Caretaker held after man, 101, left in car in Clovis (WalMart parking lot)

A 46-year-old woman was arrested Saturday afternoon on suspicion of elder abuse after leaving a 101-year-old man in a car in front of the Walmart on West Shaw Avenue in Clovis, police said.

Clovis police received a call just after 3 p.m. from someone concerned about an elderly man sitting in a vehicle in front of the store.

When officers arrived, they found the 101-year-old man who appeared to be in distress from the heat. The man was at the store with a woman he called his granddaughter, but police determined the woman was his caretaker.

The woman did not respond to several pages made by the store staff. The man was transported to Clovis Community Hospital, where he is in stable condition.

An hour after arriving on scene, officers found the woman in the McDonald's inside the store.

The worst part? She left the radio on, tuned to NPR.

Thank goodness the old guy is ok. I visit the assisted care center to see my mother several days a week, or call her if I can’t get there. There are so many elderly there that seem to be abandoned. Thank goodness the center staff are great.

This caregiver needs some jail time.

One thing I can put forward for consideration is that, unlike with their children, people can go through extreme denial in regards to their parents.

I have heard of adult children making terrible decisions about parents they love because they can’t wrap their heads around the fact that dad has become, in essence a toddler.

Giving Dad the car keys ‘cause he insists, and it’s his car, letting him run around pooping because he won’t put on his Depends, letting her sit in her pee because she won’t get up to use a toilet, letting her charge piles of crazy stuff advertised on daytime tv, leaving them alone at home all day even though they were out of it, even considering leaving small kids in their care, because hey, they were good parents back in the day.

The problem is made worse by the fact that at first, oldsters cover their failings so no one will know they’re slipping; and, they sort of go in and out, and can be perfectly responsible for a while and then do something nutty. Also, they can be combative. Like if you want your dad to come into the store with you and he absolutely refuses, what can you do? He’s not a prisoner.

Of course you should not leave him out in the hot sun, and it’s at that point you have to call in some authorities, but people have a hard time accepting that it’s got to that point.

Instances like the above that I’ve heard of have not been a result of hatred or indifference, but rather what seems an inability to accept that the parent is no longer mentally healthy. They just can’t cope with it, and cling to the impossible idea that soon their parent will be better.

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