Very few of you may know that I recently started working for a company here in Bloomington called Comfort Keepers. As an in-home senior caregiver for Comfort Keepers, I am responsible from anywhere from 1-5 clients a week, doing whatever it is they may need, or what their insurance pays for me to do, at their house.
Sometimes the things I have to do are as disturbing/gross as you may think they are. I do have to give sponge baths, bubbles baths, assist with showering, toileting, etc. On the flip side, though, I also have the honor to offer them companionship. Some of these clients are veterans, authors, and some, if not most, are retired professors from our own Indiana University. The majority of them, as esteemed as they are, don't have family visitors in their home, so in between me assisting with house cleaning and grooming, I also get to keep them company.
And it's as simple as that. This job has really opened my eyes to the way our generation, and our parent's generation, treat the elderly. Before I was employed by Comfort Keepers, I was the same as probably many of you: I talk to my grandparents when my mom or dad force me to call them and thank them for the check or card I got in the mail, or when it's that 'time of year' to call them (aka any holiday). Now, I call my grandmother much more often. I started routinely calling her once a week. It no longer feels like a chore, because I have now realized the way that we treat her generation isn't the way it should be. She shouldn't be treated as a chore. We have to remember all that they've done for our parents, for us, and if they're veterans, for example, our country.
I normally have, on average, three clients a week- all very sweet ladies and gentlemen, and most are inflicted with either Alzheimer or Dementia, a couple sometimes even have Parkinson's. They didn't ask for this, they didn't know that they would one day forget what they ate for breakfast that morning, or even that they have to use the bathroom; so it makes me incredibly sad when I have never, not once, met any of their family members. A couple of my clients I am with 35+ hours a week. Their families live here in Bloomington, and when these individuals do remember things, that's what they remember- their children, grandchildren, siblings. The conversations I am trained to have with agitated or forgetful clients are ones about their childhood, family and friends, because it calms them.
This isn't meant to be a rant about the neglect inflicted on the elderly, but in a way it is. I think, as millennials, we have a lot going on around us. At times, we have a TV, a cell phone, and a laptop in front of us. We have studying to do and friends to hang out with. It seems impossible to have time to spend time and create a better relationship with your grandparents, but there's always time. When it comes down to it, your grandparents are among those of whom will be the proudest of you when you succeed, graduate, or get a new job.
It's as simple as a phone call, or a letter, even. My grandmother lives in southern Florida and my grandfather lives in Colorado Springs, and I try my best to talk to them weekly. If I can manage that, then my clients' families, where some family members live just down the street, can make time to stop by and say hello or eat dinner with them.
If a simple conversation about their children can help seniors with an easily frustrated mind get calmed down, imagine how a phone call or a visit to your grandparents would make them feel. Don't give up on them, they deserve attention and love until they can't get it anymore.
