Saturday September 26, 2020
As a pastor for more than twenty years now, I have spent a good deal of time in nursing homes. I noticed over that period of time how staff to patient ratios have decreased with fewer persons to care for the ill, especially in the for profit facilities. This past year was a lesson in the short-sightedness driven by greed by the constant reduction in staff.
Once when I was at a facility, an elderly woman grabbed at my sleeve begging me to change her diaper. She was sitting in her own … doesn’t take much imagination to figure that out. Staff members were so harried that they did not “have time” to change her. That woman could have been any of you or me.
Today the New Jersey Legislature voted to increase the staff to patient ratio. You need to know who voted for and against this legislation opposed by for profit nursing homes. All three Middletown representatives Serena DiMaso, Gerry Scharfenberger, and Declan O’Scanlon voted against the bill. You should ask them why, especially when more than 7,000 patients and staff have died from Covid-19. I wonder about that poor old woman simply wanting the dignity of having a clean diaper.
Prayer for the Day
Living God, unlock our hearts so we feel the breath of your Spirit,
Unclench our hands so we reach out to one another.
Open our lips so we are able to drink in the delight of life,
And fill us with your call to justice and mercy.
Unclog our ears so we hear you in all humanity,
Even those who are shut away from us.
In the name of him who reaches out to all,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
The greatest problem about old age is the fear that it may go on too long.
A.J.P. Taylor British historian (19061–1990)
Old age is like a plane flying through a storm. Once you’re aboard, there is nothing you can do.
Golda Meir, fourth Prime Minister of Israel (1896-–1976)
The righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God.
In old age they still produce fruit; they are always green and full of sap,
Showing that the Lord is upright; God is my rock without any unrighteousness.
Psalm 92:12–15