The Mission of a Caregiver

“All right, Miss Dorothy, let's go to the bathroom. Walk toward that light.”

I held my arm firmly under hers and guided her and her walker toward the bathroom. Later, I

guided her to the table for lunch. I am still learning to do this, with help from those who have been

doing it longer, but I am getting there.

I give Miss Dorothy her plate, and she talks to me in broken words as she eats. Sometimes I

can understand, sometimes I can't. Mom comes over and asks Miss Dorothy who I am. “J-Jessica,” she

replies. I ask Miss Dorothy who Mom is, and she can't remember. Strange, considering the fact that I

have been working here for a few months and mom has for three years. Mom says Miss Dorothy likes

me. Miss Dorothy's memory comes and goes, but she always has a smile. And she loves her husband,

Jim Mack.

A week later, after trying to get up by herself twice, narrowly avoiding a fall, Miss Dorothy is

finally convinced to settle back down in her chair. “Do you want your baby?” My co-worker, Martha,

asks. She picks up a baby doll wrapped in a pink blanket.

“Ooh, a b-baby! I wish I h-had one.” Miss Dorothy croons.

“Well, this is your baby.”

Miss Dorothy takes the doll with tenderness, and I can almost see tears in her eyes as she she

lifts it to her breast. “Oh, my baby.”

I almost start crying myself as I watch hints of memory cross over her face. In her mind, is she

holding Kenneth or Homer Dee, giving them a bottle or nursing them through a cold? She holds the

doll for several moments, then is ready to rest again.

As I take care of Miss Dorothy, I am constantly reminded that even though her mind is not

what it used to be, she is precious and to be treated with dignity. Even though her years of working

hard and raising her babies are over, she has her memories. They may be locked up somewhere in her

mind due to her Alzheimer’s, but they are there. Being a caregiver is not only a job, it is fulfilling a

mission to help safeguard these people in their sunset years, to treat them with respect even when they

have to be taught the same things over and over again, to hold their hand when they are weak, and once

in a while, when possible, to help them remember.