Aging

By Nancy Weinberg

The process of aging is something we’re rarely prepared for. We are thrust harshly, precipitously into an immutable awareness of it. On Monday, one is capable of wielding eating utensils with relative ease, despite the limits imposed by hand tremors. But Tuesday, brings a very different situation abruptly, without notice, the tremors degenerated into a crippling mode, rendering use of eating utensils very difficult. This is just one example of the gradual, unavoidable, massive decline of one’s physical capabilities. As so, the gradual disuse of one’s limbs- from the ability to walk, perhaps dance, one is reduced to quivering limbs wherein our permanent abode is a wheelchair. One can only dream of a walk in the park or dancing with one’s now dead mate.

I was an artist for about 90 years. My adept, agile fingers created hundreds of paintings, linoleum cuts, decorated ceramic tiles, batiks (paintings on cloth). In a short period my former skills have been reduced to the use of scissors and paper. Out of these humble materials I cut a picture of some merit, but with the greater tremors in my hands I find that wielding a scissors has become very difficult. At this writing, I feverishly grapple at straws. I’m considering a last attempt at a painting. I gaze with deep sadness, at my walls where my portraits of my 46 heroes reside, which I painted when I moved here. But the ravages of old age have almost totally robbed me of my former skills. Another glaring example of the terrible decline which accompanies old age. I wish to cite a personal example of how far my skills as an artist have been eroded. Recently, my daughter retrieved 2 paintings of cats and submitted them to a cat art show in New York. I had painted them about 40 years ago. The judges awarded each cat painting first place. From this honor, I have descended to the inability to paint a picture. Again, another example of the loss of skills is that of my heroes, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, who though innocent of being spies for the Soviet Union had been murdered in the electric chair. My son sent a copy of the Rosenbergs’ portrait that I painted to Jennifer, their granddaughter, who proudly placed it next to original drawings by Picasso. From this past, is the downward descend marking old age. About 10 years ago, I had a 1 person show at the Chicago Cultural Center and last year my paintings occupied a room at a master’s degree show at the School of the Art Institute. But since then, old age has taken a huge toll. I realize I have reiterated repeatedly the mantra “we lose so much of ourselves thanks to old age”. Then we are faced with the unbearable decline of mental faculties. There are hugely varying degrees of mental dysfunction. Again, these creep on stealthy cat feet to assail our senses. Many of us experience a loss of memory- names of people, a disturbing variety of subjects in which we forget. For example, one afternoon I wished to mention a particular drug and I couldn’t dredge it out of my subconscious mind. I was compelled to call my son to recall for me the word “antibiotic”. And thus the brain’s ability to recall a process, words become illusive. A phenomenon which I have illustrated is just one phase of the problem. On a deeper comprehensive level diseases such as Parkinson’s, dementia, Alzheimer’s, strikes and literally destroys the brain. I don’t know what percentage of old people suffer from these diseases. My guess is that is a large number. These seniors are non compos mentis. They cease to be functioning members of society. Many of my best friends have existed in this twilight zone, some had lost all touch with reality. But a notable exception was the case of the world famous writer, Terry Pratchett, who suffered from the ravages of Alzheimer’s, retained enough of his faculties to author two creditable novels. He was hampered by the inability to use a pen. So he dictated both books to his daughter. One could go on describing the nightmarish qualities of certain cases and the complete dissolution of a mind. These are my views on aging. 

What is quality of life?

by Nancy Weinberg

Too often our opinions and views go unnoticed. Researchers and professionals in the field should avail themselves of the rich fund of knowledge which seniors are willing to share. This interchange would enhance the quality of life. Thus having one’s voice heard and acknowledged is beneficial.

How does one define quality of life? Does it constitute good feeling and superficial condition? Or does it exist deeper in one’s adjustment to life? I do not tend to analyze or probe into those responses that might measure quality of life. I react—thoughts follow a particular experience. Quality of life is a palpable thing, positive feelings, contentment, even a sense of joy.

Since I have lived here five years I have yet to forget what independent living was about. Independence was taken for granted. Decisions were made supporting that independence. Perhaps the total picture defined what we term quality of life.

But to put things into today’s context, the day I took up residence in this nursing home was, you may believe, deeply distressing. I try not to suffer comparisons, but it is not always possible to ignore. For example, the subject of food is replete with memories of how I prepared a particular dish. When I compare with how it is presented here, a feeling of sadness pervades my being. 

Another issue, the enforced cessation of driving, is fraught with great unhappiness. From a life of mobility, the ability to go where the wind beckoned, I am reduced to a life the length and breadth of my small room. I rarely go anywhere, being wheelchair bound, so has my quality of life diminished. 

I grieve my present lack of ability to perform what once were simple tasks, like dressing oneself, wielding a pen and being able to read one’s own handwriting, the dependency on others for bathing, a simple act of retrieving a book from a shelf, and being an artist, the current inability to do the kind of art that was second nature to me. 

