a reluctant advocate

sometimes, when you are not actively looking, a cause will suddenly appear and refuse to go away. like an annoying gnat buzzing your face, no matter how hard you try to brush it away, it returns. i have never been afraid to voice my opinion. i don't shy away from conflict. but i don't really enjoy confrontation and it is exhausting. it drains me to argue. physically and emotionally. the less stress, the happier i am.

but. lately i keep running headlong into brick walls regarding handicap accessibility. my almost 90 year old father, the oldest living ww2 submarine vet in the state of vermont, loves to use his rolling walker and stroll down into the village for his daily fix of dunkin donuts coffee and his opportunity to feel independent. but the sidewalks are in very rough shape and some of the crosswalks are not accessible with a walker...there are 5 inch stone curbings to negotiate. my sister, pam, contacted the village a year ago but they still have not been made accesssible.

my mom is 87 and wheelchair-bound. she has issues with her feet and her doctor has suggested seeing a podiatrist. one visits biweekly from brattleboro. unfortunately, the doctor's office the podiatrist uses here is not wheelchair accessible. mom must travel to brattleboro because she cannot climb stairs.

my brother, skip, is 67 years old, deaf, epileptic and has cerebral palsy. he has his own apartment in the village but he is having difficulty walking to the store. his doctor recommended a rolling walker (like both dad and i use) and sent a prescription to a medical supply company in keene, nh.  i called them the following day to verify they had received the prescription and to remind them that skip needs a bariatric walker, he is overweight and weighs maybe 250 pounds. my walker is too small for him. i was informed that the regulation-sized walker has a weight limit of 225 pounds. but vermont medicare will not approve a bariatric walker for anyone under 300 pounds. skip is in that bureaucratic limbo...too big to safely manuever the regular-sized walker but not heavy enough to meet those bizarre medicaid guidelines. and i have left phone messages and email messages at the vermont medicaid office but nobody has called. grr.

i never met my friend, margaret's,  'aunt maida' but she is a family legend. in her golden years she spearheaded a movement to educate seniors about the hill-burton act, which forced subsidized hospitals to treat people who could not afford to pay.  i don't know if she enthusiastically embraced advocacy or if frustration was her motivation but aunt maida helped countless seniors get the medical treatment they needed but could not afford. she is my personal inspiration.

so i make phone calls and send emails. today,  i mailed a letter to the vermont attorney general. and to the govenor, whom i helped elect. tomorrow i will send letters to the town manager about the crosswalks and to the doctor with a handicap inaccessible office. i am not a cranky old goat but i am tired of feeling frustrated and worried about my family. i have a balance disease and i use a walker but....my brain still functions and i still can write letters so....i will. and maybe i'll check to see if that hill-burton law is still active. thanks, aunt maida.