The Fall
Notes from an elder care crisis
5 min readMar 21, 2024
Two months ago, my octogenarian father fell.
The old people fall. We all fall, but when old people drop a trap door opens. A broken hip can mean a broken life. We’ve been through it twice now with dad. This time, he’s five years older. Five years deeper into ill health, five more years of smoking, stress, and sadness.