When one weighs the losses, physical and otherwise, the myriad changes, then one must submit, relinquish and substitute to achieve equanimity. Rather than madness or depression, quality of life may thus be achieved. 

I am exploring new styles of expression, writing for example, but I cannot help being wary of artistic techniques which smack of “kinder albeit,” i.e., children’s work which, becomes to a ninety-five year old woman, demeaning. 

Diet, necessary medicines, exercise, these will help, as well as eyeglasses, hearing aids, canes, walkers, wheelchairs if necessary, plus human assistance. 

Without a doubt, books, music, even some tv offerings contribute hugely to our well-being, our sensibilities actively involved, and so quality of life may be attained. 

It has been challenging in my attempt to clarify what quality of life means to me. Each person has his or her unique definition. My final thought is having a goal. This was suggested to me by a friend. My current goal is to live long enough to participate in an art show of the Black Panther Party, commemorating 50 years of their existence. One of my portraits, of Che Guevara, has been accepted into the show. 

But in reading this piece I felt I had neglected to mention the issues that beset us daily. The CNA problem has been with us for a long time. It is a near daily occurrence that there is a brand-new CNA who has never met me and therefore has no idea of my needs. This is often results in stressed residents and often harried CNA’s. Lack of training results in strange behavior on the part of many CNA’s. For example, once a CNA attempted to wash my hair using a washcloth when bathing me. 

Food is another pressing issue. In addition to the cursory preparation of the food, the menu features overcooked chicken, fish and vegetables, with pasta being served too often. Frosting-slathered cake and sweet cookies are served as part of seven meals out of 14 weekly. This to a diabetic who is given insulin at least five times daily. These problems contribute markedly to a diminishing of quality-of-life.

Then there is the subject of medical care. My doctor’s monthly visit is minimal. He stands about 3 feet from me and asks how am I feeling. No examination, in two minutes he is gone. When I showed concern about my badly swollen and discolored legs, his comment was “we can’t make you young again.” Is this medical care? At each exam he would say, “it’s neuropathy, nothing can be done about it.”

As luck would have it, my breathing was so alarmingly labored one night in late July that I was taken to the hospital. During my six days there, as part of my care, they put compression hose on me and within two days all the swelling had disappeared. My legs are now normal in size. My faith in my doctor has been sorely tried. Therefore, quality of life is strained. 

But it assuredly helps that I have my artwork and writing. These activities mitigate the distress of those other factors in my daily life. I must now bid you a fond adieu.

Rabble-rousing

by Nancy Weinberg

The noble art of rabble-rousing is probably as ancient as society itself. The term “rabble rouser” evokes a street usage level of involvement, in other words, not of the upper classes. Despite the derogatory implications directed against the word “rabble,” I, personally, cheerfully, subscribe to the theory that more rabble-rousers, are better! Much rabble-rousing has undoubtedly resulted in the greater good for humankind. Often it takes the less than subtle techniques of a rabble-rouser to waken the sleeping populace to the immediate dangers assailing them. 

I believe “rabble-rouser” is a misnomer for a genuinely knowledgable activists, who, because of a sense of impatience with the usual order of things, will strike out following his agenda, their goal to connect with some viable citizens, hopefully ready to receive their powerful message for change. Again, the word rabble has the more negative connotations, one of “lawlessness,” “violence,” “mindlessness,” “the masses,” “the lowest class,” “easily manipulated” by the rouser, he of no scruples, destroyer of the status quo. 

But to illustrate my contention that rabble-rousing as I view it was often a glorious phenomenon as witness the deeds of several of my numerous heroes, each of whom qualified as a rabble-rouser. 

Union organizers

Mother Jones, was a tiny woman who dressed in lace and crinoline, but swore like a longshoreman, and was noted for her fiery oratory. She inspired many a coal miner in the mines to support strikes. 

 Joe Hill, was a union organizer and song writer. The copper mine owners in Utah couldn’t tolerate his successful union organizing and had their lackey police trump up charges of murder for which he was executed.

Cesar Chavez, co-founder with Dolores Huerta of the United Farm Workers Union, conducted a long, arduous struggle on behalf of the undocumented farm workers and their children who labored under terrible conditions. Their greatest victory was the five-year table grape strike. From its origins in California, it stretched all across the United States, shore to shore. Rabble rousers, among others, lent their support by boycotting the sale of grapes everywhere. I joined the boycott at an A & P supermarket in Winnetka, Illinois every Saturday morning, where we formed a human chain in the parking lot, holding up signs to discourage customers from buying grapes. The farm workers long struggle ended in their successful achievement of higher wages for the grape and lettuce pickers in the fields. 

