A huge dilemma

This morning's Courier Mail tells an awful tale about an elderly lady who died in dreadful circumstances.  There's a link to the story below, but essentially an elderly Polish lady had wanted to live at home with her daughter, and it appears the daughter had challenges of her own (depression), and was unable to properly care for her mother.

I can imagine a lot of people can identify with this situation.  We are not conditioned to caring for an elderly parent, especially when they clearly need nursing care.  Even a devoted daughter with nursing experience will find it difficult to nurse their elderly relative, and manage a house and life in general.  We may WANT to care for our elderly loved ones, but it is not easy, especially if the elder person is not keen for any other intervention.

The sad story tells of the decline of the old lady, in the end dying a terrible death at home with bedsores, some with maggots in them.  The daughter has been found guilty to the "manslaughter" of her mother and sentenced to jail.  

I know nothing more than what I have read in the Courier Mail on line here, and I can only imagine the trauma the daughter endured, and I'm angry that she must spend time in jail.  The women were Polish with apparently no other family around, and the mother was quite domineering, so again I can only imagine what the daughter had to put up with.

Many people do not understand the support that is available to them and I know the anguish if the older person refuses to accept that help.  We had to trick my own mother into going into a nursing home (what elderly person WANTS to go into care???), with the support of relatives, but if there is no support, or no KNOWN support, what can a daughter/son do?

One of the great tragedies is that older people do not want to go into care, and families are often bullied by parents because of their desires to be with the family.  It is a tragedy and a dilemma for many families.

What is the answer?  I don't know.  However, family and friends should be supportive and caring of people facing these dilemma's and we should all educate ourselves and others to the support systems that are out there.

For governments I believe they need to make the support systems more accessible, and "user friendly".  Knowing what we have gone through with my parents I wonder how many people can cope. 

As the baby boomers reach old age we will have many more challenges in providing quality care - and other families will be traumatised.  

That the daughter must endure prison for "manslaughter" is unfair.  In the article there was no evidence of cruelty to her mother - and I know nothing of the court case, so know of no evidence to support that she deliberately set out to harm her mother.  I doubt she did.  It sounds like she was unable to cope with a domineering mother, and did her best.  Sadly she was in a position of having little choice.  If she'd sent her mother to a care facility against her wishes, she would have felt guilt and trauma as a result.  As it is now she has to suffer the guilt of having this "guilty of manslaughter" of her mother conviction.

Very sad story all round.

People who prepare for death live longer

I found this video very interesting and the message that "people who prepare for death live longer."

Recently a friend told me that she was not thinking about it - the idea of getting old or facing decline or death really bothered her, so I hope one day she pops in and watches this video.

I would imagine having made some of the decisions, it would free you from any worry.  We know stress (worry) takes a toll on our health.

What do you want to do?

I've had interesting discussions with friends in the recent week since I have been exploring various aspects of ageing, and I am surprised that there are some who are trying to ignore the inevitable.  We are all getting older, and some of us will depart this world before we reach a "ripe old age" whatever that is.  My research continues and I will be adding a poll to the site here, and further information.

The following video I found from a link from an Australian site about ageing.  It is American, but the blurb says that it is appropriate for Australia too.  I will add further information as I find it.

95 Today

Today is my mother's birthday - Joyce W is 95 today!  I phoned her in the nursing home today and she was thrilled.  Initially she'd forgotten it was her birthday but said "I had made her day!"  It was a short conversation - partially because I could not understand her.  For the first time I have noticed a slurring of her speech.  I told her that I will see her next week when I visit Adelaide.

I heard that last week, she lead a "posse" of escapees from the home.  She and two other ladies found a way out and they headed up the street, past the house where she and my father had lived for many years.  

Apparently she did not recognise it as she was some distance along the road when found.  A neighbour in the street notified the nursing home that some of the residents were wandering along the road.

My mother, and escapee???   :)

The elders in China.

I read this on the website for China Daily.

"Elderly entering old age without support of kids

GUANGZHOU - A recent study of the elderly in parts of Guangdong province, in southern China, has shown that the tradition of children supporting their aged parents is slowly fading away.

The survey of nearly 1,300 people aged 60 or above, living in urban areas, found that, more and more, the elderly are living by themselves and are instead providing financial support to their adult children."

