Meet Eve, she's 88 years old, her star sign is Taurus, she's a mother, she's a widower.
She stills recall the day she sat on the brick wall at outside her home and saw a young man, with a shock of blonde hair swept back, come tearing down the road on his bicycle - LEGS held straight out in front of him, pedals spinning wildly around - and a small terrier dog balancing itself precariously over the handlebars. "I'm going to marry that man," Eve said to herself, and true enough several years later she did - despite her mother's protests. They married in Egypt, her new husband being posted there during for his time in the forces. It was the start of the nineteen-fifties and a time of great civil unrest out there, and she'll never forget the fearful night when she and a girlfriend, a lone by themselves, while their husband's where on duty, had to barricade their flat's door against a mob of outraged natives calling for the British to leave their country. They settled back in England later that decade, and soon had their first child, a girl, another child followed a couple of years later, this time a boy, but sadly his life was to be just a fleeting appearance. She lived through the great winter freeze of '63, watched history in the making when mankind left it's footprint on the moon. In the Seventies, she experienced the era of strikes and the three-day-week, everything seemed to be in short demand particularly money. She smiles when telling people how she had to hide on the staircase one day to avoid paying the coal man.
Her daughter had just turned sixteen when she ran away from home, no reason, no note, just an empty bed and tears left behind. A few years later a telephone call came from a hospital simply informing her that “ both mother and child were resting comfortably”. With the sudden addition to the family a larger home was required, so came another move. Eve's husband took advantage of a work contract a broad to help cover the expansion of bills. Eve joined him out there for a while and they even considered making the move a more permanent one but in the end they returned to England. Instead a new job, another move, this time further down the country, just the two of them again, daughter and child now settled in a new life of her own. The Eighties came along and brought with it the 'recession', AIDS, and the return of their daughter with her young son - only two of these directly affected Eve's home life. The Nineties, was a time of sadness for Eve as her brother died of cancer, he was the last of her remaining immediate family, and a year or so later she suffered from a prolapsed womb. The decade closed with her daughter emigrating to Australia with her new husband.
She saw a new millennium in, well she went to bed before it and met it on the other side. And two years later a sudden massive heart attack saw her husband taken from her. Life still went on, as it does, she down sided to a care assisted flat in her advancing years, at first old age treated her with respect, it drew fine lines around her features, and softened her jowls, but left the warmth and intelligence in her eyes. Then one morning it crept into her flat, and without ny warning stole her spark, and her independence. You never see this final stage coming it always seems to strike suddenly and without care. Eve spends her day at the care home shuffling from here to there, or sitting in one of pvc armchairs surrounding the room, as if waiting for the last dance on her card, all while the large television screen loudly screams at them, inexplicably stuck on a entertainment channel playing endless shows aimed at the young, like ' Take Me Out ' or 'Love Island'.Did you guess which one of ladies is Eve ? …... No, well the answer is simple …. they all are. They have all lived a life, they have all contributed in someway or another to society, they have all touched another person's life and given of their love.
So, why do we as a civilised society not strive to provide and care better for these veterans of life, this is the time when they need us most. We must change the way we look at these people, and more importantly the way we face ourselves. We as a people, as voters, as humanitarians must accept our duty and call, demand the government to radically address this growing situation. We must have more powers to regulate 'Care' homes, to ensure that they can provide adequate facilities and services that will encourage and stimulate their residents. With comprehensive dietary needs, physiotherapy sessions and interactive activities. But, we must also eliminate the stigma of these institutions,tear down old perceptions and re imagine them for a new generation, But, we can't begin to do anything of these things until we radicalize the system as a whole. We need a new business model for 'homes' that will encourage recruitment, offer better training opportunities, higher wages, incentives, support, to meet the increasing demand of the future. Yes, investment is needed, but it is a price we MUST pay. Please, let's stop these homes from being a place where the old and in-firmed are afraid to
go. Old age won't wait for ever, eventually it will come to us all, so let us stand together now, write a petition, organize a march, or just demand action now. Eve deserves better than this, and so do you and I.
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