Connections

We have a gentleman consumer who lives in a very rural part of the state.  He lives alone with no pets.  He has no family.  He is not able to drive himself any longer and has no friends who come to visit.  He is a veteran.  He is respectful and one of the most gentlemanly men we’ve ever had the privilege of knowing.   

When we started visiting him he was so lonely, he’d cry.  We found a caregiver who excels at taking on lost souls and opening their worlds.  Now his caregiver visits three times a week. 

He has started to smile more – to laugh when we visit him from the office and when we talk to him on the phone. With the help of his Bridges Supervisor, he has been signed up for meals on wheels.  Now he has one more person who visits him every day with a warm word and caring heart.      

It was suggested to him that he may like an Adult Day Program.  He hadn’t considered this option before but liked what he heard.  His caregiver found a way to get him to the center for a tour.  He liked it even better. 

His caregiver has now made it her mission to find a way to get him to the  Adult Day Program, almost 30 minutes away.  He never thought it was possible.   There is limited transportation in most of Maine and even less in rural Maine.  Even if there were, he is not comfortable with the thought of a cab, however his caregiver is now working with a  local Community Action Program to try to find a ride. 

She is still trying but we know she won’t quit until his wish is granted and he can visit others in the Adult Day Program on the two days a week that she is not there. 

Life is made up of connections and interactions, but this shows that it’s the quality of those connections that count and that can make a difference.

Home Care and Horticulture

We have a consumer who had a stroke when he was only 50 years old.  It has left him with dementia, speech impairments, and physical weakness.  When we first started visiting him over two years ago, he was bed bound or wheelchair bound at all times.  He had a catheter and was barely able to communicate.  He has since improved a great deal but still has far to go and is still wheelchair bound for extended outings. 

His wife is a full-time teacher and they have 3 teenage kids – all living at home and all very involved in extracurricular activities.  Since the stroke his wife has not only devoted every waking hour at home to his care, she has also remained very active in her kids lives – juggling her work, her kids individual and personal lives, and her home.  Although she has much on her plate, she still manages to spend time on the necessary household duties as well.  However when the stoke occured, they had numerous plants and they were starting to fade as there are only so many hours in the day.  

 A year ago, they had a new caregiver start visiting them.  The caregiver does his bathing and dressing, helps him to the toilet, and helps with any mobility needs he may have.  She tidies up after him, cleaning the bathroom and kitchen, making his bed and folding his laundry.  She provides a meal and does a little extra housekeeping as time allows. 

His wife was, and is, very happy with her.  His wife soon started to realize that their plants were looking better.   Each week they were healthier than the week before. 

During a regular conversation, we learned that the caregiver has a degree in horticulture.  Besides fitting in a very regimented and rushed schedule she took the time to make sure the plants got some needed attention as well.  Now his wife marvels at how good the plants always look and the fact that it’s the little things – the small gestures that sometimes make the biggest impact.

Don’t Take a Grocery Store for Granted

We care for a man who lives alone.  His caregiver usually does all of the grocery shopping for this consumer as his wife, who recently passed away, took care of that chore for the family.  On a nice day the gentleman wanted to go for a ride so his caregiver suggested he go to the grocery store with her.  At the store he was marveling at all of the new products and packaging.  When his caregiver asked, he told her that he hadn’t been in a grocery store in over twenty years!  

The trip to the store turned into a new experience for this man as he picked out a few items that he didn’t know existed before that day.   

After the caregiver left for the day, she called our office to share her excitement, saying that they had so much fun on their outing.  

Imagine a grocery store opening a whole new portal to the world!

The Best Hair Dresser Around

We have a consumer who was on the decline.  She has multiple sclerosis and it was taking its toll on her body and spirit.  She was not walking or bearing any weight.  In fact, she was being moved with a hoyer lift (the mechanical lift used to transfer patients when they can’t stand on their own).   She had lost her lust for life, didn’t care about the way she looked, and was generally unhappy.   

Her staff person was leaving and we needed a replacement.  We had a gentleman who we thought would be excellent.  He could work with her all of the 7 days a week and had a kind manner about him.  At first, she rejected the thought of a man coming to work with her.  After some convincing that he was a great fit for her, she hesitantly agreed to give him a try. 

Fast forward 1 year.  She now says that her male caregiver has “changed her world.”  She says that he is a “very compassionate, dependable, reliable worker who is with me 7 days a week!”   He has only taken 1 day off in the past year.  It’s the little things that he’s encouraged her to change.  She no longer needs the hoyer just to stand up – she can now stand for brief periods on her own.  Her attitude has completely changed.  She looks forward to his visits, she looks forward to life. 

She said he even went so far as to learn to do the “womanly” things she cannot physically do.  Like putting mousse in her hair and setting her hair and styling it.  She now is primed and proper when she receives visitors.  She smiles all the time.  She has a happy, musical tone to her voice when you talk to her. 

She says she is so lucky – she thinks that her caregiver must have missed his calling and should have been a hairdresser!

Easter Acts of Kindness

What a wonderful staff we have.  In Maine this weekend, it is predicted to reach almost 70 degrees!  That may not seem much for those who live in Southern states, but last Saturday didn’t climb out of the 20′s and then to add insult to injury, we had a week of rain.  70 is truly a gift and so are the staff members in the stories below.   

One consumer asked the caregiver for her husband who is a Hospice care patient, if he would come on Sunday.  She was concerned that she would not be able to cook Easter dinner for their children and grandchildren as well as take care of her husbands needs.  Their caregiver readily agreed.  She was so grateful, she called us right away to make sure we knew how important this was to her. 