You can read the full article here. China Daily Report 

In old China where there were big families, often the oldest daughter looked after the parents, and her siblings helped support them.  But now with only small families, themselves struggling in a very competitive world, the parents are left to fend for themselves, or as I saw when in China, the grandparents have become full time carers for their children.

Having parents and grandparents in charge of their discipline has interesting consequences, and often the grandparents are blamed if the child becomes spoiled and demanding.

Like Australia, the large number of elderly people are causing the government concern.

I wonder - will ageing become popular (in the theatre)?

Today I learned about a musical called "Alzheimers - The Musical." It apparently was on in Melbourne earlier this year, and I am trying to find out where it might be performing next.

Is this the next popular genre for the theatre?  After seeing "Gwen in Purgatory" I'm rather impressed that there is interest in this topic!!!

I found the YouTube video which is rather fun. Watch it.

"Gwen in Purgatory"

It was the last week of the performance of "Gwen in Purgatory" at La Boite Theatre at Kelvin Grove.  I had not been there before (I remember the old La Boite, theatre in the round at Hale Street, many years ago before the roadworks in that area). La Boite had moved to the midst of the huge campus/retail area of the campus there.  So much has been developed since I last visited there too!

I had read the review of "Gwen in Purgatory" in the Courier Mail some weeks ago - a play about the challenges of ageing. 

I managed to find my way there - so difficult as there isn't even a sign up that it is "La Boite" and I had to ask security staff - one, an ex-American escorted me to the theatre - I'd have had a challenge finding it myself as there it is called "Roundhouse Theatre" and even then the signage is difficult to find.  ( I was amused that the security man called it "La Boyt" - not the French - he said that is what it is called now - though theatre staff disputed this when I asked them!)

Parking is free  - which is a bonus. There are parking fees/restrictions more during the day.

The theatre is high in a building (thank you elevator), and there is a bar and coffee space near the box office, but no where else to wait.  No seating.  I wandered around until the doors opened at 7.15 pm.  On entering the theatre, we could sit anywhere we chose, with seating on three sides of the square theatre in the round.

Gwen Houlihan was already on stage sitting in her lounge chair reading, fussing, surrounded by cardboard boxes in a rather modern new home.

Gwen, at 90 years of age, has moved into a new home and clearly has not opened any boxes, nor it appears has she eaten as there is no food in the fridge, or pantry.  And she doesn't know where her things are.

She clearly is having trouble with all her remotes (security, air conditioner etc), and the new cordless phone and her mobile phone and there are some funny moments as she tries to work them out.

I noticed the young people in the audience found these scenes very funny - but there was little or no laughter from the older people around me.  (Young people have grown up with these technologies, but we older people have had to learn the intricacies of these tools that we don't readily "embrace".)

The storyline was brilliant, the actors were excellent and the whole show was very real.  The flyer says "Gwen is 90.  She woke up one morning to discover that purgatory is sitting alone in a new house in a new subdivision, trying to work out if the remote in her hand operates the TV, the air-con or the fan-forced oven."

Grant Dodwell plays one of the family members - many of us will remember him from A Country Practice and other shows.  I was rather surprised to see him so "rotund" but later learned that it was clever padding!

Melissa Jaffer as Gwen was brilliant, and I loved the character of Father Ezekiel (Pacharo Mzembe)who had come to bless the new house.  In fact all the cast was brilliant.

A few things

Over the weekend a couple of things occurred.  Our dear dog Kramer died.  He was an old dog.  My husband was in charge of Kramer - as I am elsewhere, and on Wednesday when it appeared that he had another stroke, he was taken to the Vet.  Kramer previously had had two strokes that we know of, and this one was severe and he was quite sick.  The Vet advised to leave him in, have a few injections, and see what happens.

If I had been there I think I would have discussed euthanasia straight away.  Kramer was not able to live the happy dog's life - slept all day, and was clearly in decline.  My option would have been to ease his pain, and let him fade away painlessly.  But the vet each day suggested "wait another day...."  Now I might seem cruel and suspicious of the Vet's motives.  Clearly an old dog has had it's day.  But each call resulted in the "wait and see".  On Saturday it was clear Kramer was declining.  I did want to see him BEFORE he died, but as it turns out he died on Saturday morning - 24 hours before my planned farewell with him.

We are all very sad about his passing and we will miss him - and we await the bill.  Much higher than the one we would have if my suggestion had been accepted.  Was it all about making more $$$$'s for the Vet?  

