Abandoning the 'independent'

[maddezmom]

Abandoning the 'independent'
PERSONAL ESSAY
By LISA GRAY Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Sept. 18, 2008, 10:43PM


Villas on Winkler, a large, newish complex in southeast Houston, describes itself as a "community designed to provide affordable comfort, quality and serenity" for "independent seniors."

That's a tricky phrase, "independent seniors."

"Senior " is the easy part: It means age 55 or older. Independence is where things get sticky.

Many of the Villas' residents are elderly, frail or disabled. They don't need the services that "assisted living" provides; they can dress, bathe and feed themselves. But they can't necessarily walk down a flight of stairs, drive to another city, or lug ice and bottled water.

The complex wasn't in a mandatory evacuation ZIP code for Hurricane Ike. Though most projections warned that Houston could lose electric power for quite a while, no government entity bused the seniors inland.

Instead, management handed out fliers informing residents that they were in charge of their own storm preparations: "ARE YOU PREPARED FOR A HURRICANE? ... VILLAS ON WINKLER IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR EVACUATION!"

more:http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6010513.html