Saturday, December 24, 2022
Dad Bought an Ice Cream Truck So His Two Kids with Down Syndrome Can Run Their Own Business
Thinking of a way to give back to the community and support people with Down syndrome, Joel Wegener of Ohio decided to buy an ice cream truck to create a career path for his special needs children.
What’s the best way to get people and a community together? Food, yes, but ice cream? Even better! Joel, 61, and his wife Freida have 10 children, two of whom were born with Down syndrome, Mary Kate and Josh.
People with Down syndrome are born with an extra chromosome, which leads to a wide range of physical and developmental problems. Down syndrome is a lifelong condition and cannot be cured.
Why an ice cream truck?
Dad bought an ice cream truck so his two kids with Down syndrome can run their own business
Wife Who Has Dementia Remembers Husband on Their 72nd Anniversary Photo Shoot
When Ardis Behrendsen, a Certified Nurses Aide, discovered the 91-year-old couple’s anniversary was nearing, she planned and organized an entire celebration for the lovebirds’ special day. Shirley and Leonard have been together for seven decades, and Behrendsen wanted to go the extra mile. Reaching your 72nd year as a married couple is not something you can celebrate every day.
The Matties family was already planning for an anniversary party, but Behrendsen thought a photo shoot would be a perfect memento for the couple’s everlasting love. She got a beautiful pink gown for Shirley, and it didn’t take long before the whole senior living facility took notice of the 91-year-old’s gorgeous dress and charming smile.
When everything was all set, a staff member of the senior living facility wheeled Shirley out into the hallway and onto where Leonard was staying. When Leonard saw her wife roll towards his direction, his face became filled with color—he was absolutely delighted to see the love of her life in a flowy pink gown.
Despite more than 13,000 views of the Behrendsen’s Facebook post, not everyone knows that the 91-year-old woman in the pink gown has dementia. In the video posted by Ardis, Shirley seemed to recognize Leonard’s face. She even reached his man’s hand as the couple held hands.
People with dementia, especially the elderly, find it more difficult to store and remember new memories or information they got within a short period. But this was not the case with Shirley—she was able to recognize her husband, react accordingly, and be in the ‘present’.
Full Article and Source:
Wife Who Has Dementia Remembers Husband on their 72nd Anniversary Photo Shoot
On the Road with Steve Hartman: Christmas Grannies Make Triumphant Return After Waukesha Christmas Parade Tragedy
Last year, an SUV tore through a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, killing six and injuring dozens. Some of the victims were members of the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies. The group made a triumphant return to this year's parade, sending a message to others still recovering from the tragedy. Steve Hartman shares more in "On the Road."
Source:
YouTube: Dancing Grannies Make Triumphant Return After Waukesha Christmas Parade Tragedy
Friday, December 23, 2022
Levittown Woman Indicted for Allegedly Stealing Over $150,000 from Ward Through Guardianship
By Chris Boyle
Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced that a Levittown woman was indicted on charges of grand larceny for allegedly stealing more than $150,000 from a developmentally challenged man for whom she acted as legal guardian between July 2016 and June 2019.
Full Article & Source:
Levittown Woman Indicted for Allegedly Stealing Over $150,000 from Ward Through Guardianship
“An ongoing fight”: Elder abuse in South Dakota remains widespread despite years of effort
by Michael Patton
In 2015 the South Dakota Elder Abuse Task Force issued a series of recommendations to combat elder fraud and abuse, such as making financial exploitation of seniors a felony and clarifying mandatory reporting requirements. Many of these recommendations were implemented, but the problem remains.
According to the Department of Health website, complaints at nursing homes have increased 117% from 2021, with 39 complaints filed compared to the previous year’s 18.
Beyond just nursing homes, a study by Wallethub ranked South Dakota 5th worst in the nation for the prevalence of elder abuse, factoring in the number of abuse and neglect complaints as well as the rate and severity of elder fraud.
Taking advantage
The 2015 Task Force report found that over 5 million seniors fall victim to financial exploitation each year nationally, with only 1 in 25 of those instances being reported.
