Dear Mrs. Clinton
I noticed your campaign launch video skipped people with disabilities. Can you even imagine what it’s like to be housed in a facility filled with floors of fellow residents crippled with disabilities and struggling to keep their head above the ambient despair of depression, dementia, and death?
I can.
Although I’m only sixty-five years old, I’ve spent the last thirteen of these years as a resident of an assisted living facility (Young-Onset Parkinson’s).
Recently, I was struck with an idea so simple, efficient, and powerful, I was compelled to call my closest friends to share the idea with them. To the person, they responded – “How can I help?”
Now, I’m going to share that idea with you – with the sincere hope that you, too, will call me with one simple question . . .
“How can I help?”
The 2017 Care Act
This legislation is designed to create an entrance strategy for foreign nationals who wish to become US citizens, while simultaneously easing the burden of long-term care on American families and helping people age in their communities.
The program itself is straightforward: a person seeking US citizenship applies for a visa under The 2017 Care Act. This special visa binds the applicant to an American family for “x” number of years – a negotiated period of time (minimum value for x is five) in which they will care for a member of the family who needs long-term care.
During this period, known as the “care stage”, the applicant is responsible for the basic in-home care (Activities of Daily Living – bathing, feeding, transferring, etc.) of the family member for an agreed-upon compensation and number of hours and days/week.
The host family is responsible for the applicant’s housing and meals during the care stage. Ideally, the applicant has familial ties to the host family.
At the end of the care contract, the applicant has satisfied his/her portion of the contract and is free to live out the remainder of their life as an American Citizen with no further obligation to the host family.
Ahhh, this sounds awfully political to my ears. Could we simply leave out any specific candidate’s names and make generic comments toward all the candidates instead. I come here to learn about changing aging, not more rhetoric about what x, y, or z candidate did/did not say/wear/imply with body language/inhale/fail to tip/change their hairstyle.
With respect to the writer, this is not changing aging it’s a message that seems to indicate that voting for a certain candidate is a forgone conclusion.
This sounds like being an indentured servant, and there could be some issues. I agree, though, that we have to come up with some solutions to make sure our seniors, and dependent adults live out their lives with the greatest degree of dignity and kindness possible. One way would be to professionalize the field for anyone providing this type of companionship/care so they aren’t perceived to be in the lowest of castes, as far as jobs go.