Looking forward by looking back

5 1/2 years ago...

My brother in law, George, was living a low key life in his home with his long term girlfriend. He had a job as a greens keeper on a golf course, loved the outdoors in Ontario and had a blind dog with a sweet personality that he had saved. Both of them were recovering alcoholics and they had made their way together in spite of their past struggles.

His girlfriend lost her job and found a position as a bar maid … alcohol became a temptation she could not resist and long story short it ended their relationship and George was kicked out of their home onto the street because of it. He was still sober. His girlfriend burnt his belongings on the front yard in a drunken fit before she told him to take his "high faluting ideas about not drinking" and leave their home.

Did you know?

... without a permanent address you cannot receive financial assistance in Canada and many of the support resources offered require some ID? He slept in a tent on his brother's property because he did not have the heart to try to claim his half of his home. Broken-hearted and unable to resist he too turned back to alcohol. He eventually returned to Montreal with an invitation to work with a family member that ended with him on the street.

Again.

He spent weeks on the streets in Montreal in February with his dog before I found out. My husband and I took him in and worked with him to resource what he needed to overcome the statistics he faced. We had no clue what challenges were ahead of us…

Did you know...

ONLY 1% of the homeless actually successfully get off the streets?! The Old brewery mission shared that detail with me and I wanted to help George beat the odds. He was damaged goods, a broken human spirit, and yet I could see that with help he could at least get back on his feet and regain his dignity and independence so he could cope in society....he almost made it. He decided that our home had restrictions he could not cope with and that the street was where he preferred to be and he left our home.

For months I saw him everywhere: pedaling his bike with his dog in the trailer. Begging for coins on the street-corners across from my office window near Fairview. I saw him all over the West Island and it broke my heart every time that he was choosing this life. There was that 1% statistic singing in my head.

It started getting cold out and I was worrying about him as I had not seen him for many weeks. I got a telephone call. My son said "Mom its for you-its uncle George". George was calling to thank me. Not only had he managed to do the 1 remaining bit of paperwork so he could regain his ID that had been destroyed but he had also managed to get an apartment and his welfare checks were now possible, he said, because I believed in him. Have you ever felt so proud of someone your hearts pops?!

The years passed and we occasionally received calls from George when he could borrow a telephone and give us a call. We invited him to visit and we knew his address and occasionally dropped off items onto his balcony that I felt he might need, food, warm clothes etc. He did not wish for us to come in nor come by our home as he said that he felt like a failure. If you know me, you can guess what I said to that!

This year we received a call from his current girlfriend-it seems that George was in a coma and we spend 6 horrendous weeks battling for his life not knowing what was causing his illness. The illnesses won in the end. He was malnourished and had cancer. He was so weakened that any hope for chemotherapy was not a consideration as the treatments would kill him. George had sought medical care 3 months prior but he was turned away because of his inability to explain himself to the medical staff and he was perceived as a drunk...his mental challenges, alcoholism and a lack of self-esteem lead to him going home and using over the counter remedies until his health resulted in that hospital bed in ICU. Sadly we lost him on June 6th and he has forever changed my life.

I am driven by a desire to leave a positive footprint after I leave this world. The small ripples that I hope to create I may never see culminate into their full potential and that is ok. All I ask is a few moments to share how I can help your group AND the community with a ripple. I hope that we hold a common desire to make a positive change with actions.

The Canadian Malnutrition Task Force says that: “A champion can drive the change,

but needs a supportive team to make it happen”

I believe that this season we can make a difference by shifting the quality of what we donate to food baskets and community aid efforts, to reflect the true needs of our “at-risk”1 neighbours. I use the word neighbor specifically because in my years of delivering foods to support families we have recently had to adjust to be more sensitive to the anonymity requested by people in our community. About 3 years ago, community aid asked us to deliver one of our recipients 3 month supply of food to their location instead of directly to the recipients home which was how we normally delivered the food. Why? because someone we knew was being supported by our food drive!! Someone WE KNEW was asking for help but did not want us to know so they could retain their dignity. The food was delivered to community aid and we supported our recipient’s request to remain incognito. That really hit home for me and I have been looking into statistics and information ever since that moment and because of my brother in law George who became homeless then at risk in low income housing and ultimately dying due to complications from his lack of nutrition and this other soul that I might know that needed help.