Also a friend has as she said "entered my world" - where a parent over 90 is resisting making changes in their lives that would surely make them (and the rest of the family) more comfortable about their care.  I'm all for giving older people the right to choose what they do with their lives, but there comes a point (and I think it is around 85+) that they are not always capable of making good choices.

My mother for example, wanted to move into senior's accommodation, for the companionship of others, more opportunities to go on bus trips with peers, and to have the comfort of knowing that there were friends around to "keep an eye on them".  My father resisted.  So Mum's last days in her own home were not happy.  She lost her freedom as she needed Dad to take her to places, and if he didn't want to go he would argue an alternative.  Mum increasingly lost her ability to go to places on her own, was only able to do what HE wanted, and as dementia caught up with her she did nothing.

She was never much of a reader, but would play cards, chat, do spinning, help with morning teas etc, but bit by bit that was removed from her weekly calendar.  In the end she did almost nothing - but believed she did it all.  She could not ever believe that Dad did all the cooking, and that a lady did the cleaning.  She sat (often with a glass of wine) believing that she did it all.  Now she is in a nursing home, but getting her there (as she was badly in need of care that my father (at 91) could no longer give her.

The trauma to both of them of her move to care has been painful to all around her - especially the family.  

I do not know what the answer is.  Perhaps it is providing better aged care facilities where people are not traumatised by the transition to something like that.  Why would my father not wish to move?  He still refuses to budge.  

In any case, there are so many dilemmas one must face as we age.  We are all ageing.  I hope I can be less trouble to my offspring than my parents are.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not "whingeing" as such, but lamenting the trauma to all concerned as we reach our "use by date" and won't see it.

I recall my grandmother refusing, when in her late 80's, to cash her pension cheques as "she was not old!"  Thousands of families have to deal with this every day/week/month/year.  What is the solution???

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You are welcome to make comment

I'd love to see others involved in this discussion about ageing.  Do you have any ideas?  Does anything in particular bother you?  Feel free.  There's a box below.  Tell me what you think.

NESTA welcome speech.

This is the welcome speech to the recent NESTA Conference in the UK, by their CEO.

Innovation for a New Old Age from NESTA UK on Vimeo.

Interesting information from the UK

It appears that recently NESTA held a conference about ageing.  There are several videos that I will post here, but I found it interesting that the subject of ageing, and how we are going to manage the ageing population was the focus of a conference held recently.

The author Gereldine Bedell spoke - I wish we could have seen some of her slides. Though she spoke of the statistics you clearly had to be in the audience to see them!

I do not know if Australia as an equivalent to NESTA here, so if anyone knows, could they let me know.

Innovation for a New Old Age - Geraldine Bedell from NESTA UK on Vimeo.

Dementia

It is something that I worry about.  There is a family history of dementia - my mother and her sister have it.  Here other three sisters and brothers are deceased - though we don't know if they would have had it if they had lived as long.  My mother is almost 95 and my aunt is not far away.

Keep your brain active is one piece of advice.  I try to do that.  Here is more information on the topic.

 Click here.

Television program

On Channel 7 last night was a repeat program of City Homicide - an Australian program.  It was on late but I was switching between that Channel and Channel 10 for Commonwealth Games action.  The Homicide story was of a man who was pushed down the stairs from his wheel chair, which unceremoniously followed him, and as we learned later, he was kicked in the head because he didn't die in the fall.

I was rather amused about the portrayal of a rather sexy elderly lady who was clearly keeping many of the men amused - sounded a bit like a gold digger, but she was having a load of fun in the nursing home, and clearly so were some of the men.

It was interesting to read the behaviour of the police as they visited the nursing home and questioned the residents.  One comment was made about the smell of the establishment.  Sadly this is something that is common in nursing homes. A combination of odours from bodily functions (especially  urine), disinfectant, room fresheners, fragrances, food and all other smells that might emanate from a group of people living in close quarters.  

The attitude of the police towards the elderly residents was very poor, but I thought it was a realistic portrayal of life in an establishment.  Mind you, it was a quality establishment - it looked wonderful.  The story did highlight some of the issues that elderly folk have to deal with - the elderly gent who was the carer for his wife - did they live in the open/residential part of the complex?  

