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Was a bit surprised to see this piece from VentureBeat (guess that's why they called it OffBeat). My family has been taking care of my grandmother who has Alzhe

Was a bit surprised to see this piece from VentureBeat (guess that's why they called it OffBeat). My family has been taking care of my grandmother who has Alzheimers and Parkinsons and it's taken a tremendous toll on everyone, especially my father who is the main caretaker. As someone in tech, it's stories and experiences like this that make me wonder if we're working towards something that will help those in need or if we're investing our time/money/energy in the right places. After all, everyone is going to die so I'm wondering what we can do to alleviate some of the pressure + pain from this part of life. In this vein, if you know of opportunities to help the elderly in NYC, please let me know. I'm open and willing to spend my evenings and full weekends helping out however I can. Have reached out to a few senior centers, but most have not responded, unfortunately...

onemoresoop 7y ago
There are services in NYC where you can volunteer to simply talk to lonely elderly (or play card games or some other activity) in your neighborhood. I can't provide a link right unfortunately. You have to sign up, they'll verify you and then they'll connect to some lonely elderly in your area. Loneliness and isolation is understated.
- phamjamstudio 7y ago
  My wife and I did this as our first date when we first started dating; we're both Christian if you're wondering why someone would do this on a first date. Unexpectedly, the lady we were to visit literally lived her last hour before she passed away before our eyes. We listened and comforted her husband for the next hour or so. We also listened to the CNA make the difficult calls to her children, some of which were out of state. It was a somber and humbling experience. Our seniors need love just as much as we do.
  - alexhutcheson 7y ago
    Wow that's a pretty intense experience for a first date.
    - mars4rp 7y ago
      and probably the reason they are married.
      - deleted 7y ago
        [deleted]
  - inferiorhuman 7y ago
    we're both Christian if you're wondering why someone would do this on a first date What does both of you identifying as christian have to do with anything? Are non-christians less likely to do empathetic things?
    - wwweston 7y ago
      It's certainly worth knowing that Christianity, like most religious beliefs or philosophies, does not have a monopoly on empathy, kindness, or service, nor is its profession a guarantee that someone makes those things a studied part of their practice. But the commentor's claims seem limited to Christianity as a motivator for their behavior, which is hardly objectionable and a very different thing from your challenge-reading of their words.
      - inferiorhuman 7y ago
        But the commentor's claims seem limited to Christianity as a motivator for their behavior, which is hardly objectionable and a very different thing from your challenge-reading of their words. Yeah, no. There's a pernicious narrative the United States that christianity has a monopoly on positive, moral behavior. Yet it doesn't take long to find examples of christianity creating atrocious behavior (e.g. Trump, Michael McWhorter, Joel Osteen, Billy Graham). Looking through the poster's comment history it's clear he doesn't miss a chance to extol the virtues of christianity, much to the detriment of whatever else he's trying to communicate.
        wwweston 7y ago
        > Yeah, no. No, yeah. > There's a pernicious narrative the United States that christianity has a monopoly on positive, moral behavior /.../ it doesn't take long to find examples of christianity creating atrocious behavior Sure. These are not the commenter's claims, though, so it's odd that they're what you're litigating. "We did a charitable thing as an expression of / motivated by our faith" is orthogonal to whether some portion of US Christians are either parochial in their moral philosophy or even not particularly good people. Claiming otherwise doesn't make it look like the they're the one with a hobby horse or over-evangelical approach.
- ceceshao1 7y ago
  This sounds perfect - if you can dig up the link, that would be great!
diggan 7y ago
> if we're investing our time/money/energy in the right places Considering that the biggest technology companies are advertisers, data-collectors and shopping oriented, my initial feeling is "absolutely not". But it's also hard to get people engaged to trying to help the elderly, until they see the struggle in front of them. Which I'm sure many don't. I used to work as a elderly-care assistant in Sweden, and while helping with medicin, cleaning and other things are important, most of the people just want to have some company once in a while, and was incredibly grateful for being able to have a honest conversation with a non-doctor. So my recommendation would be to reach out to elderly-care homes in NYC, and ask them if they need help with basic tasks on weekends/evenings. With that, you'll get time to interact with them as well (although, maybe all this works differently in the US, I have no idea).
el_benhameen 7y ago
I apologize for offering totally unsolicited commentary, especially if it's unhelpful, but your grandmother's condition sounds similar to what my grandmother suffered from. We thought she had Alzheimers and Parkinsons, but a postmortem analysis by the folks at UC Davis showed that she had dementia with lewy bodies [0], which shares symptoms with both of those diseases but is treated somewhat differently. I mention it only because the treatment for some of her symptoms ended up making things worse and are contraindicated for DLB patients. I'm sorry for what your family is going through. It took a profound toll on our family, too. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dementia_with_Lewy_bodies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dementia_with_Lewy_bodies
phamjamstudio 7y ago
You have a good heart - I hope you keep at it, even if it means just keeping the elderly company or helping with simple tasks; they and the senior center staff will certainly appreciate it.
greenleafjacob 7y ago
Sam Gerstenzang (formerly of a16z) runs Umbrella [1]. You should check it out. [1] https://www.askumbrella.com/ https://www.askumbrella.com/
max_effort 7y ago
I used to volunteer at a senior community center in NYC and I've tried to do it in a few other locations. If you offer to help in a non-specific way, you likely won't hear back. There may also be liability issues they want to avoid, depending on the manner in which you'd be helping. I got replies when I offered to tutor people.

