Years ago, I was looking to help others, but I didn't know what to do and where to go.I looked around, I prayed, I searched online, I looked at my competences and gifts and suddenly I knew it.
Because I was a teacher for twenty and something years at that time, I enjoyed to be among children, but now my heart was opening for elders and their needs. I had left my parents over the Ocean and I was missing them day and night.
My love for them overflowed towards seniors.
I had the chance to take a class about people with Alzheimer and that opened my eyes in a terrible world.
Helen was almost sixty years old when she was diagnosed with Dementia . Thin and well dressed, she lived with her husband in a condo on the fifth store .Her dear soul mate helped diligently, and treated her with dignity and respect. But more tragedy stroke their life: one morning, Helen found her husband dead. While dealing with great fear and sadness she knew to go and ask one of her neighbors for help.
Helen's life changed drastically. Nobody could come and live with her. Her children had their own lives, no one could take in their mother. Anyway, they made some arrangements with their mother's neighbor to go and check upon her everyday.
When I met Helen she was at a day center for people with Alzheimer. Every day from Monday to Friday a van sponsored by the city hall would come and pick her up from her place at 9 A.M. She knew how to get dressed and to come down the stairs and wait for the van. She enjoyed going to the day canter. There it was the place where she was loved unconditionally and got the strength she needed to move on one day at a time.
She liked when I held her hands. She liked singing. When she couldn't remember the words and looked at me with confusion, I would sing with her. I would keep her at my chest and comfort her. I would pray for her and whisper words of encouragement in her ear.
After a few hours she had to go back to her little home, to warm herself some soup and play with her cat.
