I am not a caregiver in this case. I am a concerned and frustrated neighbor. I live in Philadelphia in a connected home. My neighbor is about 80 y/o. She is a hoarder and I suspect she has dementia. She wails loudly all night long and it is affecting our sleep. Sometimes, late at night she sits on our attached porch, half-dressed, with urine running down the sidewalk.
I used to feel compassion but she has been so mean and verbally abusive to us that most compassion is gone.
She has standing water in her backyard that she willfully refuses to dump, and we are now seeing cockroaches in our home. She has a leaking roof which also affects the entire row of homes. She hates us and won’t allow us on her property to fix some damage on our home, caused by her neglect, which is causing one of our interior walls to disintegrate.
She he has a daughter and son who want nothing to do with her. The neighbors and I have called the Philadelphia Corporation for Aging, the police, the fire department and Licenses and Inspections and they won’t do anything. Some say they cannot enter her home. She is quite canny and lucid during the day and will make it sound like she is a pillar of society and that we are filled with hate and anger at this poor old woman.
We can’t even consider moving until we are able to fix our home.
It is 3am and I am at my wits end at the wailing and moaning. Thanks for letting me vent about this woman with grown children who won’t get her the help she needs.
http://www.dhs.pa.gov/citizens/reportabuse/dhsadultprotectiveservices/
(abuse includes neglect, by the way).
As you have already chased your tail down a number of blind alleys, you'd better get your evidence together first so that you don't get dismissed as a disgruntled neighbour.
Take photographs of the dilapidation to her home, and the standing water.
Record the night time concerts from your side of the wall (of course!).
Keep a journal of incidents for, say, one week.
Write a summary giving dates, contacts and details of the history of the problem so that APS can see how it's developed.
If this still doesn't start the ball rolling, you and your other affected neighbours are possibly going to have to start an action for nuisance. That might concentrate those children's minds, but let's hope it won't become necessary.
How long have you been your neighbor? Was she always this way? Can you call a local mental hospital and report her as a danger to herself?