“A few facts: Approximately one third of Canadians aged 65 or older are at risk of having poor nutrition, which in turn puts them at greater risk of health problems like diabetes, hypertension and heart disease.”2

Did I mention I am a health professional?

So this is important to me professionally too...

“To make matters worse, the support that is available – from community organizations to health care providers, hospitals, dietitians and doctors – often lacks the coordination, monitoring and training necessary to meet the needs of older adults who could use help”2 . The gap is enriched with volunteers yet it is not solved and it is overwhelming for me to figure out all that is missing to correct these gaps in our systems. The ripple effects are how I am working to make small shifts that I hope will create positive change. So lets go back to my stories.

Story 1: George, my brother in law. Imagine if only 1 homeless person in 100 will get off the streets because of red tape and a lack of realistic support structures in our community systems we could maybe think of alternatives like better quality food access etc. So a small ripple like what I try to do is…Instead of throwing change at someone begging for cash-I take them to a coffee shop and buy them a sandwich or go into the grocery store they are begging at and invite them in to choose some foods and I pay for them. There are a few wonderful stories because of that choice I made that I won’t get into now…

Story 2 Our anonymous food recipient. “Older adults are especially vulnerable due to one or more factors including a lack of appetite or sense of taste, low income, isolation and physical disability”4 So they have not enough income: I discovered that George had 20$/MONTH left for food after he paid his bills every month!! Some adults can’t get out-we are in that lovely season of snow as you know and the people unable to safely leave their homes cannot always get the groceries they need or appointments with doctors. Think about the one third statistic for just 1 minute: 3 in 10 seniors are in this risk zone 2…so that could be someone beside you, someone you know or it may even be you and YOU are important! THIS is why I believe we can make a difference during the winter months!!

So who wants to know HOW?

Food is medicine

Did you know that by adding seasonings to your foods that you can improve your overall health? Not supplements or pills but good old dried herbs(even fresh ones!).

It is important to note this one detail:

only the Herbs that still contain their natural oils benefit your health.

Fun fact:

after 3 years even the best stored herbs lose that oil and become simple fibre with no flavor…another fun fact most Canadians are irregular so by adding herb dust to your dinner you are actually increasing your fibre so all is not lost! …you just aren’t getting all the health benefits you could by using your old ones that you stored in the cupboard.3

Another fact:

the herbs you purchase in the stores are bottled OVER 3 years ago so if you were paying attention to what I was writing what are you adding to your meal?

You got it! Fibre with no full nutritional benefits!

Improve the quality of food...choose fresh herbs and herbs bottled less than 6 months ago. You can reduce the risk for disease and illness in our at risk groups by a whopping 60%!! This statistic includes preventing cancer and cardiovascular diseases. 2

How I can help...

By using my business to do good I can provide gift kits that contain herbs that benefit your group when they are purchased as a “give back” benefit AND IF those of you that purchase a kit then donate your kit to the food baskets then these kits will enhance the food donations we can provide this season. The groceries needed for those meals in the kits create a “wholesome” menu and will improve the quality of our donations.

I give back in 2 ways this way.

Your group benefits and so does the community we are hoping to help. This is the ripple effect that I wish to create. Thank you, I am grateful for your time.

Laura

The Pantry Planner

References and Links:

1 Public health Nutrition-non Canadian

Volume 15, Issue 12 December 2012 , pp. 2210-2219

2 Resource: https://www.naturalfoodseries.com/15-health-benefits-herbs/1 Public health nutrition Vol. 15 Issue 12 December 2012, pp 2210-2219

3 The Pantry Planner-statistics via Epicure™

4 Supporting seniors at higher risk of poor nutrition

https://www.mcmasteroptimalaging.org/blog/detail/blog/2016/03/10/supporting-seniors-at-higher-risk-of-poor-nutrition