I have been a geriatric social worker for eight years and a care coordinator with Rothkoff Law Group for over three. I knew I wanted to work with the geriatric population when I was completing an internship at a long-term care facility in South Jersey during my senior year of college. I fell in love with the elderly population and knew that I wanted to help seniors have a good quality of life and be treated with dignity and respect. I also wanted to give them the chance to talk about their lives and feel heard. Working with the elderly is not always the easiest job, and there can be a lot of heartaches that come with this line of work. It became especially difficult during the pandemic when there was so much fear, confusion, sadness, stress, and uncertainty. This left many people in the healthcare industry feeling exhausted and burned out.
My grandparents live in a Continuing Care Retirement Center (CCRC) in Maryland. My grandfather, or as I like to call him, “Grampy,” has always been quiet, but he is the most brilliant man I have ever met. He was a scientist and worked on the first space shuttle that went to the moon. He also had a love of painting and was an incredible artist. My grandmother, “Grammy,” taught at a school for the deaf and later gave tours at the Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. She was always so proud to share with people that her husband is mentioned in the museum. My grandparents have been happily married for 70 years, and I have always been in awe of them.
For years, Grammy and Grampy resided in independent living even after my grandfather was diagnosed with dementia. Before Christmas last year, Grampy was moved into memory care. It was a hard decision to make, but his safety was important to my family. A week later, I gave birth to my first child, a daughter. While I tried to stay connected and talk to my grandmother on the phone, I was not able to visit them until recently.
My husband and I brought our 7-month-old to visit, and my grandmother walked us down to memory care to see Grampy. There, we completed our COVID tests and went into the locked unit. My grandfather was just finishing an activity, and his face lit up when he saw my grandmother. He jumped up to greet us and asked who I was. Grampy led us to his room, and I got a little choked up when he turned to take Grammy’s hand as they walked together. My grandfather was able to hold my daughter while talking to and playing with her; a smile never left his face. He looked great! He was clean, dressed nicely, and freshly shaved. After a while, we left the memory care unit and returned to independent living with my grandmother. It was a great visit.
This visit really helped put things back into perspective for me as I was able to step outside of the social worker/care coordinator role and experience the visit as a family member. It was beautiful to see my grandmother being treated with such kindness by the staff and how happy she was to see my grandfather was doing so well. This visit reminded me why I wanted to work with seniors in the first place. While no senior living community is perfect, and we are all feeling the strain that the pandemic left on the healthcare industry, the people who remain passionate about advocating for the elderly continue to work toward residents being treated with dignity and respect, like my Grampy. I advocate for seniors so every grandchild, like me, can have the same peace of mind in knowing that someone will stand up and advocate for those that they love and admire so much.
If you would like to see my grandfather’s honorary mention with the National Air and Space Museum, you can read more by clicking here.