Artists

Kathe Kollwitz, was a German painter, whose personal life, having lost one of her two sons in World War I, and his namesake, her grandson, dying in World War II, most certainly affected her work. But of all her huge body of work which was magnificent, I have selected a series that I find astonishingly affecting-a group of etchings based on a strike of Silesian weavers in 1844. These etchings were a dramatic depiction of these desperately poor workers seeking redress of their miserable existence whose strike was doomed and all was lost. I never encountered anything like these! Ever!

William Gropper, little-remembered today, but was a force to be reckoned with in the 1930’s through the 1960’s. For thirty years, every single day, he drew a remarkable political cartoon for various left-wing publications. His more serious oil paintings were begun in his forties. His satires on the U.S. Senate are unique-brilliant, certainly controversial! Subsequently, his versatile talent was extinguished by the House Unamerican Activities Committee (HUAC) that infamous body under Senator Joseph McCarthy who conducted horrendous witch hunts on anybody and everybody. His reign of terror lasted four years, during which time there were numerous suicides, divorces, lost jobs, nervous breakdowns. Dropper became an embittered hermit, but he did a lasting piece of work, fifty lithographs, “Los Caprichos,” revealing the evils of the times. 

Otto Dix was a soldier in World War I. His remembrances of life in the trenches-the dirt, the blood, the death-he created a remarkable series of etchings of war close-up-the skeletons of what had once been comrades. Those still living, fear on their young faces, their eyes like burnt holes. The series was a searing, unforgettable indictment of war! 

Military movers and shakers were many

Che Guevara was the beloved co-liberator of Cuba with Fidel Castro. Che was a brilliant strategist, a great military leader, fearless, a poet, an inveterate reader, an excellent photographer, and physician. But in his zeal to bring good medical care, good food, good housing and education to the poor of the world, he indulged in fantasies which led him to a deadly encounter with government forces, incidentally, aided by our C.I.A., in the jungles of   Bolivia where he was ambushed, captured, and summarily executed. So ended the dreams of this great man. 

Ho Chi Minh, devoted patriot was duly elected President of Viet Nam but the US felt otherwise: they put a plan into action and before long there became a South Viet Nam and a North Viet Nam. Ho always fought diligently for the return of his nation to its former state. But we know what horrors ensued. The thousands of lives destroyed, the lands poisoned, for what? 

Folk Singers

Their songs told the story of America’s history-often unlike the stories taught in our history books in schools. These songs have been sung at rallies where strikers are gathered, at anti-war demonstrations, in marches for jobs and in marches for civil rights, gay and women’s rights.

Pete Seeger, with his ever-present banjo, beloved by millions, was hauled up before House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), accused of Communist affiliations. The committee demanded that he furnish names of friends and associates. Pete’s response was, “I’ll sing, yes, I’ll play my banjo and I’ll sing my songs for you.” They cited him for contempt. I’m sure he was proud of that citation!

Woody Guthrie composed of wonderful songs. His private life gave him no peace, but his music was inspirational. His song This Land Is Your Land is sung everywhere by everyone. 

Paul Robeson, a gentle giant. Great singer and tireless activist seeking justice for his people, African-Americans. His concert in Woodstock, NY was met with a violent, racist response: cars were overturned, their windows were shattered. Robeson barely escaped with his life but he was the one labelled a rabble-rouser! The world has had many rabble-rousers, each doing his or her thing in their unique manner. One must be grateful for this phenomenon!  

In writing of today, the chaos, the bloodiness, the quote, “Don’t talk, shoot first” prevails on both sides of the law. So many issues of people fighting against people for: religious, racial, nationalities and cultural reasons. How sad that Black parents are compelled to enumerate a litany of how their sons and daughters should react when approached by a policeman. They live in constant fear that their children may not arrive home, and as tragically is often the case, they do not. But all is not lost, rabble-rousers like Black Lives Matter or like the Black Panthers before them are creating a climate of healthy change. They are surging against tremendous odds, but doggedly refuse to give up. 

McCarthyism

by Nancy Weinberg

What is remembered as McCarthyism did not begin with Joseph McCarthy. Harry Truman, on becoming president, after Franklin Roosevelt's death, realized what a daunting role played ahead of him. He had little knowledge of government and assuredly no familiarity with the subtleties of international relations. To cover his basic inadequacies and insecurities, he beat his breast and proclaimed himself a strong man. What better issue than to take on the Russians—his raison d’etre. He made the mistaken assumption that the Soviet Union was on an unholy crusade to conquer the world. They wanted only to annex countries on their borders. Having lost 25 million citizens during World War II, they could hardly pursue the unrealistic course of world domination. But Truman went to unleash a torrent of virulent anti-communist rhetoric, intended to inflame and frighten the populace. Influenced by Senator Vandenberg, a trusted colleague, who said, “Scare the hell out of the American people.” 

