Safety is a huge issue!
Fear is a driving force behind this project. What is there to fear you ask? The fear of injury, the fear of falling, the fear of isolation, the fear of leaving a beloved environment. These are Bea’s fears.
For Pearl her fears are similar to Bea’s. She worries about Bea receiving an injury should she fall. Which indeed she has done in the past. She worries about her being alone. Is she eating properly? Taking her medications as needed and prescribed? Is there enough income to support her for the rest of her life, and the list goes on and on. Because Pearl is the caregiver her fears go beyond Bea’s. Not only does she have the responsibility of her mother’s health, safety and well being, she has her own along with her husband’s and her children. It’s a difficult transaction for an adult child to assume the parent role for a parent.
The safety issue is indeed huge to both of these ladies. In the next posting, The Problem, Part Two, I’ll address the additional problems facing this project.