Missionaries, Hoarder Members And Supper Appts.

[MorningStar]

Oh Duncan. That's almost impossible w/o hurting her feelings.

You know what hurts my feelings?  Getting food poisoning.

[halconero]

I heard that celery helps with food poisoning.

[MorningStar]

I heard that celery helps with food poisoning.

Nuh uh.

[BCSpace]

Her feelings will have to be hurt from time to time if you want her to lead a reasonable life and not be a danger to herself and others. Individuals with Hoarding OCD have extreme difficulty responding to or even continuing treatment. Brain scans show a "decreased activity of the dorsal anterior cingulate gyrus, a part of the brain that is responsible for focus, attention and decision making". 

 

Someone, preferrably a family member, will have to get her out of the house from time to time while a crew goes in and cleans up.  The longer things pile up, the harder it will be to get her out.  Once the bathtub/showers fill up with trash, she will never have a shower or bath again unless something is done.

Edited July 3, 2014 by BCSpace

[MorningStar]

I've seen episodes of Hoarders where the plumbing breaks and the clutter is so bad, a plumber can't come in to fix it, so they people end up throwing waste/toilet paper in trash bags.  Is that going on in this situation, only the lady is using adult diapers? 

 

For my own safety, I would have to refuse to eat in such a place and tell the person it's not sanitary, even if it hurts their feelings. 

[Duncan]

I've seen episodes of Hoarders where the plumbing breaks and the clutter is so bad, a plumber can't come in to fix it, so they people end up throwing waste/toilet paper in trash bags.  Is that going on in this situation, only the lady is using adult diapers? 

 

For my own safety, I would have to refuse to eat in such a place and tell the person it's not sanitary, even if it hurts their feelings. 

 

 

I know she plays fast and loose with the diaper thing, she leaves them around, wears them with company over..................but as to the disposal issue I am not sure, maybe she leaves them around and later throws them out? The MP wife is also responsible for health so the sisters are going to tell her to tell this lady, 'look......at the very least the sisters aren't eating here anymore'. I emailed previous sisters who served here and ALL of them reported sickness from eating there and so they are done with that scene

[rongo]

Not quite on-topic, but in East Germany in the mid 1990s, we had an old lady in adult diapers (living alone) whom we frequently visited and took out her garbage (adult diapers and primarily potato peelings and fish carcasses ---- she ate a lot of fish). She didn't have any interest in the Church and didn't let us teach her, but without us, I shudder to think of what she would have done. She couldn't really walk, but could shuffle around enough to clean (her apartment was as clean as she could make it, but it smelled due to the diaper situation and what she ate). She was completely incapable of taking out her garbage (she was on the third floor and could never make it down the stairs). We would visit, take out her garbage, get a shopping list and money, and buy what she needed. We would also talk with her (she was lonely), and she would clip current events articles out of the newspaper for us. She thought we especially wanted to keep up with the latest on David Hasselhoff . . .

 

It is her and hundreds like her that I think of when people state that knocking on doors is completely ineffective. There are lots of people like her who need help and would never otherwise be found, even if they don't result in a convert baptism (she initially told us she wasn't interested, but when we asked her if there was anything we could do to help her, she asked if we could take her overflowing garbage down to the dumpster).

[followerofemmanuel]

I VTed a home where the kids slept on mattresses on the floor, the place reeked on cat urine, had the pizza boxes, etc over table and floor and dirty dishes spilling out of the kitchen and the kids had been sent home from school with lice multiple times. I had long hair at the time and sat on the edge of my seat and daily checked my hair for sometime afterwards.

We took in one of the sons for a time, I have never seen a boy keep his room so immaculate. I think he developed the habit because it was one of the few things he had control over in his life (we found out there was abuse in the home, it had been heart breaking before...I used to spend the nights I couldn't sleep designing the kids' bedrooms in my head in some inexpensive and easy to keep up way...it was almost unbearable to think about afterwards). The ward helped the family move into a new home and fixed it up for them, but it was out of the ward boundaries and we moved not long after so I don't know how they fared.

You have a beautiful, kind and charitable spirit.

[Calm]

You have a beautiful, kind and charitable spirit.

For children...won't argue there, wish I could take the world in. There is something in a child who is open, willing to trust and so needs your attention....I can't refuse it. Except for the kids who are arrogant, look on others like dirt and play malicious games that can destroy the heart of another. For those, I want to strip them from their privilege heights, put them in a place where no one know them, with poor and dorky clothes so they can learn how the more vulnerable children feel and maybe, just maybe they will have some sympathy.

For the parents who put their child into an abusive situation (and an extremely messy house is an abusive siuation) not so much niceness if they refuse to accept help and work with others to create a better life for their children.

[mfbukowski]

nevermind

Edited July 4, 2014 by mfbukowski

[followerofemmanuel]

Not quite on-topic, but in East Germany in the mid 1990s, we had an old lady in adult diapers (living alone) whom we frequently visited and took out her garbage (adult diapers and primarily potato peelings and fish carcasses ---- she ate a lot of fish). She didn't have any interest in the Church and didn't let us teach her, but without us, I shudder to think of what she would have done. She couldn't really walk, but could shuffle around enough to clean (her apartment was as clean as she could make it, but it smelled due to the diaper situation and what she ate). She was completely incapable of taking out her garbage (she was on the third floor and could never make it down the stairs). We would visit, take out her garbage, get a shopping list and money, and buy what she needed. We would also talk with her (she was lonely), and she would clip current events articles out of the newspaper for us. She thought we especially wanted to keep up with the latest on David Hasselhoff . . .

 

It is her and hundreds like her that I think of when people state that knocking on doors is completely ineffective. There are lots of people like her who need help and would never otherwise be found, even if they don't result in a convert baptism (she initially told us she wasn't interested, but when we asked her if there was anything we could do to help her, she asked if we could take her overflowing garbage down to the dumpster).

Bless you for the way that you serve, in love and compassion.

[juliann]

This sounds like something for Social Services.  I can't see where helping her is helping, it is just allowing her to continue to put others at risk.  This is for Virginia but has good information,  I would assume all states have some sort of agency that deals with this.

 

http://www.pwcgov.org/government/dept/publicworks/ns/pages/hoarding.aspx

 

 

Knowing the conditions that experts deem as unsafe in a residence can save saves lives and protects neighborhoods.

 

Reporting unsafe living conditions to Property Code Enforcement when you see them can only help the situation.

 

 

Unsafe living conditions that need to be reported to the property code enforcement team also includes homes with clear maintenance issues that cause hazards.