I wanted to get a photo of Kelly Patrick to share with you. I’ve been putting up a lot of photos about Connie Martell and the people in her life, but there were few people in Connie’s life more important than Kelly Patrick, the night supervisor at the Mansion.
She always called Connie “Con-Con,” and Connie told me Kelly was like a daughter to her. When Connie was hurting, Kelly brought her food and tried to make her more comfortable. She got Connie up and moving and walking when she was in pain and discouraged.
The two of them loved one another, as happens at the Mansion between staff and residents. Health workers like Kelly do not make a lot of money, and their work is hard and intense. I try to consider the staff as much as the residents when I can.
I can testify that this is profoundly difficult work. It often involves tending to sores, changing bandages, getting people dressed, cleaning up accidents, helping get people into the bathroom, answering call button that howl all day.
They are not often recognized for what they do, and our imperfect system of caring for the elderly – our mothers and fathers – would collapse without them. You will never see them on the news.
Red visits with them in the office, and we sponsor (the Army Of Good) occasional pizza dinners and lunches for the staff. It brightens their day. I think they could use some colorful wool hats as well, it can become a symbol of the Mansion.
Today, I told Kelly she had to stop avoiding the camera and let me take her photo. She is shy and quiet.
She is a genuine hero, one you will never see on the news. I yelled “Photo Bomb” and Brittany and DorLisa got behind Kelly. I am loving the photo bombs I am taking, a new dimension in my photography. Everyone is smiling.
Kelly Nolan started it at the Blog.
It is not up to me to thank Kelly for the wonderfully loving care she gave Connie during her time at the Mansion, that is for others to do. But this kind of love and devotion is deserving of thanks.
“What does love look like?,” asked St. Augustine.
“It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy,” he wrote. “It h as eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sights and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.”
It looks like Kelly Patrick. These special people work so hard, and it is often thankless and difficult work. So thanks, Kelly, for existing, and lovingly doing the work so few people wish to do.
You inspire me.