Retiree presses for Scottsdale adult day health care
Source: MSNBC ()
Because local politics these days is mostly about not offending voters, Scottsdale City Council meetings rarely create televised drama that stops you in mid-remote. Read Mark Scarp’s blog, ‘Scarpsdale’
If they did, more people might know as much about Scottsdale’s cable Channel 11 as they do about the national networks.
Once in a while, though, there’s an unscripted, unplanned moment - which means it almost always happens when a resident, not a city official, takes the City Hall Kiva microphone.
During these moments, some selfless, deeply felt words are spoken. They are words that demand action by their integrity.
Earlier this month, Bert Cutler uttered such words.
They weren’t too eloquent, and at least once he lost his place. He apologized for having a “senior occurrence,” something that, at 86, he knows about.
Mayor Mary Manross, normally a stickler for each speaker’s three-minute limit, allowed him some more time.
Bert’s not a fellow who spends a lot of time on local politics. A retired water resources engineer who has lived in Scottsdale since 1967, he’s traveled the world to 27 countries.
But today, Bert has more pressing matters than globe-trotting. They are at home, involving his wife of 65 years, Janet, which is why he went to City Hall that night.
I joined whomever else was watching Channel 11 in watching Bert Cutler talk about how he became Janet’s caregiver in 1998, the year of the onset of her Alzheimer’s disease.
‘In way over my head’
He spoke slowly and paused frequently. At first caregiving only involved driving her around town. But over time, it became much, much more involved as he took over more and more things Janet used to do herself.
“By 2005, I knew I was in way over my head,” he said.
Bert talked about how badly Scottsdale needs to once again have some of adult day health care.
The one and only such facility in the city, a storefront …