My Mom OD'd

Someone mailed me to say my mother had taken an overdose of sleeping tabs by mistake and had been found unconsious next to her bed, and was in hospital.

But she is OK; I've spoken to both her and the doctor.

But this brings me to the point in my life I'd been hoping to delay as long as possible. I've got to get her over here. She's 86 and mentally sharp but lives all by herself in a house that's falling apart.
Not even the running water is working, because the water pressure is too low. She has to fetch water from the yard in buckets. And she lives on the first floor so there's a staircase to manoevre.
and has no-one nearby to help except one or two helpful young women. I'm her only child. No other relatives in the whole country. I've got to get her here. But how? I tried 20 years ago and she coulnd't get a permanent visa.

(And no, it wasn't a suicide attempt. She's the last person who would attempt suicide.)

Thanks to everyone for their kind wishes. It's one of those things that has been looming in front of me for years, and there just isn't a perfect solution.

Even if I get her to Germany (I might be able to get her in under UN humanitarian grounds, seeing as I am her next of kin) she would never be happy here. We have lots of room for her but she does not speak German (Though knowing her she would learn it!) and she's be bored to death; it's quite a sterile environment and she has been active her whole life in public life. She just can't stop.

The other alternative would be for her to move to England, where I'm sure she'd get involved in stuff quite quickly (her passion is Consumer affairs). My kids, bless their hearts, have offered that she could live with them. But there is no room in their flat and I can't get a bigger place for all of them. And I don't know if it's fair to burden two young people with that responsibility.

Oh well. Maybe a new solution will present itself in due course. I really need to go over there and sort things out but I can't leave my husband. It's a complicated knot.

Thanks for your kind thoughts!
My mom owns her house in Guyana. Her only income at the moment is from renting one room in the house - she can hardly make ends meet as it is, Even if we rent her house, we won't get much from it as it's in disrepair and I can't afford a renovation wight now - plus it's not possible to take money out of Guyana. So that's the problem!

Supporting her once she;s here wil not be a problem - I donlt know anyone in the world who is so undemanding. She eats like a bird and does't care about clothes.

The main problem in bringing her to Germany is medical insurance. That was why she couldn't stay last time. It is compulsary here, and there is a cheap system for people on low income. She would not be eligible for that. She would have to get private medical insurance - but the private companies don't take any new clients above the age of 60. So it would be even harder to get now. (i think there was one company that did - but you have to pay like $2000 monthly!)
The only way we could get her a permanent visa would be to put a huge amount of money in a deposit to cover any medical costs that might crop up during her lifetime. Since they cannot refuse medical treatment the state is afraid of having her as a liability.
Anyway, tomorrow I'll be investigating the options. I am really going to go for that humanitarian aspect; i think if she can get in under those grounds she'll get the cheap health insurance.

My mother is a dynamo. She's also a writer. I think if she does come here she'll be surfing the net all day long! Maybe she'll join AW!