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Camden seniors are struggling to get by
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| LOU BELL MCDONALD has several problems with her home that include a leaky roof and poor window frames. When it rains, the 97-year-old Waverly resident puts a blanket to her bathroom floor to soak up water that leaks from the roof. (Tribune & Georgian photo/Greg Jones) |
By Greg Jones
The drill is simple for Lou Bell McDonald when it rains. The 97-year-old Waverly resident puts plastic on the bathroom floor. Then she covers it with a blanket. This, she said, will soak up any water that leaks from the roof.
Everything else is simple too. McDonald puts pans or bowls in the kitchen or anywhere else in her home to avoid getting water on the floor and on her furniture. McDonald said her house is built out of good lumber, but the tin roof needs repairing and the windows could also use an upgrade.
She said a group from Brunswick came and painted her house for free a few years ago. But the group stopped doing free work in Camden County, so McDonald will have to live in a home with a bad roof until another organization can come and repair her roof.
"I don't know whom to call," he said. "[The rain] comes in the den, and it is really bad in the bathroom. When the people came and painted the house, I would have told them if I had known [to fix the roof]. I would have had them do it."
McDonald's situation is not an uncommon one in Camden County. Some seniors are struggling to maintain a quality standard of living and are having a difficult time accessing or affording transportation, food, medicine and other needs.
However, Rindy Howell, director of the St. Marys Senior Center, said there is help available for seniors in Camden County. She said there are several organizations, such as the senior center, that work to keep seniors active, provide them meals or look for other ways to help them.
She notes there are people, such as Julia Williams at First African Missionary Baptist Church, that help seniors with their taxes for free.
"The bad thing is they don't know there is some help," Howell said. "They can get money for an electric bill or a tax break. We try to keep seniors involved here at the center. I will never refuse anyone a hot meal if he or she doesn't have money. What I feel is important is to keep their minds active and try to find ways to help them in as much as possible."
Howell also said she does believe the needs of seniors tend to get put behind other issues affecting the county because they do not complain or have an opportunity to display their concerns as much as other residents.
But Howell said one of her biggest challenges is to get seniors to come to the center to help them.
Dottie Simpson, director for Helping Hands Ministry, said the organization delivers food to low-income seniors and also said she knows there are seniors struggling to have a quality life in Camden. She said if anyone drives around the county, he or she can find seniors who are living in difficult conditions.
Simpson said one of the reasons Helping Hands Ministry started its brown bag program was to help low-income seniors get meals at the end of the month.
She said a lot of seniors receive Social Security checks and other payments at the beginning of the month and sometimes run out of funds by the end of the month. Simpson said this causes some seniors to make difficult choices like buying either food or medicine.
She also said she would like to see Georgia Department of Aging conduct more programs in Camden County to help seniors. She said the state agency could do more medical screening for uninsured seniors to ensure their healthcare needs are being met.
"We are trying to make sure our seniors don't go hungry," she said. "We served 964 last year. I would like to see more transportation available for seniors because if they have a car some of them may not have money for gas by the end of the month."
James Parker, 65, who has lived in Camden County for six years with his wife, Jennifer, has a bad porch, front screen door and poor transportation. He also said that when it rains the water comes into his house because the front door cannot close fully and his porch's roof is unstable.
He said he had to nail the porch roof down several times so it would not fly away on a raining and windy day.
Jennifer Parker, 47, said the couple lives on a fixed income and cannot afford to fix the roof or car repairs. She also said the couple has just enough to pay bills, buy food and pay for her medication because of James' Social Security checks.
She said she has had health problems in the last year that have caused her to miss work, which has led to hard times.
Parker, who works as a food service representative at Jane Macon Middle School in Brunswick, said during the past year she has had two surgeries, including a hysterectomy and hernia surgery. She also said she is missing work currently because her scoliosis has flared up. The couple said they would like to make repairs on their home and car but cannot afford it.