South Dakotans are particularly vulnerable to this form of abuse. The WalletHub study estimated that 12.11% of elders in South Dakota have been the victims of fraud, the 17th highest rate in the nation. The average amount lost per fraud was $12,785.
“By nature, South Dakotans are hardy, trusting folks. Unfortunately, that trust can be taken advantage of, and there are many tools that are used by scammers and fraudsters to take advantage of that trust, particularly among seniors,” said AARP South Dakota Associate State Director for Advocacy Erik Nelson. “We’re a midwestern state with a high percentage of seniors, trusting seniors, which we appreciate, but unfortunately it means the bad guys target our population for fraud and scams.”
And whether it’s calls pretending to be from law enforcement demanding money for made-up fines, emails claiming that the recipient won a sweepstake they never entered, or fake fundraisers exploiting the generosity of victims’ donations, scammers have no shortage of ingenuity.
Beyond just scams, there are a number of ways people try to take advantage of senior citizens.
“Elder abuse can take on a few different forms whether it’s physical abuse, emotional abuse, or financial abuse,” Nelson said. “It’s not just one thing.”
And in many cases, it isn’t anonymous scammers taking harming the elderly. It’s their own caretakers.
A strained system
Many nursing homes are unable to recruit and retain the staff they need to care for those under their supervision. According to Cole Uechre, Executive Director of Disability Rights South Dakota, this lack of manpower can cause harm to nursing home residents.
“I can say the system is strained to the breaking point,” Uechre said. “I’m sure you know staffing is a major problem in our facilities. Any time that you have people that provide support to individuals and they’re spread thin, and they’re overworked, they’ll get to a point where they’re careless, agitated or worn out, then things like abuse can occur,”
The problems were only exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevented family and friends from being able to visit their loved ones living in nursing homes out of concern for the residents’ safety.
“Any time you have a situation where there’s not great communication or visitation and things like that, that creates an environment where abuse can occur,” Uechre said.
This abuse can be intentional and malicious, such as nursing home workers stealing medications or hitting patients, but it can just as often be a case of well-workers lacking the resources to provide proper care.
“It could be a lack of resources available to provide adequate meals or medications at the right time. It could be that there aren’t enough staff to provide supervision for people that maybe have a tendency to get up and fall, and so without the resources, staffing, they may resort to inappropriate restraint to keep them in place and avoid physical injury.” Uechre said. “Well now you’ve just put them into a restraint situation because of a lack of available staff resources, and that type of thing would be an abusive situation.”
Combatting abuse
Elder abuse is a multifaceted issue, and solving it requires solutions that come at the problem from many different angles. One of these angles is reducing the strain on nursing homes by making it so people don’t need to enter them in the first place.
“Community supports weren’t always being provided. Nursing homes were being overutilized. Since then, there have been measures that have been put into place that have been, I think, effective in many ways, but that process should continue to work toward providing people the opportunity to live in the community as long as possible,” Uechre said.
One of these measures is the HOPE waiver system, which provides low-cost access to a variety of assisted-living services to help seniors who aren’t capable of living completely independently access assisted-living resources at a reduced cost. Programs like these help keep seniors in the community when they may otherwise be forced to move into a nursing home.
At the same time, a combination of education and prosecution is making progress in fighting financial fraud.
“All those mass targeted scams are targeted usually towards seniors, and we work to alert our members in cooperation with state officials and state agencies to know what frauds are out there,” AARP South Dakota’s Nelson said, “We also hold seminars to let them know what to look for, and it’s an ongoing process of education.”
Meanwhile, the South Dakota Attorney General’s office has been instrumental in working to crack down on the financial exploitation of seniors from the legal side, according to Nelson. Increased prosecution efforts and stricter penalties were one of the most significant measures to come from the 2015 workgroup proposal.
“Unfortunately it’s not a matter of time.” said AARP South Dakota Associate State Director for Advocacy Erik Nelson “When it comes to frauds and scams, it feels like the bad guys are always one step ahead when it comes to finding new ways to try and force scams upon our senior population. It’s an ongoing fight.”
