WHAT WILL WE DO WITH YIAYIA?….

Hello Everyone,

Greetings from Greece, the land of blue seas and sunshine. It truly is beautiful here and the people are very nice. Just this morning I awoke to a loud bang at the door, it was my neighbor, Mr Panagiotis, the fisherman with an overloaded basket of freshly caught fish for me to cook for my very sick mother. That is the reason why I am here for a long stay: YIAYIA (Grandmom) is very sick. She has lung and heart failure and needs to be on oxygen. The mountain house has turned into a hospital room, and I am faced with the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make: What will I do with Yiayia before I leave to come back home in the states?

They say that people evolve and change as they grow older and wiser, as to prepare them for the hard decisions that they must make. Nothing can prepare you for this. It is possibly the worst state of heart to be in. Putting your dear, lovely mom in an elder care facility. This woman that brought me to America when I was 10 years old, raised me on the East side of Chicago all alone, protected me, loved me and above all put my needs above all else………now needs me to do the same. I am crushed.

With my tears in check, I went off on a quest for a nice caring facility where truly price is no issue……..this is my mother after all. A friend knew of a place outside of Athens, a private facility, that also has the grandfather of the Greek journalist: Nikos Vagelatos from Antenna 1 TV, living there. How bad can it be right? This journalist has exposed several bad elderly facilities here in Greece, It must be good…………….WRONG! It was Dante’s Hell on Earth.

We arrived at this little home outside of a town called DILESI, the house looked fine, the owner came out and welcomed us in. A striking blonde woman was in the kitchen doing her nails on the couch, and a pot of lentils were boiling on the stove. She introduced herself as the director. I was a little confused because there were no old people around and I asked where the home for the old was. She said right this way, and led me OUTSIDE the home and to the side entrance…………OF HELL.

We walked inside a literal cell: 2 meter square rooms, each with 2 little single beds with the thinnest mattresses. There were three rooms in total, 1 very small bathroom, no TV, no air conditioning ( It was 105 degrees outside), no radio, fridge and a dirty hand sink…………OH BOY. There were 5 old people total in this dungeon and there was an empty bed awaiting my mother……….NOT IN THIS LIFE. I sat down next to the grandfather of Nikos Vagelatos, the famed ball- breaking journalist and I asked him how he was, he smiled and said he was just fine,” Thanks God” He smelled like two days old pee and his fingernails and clothing were dirty. Imagine that? And these people were expecting us………how would these elder folk be when we ARE NOT AROUND?

My heart was breaking and we went back upstairs to talk. I asked the owner and the director how they would hear a distress call from downstairs? and are you ready for the answer? ………….HE SAID ALL THE OLD FOLKS HAVE CELL PHONES,” NO PROBLEM” Can you believe this? The blond director then proceeded to ask my driver what he thinks of her choice of a new car :BMW 500 Series. NOTE: The facility has no licence, and is merely RENTING to the old people….CAN SOMEONE DO SOMETHING PLEASE ?

WAKE UP PEOPLE………Take care of the old, just like they took care of us. It disgusts me that we toss them in the trash when we no longer have use for them. It was fine when they gave us their life savings, when they helped us raise our own children, when we cried on their laps after a heartbreak. I write this post with a bitter taste in my heart, a sadness in my soul, and anger everywhere else. Wish me well and pray that I find a place for Yiayia that will be safe, clean and will give her the respect and dignity that not just her, but all the elders need and deserve.