Apartment Life #59

This is a new weekly blog post that I'm calling Apartment Hell  Life. I've mentioned a few times some of the crazy things that go on in and around my apartment complex in the past 20 years that we've lived here and people keep telling me I should write a book. But instead of a book, I've decided to share the crazy things that have happened in and around my apartment complex in the last 20 years here in a weekly blog post.

A couple of years ago we called Elder Protection Services for the elderly neighbor who had severe dementia because she said the maintenance man was in her apartment at night and was stealing from her. She thought people lived in her closets and she said that a woman was in her apartment and wouldn't leave. So Ken went over there and she pointed at a pile of clothes on the ground and said there she is. Ken picked up the clothes and let her see that it wasn't a woman but she still didn't believe us. This went on for 2 days with her coming over and telling us that there were people in her closets and in the pile of clothes. But Elder protection Services said it would take at least 48 hours before they could get out here to talk to her and I didn't think this could wait. They told me that I could call to have her evaluated by the paramedics and they would ask her to voluntarily go to the hospital and if she does then people there could talk to her and do an evaluation.

We ended up calling the police and an ambulance to come do a welfare check on her when she started freaking out about the manager stealing her door keys which the manager didn't do. The apartment manager asked us to call and have her evaluated. I was a little surprised that the manager wouldn't call but she wouldn't.

She had to first agree to go to the hospital and have the people there talk to her. Since she did the paramedics said it's easier to make an evaluation on her once she's in the hospital. Her family abandoned her and the paramedics said that someone from elder protective services and someone from social services would come and talk to her while she is at the hospital. If they find she can no longer care for herself they can ask a judge to give them control over a person's health and well being and they can make her go to an assisted living home. The hospital cannot release a patient into what social services believe to be a dangerous situation for herself and if they determine that she can no longer care for herself they can go to a judge and obtain guardianship over her.

She had a cat and the manager asked Ken to look after it until we heard back from Elder Services or her family. 2 weeks went by and Elder Protection Services and Social Services came to the managers office with her brother to get in her apartment and get her stuff. She was moved to an elder assisted living facility and they came to get some of her personal belongings to take to her and everything else her brother took with him. Her brother used to live her with her so we knew him and he came over to say thanks for looking out for his sister and getting her some help. We didn't hear from them after that. 

So that's it for this week's Apartment Hell  Life! Be sure to come back next week for more.