We May Be Fierce,But We Are Mortal

Those of us who come to Lakeside are among the Olympians of Aging. On average, we are in our 70^th decade of life. We are more educated, more informed, more affluent, more travelled, more active, and more independent than the average senior anywhere in the world. We are also mortal beings.

In Lakeside, the systems that would help us north of the border are not the same here. We are in a foreign country with customs, rules, and laws that govern us expats as well as its citizens. We need to know how they affect us in a crisis, and how to react.

Every week, the Lake Chapala Society gets a call from Cruz Roja, the police, or a local hospital trying to identify an expat in their custody or the morgue, hoping the person has completed an LCS Emergency Contact Registry Form. Too often, the person in need has not registered with LCS. Giving them the help they need gets delayed and is always more difficult.

We hear about expats who die alone at home with no system in place to check on their well-being. This lack of foresight results in a worried neighbor or friend eventually calling the police to break down the door. In this situation, the police are required to take the body to the morgue in Guadalajara. They are also likely to remove any property that might identify the person and their next of kin, like a computer, phone, and wallet. What happens next is a terrible mess that takes weeks to clean up and causes suffering for everyone involved.

Once, a friend of mine added my name and phone number to his driver’s license In Case of Accident Call, without telling me first. He had an accident. My number was wrong. I was able to help him only because his landlord drove by the crash and called me. I rushed to the scene just as they were loading him into an ambulance. The hospital could never have reached me. He was registered with LCS, but he hadn’t changed his emergency contact person to me after his wife died. This was a man with a PhD.

There are simple actions that you can take to ensure you get the care you need in a medical emergency. Always carry accurate identification in your wallet with the names and numbers of your doctor and at least two emergency contacts, especially your medical powers of attorney.

See a Notario to complete a legal medical directive which is necessary here if you are hospitalized in critical condition and treatment decisions have to be made for you by someone you trust. Be sure to pass around copies to the people you choose to speak for you in the event you cannot.

I typed a list of six key contacts in the US and six in Lakeside and copied everyone on the list so they can notify each other if I have an emergency or die. I included my doctor, my Notario, my housekeeper, and my contractor. I noted who has keys and who will take care of my dog in my absence. Each of them expressed gratitude. I felt relief.

Many expats live alone and have mobility issues that make them housebound. They can sign up for the LCS Reaching Out Program which was created during Covid. A volunteer will “reach out” by phone, email, or WhatsApp every day at an agreed-upon time. If the person does not respond by an agreed-upon time, the volunteer contacts their In Case of Emergency Contact to check on them.

Cruz Roja sells an Emergency Medical Information bottle at their Chapala office for 70 pesos. Instructions are in Spanish and English so Cruz Roja personnel can understand your medical conditions and necessary devices when they try to help you. It comes with a refrigerator magnet that the emergency medical personnel are trained to look for. If the magnet is on the refrigerator, they look inside for the bottle. It could save your life. Include a copy of your medical directive and your doctor’s card. Print carefully.

When one of us has an emergency that threatens our well-being, and maybe our life, it involves many people. Some are known to us and some are not.

We can’t expect a good ending to an emergency if we haven’t taken some steps to guide those who must care for us through the maze of different rules and procedures they will have to navigate. Are your loved ones prepared?

The belief that we are fierce is what inspired us to leave behind everything familiar to us. We arrived with a plan to spend our last years in this paradise. The belief that we are mortal is what reminds us that these are our last years. Let’s be wise elders and plan for the end with the same care and enthusiasm that we planned for the beginning.

Loretta is teaching a class on Living and Dying Well in Lakeside on August 8 &15, and October 3 & 10.