medical solutions take over, what were we to do?
Betweenthethreeofuswehad 120 yearsofexperience
inmedicine,butitseemedamystery.Itturnedouttobe
an education.
WENEEDEDOPTIONS,andAthenswasnotaplacewhere
anyonecouldexpectthekindsofoptionsforthefrailand
agedthatI’dseensproutinginBoston.Itisasmalltown
in thefoothillsof Appalachia.Thelocal college,Ohio
University,isitslifeblood.One-thirdofthecountylived
inpoverty,makingoursthepoorestcountyinthestate.
So it seemed a surprise when I asked around and
discoveredthatevenherepeoplewere rebellingagainst
theway medicineand institutions takecontrol oftheir
lives in old age.
I spoke, for instance, to Margaret Cohn. She and her
husband, Norman, were retired biologists. He had a
severeformofarthritisknownasankylosingspondylitis
and, because of a tremor and the effects of a polio
infection in his youth, he faced increasing difficulty
walking. The two of them were becoming concerned
aboutwhetherthey’dbeabletomanageintheirhomeon
theirown.Theydidn’twanttobeforcedtomoveinwith
anyoftheirthreechildren,whowerescatteredfaraway.
Theywantedto stayin thecommunity.Butwhenthey
lookedaroundtownforassistedlivingoptions,nothing
wasremotelyacceptable.“IwouldliveinatentbeforeI
would live like that,” she told me.
She and Norman decided to come up with a solution
themselves, their age be damned. “We realized, if we
didn’tdoit,noonewasgoingtodoitforus,”shesaid.
Margaret had read an article in the newspaper about