Truman embellished this thought with threats of dire poverty, as in the 1930s, if we allowed our free enterprise system to be replaced by a Soviet state-run economy. Therefore, the US under Truman, issued the Truman doctrine, which divided the whole world into two irreconcilable realms, good and evil. If the US determined that a particular countries democracy was threatened, we have the right to exert a policy of containment and global intervention on their behalf. Therefore, the United States was determined to fight communism anywhere, in any form. Thus, any indigenous group who were legitimately fighting for their people against repressive governments could be labeled “Communist.” Therefore they became fair game.

Greece became the unfortunate forerunner of the new US policy of military intervention. The US saw the growing power of the National Liberation Front, who were fighting against a repressive king and his fascist supporters. The US helped murder thousands of Greek citizens and decimated the National Liberation Front, 10,000 of whom fled to the mountains and continued fighting. Mass killings of communists and sympathizers were ordered and executed. The king was reinstated as were his fascist followers. Greece’s tragedy was the first of many US interventions throughout the world. 

In 1944 Truman took his anti-communism to his homegrown, the United States. He launched the Federal Employee Loyalty Program, instituting the loyalty oath that every Government employee must sign or face punishment. The first group Truman attacked were Roosevelt's New dealers. They were idealists, liberals, and many Ivy Leaguers, intellectuals eager to try new ideas. Truman despise them, calling them, “crackpots” and “the lunatic fringe.” They were either fired or forced to resign.

With the loyalty oath every aspect look person's life was scrutinized. But the accused had no right to confront his accuser or even know what he was being accused of. This was followed by the teachers loyalty oath. Two junior college teachers in Chicago refused to sign. They felt their loyalty was unquestionable and didn't need a signed both to affirm it. One of them happened to be a dear friend of mine. They were suspended for a year, without pay. My friend Al had a wife and three children. His savings were soon gone. I contacted some friends and Al’s colleagues and raised a tidy sum.

But in 1950, one of the worst periods in American history was spawned with the rise from obscurity, of Sen. Joseph McCarthy the senator from Wisconsin. He made his mark immediately when he stated there were 209 Communist traitors forming policy in the state department. Truman was smitten with McCarthy, who unleashed latent fear and animosity in the American populace buy conducting investigations of thousands of known communists, presumed communists, and those unfortunates who had unwittingly, 20 years earlier, attended a single meeting of a now suspect group. Nobody actually perused the tenets of some of these groups, Communist or otherwise. Pointing a finger was a lot easier to do. People lost their jobs, their homes, and many committed suicide. 

The general frenzy turned brother against brother, friend against friend, and neighbor against neighbor. The leap to judgment, without examining the facts—was just mindless accusations and persecution. To illustrate the mad excesses of the time, the respected Supreme Court justice, William O. Douglas, was labeled a suspected heretic and, was therefore, denied a passport. The insane leaps of unbridled accusation encompassed carpenters, plumbers, and even a group of prostitutes in a Las Vegas hotel, who declared their unswerving loyalty.

Over 13 million citizens were hauled in for questioning. Many thousands were accused of being communists all in the name of ridding themselves of the nonexistent Communist threat. 

The FBI visited many households, asking, “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?” Regardless of your answer you were then asked to name names, “tell us who your friends are,” “what groups did you belong to together?” Unfortunately, there were those who succumbed to the the FBI's sit persistent questioning. Hollywood had many prominent informers, such actors as: Gary Cooper, Lee J. Cobb, Robert Montgomery, Robert Taylor, George Murphy, Adolph Menjou, and of course Ronald Reagan. The director Elia Kazan, was known to have sung loud and clear. Sung was a euphemism for naming names. 

The devastating results of these peoples singing were that thousands of innocent people fell by the wayside, their lives ruined. But there was the Hollywood 10, a prominent group of directors and writers who were summarily blacklisted but they never sang. Therefore they had no work, for some as long as 20 years. They were looked on as social pariahs to be shunned, even by relatives and so-called good friends. But they never sang. One of the Hollywood 10 was Dalton Trumbo, a notable writer, whose films Spartacus and Exodus were memorable. He continued writing under several assumed names. Ironically, he received an academy award, much to the chagrin of the Hollywood studio who tried so hard to suppress him.

Pete Seeger, World famous folk singer, a wonderful human being, was called by the House Un-American Activities Committee otherwise known as HUAC, in 1955, to testify. Pete, accompanied by his banjo, offered to saying any folk song they might want to hear. But no other singing. He was cited with 10 contempt charges and a sentence of two concurrent five year jail terms. His prison terms were finally overturned in 1962. Of course, he was blacklisted and was unable to get work for many years. By 1950, there were a staggering number of so-called subversive groups on HUAC’s list, 624 groups. These included peace groups, relief organizations, Labor unions and labor schools.

