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Americans have faced world wars, economic recessions, and even other pandemics. Some people have lived through all three. I sought out senior citizens to see how the COVID-19 pandemic compares to other crises 鈥� and what we might be able to learn from them.
With a little help from Washoe County Senior Services (and Twitter) I chatted over the phone with three people who can help offer a dose of historic perspective during these trying times.
K. David was born in 1930, just months after kicked off the Great Depression. He鈥檚 in Reno, Nevada, now, but he grew up in the East.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know the numbers then, but the economy created an unemployment rate of 25% or higher,鈥� David told me. 鈥淎nd in the neighborhood that I grew up in, Brooklyn, New York, it was probably much higher than that, possibly even double. My father was unemployed鈥� And my mother, not wanting us to be thrown out on the street or failing to get one good meal a day, managed to get hired on various positions, starting with the census, interestingly enough.鈥�
Those positions were funded by the , an employment and infrastructure program set up by then-President Franklin Roosevelt to address the economic crash. But if the mass unemployment wasn鈥檛 enough, there was also something else lurking through neighborhoods: .
鈥淚 can recall my mother saying, 鈥楧on鈥檛 play in the gutter,鈥欌�� David said. 鈥淪he knew something about people getting sick. And I did know one person [who got polio], in fact 鈥� he was one of my best friends during a certain period of my life in junior high school.鈥�
Mel McVeigh remembers when her cousin had polio.
鈥淭here was a lot of panic with polio, because they didn鈥檛 know how it was transferred or transmitted from person to person,鈥� she told me.
Her cousin, she said, had to go into an iron lung, which needed to be constantly monitored, and she remembers community members coming by to help man the machine and keep him alive.
McVeigh, now 76, has several health issues, including diabetes, and she鈥檚 on dialysis. That makes her particularly to COVID-19 complications. But in times like these, she said she鈥檚 doing what she always does: lean heavily on her faith as a Jehovah鈥檚 Witness. McVeigh told me she hopes everyone鈥檚 reaching out to friends and family, spreading love and compassion.
鈥淚f you have a relative that is isolated, get in touch with them, talk to them. Tell them that you remember them and they鈥檙e important,鈥� McVeigh said.
Relatives are important to Fay Benninghove, too. The 73-year-old widow lives alone. Her family does her grocery shopping for her. She told me she can鈥檛 compare what鈥檚 happening now to anything she鈥檚 lived through.
鈥淚 just feel people don鈥檛 feel any control over the issue, and truly don鈥檛 know what to do and what鈥檚 the right thing to do,鈥� Benninghove said.
Benninghove is a double amputee who is in a wheelchair, and has asthma.
鈥淪o I guess I鈥檓 just so used to plowing forward,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know anything else, but I just want to keep on going.鈥�
But she does worry about what lies ahead.
鈥淲hat is it going to do to the services that are provided for us? Will that change? Will we get less services?鈥� she asked. 鈥淏ecause it does seem like when something like this happens, the seniors are cut off first from things鈥� I feel like sometimes they feel like the seniors are expendable. 鈥榊ou鈥檝e lived your lives, so if you go, oh well.鈥欌��
To get through this fear, Benninghove relies on family, her pets and her faith.
For K. David, he keeps himself busy by walking. Before all this, he was walking 2 to 3 miles a day 鈥� at age 90.
鈥淎nd only very recently have I cut that down to about a mile and a half,鈥� he said.
That鈥檚 mostly because he鈥檚 not walking to the grocery store anymore, instead opting for neighborhood strolls.
While that can be frustrating, David admitted it鈥檚 also a little friendlier these days.
鈥淧eople that I know asking me on the street if I want them to pick up some groceries for me 鈥� that wouldn鈥檛 have occurred a year ago,鈥� he said.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, the O'Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, KUNC in Colorado, 九色网 in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the .
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Copyright 2020
