Tenuous system

In September, Big Mama’s main caregivers — Vivian and Portia — were both recovering from knee surgery. Nobody was available to check on her, and when her home-care aide didn’t show up — for four weeks in a row — Big Mama didn’t think to complain to the agency.

The no-show was nothing new, according to Portia. “They were only paying them a little more than $6 an hour; that’s just not enough to do all the things they’re required to do.”

Portia had already fired one of the aides earlier in the year after the woman stole from “Bicklema” — the nickname she gave her grandma before she was old enough to pronounce her nickname. (It was Portia’s brother who came up with “Big Mama,” for obvious reasons and for which no offense has ever been taken.)

Lucille Blackwell moves to her station wagon while her home-care aide, Benita Taylor, watches closely.

“She was stealing her food right out of the basement freezer and taking it to her car, and Bicklema couldn’t move fast enough from her chair to catch her doing it,” Portia recalls.

“Instead of getting mad about it, she actually prayed for her!” Portia adds, astonished. “She’d say, ‘God have mercy on her; she must need the food.’”

Toward the end of the four-week no-show, Big Mama became sick, confused and agitated — she’d never before exhibited signs of dementia. A sister who happened to be visiting at the time dialed 911.

At the hospital, doctors diagnosed a urinary tract infection. It was so severe that she stayed in the hospital for three weeks.