The Adult Family Home
Arriving at Elderly Care Home, Veronica had everything prepared for her. She and the caregiver greeted her warmly and to our relief, my grandmother loved it.
I wish I could say everything is perfect, it’s not nor will it ever be. My Grandmother is a solid level 4 Alzheimer’s Dementia patient with some days being much worse and that’s never going to improve, but her care has improved immeasurably.
Veronica has been fantastic about communication, the family is well informed about everything going on with her. They are finally working on readjusting her meds. The staff to resident ratio is just 1:3 at most, which means there is lots of personal attention and care for my grandmother. The caregivers themselves are excellent, using lots of reassurance and redirecting with her. They keep her active with different tasks, she socializes with the other residents and joy or all joys, she is crying a lot less.
This isn’t one of those stories where she’s back to her old self, that was never a possibility, but what has happened is the best that one could have hoped for. She is in a loving home, being cared for by excellent staff that love their job, she has a Provider that is incredibly passionate about what she does and for once, there’s someone actually dealing with the issues she has, instead of ignoring it.
As someone that has been in elder care for quite a long time, this is actually my first experience placing a loved one in an Assisted Living Facility or an Adult Family Home. Clients have told me their frustrations with Assisted Living Facilities, but I never personally experienced it. I’ve helped lots of people find quality Adult Family homes for their loved ones and one of my favorite parts of this job is seeing how happy clients are with the care their loved ones are receiving, it’s truly incredible. But again, I had never actually experienced any of this from the client side before.
It’s honestly very intense and I have a whole new appreciation for the stresses that my clients go through, the frustrations they feel, the heart wrenching decisions of when to finally move them and also, the joy of finding that perfect Adult Family Home and the relief of finally seeing your loved one receive proper care.
It’s given me a new passion and love for what I do. What people who have to place a loved one into an Adult Family Home go through is so difficult and being able to make that extraordinarily difficult time of their lives a little bit easier is something truly wonderful to me. When I talk to a client and they give me feedback after a tour, to hear them talk about a Provider that they just connected with, the excitement in their voice, this is the one. It’s always filled me with joy, but now I think it offers something deeper and more special, I know how they feel because that’s how I felt about Veronica and I see that same joy and relief in my own family.
This Christmas while visiting my grandmother, she told my parents that, “this was her home” and “these are her friends”, it’s the first time she’s said that since my grandfather passed away. Veronica gave my grandmother a sense of being home, of being loved, of being cared for, of belonging, of friendships and safety. To me, that is absolutely priceless and what I truly wanted for her, to have her sense of home back, to have the very best life that she possibly can and I honestly couldn’t be happier.
The fact that I get to help others find this for their loved one is such an honor and a special feeling. To give their loved one back a sense of home, safety, love, friendship and belonging. It’s certainly not what most people think about and not the most glamorous of things, but as a society I believe it’s one of the most important. To the very end, we prioritize our humanity, we ensure our most vulnerable are well cared for, not just in body, but in mind and spirit as well. That is why I love Adult Family Homes and especially Providers like Veronica. It’s why I love what I do. Every time another member of our wonderful elderly community is able to get that back is absolutely priceless to me. From a child newly brought into this world with a lifetime ahead of them to those at the very end, every life is precious and to me, our elderly are a reflection of our humanity and our love and care for them is a reminder to us all of what life is really about.
