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Fresh out of Grad school I
jumped into a job as an Activity Supervisor for a skilled nursing
facility in order to fulfill the requirements of an internship for
my Registry as a Drama Therapist. I wasn’t necessarily impassioned
to serve the elder population. But that would all change in a hurry.
It all began when . . .
One day I was busy trying to find willing participants for a game of
bowling in the dining room. I was told that Euleta would enjoy
bowling. Though she was a wheelchair user and struggled to raise her
head, she was very alert and participatory. I soon stumbled upon her
in a hallway, quietly seated in her wheelchair with a small basket
of washcloths and soaps in her lap. I asked her if she would like to
bowl with us. She declined the offer, saying that she was waiting on
a shower. I immediately recognized that she had situated herself
directly adjacent to the shower door. She proceeded to tell me how
her request for a shower had repeatedly been put off.
“That makes me sad to hear that, Euleta,” I responded.
“It makes me sad too,” she replied.
That
day, the CNA in charge of her neighborhood walked past her
repeatedly without ever acknowledging her. Euleta sat patiently and
quietly, her silent appeal for assistance going unheeded. I assured
Euleta that I would see to it that she got her shower, but that I
had to go and get the bowling game started.
An
hour later, I returned to find her in the exact same spot, still
quietly waiting with shower basket in hand. I asked if her CNA had
spoken to her yet. She hadn’t. Just then, the CNA whisked past us. I
asked her if she was able to give Euleta a shower.
“I
can’t. I have to go on break now,” she quipped.
“Can you get to her after break?”
“No, I can’t. I’m the only one on the floor,” she retorted.
The CNA hurried off and I looked into Euleta’s eyes as they welled
up with tears.
“Please take me back to my room,” she said with resignation. “I’m
too old to cry.”
This
story and the ensuing song, Too Old to Cry moved 165 Activity
Professionals to their feet in a standing ovation at the conclusion
of my first Kansas Activity Director Association conference in 2006.
And I was just the new kid on the block, dragging my guitar out of
the trunk of my car on a whim to share what gripped my heart. The
experience was the catalyst of my album, The
Person in the Picture Ain’t Me which was released a year
later. And I have been singing the songs and sharing the stories
ever since.
My Mission: To empower others toward
compassionate care-giving and adventurous aging
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