A Tale of Longevity

On September 11, 2001, Willard Scott announced the 100th birthday of Molly Holzberg on the Today Show. Minutes, if not seconds later, the planes tore through the World Trade Center. How ironic that Mrs. Holzberg, who lives in Wynmoor, Coconut Creek, lived to witness an event that would change the course of history as she has also witnessed two world wars, the invention of the car, and every other life changing event that occurred during the course of a centennial and the changing of the millennium.

Born in Harlem in 1901, she is one of five children. She worked as a proofreader before marrying her husband Aaron when she was 20 in 1921. He owned an Army Navy Store and lived in New York until they retired and moved to South Florida approximately 35 years ago. He passed away 31 years ago.

Presently, Mrs. Holzberg, now 104, lives in her apartment with two home care workers, Angel and Henrietta. They take care of her house and her. They take her to doctors’ appointments and therapy. Her daughter, Harriet Kent, described her quality of life. “She still knows what’s going on. She doesn’t talk that much. She cannot see too well and she cannot walk that well because she recently fell and had a hip replacement operation, but she’s got a great will to live. My mother loves to listen to music, too. Henrietta and Angel give her life by taking her out everyday. They take her to malls and church. When they have anything to do, they take her with them.”

“She’s very easy to take care of,” Harriet says. “My mother gave me no problems at all. Financially we’re taking care of her [her brother and she]. My mother was not a very sick person. She had TB when she was a young girl, but everything else has been fine.” What does Harriet attribute her longevity to? “Loving life,” Mrs. Kent says of this remarkable woman. “She loves life. She has a wonderful attitude.”

Harriet has had to make health care decisions on behalf of her mother. Molly fell and needed hip replacement surgery. Harriet had to decide whether Molly should undergo the operation. “The doctor explained to me the options. He told me that if you let her heal herself, she’ll get pneumonia and die. If they operate, she may walk again.“ The decision was an easy one for Harriet. Not only did she survive the operation, but she is walking again with the assistance of others. When her home health aides take her to therapy, and Molly wants coffee, she makes her feelings known and Angel and Henrietta help her walk for the coffee.

Mrs. Kent had to also make a decision that all caregivers dread, and that was whether or not to put her in a nursing home. “Keeping her at home and not putting her into any homes was a difficult thing, but I promised her years and years ago that I wouldn’t put her into a home. That is how I feel,” Harriet said emphatically.

What is the cost of keeping her at home with two workers? Harriet replied, “It’s costing a lot of money to take care of her. The government doesn’t do a thing for you,” she continued with a tone of anger.

Harriet Kent is in a position to give helpful advice to other caregivers. “Be kind to them. Give them a kind word. Some of those home care workers, I can take and kill,” she said. “I have people around who report to me, tell me what they see and don’t see. People tell me how lucky I am to have Angel and Henrietta.”

Harriet warns caregivers about hiring the right home health care workers. “When you have people who come into your home, you have to be very careful. You really do. We have had the experience of someone stealing her identity, and I had a terrible time of it. You have to be very careful about whom you hire. You have to keep checking on them. It’s not easy keeping them in their home, but it’s better. They are in their own surroundings and they have their people around them,” she advises. “You can put them in a home, but I don’t care how good a home is, it still stinks. When people hire other people to take care of your loved ones, it’s terrible. I’ve seen how some of them talk to the elderly. I feel like popping them in the mouth. They are nasty and mean. This is the situation, unfortunately. It’s not good out there. You have to be smart enough yourself to take care of it. It’s a very difficult thing to do to find good people. They are few and far between.”

Not everyone lives to be 104, but caregivers can learn from this incredible woman and devoted daughter how to care for the elderly when they attain longevity.
 

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