anewhome

I visited Mrs. S. at the nursing home today. She seemed in good spirits. Mercedes, her aide, had returned her radio from the repair shop.

I told her that we’d had a good lesson, that she must have slept well the previous because she’d been extremely alert, and I was saying my good-byes when explained that she’d slept well because the nurses now gave her sleeping aids. I sat back down in my chair.

Why?

Mrs. S is incredibly accomplished, well-traveled, and well-educated. But now she can barely see and she moves little and only thanks to a walker. Her main connection to keep abreast of the outside world and beating back the loneliness and boredom of the nursing home is her radio.

Her radio is tuned to the national radio station which has been covering of late protests in the street. They’ve been especially attuned to the more violent and destructive elements that have helped turn some of the protests and strikes into riots. In fact, it’s likely they’ve probably been giving these events more coverage relative to the more peaceful elements of the protests.

Mrs. S has been glued to the radio and to reports of riots, looting, and mayhem in the streets. And she’s anxious. And so, she takes pills to sleep.