Creating the society that reflects compassion
Initially, suddenly finding myself out of work and isolating at home, sent me into a flurry of action. I began organizing every corner of my home and finishing projects, started months or even years ago. Our community was coming together to support each other in the most creative and amazing ways. Zoom, which I rarely used before, made its way into my everyday life.
As time went on, the reality of what we are facing began to sink in and my desire to organize my way out of it faded.
Discussions began to surface related to the rationing of medical treatment. It was reported that in Italy the young were being chosen over the old: in the US medical professionals were asking for ethical guidance in the event that a choice providing medical treatment to an able-bodied person over a disabled person is made; articles with headlines like “What a ventilator is and who gets one if COVID-19 turns catastrophic in Canada?” began to pop up.
Reports of COVID 19 impacts on seniors’ residences, long term care facilities, shelters and community group homes for adults with disabilities exposed inconceivable conditions. How on earth did we, as a society, get to the point where our collective action led to this? I wholeheartedly believe most of us agree that vulnerable seniors, disabled people and all other vulnerable people are not expendable members of our society.
It is my hope that when we finally get to the other side of this crisis, we will begin the hard work to ensure this belief is reflected in the society we share.
Helen Vassilakos
On behalf of PHP4 Climate Action