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“I Slipped On The Ice!”
A Living Lutheran Post; May 1, 2014
Four months ago my wife answered the phone and the troubled
voice of a close friend said with a combination of sharp pain and consequent
sadness, “I can’t make it to the dinner tonight, I fell yesterday and shattered
my elbow.”
“Oh no.” said my wife, “How terrible. What happened? I am so sorry.”
“Well,” our friend answered, “I slipped on the ice as I was
getting out of the car in Zumbrota and fell on my left arm. Where my elbow was supposed to be I could
only feel a depression. We went to
the doctor right away. I had
emergency surgery last night and now have a plaster cast from my shoulder to my
hand. And it hurts!”
Well, not only did it take over three months for our
friend’s severe break to heal, but major plans in her life were cancelled. The fall significantly affected her
life, her husband’s life, and to a lesser extent, the lives of friends.
“But it could be worse,” as we say in Minnesota.
Our friend recovered pretty well in those three months, but
recovery from falls by other friends over this past year have sometimes taken
over a year, and during the last few years, friends have fallen and not
recovered -- generally because the fall aggravated other health conditions.
Yes, we have friends and acquaintances who have suffered
from cancer, heart conditions, joint problems, etc. (my wife and I both had
cancer at the same time two years ago), but frankly, it is the fear of falling
that is most on my mind as I think about the vulnerability of us older adults.
May is Older Americans Month, and our country’s Administration
for Community Living appropriately has
identified “Safe Today. Healthy Tomorrow.” as this year’s
theme. Their website says, “By
taking control of their safety, older Americans can live longer, healthier
lives.” Raising awareness
seems to be the plan of action this year.
Fair enough.
Given my experience anyway, if more awareness and concern about safety
can help prevent more of us from a falling down in the future, our lives will
surely be better and perhaps even longer.
But what’s next?
Do we pass out lists of safety tips? We already know that we older adults are much more prone to
accidents like falling than the rest of the population.
Perhaps Living Lutheran’s theme for the month of May, “God calls each of us by name to
join in the work and presence of Christ’s church in the world.” gives us some tips.
If we combine the two themes, we get, “God calls
each of us by name to join together with others in our church to affect the
safety and health of older adults.”
I like that challenge for several reasons. First, God is not calling our pastor to
pass out tracts about safety. He
is not asking for a committee to mull over the problems of aging. God is asking each and every one of us
to do something – and to do it together! Second, we are asked to work
together in our Church to make a difference. We don’t need to stand on street
corners by ourselves, or approach our city council to name a “No-Fall” week in
honor of older adults in town.
We already sit together with our church-mates so, at least to some
extent, we already know some of what God knows – our names.
Given our task, I suggest a CCC approach: Care, Choice and Conversation.
Let all the older adults in the congregation who Care about such things (such as living a safe/healthy
life), make a personal Choice
for one particular safety habit they choose to practice with regularity, and
have Conversations with others
about what they are choosing and why (perhaps because of past accidents, falls,
or burns). There is no need to
make any of this overly structured, but to boost the spread of conversations on
this topic it would be very helpful to publish the accident/fall/burn stories
of a few of the older adults in your church’s monthly newsletter!
As an example, here is where I come out using the CCC approach:
I CARE most about avoiding the painful and prolonged
outcomes from accidents/falls based on personal experiences I have had myself
or seen through the suffering of others.
My CHOICE of a safety habit is one I already use with
regularity – that of always grabbing the railing as I go up or down
stairs. It used to be that holding
on the railing was something I avoided;
I guess I thought that it might be a sign to others that I needed
help. It was a juvenile excuse,
but I’ve finally grown up a bit, at least on that issue.
And finally, my CONVERSATIONS about falling and accidents among my friends and
acquaintances go in cycles, depending on how recently something has
happened; a strange
lightheadedness during a cross-country “race” by one my friends, or an ordinary
stumble-on-a-rug fall by another, or my wife tripping over one of our cats at
night.
Because we humans tend to talk about that which is on our
mind, the publication of some real-life older adult accident stories by a
church may be the easiest and most helpful way to foster both the “health” and
“God’s call” themes for the month of May -- glorious, delightful, flowery,
merry (and safe) May.
Bruce
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