custody” and deny her God given rights to choose where she will spend her last days?

Bottom line—we have been through all this before……could some of the problem possibly be the 300 wooded acres in Henry County, Alabama, that my mother inherited from her grandfather during the depression?

Full Article & Source:
Alabama Senior Citizen Medically Kidnapped and Forced onto Drugs Against Family Wishes

Death of 66-year-old Gulfport woman highlights risks of senior citizens who choose to live alone

Kathryn Ashe

GULFPORT — The first thing officers noticed in Kathryn Ashe's apartment were the roaches, hundreds of them, scurrying on the floor, walls, and furniture.

Then they spotted her body on the living room floor. After interviewing her former roommates, Gulfport police arrested Debra Poulos and her daughter-in-law Jennifer on charges of abuse or neglect of an aged or disabled person.

But the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office recently dropped the case. Ashe died of natural causes, prosecutors concluded, and the pair had no legal responsibility to care for her.

In fact, prosecutors learned that when the Poulos women moved out, Ashe refused to go with them. She chose to live by herself, despite her ill health and abysmal living conditions.

"The older lady didn't want to leave with them," said Chief Assistant State Attorney Bruce Bartlett.

"Maybe there should be some sense of responsibility, but there's nothing to support us going (forward) criminally."

The 66-year-old woman's death raises a troubling issue for Florida's aging population: What can be done to help seniors who may be endangering themselves by living alone?

"There are situations in our local area where there are people who are extremely frail and can't manage self-care at all," said Beverly Burton of the Area Agency on Aging of Pasco-Pinellas. "It's not only a question of medical treatment, it's a question if we can ensure that at least they are evaluated to see if they are eligible for some in-home support."

• • •

On June 24, Gulfport police received a call about a possible death at 5320 29th Ave S. After firefighters wedged the door open, officers ventured in and found piles of garbage and food containers on the floor, the kitchen countertops, and the sink. Mold covered the inside of the refrigerator. The A/C unit was broken. The report noted that the home was "unlivable."

"There were feces and used adult diapers on the floor," an officer wrote in a report, "and an estimate of thousands of roaches throughout the residence where hundreds of them could be seen at any given time even with the lights on."

After finding Ashe's body next to a recliner, police turned their attention to the 911 callers: Debra Poulos, 62, and Jennifer Poulos, 42.

The older Poulos told police she met Ashe in 1999. They lived together in the two-bedroom apartment with Jennifer Poulos' 4-year-old son. But after the apartment became infested with roaches and the A/C broke down, they moved out on June 10.

Debra Poulos said she tried to get Ashe to go with them, but she refused. She said Ashe made them promise they wouldn't take her to a nursing home. The women visited Ashe and brought her food.

Then on June 23, Debra Poulos said she found Ashe on the floor but didn't call for help, leaving because she didn't want to miss her bus. Debra and Jennifer Poulos returned the next day. Ashe was cold to the touch. After speaking to a pastor, they called 911.

Both women were arrested on felony charges of abuse or neglect of an aged or disabled person. Jennifer Poulos faced an additional charge of child neglect.

Police said the Department of Children and Families spoke to Ashe in 2015 and found that she was hard of hearing, a diabetic, and had a history of strokes. Ashe declined DCF services and refused to go to a nursing home.

Gulfport police Sgt. Thomas Woodman said the two women were arrested because Florida law defines a caregiver as a person "who has been entrusted with or has assumed responsibility for the care … of an elderly person or disabled adult." That can include adult household members.

"They admitted to me during the interview they were in a caregiver role," Woodman said. "They provided her all of the nutrition she needed, they had to help feed her, bathe her."

But the criminal case against the women crumbled, Bartlett said, when an autopsy showed Ashe died of natural causes: complications from diabetes and heart disease. The State Attorney's Office also determined the Poulos women were also not legally bound to care for her because they moved out and Ashe wanted to stay. Charges were dropped in November.

The child neglect charge against Jennifer was also dropped, but her son is in foster care, DCF said. Neither Poulos could be reached for comment.

• • •

Ashe's death highlights the legal challenges surrounding an elderly or sick person who refuses care. "It comes down many times to a really hard question: Is the person competent?" Burton said.

Only a court can determine if someone is legally incompetent. But if a person is competent, they can choose whether they want help or not. "Then everyone's hands are kind of tied," Burton said.

