Welcome back!
Sara Omari retired from the Beachhead in 1989 after 12 years of service and we are honored to have her back as a contributor.

In her columns the 80 + year old who is presently residing in a retirement home will be addressing the topic of elder abuse. Abuse, which we are sad to say she is currently experiencing first-hand.

Sara is a proud veteran that started her career with the Marines as a guard. She was also a clerk and typist before rising to the ranks of Corporal during her last post at Camp Pendleton where she was a buyer.
Welcome back Sara.

It was about 4:30pm that day. I felt a whoosh, a Niagara like whooooosh.
It was watery below my waist…tada, it was diarrhea. I call it “the trots”!
I pressed the call button, again and again and again.
I rang the nurses station, no one answered.
I realized all the workers were in the dining area.
I waited for awhile, sitting in my mess, maybe 20 minutes, when I called again.
No response.
4 hours went by.
The night nurse came in with my meds and I asked “Please Help me!”
In 2 minutes the RN had a worker there to help clean me up.
I am paralyzed on one side and unable to do so myself.
There is a contraption called a “Hoyer Lift” that pulls me out of my bed in the morning and deposits me into my wheel chair where I stay all day until I am taken out and placed back in my bed at night.

Finally I felt better, but I have not forgotten that.

I am domiciled at the “West LA Home For The Aged”. This is a short article in a series on what I would call “Elder Abuse”.

The facility here is gorgeous. There are trees with flowers all around. The surrounding streets are canopied by trees reaching out to each other, and providing shade to walk under.
There is a school on the grounds. The Japanese Gardens are supposed to be exquisite and I’ve been told there is a bird sanctuary.

Sara Omari
Venice Beachhead Collective Member and Writer 1977-1989

Mother by Sara Omari

Do you know the meanings: Mother’s Day; Mother Goose; Mother Hubbard; Mother Lode; Mother Jones; Mother-of-Pearl; Mother’s Milk; Mother Country; Mother’s Fair haired boy; Mother by Gorky; “…doesn’t taste like the one Mother used to make…and, lastly, Mother Effer.
Erma Bombeck says that MOTHERHOOD is the biggest on-the-job training program ever.
May 1988