Tia Smith is a Mansion aide, I call them the Better Angels. They work hard, are paid little, are unfailingly patient and caring. You have to have a lot of heart to work as an aide in a Medicaid Assisted Care facility.
Tia works the night shift and makes sure everyone has taken their medication and gets to bed comfortably.
She and others are on the front lines of this unsparing and emotional work, they are the humanity that the residents cling to, the only people they often see day in and day out, and in the most intimate and difficult settings, from getting dressed to going to the bathroom to help taking medications, dealing with all kinds of accidents.
They take care of our aging mothers, and sometimes our fathers as well.
In a just world, they would be handsomely paid for the critical and urgently necessary work they do. They are the people the residents turn to when they are sad, lonely, frightened or sick.
They know who needs slippers, socks, pants, sweaters, robes and underwear because they help the residents dress. They monitor their medications, fill in their memory blanks, I’ve seen the many times pay for things out of their own pockets if the residents are short of cash.
They have inspired me and also helped me to understand what help is, and who really needs it. Tonight, the residents came to me – some asked Tia and Megan to talk to me – and I came home with a list of things that are needed: shoes for the Fall, stretch pants, nightgowns, winter bathrobes.
I’m on it.
It’s going to be cold this weekend, and I know on Monday I will have a bigger list of things than usual, and I will make my rounds of thrift stories and visits to Amazon. Time to make sure everybody has what they need to be warm.
Sometimes the angels take me aside in the hallway and tell me somebody’s shoes have holes, and sometimes they come up to me on my rounds with Red and slip me a piece of paper that says “Donna: size 10, sneakers/fall shoes.” Nothing else needs to be said, I go and find a shoe that size and bring it to the Mansion.
I try to do it quickly, i don’t like money to sit around in the Mansion Fund.
Small acts of great kindness. I wanted to make sure tonight to honor these dedicated people who brighten some hard lives. They represent our Better Angels to me, it gives me great hope to see everyday how good some people are who share our world.
This work is a calling, it can be hard and unforgiving, and some day, as compassion grows in the world, they will get the recognition and compensation their jobs deserve.
And tonight, Peggie came up to me at Bingo and said a friend has offered to pay to take her on a short cruise, somewhere beautiful and warm for a couple of days. Peggie wants to go but she has no suitcase with wheels, something she would need to travel. She leaves Tuesday.
I told her I’ll find one Saturday somewhere, and have it her before Wednesday. I’ll be checking around tomorrow.
If you want to support this work, please send your contributions, large or small to Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or via Paypal, [email protected]. Please write “The Mansion” on the check so I can make sure it goes where you want it to go.
And thanks.