Long term readers of The ThunderDragon will know that the Dragon is a volunteer with St John Ambulance. And, if you've got a particularly good memory, you'll remember that I've been on several duties with the man himself.

I'm still hard at work volunteering, including my latest role doing Patient Transport work - mainly inter-hospital transfers and discharges. Sometimes, it's great fun - a talkative old lady who needs a lift home. Sometimes, with High Dependency work, it's particularly sad.

Of note was one job a few weeks ago.

We went to the ward to collect this frail old lady, who literally was no more than skin and bones. We had to be really careful sliding her from bed to our stretcher so as not to cause injury. She was also not able to talk. I don't know what her medical conditions were exactly, but she was only able to mumble.

It makes it so awkward to know what to day. Obviously, you tell the patient what you're doing - "We're going to sit you up now" etc. But, during the journey, I had to try and make conversation. I couldn't leave it as silence - it makes the patient feel unwanted. What to talk about though? Is it going in? Does she understand it? There's no way of knowing.

And then we left her at this nursing home, to sit in her bed, with only a carer to talk to her and notice her once in a while. Perhaps she had family to pop in once in a while. Perhaps not.

It's sad.

It's a real problem though. Say she did have family. No doubt they feel extremely guilty about leaving her in such a home. But, if one of your parents gets to the stage when they need 24hour care (especially if you're an only child as myself) what can you do?

I'm sure that everyone would want to look after them personally. Think about it - your Mum looked after you in your formative years, you'll be reciprocating. But, even as a trained Health Care Worker, I'm not sure I could cope. Giving up a job, all social life, devoting your time - and instead of there being progress as there is with tending to a baby, things get harder. There's an end with looking after a child - a bouncing toddler walking for themselves and starting to talk. The only end with caring for an elderly relative is a funeral.

I don't have statistics or anything, but I'm sure that most people at some point have to say enough is enough and put their relative into a care home. But, where? You don't need to read many ambulance blogs to hear about "Don't care homes" - I've seen them myself - but it can be difficult to spot them on a 'visit'. Regardless of that, there'll never be someone with the constant supervision that you can offer at home. The elderly far too often find themselves lying, staring at the ceiling, as all of their hard earned savings flow away into paying for such an life.

You can see a lot doing my 'job'. You learn to take most of it without much effect - it's not callous, it's the only way. But, every time I see one of these patients, I think of the sad and meaningless existence many people suffer in the last months of their life. That's the thing that gets me.

Asp

"The Elders" are here to save the world - or so they say:

"Nelson Mandela and five other senior statesmen will today form themselves into a team of international troubleshooters called "The Elders".
The initiative, funded by Sir Richard Branson, will be launched in Johannesburg during celebrations marking Mr Mandela's 89th birthday...
The idea is that he will team up with Jimmy Carter, the former US president, Kofi Annan, the former United Nations secretary-general, Mary Robinson, the former Irish president, Desmond Tutu, the Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town and Mohammed Yunus, the Nobel Laureate and founder of the Green Bank in Bangladesh." (The Telegraph)

It's all very noble and stuff, but will it work? Not on your life. They are all old, or very old, people who have served as leaders of their country or another organisation in some way and then retired. They may each be a "non-partisan figure with a rolodex packed with international contacts," but they don't have a chance of actually achieving anything substantial. The best they could possibly do is raise an issue - but since when has that caused all that much action?

These self-styled "Elders" won't make any difference - not to hostage situations in Nigeria, the crisis in Zimbabwe, the Middle East, or absolutely anything else. They are nothing more than a bunch of talking heads. However well regarded they may be, heads of government will make all the right noises to agree with them, but do absolutely nothing that they would not do otherwise. They couldn't solve the world's problems whilst leaders with power - so why would they be able to do it now?!

UPDATE: Croydonian has a delightful dig at them as well: Group of old politicians make desperate plea for attention

Source: The Telegraph

The European Union certainly can't claim to be a benevolent supranational institution after this latest imposed tax - focusing as it is on the most vulnerable in society, no less.

"The popular mobility scooter, which has given many elderly and disabled people a new lease of life, has fallen prey to an EU-imposed tax...
Costing £2,500 on average and mostly imported from Taiwan and China, they are exempt from VAT for disabled purchasers and until recently, were also free of customs duty.
But now a decision by the European Union has led to import duty being slapped on each scooter brought into the UK and raised fears of a £250 price hike for disabled purchasers...
[T]he scooters - previously classified for customs purposes as a "carriage for disabled persons" - ...now [to be] treated as "motor vehicles for the transport of persons"." (The Telegraph)

To add extra taxes onto this sort of thing is the worst sort of imposed tax - one which will greatly adversely effect the most vulnerable in society, the elderly and the disabled. The people who need and use this sort of mobility scooter are often those who are also at the lower end of the economic scale, meaning that those are being taxed more are also those who usually have less money to start with.

Mobility scooters enable elderly people and disabled people to enjoy a far larger level of independence that they would otherwise enjoy, and enable them to have freedoms which would otherwise be denied them. To deny these people of this ability is indeed disgraceful.

The true measure of a society is found in how it treats its weakest and most vulnerable members. If that criteria is applied to the EU with this tax, then they certainly fall far short of the level that we do, and should, expect.

Source: The Telegraph