Life can often be harsh for retired elderly people who live alone and have no one to help them out. The lack of human interaction will hurt even people in the prime of their lives but you can imagine how hard loneliness is for our elderly citizens.
Sometimes, having a family of your own isn’t a guarantee against loneliness in old age – in our hectic modern world, people are so overwhelmed by their daily lives, they often have neither the time nor the will to reach out to their elderly family members.
A 92-year-old woman living alone found herself in a life-threatening situation and there was no one there to help her
Like many elderly people, Ms. Tina, as she came to be known, was living alone in her home in the Houston area, and to make things worse, she was suffering from dementia, which meant others need to keep an eye on her.
Ms. Tina’s neighbors did their best to do so but were starting to be alarmed when her condition worsened. She was often seen wandering outside and wouldn’t notice that she left the door unlocked.
After they received a call from Mr. Tina’s neighbors, the cops arrived at her home for a welfare check
Afraid that her condition may worsen further, her neighbors called Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, telling the officers that Ms. Tina’s hands were “ice cold to the touch” and her dementia worsened considerably.
Deputy Marquis Hines and an officer who goes by the name ‘Nino Junior’ on his Facebook, responded to the call but they couldn’t suspect how bad the situation actually was.
Alone and abandoned, she wouldn’t have made it without the two officers timely intervention
In a Facebook post, Deputy Hines revealed that Ms. Tina had two sons “who just forgot about her.”
“No food in the fridge, only milk and old lemonade. Only eating a bag of Cheerios, place hasn’t been cleaned recently. All she wanted to know is why her sons don’t bring her food or check on her. She said she just need a couple sandwiches or something to least not be hungry.”
The two officers took it upon themselves to go and buy Tina some much-needed groceries and they did it without her knowing!
The kindhearted officers got her the groceries she needed and her reaction to their act of kindness was very touching
“Big rotisserie chicken, some sandwich items to last a week or 2, some chunky soups, bunch of chips and meat, some waters,” Deputy Hines wrote in his Facebook post, describing what happened when they returned with the groceries, “Knocked on her door and she was all smiles and in disbelief someone actually cared enough about her to even help. Not always about running and gunning catching bad guys,” Hines wrote. “Sometimes just showing someone they aren’t alone can change their lives.”
The post soon received over 160,000 shares on Facebook and the two officers were applauded for their effort.
A week after his initial post, Hines posted an update, revealing that her sons, did not, in fact, abandon Ms. Tina
“I want to apologize to the sons for making it seems as if they just left her on her own for good. NOT the case. I judged based on what Ms. Tina said who tends to forget very very quickly and the living condition of her home. Her sons are involved in her life like a son should be, but can’t dedicate every minute as they have their own children and jobs also,” he explained.
However, it was still not the end of Ms. Tina’s story. Deputy Hines started a Facebook fundraiser, raising $10,000 needed to move her to a retirement home where she could receive proper care. Two months later, she was accepted at a nursing home, thanks to his efforts and the kindness of Facebook users and their donations.
“I can’t thank everyone enough for coming together during this crazy time and helping her out. Means a lot to them and to myself knowing there are great ppl in the world still,” Hines concluded.
It’s great to hear that there are still people like Deputy Hines who are willing to go out of their way to help people in need. We should not forget about our elderly neighbors who live alone and do everything in our power to make their lives more comfortable, but most importantly, show them the kindness they deserve.