What to do
If you or someone you know is being abused, there are many resources available in South Dakota to help.
- In the case of any criminal abuse, including physical abuse, sexual abuse, or neglect, contact your local law enforcement office, or call 911
- In the case of abuse of care at a long-term-care facility (such as a nursing home) contact the State Ombudsman Office at 866-854-5465.
- In the case of Medicaid fraud, file a complaint with the South Dakota Attorney General.
- In the case of financial fraud, call the national elder fraud hotline at 833–372–8311
- In the case that you suspect someone you know is being abused, report it to South Dakota Adult Protective Services.
Full Article & Source:
“An ongoing fight”: Elder abuse in South Dakota remains widespread despite years of effort
The Positive Effect of Therapy Dolls for Dementia
Why therapy dolls for dementia work
Therapy dolls can help seniors feel useful and needed and give them something positive to focus on.Similar to the effect of soft toys like stuffed animals, hugging something soft helps someone with dementia feel comforted and soothed.
Another reason therapy dolls are helpful is that they can bring back happy memories of early parenthood for both women and men.
Many older adults enjoy rocking and cuddling their doll. Some even adopt the baby as their own and make caring for it part of their daily routine.
Having a child to care for can also ease feelings of isolation and sadness.
After all, when interacting with real babies, many people find their spirits lifted and their nerves calmed.
How to introduce doll therapy
The best approach is to casually introduce the doll to your older adult and let them decide if they like it or not.If they have no interest in the doll or get upset, don’t make an issue out of it.
Even if someone isn’t interested in the moment, they may change their minds in the future so you could try again in a few weeks or months.
A few tips:
Don’t act like the doll is a doll, refer to it as a baby and treat it like a real child.Get a lifelike doll, but one that doesn’t cry – that might be upsetting.
Don’t force it, allow your senior to get to know the doll slowly.
Some caregivers find dolls controversial
A doll can be a safe and inexpensive “treatment” for someone with dementia.We’ve heard from many family caregivers that say their older adults are calmer and happier now that they have their own baby doll. They’re relieved to have found a non-drug solution that eases their senior’s dementia symptoms.
However, some people are concerned that giving their older adult a doll would be demeaning or patronizing. But when someone has dementia, helping them feel safe and happy in their current reality is the top priority.
So if trying unconventional ideas like baby dolls, fidget blankets, and other simple activities and toys might help them feel better and enjoy life more, why not give them a try?.
If they do get upset or offended by the doll, you’ll know to cross that off the list of potential calming activities. Or, you could put it away and try again as their dementia progresses.
Full Article and Source:
ThePositive Effect of Therapy Dolls for Dementia
Thursday, December 22, 2022
An elderly woman in prison is losing her memory. Why won’t California release her?
Despite Janet Carter’s age and rapidly deteriorating health, commissioners denied her parole. Composite: Courtesy of Janet Carter
The parole board’s refusal to free Janet Carter, 69, is part of what advocates warn is a growing humanitarian crisis across the US
by Sam Levin in Los Angeles
Prison guards stood by as Janet Carter, 69, sat in her wheelchair and tried to explain the gaps in her memory. It was May 2022 and her third time appearing before the California parole board, which would decide whether to free her after 25 years.
“I can’t remember a whole lot of stuff,” she said when a commissioner asked why she couldn’t articulate what she’d learned in prison programs. Her lawyer later pointed to a doctor’s report that documented some causes: Parkinson’s disease, early dementia, a neurocognitive disorder, chemotherapy and a head injury.
Despite Carter’s age, her rapidly deteriorating health and her repeated apologies for her memory loss, the commissioners denied her parole and admonished her for her inability to answer questions: “You’re manipulative … [You’re] lacking in sincerity … You do continue to pose an unreasonable risk of danger to society.”
