With Gratitude

"To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world."

- Bill Wilson [co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous]

❤️ We Are Deeply Grateful! ❤️

It is the people who have chosen to make a career of looking after the frail and most vulnerable that are the noblest of hearts.

To the care aides who are the front-line in my father's care, the LPN's, the nurses, the food service gals and guys, the cleaners, the leaders and the support teams, we have witnessed you move genuinely through the facility with such caring hearts. You were committed before Covid-19 and remain so during Covid-19, and contain the most beautiful of caring hearts and are the noblest of humans.

To these beautiful and caring hearts, please know that these blogs are not written to reflect negatively on any of you. We've seen the countless extra hours you work filling in for others. Somehow you make what is a hard and demanding profession look so natural. But we have seen the wear and tear and the exhaustion from such intense demands over the years. Please know that we are so very appreciative and deeply grateful to you. You truly are the noblest of hearts. You move through the care facility with confidence and your caring heart, unhurried, but getting to everything so effortlessly. Your care practices are proficient and virtuous. You generate trust from all and provide the peace of mind that we all wish for when we entrust our loved ones to your care. Perhaps the most telling testimonial is how my father lights up with a big, beautiful smile when his eyes land on you.

I felt compelled to write these blogs because I believe there is a need to have a conversation and understand what is acceptable and what is not when it comes to basic care. Our experiences and observations of my father's care and its impact on him seemed to correlate with the care aides' skills, experience, confidence, and care practices. It felt as if not all care aides came with the same training or skill levels. We empathized with the care aides who were new and didn't seem to have the same level of skill or confidence, and at times it seemed they were left to fend for themselves to administer their duties. Sadly, the impact on my father was not always positive. Perhaps it's time to take a good look at what is really happening and why it is happening? In an honest way ... because some of our experience and observations do not look or feel acceptable.

Perhaps my speaking out will create a deep relief for you. Relief that the concerns being written about in these blogs are finally being spoken. Perhaps these words are voicing concerns you have had but haven't been able to question. And yet deep-down you knew that the issues I’ve written about didn’t look or feel acceptable to you either.

Perhaps the system of long-term care has created a silencing within its core that contains pressures to remain silent about concerns that should be brought to light.

Please believe me when I say: remaining silent was truly tempting. But I simply couldn't travel this journey and bear witness to this and not ask the question, is this acceptable? Has a line been crossed here? Is this adequate care? So here, in these blog posts, I am asking the questions I could no longer morally contain.

I did want to acknowledge the care aides and staff who have chosen this profession because they do care for and about the frail and vulnerable. Your noble hearts truly resonate in your care and our seniors are truly blessed and so are we!

We are deeply grateful,

Thank you!