Intimate moments of joy make caregiving rewarding!
At 1:30am I got a call from the personal emergency response system (PERS) for one of my clients. The message was cryptic and unsettling: “Person number one is not responding! Person number one is not responding!”
Hmm. So I called her and she was fine — bright as could be! I apologized for waking her up. She said – “you know I don’t sleep!”
I suspected that her PERS pendant — which allows her to push a button to call me if she falls or has another emergency — just needed batteries. But I wasn’t sure so I asked her if I could come over to her house and check it out. She said: “If you want to come over here in the middle of the night you’re welcome to!”
Now, I usually dress nicely for my clients, but this was the middle of the night! So I threw on my jeans and turtle neck, tried unsuccessfully to brush the “bed head” out of my hair, and got in my car. When I arrived she was in her pajamas, looking so cute!
We set about reading the PERS manual and figuring out how to change the batteries. She said: “you know, if you get tired of the stress of taking care of all these old ladies, you can get a new job changing batteries – you’re good at it!” I howled, brushed the sleep out of my eyes, and gave her a big hug. Then we started joking about what the neighbors would think if they saw my car in her driveway at two am: they will think you have fallen again! So we decided to tell them we were just having a slumber party. Maybe we should pop some popcorn and open the windows so they will get the full effect!
By the time I left I was smiling ear to ear. I have the best job in the world! All these little intimate caregiving moments: they are what makes life so sweet and what makes my work as a geriatric care manager so rewarding. Thanks for sharing your mom with me. She brings me joy at each and every hour of the day!
Hi there, just wanted to mention, I loved this article. It was inspiring. Keep on posting!