Meanwhile, McCarthy’s shrill accusations dominated public life and influenced foreign and domestic policy.  He waged all out war against the State Department, the Democratic Party, the U.S. Army, and finally Truman and Eisenhower, accusing them of treasonous, pro-communist behavior.  His reckless charges and suspect methods led to his downfall.  But the effects of his mischief lasted many years. 

A residual fallout of epic proportions was the story of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, which had been fomented by the lunatic pursuit of communist spies.  The pain of their inevitable fate still assails me as I write this sixty years later.  The questionably weak evidence of their brother-in-law, David Greenglass, determined their end.  

Prominent figures from all over the world, including the Pope, pleaded for leniency or exoneration.  But to no avail—the Rosenbergs had to die.  This is a terrifying example of a legal system gone awry.  

It wasn’t until 2016, sixty-three years after the Rosenberg’s’ execution, that Ethel was declared unequivocally innocent.  Julius is still judged guilty despite the fact that the so-called atomic secret article, which Julius sent, could be found in any newspaper.  

On another note, in 1965 the Black Panther Party was founded as group of young, black activists.  The Panthers originally carried guns for self-protection because their program of patrolling murderous police was fraught with danger.  Police brutality then as now, fifty years later, was an everyday menace to the poor, black communities.  

The Panthers performed many acts of kindness for their people-- a daily breakfast for thousands of school children, soup kitchens for the needy, transportation for the elderly to go shopping.  They created schools, provided free medical services for the needy in reputable hospitals.  

But, J. Edgar Hoover, evil personified, infamous head of the FBI, seeing the Panthers as a threat to his world, he empowered a large FBI contingent and enlisted the aid of local police forces across the country to destroy the Black Panther Party.  Within a short time, thirty major Panther leaders were brutally murdered.

The Panthers’ ultimate political goal had been a Socialist revolutionary worldwide movement with the added goal of the eradication of Capitalism as an evil system.  Their desire was that, through revolution, poverty would be eliminated throughout the entire world.   But within eleven years of their existence, the Black Panther Party was no longer the viable force it once was.  

I must tell you the reason why I wrote this piece.  I was painting a portrait of a Black Panther and our art supervisor suggested that I paint a portrait of Angela Davis.  A member of the group spoke up,  “Angela Davis is a communist and a radical.”  It struck me that he, like many anti-communists, have probably never known or had engaged in a meaningful conversation with one.  This person’s prejudice seems so deeply rooted that the passage of fifty years and the ensuing changes that have occurred had no effect on him.  

However, he’s not alone.  Yesterdays fears and prejudices and yes, hatred, exist today among many uninformed, misguided people.  As witness the virulence against Dreamers, Gays, Muslims, Blacks and Jews.  Perhaps not as broad in scope but just as hate-filled as was the McCarthy era. 

As for Truman’s policy of armed intervention, the U.S. through the last sixty years has mercilessly intervened in 150 countries.

Looking at Afghanistan, we’ve been there for sixteen, bloody years—a country torn to shreds.  And Iraq—once the cradle of civilization—after fourteen years of U. S. intervention, now is rubble…and for what?  To line the pockets of munitions makers and oil merchants, undoubtedly.  

So McCarthyism may be deemed dead but its corpse still strides the earth.  Just as I had written what I thought were the last lines of this paper, I read an article, Our Warlords in Afghanistan in the magazine “In These Times,” 

In a small village, dozens of poverty stricken citizens, devoid of water supply, food, habitable dwellings, had been befriended by ISIS who took care of them.  Therefore, the people of the village have been murdered at the orders of a single U.S. trained strongman.  He is one of the militia leaders funded, trained, armed and protected by the United States, despite the fact that this man stoned a small child to death and machine gunned seven farmers in their fields.  There were many more atrocities and deaths ordered by this individual who is totally protected by the U. S.  No charges against him were ever acknowledged or acted upon.  

Trump is escalating the “war on terror’ using these same murderous Afghan militiamen, employing our weapons to further kill.  Need I say more?

Letters to Lieberman

Nancy evidently never received the memo that writing to City Hall was useless. She wrote beautifully and frequently.

Ron Benner
Executive Director
The Lieberman Center

August, 2015

Dear Ron Benner,

It is with great pleasure and extreme gratitude that I write this note about two of your employees, Basil and Dennis, your movers. They are absolutely peerless workers and I hope Lieberman Center is aware of its good fortune in having them as employees. 

These men, of conscientious, modest, quietly-efficient demeanor, managed within a single workday to move all my belonging. They packed everything carefully, transported it all to my new room, and there re-shelved my many books and tchotchkes, hung my clothes in the closet, and arranged my art supplies. 

I have more than the average amount of belongings. But did this fact deter these men from the performance of their duties? No indeed. They worked with dispatch and efficiency and when they finished I was astonished. My room appeared as though I had just left it for a moment, everything in its place.

