A thousand ‘Janets’
but very little help
As a disclaimer, I’d like to state that I’m not up to date on every program or legislation passed to address my concerns. My perspective is based solely upon my observation through my job and personal experiences.
I was prompted to write this after seeing the headline from April 30 newspaper about addressing the feral chicken problem.
I understand that it’s a health concern, but I was frustrated because there are so many other, in my opinion, more important issues being under-addressed in the community. Specifically, I’d like bring up the severe lack of resources for our elderly population, people with behavioral health issues, and those with disabilities.
I could tell story after story of people falling through the cracks due to lack of housing, financial assistance, transportation options, etc. One story comes to mind that serves as an example of many others.
Janet (not her real name) was living on Oahu when her husband left her. He gave her some money so at least she wouldn’t be destitute and homeless. The money only allowed her to buy a small piece of property in a very rural area on the Big Island with a very small home with only a few solar panels and a catchment system that wasn’t fully installed.
Janet has a son from a previous relationship who has significant behavioral health issues. Janet herself has several health issues, including diabetes, that require medication for her to live, but these same health issues make it extremely difficult to get out of bed and impossible to walk to the nearest bus stop. She has almost no cell service — just enough to text but not make calls.
She has no car, and she can’t leave her son alone due to his behavioral issues. She refuses to be taken to the ER when she has a health crisis, because the last time she did, her son got into fights up and down their road due to being unsupervised.
We live in a great, caring community here on Big Island, and there are many people willing to assist short-term, and I’m thankful for those people. But you can’t expect those people to carry other’s burdens long-term, and it’s even worse for those people who aren’t connected in any way with the generous, giving community members.
It’s people in these rural areas who don’t have access to simple resources like someone to take them to the post office to rent them a P.O. Box so they simply receive the mail they desperately need in order to sign up for other basic resources.
Office of Aging para-transit only goes so far off the established routes, so that ruled out that resource for Janet. So, she’s stuck at home, running out of food, medicine and propane to keep her house warm. She hopes a neighbor will stop by to assist, but perhaps they are getting tired of her asking for help all the time.
There are a thousand “Janets” out there with these problems and others problems not mentioned. There are too few home-care agencies to assist the population in these areas, and they can’t find good employees because the reimbursement from the state is so low, they can only afford to pay these employees slightly above minimum wage. They can’t pay their employees mileage, even though the clients desperately need grocery shopping and other errands.
I could go on and on, but I hope the picture is clear enough. Let the feral chicken management keep their $100,000. This problem needs millions and millions to even start addressing it.
Caleb Mohrmann
Hilo
Obesity isn’t new
problem in U.S.
The first line of Leighton Loo’s letter to the editor in the April 30 paper kind of took my breath away.
It’s bizarre to compare obesity in this country — a serious problem since 1976, according to the National Institutes of Health — to a worldwide pandemic that rapidly killed millions of people.
Dr. Anthony Fauci addressed an emergency situation as best he could. Clearly, Americans choose to ignore medical advice on losing weight, hence the problem proliferates every year.
Karen Cooper
Hilo