Carter has been serving a life sentence since 1998. Advocates say that the refusal to release elderly incarcerated people is part of a growing humanitarian crisis in California and across the US, where an ageing population of people who have been locked up for decades have few or no opportunities to be freed.
“To come home would be a dream come true,” Carter said in a recent phone call. “I’m really looking forward to being with my family. And I want to try to pay back the community. I want to help other people. I want the people out there to know that the people in here really need their support.”
Thousands of elderly people imprisoned
 |
| Carter has been serving a life sentence since 1998. Even though her health is deteriorating, the parole board refuses to release her. Photograph: Courtesy of Debra Dass |
“I just want to be able to take care of her,” said Debra Dass, Carter’s sister. “I can never figure out why, with all her health problems, they think she’s a danger to society. She’s in a wheelchair and can barely take care of herself. She deserves to have a few good years.”
The number of older Americans in prison has surged in recent decades, in part due to harsh sentencing laws. More than 203,000 people are now serving life sentences in the US, and 61,000 of them (30%) are 55 and older. Some experts estimate that by 2030, there could be 200,000 elderly dementia patients imprisoned in the US.
Roughly 11,700 people in California prisons are 60 years and older. They remain incarcerated despite widespread evidence that people “age out of crime” and that when lifers do get released, they rarely reoffend (some data suggests fewer than 1% commit a new crime against a person). More than one-third of people in California prisons are serving life sentences, one of the highest rates in the US.
I can never figure out why, with all her health problems, they think she’s a danger to society.
“It’s inhumane to keep people longer than is necessary from a public safety point of view, and particularly as people become elderly and have more health issues, there’s a cruelty argument,” said Katherine Beckett, a University of Washington professor.
‘Parkinson’s has taken a lot’
When people sentenced to life become eligible for parole in California, they attend a hearing where commissioners weigh whether they present a threat. The parole board is charged with assessing candidates’ “current dangerousness”, and is not supposed to reject people based on their offense. But in Carter’s first hearing in 2018, the commissioners denied her freedom, saying her crime was “atrocious” and “deplorable”.
Carter, who grew up in Minnesota and Orange county, California, met her husband, Lynn Carter, at a bowling alley. She had various jobs until 1996 when at age 43, she was assaulted while working at a storage facility – struck in the head, knocked unconscious and hospitalized. She began to suffer memory loss from the trauma, her records show.
A year later, she and her husband took in Kenneth Boone, a distant relative. In July 1997, Boone and another man killed Lynn Carter; prosecutors alleged that Janet Carter helped plan the attack.
Carter testified that she had no part in the killing; her lawyers said she was drugged by Boone and unconscious when it happened, and that when she awoke, he threatened to kill her and her parents if she reported what happened. Boone admitted in his testimony that he’d been trying to rob Lynn and that Janet played no role. She has confessed to helping cover up the death under threat.
 |
| Carter grew up in Minnesota and California and met her husband, Lynn Carter, at a bowling alley. Photograph: Courtesy of Debra Dass |
In prison, she has immersed herself in Bible study; learned sign language to aid deaf residents; helped start a cancer support group; crocheted blankets; and earned her GED. Meanwhile, her health and cognitive skills have declined and she survived cancer in 2009, medical records show. She has since been classified as “totally disabled”, and the prison’s own psychologist said she was a “low risk” for violence since she had no rule violation reports her entire term.
After Carter told the parole board in 2020 that “Parkinson’s has taken a lot of my memory, and on a daily basis it takes more”, a commissioner said, “Your lack of memory appears to be selective.”
In her board hearing this year, she paused dozens of times while speaking, sometimes for more than 30 seconds. But the prosecutor discounted her impairments: “I do not believe that the elderly issues regarding her physical abilities would deter her from committing a crime.”
As Carter read her closing statement, expressing remorse and apologizing to her late husband’s family, commissioners interrupted saying they were having trouble hearing her. She never finished her remarks.
I know in my mind what I want to say, but I can’t express it, it won’t come out
Carter told the Guardian that it felt as if the board ignored her lawyer’s explanation of her disabilities: “It’s very hard to concentrate. I know in my mind what I want to say, but I can’t express it, it won’t come out. My mind just freezes and I can’t go forward.”