I am mindful of the (monthly?) award bestowed on the best CNA. If there is a comparable award for your other workers I strongly suggest that you consider recognizing Basil and Dennis for their extraordinary work. 

Thank you,

Nancy Weinberg
Room 630

February 24, 2018

Dear Dr. Michael Gottesman,

I am distressed at the abrupt departure of Malachi. He was very good at conducting the walking program. He knew his job and recognized when to push and when to allow the person their own pace and length of their walk.

I was told that CNA’s would assume the responsibilities of Malachi. The thought of a CNA assuming his position is appalling. There is rarely a full complement of CNA’s on the floor during during a shift. They are harried and attention to our needs is often delayed or not attended to at all.

How can you expect additional responsibilities to be successfully achieved by the CNA’s? Please consider this issue and hopefully you will see the need for a person to take Malachi's place. I am in need of help. My needs are dire. My legs are weakening. There is a strong need for a permanent, five day a week individual. I strongly doubt the efficacy of dependence on CNA’s.

Thank you,

Nancy Weinberg
Room 630
Lieberman Center

cc: Sheila Butler

Ms. Nancy Weinberg
The Lieberman Center, Room 630
9700 Gross Point Rd.
Skokie IL 60076-1175

Dan Fagin
President and Chief Executive Officer
CJE SeniorLife
3003 W Touhy Avenue
Chicago, IL 60645

February 20, 2019

Dear Dan Fagin,

I’ve been a resident of Lieberman for seven years. I feel compelled to apprise you of the most serious problems currently troubling the well-being of Lieberman’s residents—the CNA situation. From the beginning, seven years ago, I enjoyed a warm relationship with two CNAs who were my constant caregivers for about three years. They knew my needs and responded with gentle caring. But then the situation began to erode and the CNAs became a problem which has accelerated down hill at a rapid pace. The optimal number of CNAs per shift should be five, but that has not been achieved for as long as I can remember. Most usually we have two, which is already insufficient. Sometimes we just have one harried CNA. Very infrequently, we have three. The problems created by this constant shortage are untenable. 

For example, I am a 96-year-old person, who suffers from stenosis and severe neuropathy in my legs. I have been cautioned to not attempt to get out of my bed on my own without assistance. Well, invariably I ring and ring for help and no one appears. In desperation I laboriously get off the bed into my wheelchair on my own and wheel myself into the bathroom. There I get out of the wheelchair on my own (something else I have repeatedly been warned against). The CNAs then appear and roundly scold me and again caution me not to leave the bed but to urinate in the bed if necessary; that they would change me and the bed sheets! And this with staff time already severely taxed. Is it better that I stay in bed in sheets and bedclothes urine soaked and they clean me and the bed several times a day? And I know that they would take an undetermined time changing me and the bed several times daily. Do not risk falling by getting out of bed or out of the wheelchair by myself may be sound advice. But their “solution” does not afford me a shred of self-respect and dignity. It must be a health risk to lay in urine-soaked bedclothes and sheets. Is this the best Lieberman hopes for? I hope not.

The CNA situation is many-faceted and seemingly daily we acquire new, unseasoned young women. The revolving door never ceases functioning. Here today; gone tomorrow. First, they are not trained sufficiently or monitored for needed augmenting training. Some resent hard work. Some are reluctant to recognize the special needs of the elderly. Thus the inevitable shortage of them creates a serious problem with far-reaching affects on both the CNAs and on the residents. For example, the bathroom situation is terribly unbearable. Waiting for frequently as long as 30 minutes and sometimes as much as an hour (or more!!) to be helped from the toilet to my wheelchair. There I sit endlessly on the toilet waiting for someone to rescue me from sitting endlessly on the toilet. Can you imagine being forced into this humiliating, unhealthy situation multiple times daily?

Particular problems occur during meal times with all of the CNAs and nurses required to serve meals in the dining room. Woe be to the hapless residents who take their meals in their rooms. We ring and ring and no one appears for the entire duration of the meal. Are we to plan our emergencies around mealtimes, break times and shift change times? This leaves us open and vulnerable for prolonged amounts of time. What if I were lying on the floor—if they took as much time to respond as they almost always do—I would be dead! The prospect is very frightening. 

I must name a person who is a beacon of positive attention to me. The day nurse Rosey is wonderful. Often she is the one who shows up when I have been ringing in vain for a CNA. It is because of her that I am not waiting on the toilet for an interminable amount of time every single time I am on the toilet. But she is not enough. She is not on duty 24/7 to compensate for an insufficient number of caring CNAs. We need more CNAS.

 And let us not forget the hardships visited upon the few long time CNAs. They are worn down taking care of us. They should be nurtured not abused. We have lost too many of them recently. Please recognize the six or so survivors that are still here. Appreciate their knowledge and expertise. We need them. Without them there is no way of passing down wisdom, experience and hard won skills necessary to the running of an effective facility. Help!

