I apologize for not blogging lately. I have been involved in protecting a relative from elder abuse. I am actually older by a few months than this relative is, but she got into some health difficulties and allowed an unlicensed caretaker into her home three years ago.
I had moved away from where she lived about 12 years ago. We were not close at the time – just related through our mothers. Recently I moved back to this area and tried to reach her to see how she was doing. We had talked about 5 years ago on the phone and she told me she had fibromyalgia and narcolepsy. I was dealing with my new health issues so we exchanged info on our health. But, we lost contact with each other and our phone numbers changed.
When I moved back to this area, I tried to call her and got the message that her mailbox was full. I continued to try and finally thought one Sunday that I would just drive over to her house (in a neighboring state) and see how she was.
When I pulled up into her drive, I did not recognize her. She was a skeleton. There was a woman putting something into the car in the carport and she looked up with a strange look on her face. I said, “Hello, it’s Peggy.” My relative’s face lit up, but the woman rushed over and said, “I thought you told me that you did not have any relatives living here.” My reply was, “I have moved back.” AND all those bells and whistles went off.
Needless to say, this woman was not feeding my relative, although her money bought the food. This woman had moved in and was not paying any rent nor was she doing anything to help my relative. The house has become a “pig sty.” This had been going on for over 3 years. My relative had social services visiting, but they could not get this woman out.
I tried everything I could think of and visited every site there was to try to legally get this woman removed from my cousin’s house. One day we spent the whole day going to 7 different offices in her county to get help. Finally, after many weeks, and a new checking account for my relative, I informed the woman that I knew everything she had done and there would be no more money for her. I informed her that my relative’s checking account was closed – no more making her sign blank checks, no more using the illegally gotten debit card for three trips per day to Walmart - basically no more money. I told her to be out by the 31st of August or I would continue to try to get her arrested.
She moved out, we changed the locks, we notified the social services people, and my relative is trying to get her life back. She is still frail from not eating and being verbally abused constantly, but she is returning to a life that she wants.
I am trying to get to normal myself. This quest had a horrible effect on me. My health needs to get better, too. The stress of dealing with this type of criminal was profound. My dear friends have been very helpful in getting me back to being myself. With a little more rest and calm in my life, I should return to normal and blog about absolutely everything I encounter on this adventure in getting older. Thanks for continuing to read my blog.
I had moved away from where she lived about 12 years ago. We were not close at the time – just related through our mothers. Recently I moved back to this area and tried to reach her to see how she was doing. We had talked about 5 years ago on the phone and she told me she had fibromyalgia and narcolepsy. I was dealing with my new health issues so we exchanged info on our health. But, we lost contact with each other and our phone numbers changed.
When I moved back to this area, I tried to call her and got the message that her mailbox was full. I continued to try and finally thought one Sunday that I would just drive over to her house (in a neighboring state) and see how she was.
When I pulled up into her drive, I did not recognize her. She was a skeleton. There was a woman putting something into the car in the carport and she looked up with a strange look on her face. I said, “Hello, it’s Peggy.” My relative’s face lit up, but the woman rushed over and said, “I thought you told me that you did not have any relatives living here.” My reply was, “I have moved back.” AND all those bells and whistles went off.
Needless to say, this woman was not feeding my relative, although her money bought the food. This woman had moved in and was not paying any rent nor was she doing anything to help my relative. The house has become a “pig sty.” This had been going on for over 3 years. My relative had social services visiting, but they could not get this woman out.
I tried everything I could think of and visited every site there was to try to legally get this woman removed from my cousin’s house. One day we spent the whole day going to 7 different offices in her county to get help. Finally, after many weeks, and a new checking account for my relative, I informed the woman that I knew everything she had done and there would be no more money for her. I informed her that my relative’s checking account was closed – no more making her sign blank checks, no more using the illegally gotten debit card for three trips per day to Walmart - basically no more money. I told her to be out by the 31st of August or I would continue to try to get her arrested.
She moved out, we changed the locks, we notified the social services people, and my relative is trying to get her life back. She is still frail from not eating and being verbally abused constantly, but she is returning to a life that she wants.
I am trying to get to normal myself. This quest had a horrible effect on me. My health needs to get better, too. The stress of dealing with this type of criminal was profound. My dear friends have been very helpful in getting me back to being myself. With a little more rest and calm in my life, I should return to normal and blog about absolutely everything I encounter on this adventure in getting older. Thanks for continuing to read my blog.
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