Being a Care Partner
In May I started a new ministry. A number of our sisters are at an assisted living facility which is not connected with our congregation. How do you keep strong and ongoing connections with them? Well, I am one of five "caregivers", who visit 5 or 6 sisters once a week. Though we are called caregivers our main purpose is to get to know these sisters, to see if all their needs are being met, to enjoy conversations together, and to have a few laughs. When this assisted living facility had to go into lockdown because of COVID cases we could not visit in person, but had to resort to calling. When the restrictions on visiting were finally lifted we found out how much our presence has meant to the sisters we visited. They were overjoyed to see us! However, we also discovered that we were just as happy to see them again. In today's lingo I would call this a win-win situation, but also an example of the importance of connections, especially through presence. Marie Lucek O