Sincerely,

Nancy Weinberg
CC: Scott Hochstadt

Note: I am Nancy’s son Joe. She dictated this letter to me and I am mailing it to you. 
She awoke at 4:00 a.m. on February 20, 2019. She started ringing for assistance. She rang with no response for 45 minutes! She finally got out of bed on her own and wheeled herself to the toilet on her own. This happened again at around 10:30 a.m. this morning. Same drill, ring and ring, no response and she wheeled to the toilet by herself. 
She is intentionally drinking insufficient amounts of water—knowingly contravening doctor’s orders that she drink copious glasses of water—so she will not need the toilet! In other words, she is compromising her health in a desperate effort to compensate for Lieberman’s uncaring and neglect.
I would be outraged even if she were not my mother, but am even more incensed because this is my mother who is being so poorly taken care of. 
You can respond to her and to me. I am available any time to discuss this and any other matters in regards making Nancy’s last period on earth a little less difficult for her.

– Joe Weinberg

Ms. Nancy Weinberg
The Lieberman Center, Room 630
9700 Gross Point Rd.
Skokie IL 60076-1175

Scott Hochstadt
Executive Director
The Lieberman Center
9700 Gross Point Rd.
Skokie IL 60076-1175

July 6, 2019

Dear Scott Hochstadt,

There are a number of issues which remain unaddressed by the powers that be. The ongoing CNA staffing disaster creates numerous problems. It is highly unseemly. I am eternally incarcerated on the hard toilet seat and suffering from spinal stenosis assuredly doesn't help the extreme discomfort. All one needs is a brief transfer from toilet seat to my wheelchair. I invariably wait for one half hour until for one of the few overworked CNA's on the floor comes to my aid. Last week I waited 90 minutes one morning! 

I must bring forcibly to your attention the fact that obvious help would be achieved if every nurse on duty was instructed, upon hearing the call bell for five minutes, to get off his or her duff and deign to help the hapless resident in the bathroom or whatever emergency they may be experiencing. 

Rossi’s immediate response obviates a lengthy period of distress. I reiterate, that we demand that nurses acquire a sense of caring by following Rossi’s example. 

Sincerely,

Nancy Weinberg

CC: Dan Fagin

Note: I am Nancy’s son Joe. She dictated this letter to me and I am mailing it to you. 

– Joe Weinberg

Ms. Nancy Weinberg
The Lieberman Center, Room 630
9700 Gross Point Rd.
Skokie IL 60076-1175

Scott Hochstadt
Executive Director
The Lieberman Center
9700 Gross Point Rd.
Skokie IL 60076-1175

July 27, 2020

Dear Scott Hochstadt,

The situation with Nancy Weinberg and the Lieberman Center has reached crisis proportions. Approximately eight weeks ago a nurse dropped Nancy in the shower while putting her back into her wheelchair. At that point, Nancy sustained a deep cut on her left lower leg. The appropriate response from Lieberman at that point would have been to call me and tell me what had occurred and to take Nancy to the emergency room so that her leg wound could be evaluated and appropriate medical treatment initiated. Neither of these were done. I heard about the wound from Nancy and Lieberman never saw fit to take her to the emergency room to be evaluated and treated. That started a very unfortunate and increasingly ugly Lieberman response. 

For four or five weeks, all that was done was to change bandages and get her some fairly weak antibiotics for what had become an infection. Things culminated with Lieberman assuring me on two separate occasions that, “The wound nurse had judged her infection to be completely healed.” Two days later, when Nancy was taken to the emergency room, an entirely different, truthful situation was described to me by the two vascular doctors in attendance. Imagine my shock when the infection that was supposedly “completely healed,” was in fact described by the vascular doctors as extremely infected, so infected that if Nancy didn’t respond well to the heavy-duty antibiotic they were prescribing, Nancy’s leg might need to be amputated! They took pictures of the awful , unhealed wound if you are interested. I had not seen her or her leg since March so viewing her deeply infected leg was quite disturbing to me and to Nancy when I described it to her. Neither she nor I were prepared for the severity of the infection based on the dishonest appraisal and attendant dishonest reassurances to me and to Nancy that everything was fine.

Nancy, like other 97-year-olds, suffers from a variety of afflictions. One of them is poor blood circulation in both legs but particularly in her left leg (the leg with the wound and infection.) She had procedures in both legs in 2017 and was told that she needed them again. As long ago as a year, when I took her for a Doppler test, we knew that the circulation was poor. Nancy announced to me at that time that she absolutely did not want to go through the procedures again. She was concerned about the stress on her heart that anesthetic would cause, and the stress on her system that the procedures would cause. She understands that the procedures could help her, but she feels in the balance that the risk to her life of the procedures outweighed the possible benefits. It is absolutely her right to make decisions at this time near the end of her life. I absolutely support her choice.

