Neighbor to neighbor
Garrett, Ruth G.
I was reminded of the Katrina elderly who watched the water rise in their facilities and then drowned. Inexcusable, but this is equally bad. Jan 15 is Elder Abuse day. I am trying to write another article for the Tennessean.
FINALLY a neighbor checked on him, but it was too late, He probably had the money (cash on the counter) but had no way to get to where he had to pay the bill and he probably was not computer savy.
We not only need Community Without Walls, but we must find a way for computer training for seniors also. Everyone can afford a computer now, and we were able to get 1000 seniors trained in Savannah, GA, when computers were expensive. We just need to keep being the squeaky wheel!
http://news.aol.com/article/man-93-freezes-to-death-in-home/318210
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Man, 93, Freezes to Death in Home
BAY CITY, Mich. (Jan. 26) - A 93-year-old
man froze to death inside his home just
days after the municipal power company
restricted his use of electricity because of
unpaid bills, officials said.
Marvin E. Schur died “a slow, painful
death,” said Kanu Virani, Oakland County’s
deputy chief medical examiner, who performed
the autopsy.
Neighbors discovered Schur’s body on Jan.
17. They said the indoor temperature was
below 32 degrees at the time, The Bay City
Times reported Monday.
“Hypothermia shuts the whole system
down, slowly,” Virani said. “It’s not easy to
die from hypothermia without first realizing
your fingers and toes feel like they’re
burning.”
A city utility worker had installed a “limiter”
device to restrict the use of electricity
at Schur’s home on Jan. 13, said Bay City
Manager Robert Belleman. The device limits
power reaching a home and blows out
like a fuse if consumption rises past a set
level. Power is not restored until the device
is reset.
There was no word Monday whether the
device had blown out or confirmation of the
amount Schur owed to Bay City Electric
Light & Power; city officials did not respond
to a call seeking comment.
Belleman said he didn’t know if anyone
made personal contact with Schur to explain
how the device works.
The body was discovered by neighbor
George Pauwels Jr., who said Schur had almost
$1,100 in unpaid electric bills.
Pauwels told the newspaper he saw cash
clipped to those bills on the kitchen table
on the day he found Schur’s body.
“His furnace was not running, the insides of
his windows were full of ice the morning we
found him,” Pauwels told the Bay City
News.
Belleman said city workers keep the limiter
on houses for 10 days, then shut off power
entirely if the homeowner hasn’t paid utility
bills or arranged to do so.
He said Bay City Electric Light & Power’s
policies will be reviewed, but he didn’t believe
the city did anything wrong.
“I’ve said this before and some of my colleagues
have said this: Neighbors need to
keep an eye on neighbors,” Belleman said.
“When they think there’s something wrong,
they should contact the appropriate agency
or city department.”
Schur had no children and his wife had died
several years ago.
Bay City is on Saginaw Bay, just north of
the city of Saginaw in central Michigan.
Ruth Garrett, PhD, MPH, MEd
Associate Professor and Director
Meharry Consortium Geriatric Education Center (MMC, VU, TSU)
ph# 615-327-6919
Fx# 615 327 6864
www.mmc.edu/education/medical/mcgec