A Republican Congresswoman who has been “missing” for the past six months has finally been found.
Rep. Kay Granger has served as the representative for Texas’s 12th Congressional District since 1997.
However, she suddenly disappeared from the public eye around July this year, when she cast her final vote against an amendment to reduce the salary of Deputy Assistant Administrator for Pesticide Programs to $1.
A curious reporter at the local Dallas Express newspaper did some digging on Granger’s whereabouts and has finally been able to give her constituents some answers.
[…]We then received a tip from a Granger constituent who shared that the Congresswoman has been residing at a local memory care and assisted living home for some time after having been found wandering lost and confused in her former Cultural District/West 7th neighborhood.
The Dallas Express team visited the facility to confirm whether Granger was residing there and to inquire about how she planned to vote on the spending bill. Upon arrival, two employees confirmed that Granger is indeed living at the facility.
81 is current average US female life expectancy. Where would you suggest people ‘get old’?
we were talking about dementia, not “getting old”. 81y life expectancy means if you look at the cohort of females born 81 years ago, about half of them will have already died, heart disease being the biggest cause. The relevant question is how many of them (both the dead and living ones) will have had bad enough dementia to have needed to be in a care home for it specifically? I don’t mean for mild forgetfulness, occasional senior moments, etc.
81y (actually 80y per 2021 table, https://www.ssa.gov/oact/STATS/table4c6.html ) is the life expectancy at birth. For a 80yo US female, life expectancy from the same table is 9.38y. So the ones who are still alive at 80 still have some “gas in the tank”. My mom is up there in age and she needs a lot of assistance getting around etc, but it’s mostly physical issues.
She is in a “adult community” (i.e. apt. complex for old folks) and I spend a lot of time there seeing her. I see tons of over-80’s there. A few really do have serious dementia, but most are at other levels of independence with many rolling around in wheelchairs while still mentally present. Dementia care is a different thing and it’s not that common for someone who is “only” 81 to need it.
My mom at 81 was still mentally quite sharp. She’s slowed down since then but it’s mostly mobility and sleeping a lot. President Biden seems to have some dementia issues but again, they aren’t severe enough that he needs to be in a care home for it.
See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dementia_caregiving