Then the only options are to call their doctor or file a self-neglect report with DCF.

"They can provide guidance on what to do and how to handle it because you can't force a person to take care of themselves without some legal mechanism," she said.

"You can cajole a person to go," Burton added, referring to Ashe's refusal to leave the apartment. "But it's very difficult unless you have some responsibility for them."

Full Article & Source:
Death of 66-year-old Gulfport woman highlights risks of senior citizens who choose to live alone

Family’s guardianship experience shows a system out of control

Regarding Diane Dimond’s series [Who Guards the Guardians?], our sister started this guardianship stuff and, yes, it has spiraled out of control.

A very similar chain of events has started, with court proceedings the same as your articles and similar titles involved to handle all these affairs.

A guardian, who never seems to be available when needed, has spent $33,000 since June 2016.

Mom is now completely broke and was asked to leave the nursing home they put her in as there is no money to pay them. Her home was put up for sale, but has not sold at this point. So she was kicked out on Nov. 30.

The guardian now has lied to be able to admit her to a hospital so that she has a place to be. We had cleaned out her house, as directed by them, to get it ready to be sold and now it is devoid of any furnishings.

We have since found out they have depleted her bank accounts. The accounts are sitting there overdrawn and her utilities have been disconnected for nonpayment. Her homeowners insurance has been canceled for nonpayment.

We are completely powerless to do anything about it.

Mom fell at the assisted living nursing home where they had her. They didn’t even take her to a medical facility to be checked out until we demanded they do so.

After they discharged her, we called the guardian and, of course, he didn’t show up. We took her to my house to spend the night instead of taking her back to the nursing home. The guardian threatened to have me arrested.

I had to call police to make a report – in fear he could actually do so.

We have called Adult Protective Services and the Attorney General’s Office, and it seems all these agencies cannot investigate any of these proceedings. No one will help our mom, who is over 90 years old. And we can’t, either.

She was living at home with her son and surviving just fine until all this. She could maintain her residence as it was paid in full. She gets $753 a month from Social Security. That was enough to pay her bills, including her home insurance and life insurance policy. They have also cashed that in.

How can these people do this and what can we do about it? Please let us know if there are any avenues to do something.

We cannot afford an attorney of our own to fight this. None we have talked to will even take a case like this.

What an atrocity this has become. The state of New Mexico should be ashamed for doing things like this to our seniors.

We have documents of what happened before court and interviews between prospective guardians and the attorney in charge of the process, who for various reasons would not let any of us be guardians due to “bickering,” as she put it.

So they could get this done, before the court hearing, our sister’s attorney even called the police department and tried to get us arrested for abuse. The police were told there were guns in the house and Mom was in danger. There was not and the police left.

The guardians are now waiting with Mom at the hospital to place her in yet another nursing home, paid for by the state because she doesn’t have any money.

My brother offered to get her things out of storage and take her home, but the guardian said it would only be for a couple of weeks until they find her a place in a nursing home, and the guardians don’t have money to pay utilities.

This is just a living nightmare. Who can protect our seniors? Help!

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Family’s guardianship experience shows a system out of control

See Also:
Who Guards the Guardians?

Granny who ditched cancer treatment for cross-country road trip dies

MARIETTA, Ga. - Norma Jean Bauerschmidt, the grandmother who has embarked on the ultimate journey following a devastating loss and learning she has cancer, has died. She was 91.

Miss Norma, as she liked to be called, set out on her incredible journey in the summer of 2015.

Months earlier and within a two-week period, she learned her husband, Leo, was dying and she had a large, likely cancerous mass on her uterus. Two days after Leo passed away, Miss Norma was in a doctor's office learning about surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. Once the doctor finished telling Norma her options, he asked her how she'd like to proceed.

"I'm 90-years-old, I'm hitting the road," she told her doctor.

Driving Miss Norma

Along for the epic road trip was her son and daughter-in-law. Her goal was to love every minute of life she had, and she did just that. She got to see Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon, Disney World and more recently the beaches along Georgia's coast. She visited New York, Atlanta and San Juan Island in Harbor, Washington. She wintered in Florida and cruised up the East Coast “chasing spring.”  (Continue Reading)


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Granny who ditched cancer treatment for cross-country road trip dies