Tell their stories...

I have been more and more blessed and amazed at the inspiring stories of hope and endurance that I have heard from my diverse clients. Every time I walk into one of their homes I enter as a stranger with a mission to accomplish, make an assessment of their physical and emotions needs, and to take that assessment and assign services according to their needs. These services include providing an in-home worker to assist with daily living activities such as dressing, bathing, cooking, cleaning and companionship. There are options for home delivered meals, and Adult Day Center placement (where seniors can go to get out of the home in a supervised, enriching environment with educational, social and functional programs.) All of these services are funded by the State of Illinois through the Community Care Program. The programs mission is to eliminate early institutionalization of seniors by providing in-home services that allow the individual to stay as independent as possible in their own living space.

I enter a stranger and more often than not I leave almost as a member of the family. Often having heard stories of life changes and journeys that have not even been shared with children and grandchildren. Each time I hear these stories of travels to avoid persecution and death, opportunities of freedoms in a new land, and the sadness that is apparent in these stories of leaving a beloved homeland and life. I look at faded pictures of a different life and time. I hear stories of generations lost to the pains of war and a Holocaust that is still being lived through today.

Each time time I hear these stories I feel honored to be hearing them and feel a sense of duty to share them. And while the laws of privacy do not allow me to name the beloved ones that share them, I am able to share them with a sense of generality and tact. And so it is my goal to share these memories here, a place where the lessons of life, of loss, of valor, of bravery can be shared. May they bless those who read as much as I have been blessed to hear them first hand.

Thanks for reading...Michael