"My scoliosis has been acting up lately," she said. "We just have enough to pay the bills so the lights don't get turned off. The porch wood is rotten. I don't want anybody to fall through, and I don't want to fall [through]. Before the Harvey's was built a few months ago, we had to drive 14 or 15 miles to Brunswick just to buy food or go the pharmacy. Gas is expensive."
Everything else is simple too. McDonald puts pans or bowls in the kitchen or anywhere else in her home to avoid getting water on the floor and on her furniture. McDonald said her house is built out of good lumber, but the tin roof needs repairing and the windows could also use an upgrade.
She said a group from Brunswick came and painted her house for free a few years ago. But the group stopped doing free work in Camden County, so McDonald will have to live in a home with a bad roof until another organization can come and repair her roof.
"I don't know whom to call," he said. "[The rain] comes in the den, and it is really bad in the bathroom. When the people came and painted the house, I would have told them if I had known [to fix the roof]. I would have had them do it."
McDonald's situation is not an uncommon one in Camden County. Some seniors are struggling to maintain a quality standard of living and are having a difficult time accessing or affording transportation, food, medicine and other needs.
However, Rindy Howell, director of the St. Marys Senior Center, said there is help available for seniors in Camden County. She said there are several organizations, such as the senior center, that work to keep seniors active, provide them meals or look for other ways to help them.
She notes there are people, such as Julia Williams at First African Missionary Baptist Church, that help seniors with their taxes for free.
"The bad thing is they don't know there is some help," Howell said. "They can get money for an electric bill or a tax break. We try to keep seniors involved here at the center. I will never refuse anyone a hot meal if he or she doesn't have money. What I feel is important is to keep their minds active and try to find ways to help them in as much as possible."
Howell also said she does believe the needs of seniors tend to get put behind other issues affecting the county because they do not complain or have an opportunity to display their concerns as much as other residents.
But Howell said one of her biggest challenges is to get seniors to come to the center to help them.
Dottie Simpson, director for Helping Hands Ministry, said the organization delivers food to low-income seniors and also said she knows there are seniors struggling to have a quality life in Camden. She said if anyone drives around the county, he or she can find seniors who are living in difficult conditions.
Simpson said one of the reasons Helping Hands Ministry started its brown bag program was to help low-income seniors get meals at the end of the month.
She said a lot of seniors receive Social Security checks and other payments at the beginning of the month and sometimes run out of funds by the end of the month. Simpson said this causes some seniors to make difficult choices like buying either food or medicine.
She also said she would like to see Georgia Department of Aging conduct more programs in Camden County to help seniors. She said the state agency could do more medical screening for uninsured seniors to ensure their healthcare needs are being met.
"We are trying to make sure our seniors don't go hungry," she said. "We served 964 last year. I would like to see more transportation available for seniors because if they have a car some of them may not have money for gas by the end of the month."
James Parker, 65, who has lived in Camden County for six years with his wife, Jennifer, has a bad porch, front screen door and poor transportation. He also said that when it rains the water comes into his house because the front door cannot close fully and his porch's roof is unstable.
He said he had to nail the porch roof down several times so it would not fly away on a raining and windy day.
Jennifer Parker, 47, said the couple lives on a fixed income and cannot afford to fix the roof or car repairs. She also said the couple has just enough to pay bills, buy food and pay for her medication because of James' Social Security checks.
She said she has had health problems in the last year that have caused her to miss work, which has led to hard times.
Parker, who works as a food service representative at Jane Macon Middle School in Brunswick, said during the past year she has had two surgeries, including a hysterectomy and hernia surgery. She also said she is missing work currently because her scoliosis has flared up. The couple said they would like to make repairs on their home and car but cannot afford it.
"My scoliosis has been acting up lately," she said. "We just have enough to pay the bills so the lights don't get turned off. The porch wood is rotten. I don't want anybody to fall through, and I don't want to fall [through]. Before the Harvey's was built a few months ago, we had to drive 14 or 15 miles to Brunswick just to buy food or go the pharmacy. Gas is expensive."
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