onemoresoop 7y ago

There are services in NYC where you can volunteer to simply talk to lonely elderly (or play card games or some other activity) in your neighborhood. I can't provide a link right unfortunately. You have to sign up, they'll verify you and then they'll connect to some lonely elderly in your area. Loneliness and isolation is understated.

phamjamstudio 7y ago
My wife and I did this as our first date when we first started dating; we're both Christian if you're wondering why someone would do this on a first date. Unexpectedly, the lady we were to visit literally lived her last hour before she passed away before our eyes. We listened and comforted her husband for the next hour or so. We also listened to the CNA make the difficult calls to her children, some of which were out of state. It was a somber and humbling experience. Our seniors need love just as much as we do.
- alexhutcheson 7y ago
  Wow that's a pretty intense experience for a first date.
  - mars4rp 7y ago
    and probably the reason they are married.
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
- inferiorhuman 7y ago
  we're both Christian if you're wondering why someone would do this on a first date What does both of you identifying as christian have to do with anything? Are non-christians less likely to do empathetic things?
  - wwweston 7y ago
    It's certainly worth knowing that Christianity, like most religious beliefs or philosophies, does not have a monopoly on empathy, kindness, or service, nor is its profession a guarantee that someone makes those things a studied part of their practice. But the commentor's claims seem limited to Christianity as a motivator for their behavior, which is hardly objectionable and a very different thing from your challenge-reading of their words.
    - inferiorhuman 7y ago
      But the commentor's claims seem limited to Christianity as a motivator for their behavior, which is hardly objectionable and a very different thing from your challenge-reading of their words. Yeah, no. There's a pernicious narrative the United States that christianity has a monopoly on positive, moral behavior. Yet it doesn't take long to find examples of christianity creating atrocious behavior (e.g. Trump, Michael McWhorter, Joel Osteen, Billy Graham). Looking through the poster's comment history it's clear he doesn't miss a chance to extol the virtues of christianity, much to the detriment of whatever else he's trying to communicate.
      - wwweston 7y ago
        > Yeah, no. No, yeah. > There's a pernicious narrative the United States that christianity has a monopoly on positive, moral behavior /.../ it doesn't take long to find examples of christianity creating atrocious behavior Sure. These are not the commenter's claims, though, so it's odd that they're what you're litigating. "We did a charitable thing as an expression of / motivated by our faith" is orthogonal to whether some portion of US Christians are either parochial in their moral philosophy or even not particularly good people. Claiming otherwise doesn't make it look like the they're the one with a hobby horse or over-evangelical approach.
ceceshao1 7y ago
This sounds perfect - if you can dig up the link, that would be great!

diggan 7y ago

> if we're investing our time/money/energy in the right places Considering that the biggest technology companies are advertisers, data-collectors and shopping oriented, my initial feeling is "absolutely not". But it's also hard to get people engaged to trying to help the elderly, until they see the struggle in front of them. Which I'm sure many don't. I used to work as a elderly-care assistant in Sweden, and while helping with medicin, cleaning and other things are important, most of the people just want to have some company once in a while, and was incredibly grateful for being able to have a honest conversation with a non-doctor. So my recommendation would be to reach out to elderly-care homes in NYC, and ask them if they need help with basic tasks on weekends/evenings. With that, you'll get time to interact with them as well (although, maybe all this works differently in the US, I have no idea).

el_benhameen 7y ago

I apologize for offering totally unsolicited commentary, especially if it's unhelpful, but your grandmother's condition sounds similar to what my grandmother suffered from. We thought she had Alzheimers and Parkinsons, but a postmortem analysis by the folks at UC Davis showed that she had dementia with lewy bodies [0], which shares symptoms with both of those diseases but is treated somewhat differently. I mention it only because the treatment for some of her symptoms ended up making things worse and are contraindicated for DLB patients. I'm sorry for what your family is going through. It took a profound toll on our family, too. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dementia_with_Lewy_bodies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dementia_with_Lewy_bodies

phamjamstudio 7y ago

You have a good heart - I hope you keep at it, even if it means just keeping the elderly company or helping with simple tasks; they and the senior center staff will certainly appreciate it.

greenleafjacob 7y ago

Sam Gerstenzang (formerly of a16z) runs Umbrella [1]. You should check it out. [1] https://www.askumbrella.com/ https://www.askumbrella.com/

max_effort 7y ago

I used to volunteer at a senior community center in NYC and I've tried to do it in a few other locations. If you offer to help in a non-specific way, you likely won't hear back. There may also be liability issues they want to avoid, depending on the manner in which you'd be helping. I got replies when I offered to tutor people.