Homemaker Services

“A test of a people is how it behaves toward the old. It is easy to love children. Even tyrants and dictators make a point of being fond of children. But the affection and care for the old, the incurable, the helpless are the true gold mines of a culture.”
–Abraham J. Heschel

The first program I looked at when I started writing for the Partnership was the Elderly and Disabled Victims Program, and in my post on it I talked about how important it is to take care of the elderly – if not out of respect then at least through the selfish realization that we will all be in their shoes given enough time. There is more to caring for the elderly than saving them from abuse though, and the Partnership provides more long-term care through its Homemaker Services.

I recently met up with Sheryl Dungan, a caseworker with Homemaker Services, and shadowed her while she worked. She explained to me that homemakers visit clients once or twice a week to help with cleaning, groceries, laundry, meals, and access to community resources to help with things like bills, expenses and room and board. They also drive clients to doctor visits, pick up their medicine, help with essential shopping for items such as clothing, and write out checks. Clients don’t always need all of these services, but they are all available. Each of the program’s homemakers is attached to one of its two caseworkers, who in turn visit clients regularly to make sure that adequate service is being provided in addition to organizing and coordinating the work of the homemakers. “Our goal is to keep them at home,” she said, “to maintain self-sufficiency.”

On this day Sheryl was checking up on a very special client named Roberta. Roberta has devoted her whole life to caring for others – she has raised a whole generation of foster children and was herself a homemaker until she was 78 years old. I was too polite to ask how old she was, but she gave me her birthday and let me do the math*. She is so used to helping others that she has trouble sitting back and letting others do for her now, but when I met her she was so tired from a marathon church session the night before (she still sings in the choir) that her protests were more playful than anything.

Roberta’s homemaker is Brenda, an affable woman in scrubs who works harder in a day than I do in a week and complains much less, but that could be said about almost anyone at the Partnership. Brenda’s been with the program fifteen years, during which time she has only seen one man hired. She winked as she told me that she’s also seen one man quickly leave because he couldn’t handle the work (Eat your heart out Mike Rowe). She worked in a nursing home before coming to Homemaker Services, and while we all understand that nursing homes are sometimes necessary, her experience with them is part of what drives her to do everything she can to keep her elderly clients living in their own homes. She also explained to me what’s entailed in essential shopping; it’s not just food and medicine, it’s also things like books. Books might not seem necessary, but one of her clients is on dialysis, and without his books to read he would be stuck at the hospital staring at a wall for hours on end.

Brenda took a break when we arrived, and we all sat down around Roberta. The three of them spent a long time talking about their experiences as homemakers, remembering triumphs and failures (the latter are surprisingly few), as well as moments of laughter and sadness and the strange hybrids of the two that working with the elderly can often bring. So many of their stories ended with one of them asking, “Whatever happened to her?” and another softly saying, “They passed on,” that I had to ask how they deal with the constant loss that goes hand-in-hand with serving a population at the twilight of life. The recipe seems to be a potent mix of faith and a very stubborn sort of grace, but they’re still not immune to the effects of death. “That’s the most painful thing for all of us,” Brenda said about clients who pass on.

They also told me that the program’s funding is in danger – there is a very real possibility that at the end of this contract year Homemaker Services will no longer be able to pay two caseworkers, which will mean a loss of service for vulnerable elders as far away as Rhea County. That was something to be worried about another time however, because now was the time for work. I would like to say that I did a lot to help, but by the time I had changed Roberta’s linens the floors had been mopped and vacuumed and the garbage and laundry had been carried out - I felt a little useful all the same. As Sheryl and I prepared to leave, Roberta took our hands, smiled, and said, “Thank you, I love you, sweeties.”

We love you too, Roberta.

“Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and the wrong. Sometime in your life you will have been all of these.” –Dr. Robert H. Goddard

*It’s 1918 if you want to play the home game.