After Carter’s lawyer challenged the latest denial, the board’s chief counsel reviewed it and found “errors” in the process that had a “substantial likelihood” of affecting the outcome, according to a spokesperson, who declined to elaborate on the findings. The board vacated the decision and scheduled a new hearing.
Inside the parole denials
Keith Wattley, executive director of UnCommon Law, who has handled parole cases for more than 20 years, said Carter’s experience was common, noting how the board can cite people’s needs for mental health care as justification to keep them imprisoned: “After we fail to adequately treat people while they’re in prison, in a final insult to their humanity and dignity, we deny them parole based on the fact that they need treatment, falsely claiming that this makes them still dangerous all this time later.”
Records obtained by UnCommon Law show a 94-year-old man with dementia was denied because he “lacks insight”, and a man who attempted suicide was denied because he was “recently unstable”.
Data analyzed by UnCommon Law show that from 2019 to 2021 in California, roughly 17% of all people scheduled for parole hearings were granted parole. Those with low-level mental health challenges were approved for release in only 11.4% of cases, roughly half the rate of those the system considers neurotypical. And for those with more serious mental health issues, only 4.7% were granted parole. Only about 11% of full-time wheelchair users were approved each year.
 |
| In an interview, Carter said: “This is supposed to be where we get rehabilitation … but for a lot of us in wheelchairs and the elderly, it’s really hard.” Photograph: Courtesy of Debra Dass |
And although the board is required to give “special consideration” to someone’s elderly status, they are granted parole at roughly the same rate as the broader population. Out of 1,983 scheduled hearings for elderly people last year, only 360 people were granted parole.
“We cannot tolerate a society that incarcerates people for so long that they can’t survive on the outside, and then that becomes the reason to keep them incarcerated,” said Ashley Nellis, senior research analyst with the Sentencing Project.
Carter said in an interview: “This is supposed to be where we get rehabilitation and help, so we can go out into the community. But for a lot of us in wheelchairs and the elderly, it’s really hard.”
Dana Simas, a prison spokesperson, said in an email that California had “taken a leading role” in releasing people with life sentences and that 1,424 were granted parole last year, compared with 769 people newly sentenced to life. In 2020 and 2021, the board had its highest ever rate of parole grants for first-time hearings, she said. She also said the low approval rates were partly due to some hearings getting postponed.
If somebody has served 15 years in prison, and they are not rehabilitated ... there’s something wrong with the system
The parole board maintains “public safety as our ultimate primary responsibility”, Simas said, adding that people’s disabilities were only part of the consideration. “While advanced age is generally a factor that mitigates a person’s overall risk, the board must take into consideration all relevant information.”
Tremayne Carroll, a 50-year-old incarcerated at Carter’s prison, who also uses a wheelchair, said the parole process can discount people’s illnesses: “If you do have dementia or other disabilities or issues related to ageing, they start from a position of, ‘You’re being manipulative.’”
She added, “If somebody has served 15 years in prison, and they are not rehabilitated, there’s nothing wrong with that person, there’s something wrong with the system.”
Another chance at freedom
Dass,
Carter’s sister, said she worries daily that her sister won’t make it
out of prison alive. In recent years, both of their parents and one of
their sisters have died. Carter never got to say goodbye.
“Her drive to come home is strong,” said Lilli Paratore, her attorney with UnCommon Law. But she’s been in and out of the hospital and struggling to cope.
Carter has a fourth hearing scheduled this Thursday, but contracted Covid two weeks prior, and at one point was so ill, Dass could barely understand what she was saying on the phone.
Dass said she remains proud of her sister’s ability to take care of the women around her in the prison, and when she’s been denied parole, Carter tries to remain positive and lean into her faith.
She says that God has a plan for her: maybe there’s one more person inside who needs her help.
Full Article & Source:
An elderly woman in prison is losing her memory. Why won’t California release her?