She was run over by one of the suspects and died, but it appeared that her husband, whose dwindling finances had resulted in him being advised that he would have to go somewhere else, was party to the murder.  Can you imagine the trauma this man was enduring - knowing that he no longer could afford to give the care/roof over her head to his beloved wife.  

Sadly money is a big issue in the aged care industry.  There are folk who have a good sum of money in the bank who are 'saving' it for their offspring  There are some who have no savings and must live in lower standard accommodation.  There are some whose family/families are hungrily waiting for their legacy - the money that they hope will remain after their parents' demise.  Something to help them through their lives.

Ageing can be a big drain on finances.  I know my father was not prepared to sell his home to move into residential care.  Even though the money he had in the bank was inadequate for the huge deposit he was asked to pay.

Sex in nursing homes???  I remember in my early nursing days that this was discouraged - everyone had their own bed and there was no sex, but that changed somewhere.  Despite the fact that dementia may be an issue with some residents, they are adult, and as such, provided they are discreet, sexual activity between residents is accepted.

Conditions in nursing home in question

I've heard on the ABC this morning that an agency nurse sent to Thursday Island to work in a nursing home has reported dreadful conditions in the home - filthy appalling conditions for the residents.

Certainly as a result of that complaint and previous ones - and news that the home had recently been assessed by the authorities - there will be another audit.  

Perhaps one of the issues here is that it is difficult to get quality aged care workers to go to such a remote place as Thursday Island.

In any case it is hoped that the authorities actually do something about making the management clean up their act.  I'm sure there is much more to the story!!  Maybe we will hear more.

Read the article here.

Why are seniors in our society ignored?

This is from a report in the Courier Mail from by the Sydney University Workplace Research Centre "But the report also criticised Australia's treatment of retired people as one of the worst systems in the developed world for delivering security from poverty in old age." 

I believe that anyone who is "baby boomer" era or older has to take stock of what is happening and take action.
  

As we age, we are getting more marginalised.  There are many people who reaching the ripe "old age" of 50 find it difficult to get jobs. If you are in your 60's it is very hard/impossible to find work, yet many of us will live for another 20 or so years. Many who have been able to save money have lost it in recent years - sometimes because they tried too hard to make a big profit to help them in their latter years.  How many seniors have been "ripped off" by so called excellent investment opportunities?

I read newspapers and watch the television news and it is not hard to believe that old people do not exist in the eyes of the media. Pick up the Courier Mail, or the local Quest newspaper (or any newspaper) and count how many photos of young people and then how many photos of older people.  Did you find any older people?

Are we the silent majority?  Certainly we are silent!!  We spend money, we are alive and we vote!!! Let's get active to make the lives of our seniors (yes, it will be us soon) much better. 

I read in the last few days that an elderly woman who kept her hard earned savings in a box, was robbed.  Someone said something to the effect that old people should get real and use banks.  The article suggested that older people do not trust banks and don't like paying bank fees (no one likes paying the high bank fees) and they should "get real" and use banks for their own security.


True - the bank would be safer for their money, but try and put yourself in the body of a 80 year old (or older) and see how it feels.  They are not comfortable with plastic cards - they don't remember numbers (so have to carry something with their PIN number - something that the banks tell you NOT to do), and with someone with ageing eyes, how easy is it to read the instructions on an ATM? 


Oh, they can go to the bank, you say?  I am sure they do - but as older people are not comfortable with using cards (be it a Visa, Mastercard or similar) they tend to hold onto larger amounts of cash.  Perhaps in a cardboard box?  Would you like to line up in the bank every time you want some money?  And it costs each time you do.  Older people are marginalised by the modern banking system.  


They are vulnerable everywhere.  I know of someone (disabled) who was preyed on, assaulted and robbed after taking some money from an ATM.  Older people find it difficult to travel to the bank regularly too.


Many seniors do manage the modern banking system - but not all.  So what do we do?  Just make stupid statements that they should learn how to adjust and embrace modern banking.  Some just can not!!

Get me out of here!!!

Mum had been very happy for four or five days and Dad was feeling less guilty about it all - but today when he called to see her, she had all her belongings in plastic bags and was sitting waiting to be taken home and was very cranky when she learned that she would not be going home.  Dad had to get help from the sister in charge, who put her arm around Mum's shoulder and lead her back to her room.  

Sadly Mum's room mate is a lady who is unable to communicate - she lies in bed and does not talk and needs someone to feed and do everything for her.  If only Mum had some company in her room - but that is not to be at the moment.