Another consumer regularly receives a staff person every hour of every day.  Their regular person is out on a Leave Of Absence.  We had 2 people offer to fill in to cook a meal & celebrate with the consumer, covering the entire day and giving up their own beautiful spring weekend day. 

And the best for last: Another consumer doesn’t regularly receive visitors on Sundays at the nursing facility where he resides.  His only family is a nephew who lives out-of-state and visits as regularly as he can, but has limitations due to the travel required and his own growing family.  The person who goes on Fridays to visit him & provide companionship offered to go visit him on a scheduled day off and eat the Easter dinner there with the residents and her consumer so that he wouldn’t be alone.   

Whether you celebrate Easter or not, and whether these caregivers celebrate Easter or not, it is an act of kindness that they are doing these things solely for their consumer just “because” it matters.

Imagine the Little Things

Imagine the struggles those who are considered “obese” face daily – difficulty reaching and bending over; struggling even to move in confined spaces or the strain to remain standing for longer periods of time.  Couple this with the struggles that are faced with getting older – like being home-bound, having poor balance, less energy, and shorter breath.  There is no doubt about it - even the “little things” make life hard. 

Imagine it being a struggle to bend over to get a container of cranberry juice out from under a cabinet to get a drink, or changing the trash of your soiled depends if there is no trash can liner, or getting out vegetables & meat, getting the utensils, chopping the food & actually cooking it – bending over the oven door to move things in & out without being burned. 

Now imagine someone who comes in and always remembers to fill your cup with cranberry juice before they leave, who always leaves a prepared meal on a plate in the refrigerator, who always remembers a can liner for the trash can in your bathroom.  This person is an angel – “the best thing to happen to you in a  long time” – that’s what our consumer said about her PCA. 

These all seem like “little things” – things that are so easy we don’t even think about  them while we, ourselves, are completing them.  Imagine how lucky we are that we can’t imagine how someone filling a glass with juice would be a god-send!

The Heart Behind the Facts

A great BIG “THANK YOU” to Dan Harrington, free-lance writer extraordinaire, who has written the story “The Heart Behind the Facts.”  It’s a story about our blog here and is available online and will be published this week in the “Capital Weekly” Newspaper.  Check out the story at the link to the right and thanks for reading!

Road Trip Anyone?

Each year we get a call at the end of the summer to accompany a very sweet woman to one of her favorite locations in Maine – Old Orchard Beach (OOB).  She was raised there and for 3 years this has been her only request.   

She currently lives in a nursing facility - her home has long been sold and she no family or friends to visit.  However she has a state appointed guardian who has taken the time to get to know her.  He used to drive her past her house in her old neighborhood- and sometimes still does although she doesn’t recognize it any longer.  He knows how much she loved Old Orchard Beach in her younger days so each year to say good-bye to summer we pick her up at the Nursing Facility and she and our staff person drive down to OOB. 

Together they walk the boardwalk and along the beach.  They window shop and people watch throughout the fair like grounds.  They eat ice cream cones and cotton candy.  They laugh.  A lot.  She is happy and joyful.  At the end of the day our staff person puts the change from her money back into her zippered pocket and they return back to Central Maine with smiles on their faces.   

She may not remember the trip the next day but for those hours she is carefree and young again.  And although she may not remember the trip – each person that has taken her does…and will until someday someone is nice enough to take them to Old Orchard when they can no longer go alone.

Stress Free Surgery

Over a year ago, we had a woman call us.  Her husband has dementia and cannot be left home alone.  She had to have knee replacement surgery and would need to be in the hospital for 1-2 weeks.  He is most happy at home and not only is it difficult to find a “respite” bed at a local nursing facility, she didn’t want him to have to stay at a nursing care facility. 

She was very worried about how to be able to focus on getting better and not her husband while she was away.  She decided that hiring workers 24/7 while she was in the hospital would reduce her stress and ease her mind. 

The time rolled around for her surgery and with much communication of who was coming and when, our staffing started.  We provided care for him for almost 2 weeks in his house.  He got to maintain his schedule – stay in bed watching tv snacking away until well after mid-night each night and sleeping in each day.     

Several months ago she called again.  It was time for the other knee to be done.  This time we were providing the same services however we called her before the surgery to make sure she was still having it as we hadn’t heard from her.  Her answer was that, yes it was still scheduled.  She wasn’t worried about him at all this time – her stress was significantly reduced because she knew we’d take care of him.  Her recuperation this time was even shorter than it had been the last!

Who’s to Say When It’s Your Time to Go?

Last weekend, flights from Florida were cancelled for all over the east coast – and especially to Maine – due to yet another snow storm in the middle part of the coast.  On Friday afternoon we got a call from a social worker at a Nursing Facility where we frequently provide companions to Veterans – to sit and talk, go to activities, encourage engagement in an activity or something the once loved, especially for those who don’t have family near by. 

A gentleman there had Hospice services and was not expected to make it through the weekend.  His family was in Florida and couldn’t be with him, but didn’t want him to pass alone.  We were hired to visit with him for 10 hours each day to keep him company.  A volunteer would sit with him from 9:30-12:30 in the morning and then we would have the afternoon and evening.  We knew this was an important task and started making calls to available staff members.  Once such person committed her entire weekend ( from 12:30 in the afternoon to 10 at night) both days to do this. 

After the weekend, she said he was a delight.  They had a wonderful time and on Monday he was still doing very well; the scare appears to be over.   

The family was able to not only buy some companionship services – but bought their loved one more quality time in the process.  Priceless.