Our work takes us into the lives of people when they are at their most vulnerable due to illness, injury, or sometimes just loneliness. Their lives have taken a turn which often means that the lives of the people who love them most have also taken a turn. “ How can I help my mom”? “What do I do to make life better for my husband”? “How can I be sure that my loved one is well cared for”?
These questions are often what prompts someone to call Family Private Care and with that phone call begins the relationship that we hope will lead to good answers to their questions and excellent care for their loved one. Our goal is to ensure that every client and family can “take a deep breath” knowing that the best care is being provided by outstanding care providers. These care providers are the heart and soul of what happens at Family Private Care; what they do is immeasurable to their clients and families, often going far and above what is expected. Sometimes, the end of our work with a client is when the client dies and only then do we hear the stories of what the care provider has meant to a family. Let me tell you the stories of two such situations.
Recently, we lost two clients, on the same day. In both cases, the families were shocked by the sudden loss of their loved one. We at Family Private Care were shocked and saddened as well. One of the care providers was with the client when he died, and I spoke with her at length after that just to see how she was doing. Later in the week I had the opportunity to go to the memorial service for one of the clients and to the visitation at the funeral home for the second client.
At the memorial service, I learned that the care provider had been asked to sit as a special guest with the Sunday School class of our client. She often accompanied him to Sunday School and church and the family insisted that she sit with this class. When I spoke with the family prior to the service, to the person, they could not say enough good things about the care provider. Our client’s wife had come to depend on the care provider not only for care for her husband but for personal support as well. She told me that she didn’t know what she was going to do without this particular care provider and that she was really going to miss her.
At the visitation for the second client, I spoke with the daughter of the client. I commended her for the care and comfort that she had given her dad, inviting him into her home to live with her and her family and providing for his needs in every way possible. She quickly told me that she couldn’t have done it without the care providers she had and that, in fact, two of the care providers were there at the Visitation. I spoke with the 2 care providers and told them what the client’s daughter had said and how appreciative she was for the way they cared for her dad. In just a few minutes, the daughter brought over several of her friends who had come to the visitation for her dad and introduced them to the 2 care providers, once again singing their praises and expressing her gratitude for everything they did for her dad.
These two experiences, happening on the same day, reminded me that the very thing that makes a good care provider an excellent care provider is that they care—deeply, purposefully, kindly, and with calling to their profession. Our hats are off to all those care providers who do CARE every day, but especially we want to say thank you to Maxine Spence and Carmen Malone for what they meant to the lives of these two clients and their families. Well done, Maxine and Carmen!