Dad speaks very highly of the staff - in fact  says their care is 200% - he is very happy with the way Mum is being cared for, but always when I speak with him expresses his feelings of guilt at having to leave her in care. 

Mum's Story continued

Following the ACAT assessment, which classified my mother as needing full time dementia care, we set about finding a suitable aged care facility. It was not easy. There was an "offer" by a "professional" aged care facility seeker, but it was going to cost $600. Perhaps ideal for someone who did not have the time/expertise to do the research, but I had the time, and set about the search via the Internet. I was in Queensland and my parents in South Australia, but thanks to the Internet it was not terribly difficult to access a number of sites. As it turns out, I could not proceed until I had the ACAT report, and we did not have it at the time.

Luckily Mum was found a "respite" place at a home around Morphetville, and with the aid of a cousin and her husband, Mum was taken. We knew it would be too difficult for Dad to do it, and Mum was not willing to go, so an "independent" was needed and Mum went for a holiday. The dementia increased, she hated it there, and my sister was not happy with it either, even though she had been to see the place before Mum was placed there.

One problem was that we were all having difficulties facing the fact that Mum needed this type of care, that she was no longer able to remain in her own home, and we all felt guilty. It was easier for me - as I was in Brisbane, but my sister and Dad had to deal with Mum's anger on a daily basis when they visited. In the end the hunt was on for somewhere else.

Initially Dad had indicated that he too would like to go into care too - but in the end the ACAT assessment did not indicate that he needed care. I sent off many requests for information/application, and my sister and I spent ages trying to sort through the myriads of information that came our way, and then Dad suddenly realised that as HE did not need care, perhaps Mum could go to the aged care facility right next door to where they lived. It did help that Mum and Dad had been good neighbours and Dad was quite well known to them.

And so it was that he orchestrated the move to the home right next door - though Mum does not know it.

She is settled some days, and others she is quite off the mark. When I phoned one day she told me she couldn't speak to me as she was in the city waiting for a taxi. Clearly not the case as we were speaking on the nursing home phone. I have spoken to her several times and she seems lucid, but then will say something that is clearly not true.

Dad is managing on his own - and Mum says he "walks all the way" to see her, not realizing that it is right next door.

She does go on outings with the nursing home and loves it.

Dad on the other hand is very lonely. Despite her dementia she was company for him.

In retrospect, we wish our parents were not so keen to remain in their own home for so long.  Mum had wanted to go to a retirement village setting a long time ago, but Dad did not want to give up his own home.   It was a dividing issue for them for a long time.  Mum did not drive and where they lived was not convenient to public transport and Mum became quite isolated - if she wanted to go somewhere, she had to get Dad to take her, and pick her up. She lost her independence, and the issue of transport/access to social activities for her was one that raised its ugly head from time to time.

Dad continued to play bowls with his mates (although they were dwindling) until the last year or so, when I could not leave Mum alone.  Luckily he was able to meet with his mates occasionally, but Mum no longer found anything she wanted to do.  Her friends were all departing this world too.

I have got to think there must be a better aged care model that we have right now.  As we are all ageing, we need to look closely at the alternatives for care for us in the future.

Prayer about Old age.

Tribute to my parents

My parents have outlived all their family members - my mother is almost 95, and probably has a sister still alive, though she is younger than my mother and has been in a nursing home in Western Australia for many years.  My father is 91, and until recently was my mother's carer.  They both enjoy pretty good physical health, but in recent years dementia has claimed my mother.  She is amazing really, and despite being rather strange most of the time, can pull herself out of it.  I've taken her to the doctor at a time when she was completely "strange" and she's sat in front of him and virtually convinced him that it was everyone else.  (It turns out that he had a major health problem that we suspect made him unable to see what was going on!)

My father has remained somewhat active - he still drives a car, though most of the family think he should have given that up a long time ago.  (riding in the car with his is scary!)  He still likes to play bowls, though, due to his care commitments with our mother, he's had very little opportunity to particpate in bowls.  Until recent years he'd been an active member of Lions International.  He still likes to read, but he's been quite confined to home for some time as my mother found it difficult to go out.

