Gina’s Story Part I
Why I founded Your Own Home Care LLC
I first became aware of the challenges of safely aging at home, when my father died years ago. My mother was left in her home alone with no family members nearby. She had no medical issues requiring skilled care but it quickly became evident that she couldn’t take care of herself and the house without some kind of supplemental support. Neighbors called to tell us that she was no longer capable of living alone and all my family members were hours away. At that time home health care was in its infancy. We moved her to a facility in another state near my sister who couldn’t take her into her home. None of us wanted to put her into a facility but at that point there weren’t any other options. She went into assisted living and was very unhappy that we had moved her out of her “retirement” home…the one place where she was truly happy. I don’t think she will ever let me forget that. Today she is in a nursing home with supplemental care. The image of her sitting in her wheelchair in the middle of the day room uninterested in everything around her, and visions of her tiny room with just a few of her actual possessions haunts me. Literally nothing of her life that has made her unique and memorable has been left intact. That is not the way I feel anyone should age and it would not have been how I planned for my mother to live out her final years.
