Why

Today I took my turn as the weekend manager on duty. Part of the duties includes a one hour shift at the gift shop after lunch where residents can purchase anything from stuffed animals and necklaces to paper towels and laundry soap. Mostly people come in to buy a small snack and to chat. One resident surprised me with this question. "So why did you want to work with old people anyway? So many of us are mean!" I laughed and said, "I like working with people in general. Besides, the nice ones make up for the mean ones."

 Later, as I concluded my final round for the day I ran into the daughter of a resident with whom I have had meetings off and on since I arrived here four months ago. Her mom's health has been declining, and our meetings have centered on how we could best meet her mom's needs. Finally, last week I had to tell her and her husband that the situation was such that we could no longer meet her mom's care needs in our assisted living and that we needed to transition her to our care center. Needless to say the conversation was emotional and difficult and was met with much resistance. It's never easy helping somebody realize that their loved one is probably not going to "bounce back" and that the decline is likely to continue. In many respects, that aspect of my job can be more difficult than dealing with cantankerous residents.

 Although I was receiving positive reports from my staff on this woman's mother, I was nervous as to how the daughter was perceiving the transition. After initial pleasantries, I turned the conversation to her mother. "I hear the first day was a little rough, as we would expect." She responded, "It was very rough as was the first night, but I think she's adjusting." To my surprise her voice suddenly shifted with excitement as she pulled our her cell phone. "I have to show you this! They're giving my mom physical therapy." She then proceeded to scroll through photos of her mom standing and taking a few steps. "She hasn't been able to do that for a while."

 It's hard to put into words why I love this job, but those pictures tell the story better than I can. The aging process can be full of so many indignities. Just this past Thursday I had a resident tell me, "Don't ever live to 95." It's unlikely that this family member's mother will ever be able to return to assisted living, but with the proper care we were able to restore a small part of independence to her. Even if the progress is small or temporary, that alone is worth all the mean residents combined.