Until recently they would go on a monthly bus tour around Adelaide, but Mum was unable to get into a bus easily.  She found it hard to get into a car too, and did so with difficulty.  Eventually Mum found it just too hard to do, so one of their regular outings was eliminated from their activities - anyway Dad found it challenging as often he was the only male on the bus - and while he has been always good with the ladies, he rather enjoyed the company of guys.  

They have lived for the last 20 + years in their little unit in the southern suburbs of Adelaide.  Mum until recently had been involved with the local church, but her enthusiasm faded when the new rector introduced the modern singing in the church, and the old traditional ways of the Anglican Church were traded for the new trendy mode of attracting folk to the church.  Mum was not impressed.

Their neighbours have been OK - but only one in those years have they found to be very friendly with - a single lady who eventually moved into other care as her eye sight diminished.  In any case Mum and Dad would have liked friends their own age - but in the end they spent their days saying good bye at funerals as others left this world.  

Mum and Dad didn't like going to the movies.  I remember taking them to see "Australia" with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, which they did enjoy, but the audio was too loud for them.  Something that a lot of older people complain about at the movies, I've found.  Actually even I have often found the sound too loud.  Do movie theatres know they do that?

For the last two years my father has been my mother's full time carer.  He's done all the cooking, much of the washing, and they've had a lady come in to do the housework and take Mum out for a few hours so that Dad could do a few things alone.  Mum thought she did it all - how else would it all be done?  She'd talk about how busy she had been cooking and cleaning, but the reality is that she did none of it.  Dad was amazing.

Mum liked her wine - and Dad found it easy to indulge her.  Even drinking in the morning.  If Mum was "thirsty" she'd look for wine.  Coffee or tea no longer quenched her thirst, and we'd laugh as she'd have a glass of wine for morning tea, then lunch, and to Dad's joy would doze off in her armchair for much of the afternoon, and he could read or watch TV or doze off himself.  Mum insisted on going to bed early - and Dad went too - but he would lay in bed awake or read.  He valued his radio and would listen to the ABC all through the night sometimes.

Two or three days a week they would go out to lunch - Warradale Hotel, or Morphett Arms Hotel were their favourites.  Mum would always complain, but then say she enjoyed it.  Pretty hard to deal with on a daily basis, but that's the way it was.

Dad had already told my sister and I that he was finding it difficult to manage with Mum, and we'd set about finding her care, knowing that she flatly refused to leave home.  It was very hard to do - to get her out of the house, but in the end, with some trickery it was done.

The first step was an assessment by the ACAT team.  It is normally an annual event, and she was due around the end of October, but we managed to get them to reconsider and make it earlier.

Inspired by Sir Michael Parkinson

I've been reading Parky, the autobiography of Sr Michael Parkinson, and towards the end of his book he talks about ageing, and his work with a program called Ageing with Dignity in the UK.  I've done quite a bit of research on my own, as the topic has been of interest to me for many years.

I remember that in my nursing days (when I was a teenager training in Mt Gambier, South Australia) how concerned I was about ageing.  At the time we had many "patients" in residence in the hospital, as there was limited aged care outside of this establishment, and there were many folk there for the duration of the rest of their lives.  It certainly was not a good place for aged care, they were fed, washed, and kept as comfortable as we could make them, but it was a pretty awful existence for them.

I recall stating that I would "do away with myself" when I reached 40 - that seemed a good age to me, and so, so far away from my tender years.  Clearly by the time I reached 40, I had changed my mind, but it has always had an impact on me, that older people were not cared for very well.

Some years ago, a friend was "graced" with government housing - and she is still there, in a pokey little house that is dark, too small even for one person, and very gloomy.  Not only is it small and miserable, but there is no on-site care, and my friend, despite her disability, has often been called upon to help residents there, as she is more able than many of the residents there.  The establishment is a block of pokey 'units' on a busy street corner, with low fences and prone to unwelcome visits by drunks and other low life, and hardly comfortable and secure for the residents.  I have always been appalled at the treatment of our elderly by our government, but unless and until, younger people seek better accommodation and services for the senior members of our community, we will all find ourselves living in such situations.

And if you have every tried to find aged care accommodation for a family member, or care for a younger member of the family who is/has become frail and needing care, you will see how disadvantaged this group of people are.  You will learn how difficult it is to find one's way through the maze of red tape and garbage.  Very frustrating and long winded.  And to find the in the end the accommodation is pretty basic. 


Here is the video with Sir Michael Parkinson.