But even as I repeatedly told Lieberman staff about her decision, it was as if I were speaking a foreign language. Wilma, the sixth floor nurse manager, announced to me that she was calling Dr. Lind the vascular surgeon. When I asked her why she was calling him she said that she was trying to inform him of the pro pursue him to  perform the procedure. I directed her to not pursue Dr. Lind behind my back as she was doing. I told her explicitly that Nancy did not want the procedure, that I supported her in this, and that her general practitioner Dr. Lansky was strongly opposed to the procedure as well. Dr. Lansky, being better informed about Nancy’s condition than Lieberman staff, brought up Nancy’s kidneys which are compromised. The contrast (dye) that is injected into the leg to make the arteries stand out on the television monitor is very difficult on the kidneys which filter out the dye from her blood after the procedures. 

The same dishonest responses from other Lieberman staff were outrageous. Lieberman staff were trying other underhanded methods to manipulate Nancy and get her to agree to the procedures.

For at least three years, Nancy has slept in her wheelchair. This is not an ideal situation. She and I completely understand that. She has not been able to sleep in a bed for longer than an hour before extreme pain in her lower back sets in. Her sleeping in the wheelchair is not a flippant decision nor is it any evidence of declining mental capacity. This last item is most offensive. Lieberman is now inferring that her inability to sleep in a bed or more recently an arm chair is some reflection of her mental state. 

As you well know, Lieberman is dramatically understaffed for CNAs. There are presently two CNAs per floor, per shift. This is outrageous. When Nancy first moved in eight years ago, there were five CNAs per shift as there should be for a floor with over 40 residents. For several years now, the situation with two CNAs per shift is dire. Several years ago, Nancy was instructed to never try to get herself out of the wheelchair and onto the toilet and never to get herself off the toilet back into her wheelchair by herself. She was told then to urinate in her bed or wheelchair and that they would clean her up. Nancy responded that she had dignity and would not entertain their offensive, uncaring orders. 

She and I and Lieberman have gone around about this for several years. She rings the emergency call bell and there is no response frequently for twenty to thirty minutes. There have been much longer waits especially frustrating for her when stranded on the toilet. This is the context wherein Lieberman insistence that she sleep in bed or recently in an armchair is unrealistic, self-serving and only insisted upon to provide Lieberman a pretext to question her mental capacity. If she acquiesced and lay in bed (briefly before pain drove her out) or sat in the armchair, the first time she needed to urinate and was unable to attract CNA attention, she would either urinate in bed or chair or escalate her risk of falling by having to extricate herself from either of these much-more-difficult, and thus dangerous sites. The wheelchair is her choosing the best and only option considering the paucity of CNAs. 

Lieberman staff and Optum are trying increasingly desperately to manipulate Nancy into agreeing to the vascular procedures. Despite my telling them that Nancy categorically refuses the procedure which is her legal right, Optum staff Filomena went behind my back and Nancy’s back and brought in some doctor from MIMIT. On Friday, a Dr. Ahmed came and tried to pressure her to have he could do the procedure. He told Nancy that the infection would definitely get worse and spread and kill her. This is despicable; terrifying an old lady! And where did he even come from? No one has called me to inform me of anything. If Nancy were to have the procedure, she knows and trusts Dr. Lind at Evanston Hospital to do it, not some stranger. 

It is telling that most of Lieberman’s actions have been behind my and Nancy’s backs. This has been a textbook in how not to practice Person Centered Care. That is a platitude, not a practice with Nancy. 

I demand that Lieberman:

1. Stop trying to frighten, bully, and manipulate Nancy into agreeing to this procedure. Leave her alone in peace. The Wound Care Doctor Dr. Jesus Dadivas feels that his attentions to Nancy’s wound and the strong antibiotic should heal the infection. I endorse his analysis and his approach. He was the first medical personnel at Lieberman or at the hospital that addressed the infection without the “we must cut now” blinders so many resort to.

2. Stop tearing down her dignity by sneakily asking her the date (to establish her supposedly compromised mental state. She is very sharp mentally. This has been corroborated by the test administered periodically by Julia, her Social Worker. She is competent to make decisions, alert and completely aware. Because I listen to and love her, I support her and her wishes completely.

3. Stop trying to bully her out of sleeping in her wheelchair. No bed, no armchair!

4. Seek her opinions and input and respect her wishes. This is almost never done at Lieberman. She says most staff treat her as if she were “furniture,” not deserving of being taken seriously. Respect her wishes.

Thank you,

Joe Weinberg

CC: Dan Fagin
CC: Esther Garcia

Note: I am Nancy’s son Joe. We worked on this letter together and I am emailing it to you. 

– Joe Weinberg