Over the holidays, I visited with three elders who live within two blocks of each other. They probably never met and maybe never will, for two of them are frail, elderly and housebound, and the third, also quite on in years, is recuperating from surgery. But I’m imagining that there was a time 70 years ago when their paths may very well have crossed. In spirit they surely did.
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Posts Tagged ‘eldercare’
A Theatre Piece on the Way
Friday, January 8th, 2010Living On Love – How about Joining Us?
Saturday, December 19th, 2009How do we at Morningside Village sustain our organization? It must be on love. Unlike most of the “villages” in the aging-in-place village movement in America today, Morningside Village elders do not pay for what they receive, except very often in unexpected kindnesses. And, volunteer duties are not prescribed in a brochure where elder members can choose from a list of services: traveling escort, computer touble-shooting, snow-shoveling and more. Rather, our volunteers are more like neighbors. In fact, we are neighbors. We visit; we help with whatever we can; we talk; we listen; and we care for our elder friends.
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Two-Way-Street!
Thursday, November 19th, 2009Of course giving is its own reward. But, Morningside Village volunteers are finding serendipitous riches in their community outreach. In the past months our volunteers have enjoyed visiting with our octogenarian and nonagenarian neighbors: most are extraordinarily interesting, and we like to feel that our elders are cared for.
But, more and more, we are hearing about how our eldest neighbors are nurturing our volunteers. Yesterday, (more…)
Dependence Day
Friday, October 23rd, 2009“I have no one left but my daughter-in-law in California; what an angel!” she repeated for the second time with a heavy European accent…German maybe. Mrs. P. wasn’t the only wobbly nanogenarian in the neighborhood who had families that were no longer around. And she wasn’t the only one to claim she was “independent” when given a Morningside Village flyer: “no help needed!” Nonetheless, she took the flyer and agreed to tea. After a couple of very pleasant encounters on the streets, she invited me to her home where we talked and (more…)
Organic Stew
Friday, October 2nd, 2009Take
- One group of young adults who love or loved their grandparents;
- One group of compassionate middle-agers;
- An even larger, older group who watched their parents suffer because of insufficient end-life care;
and you have a large part of our Morningside Village volunteer base.
For seasoning, add (more…)
The Walker
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009My mother, in her late nineties suffered from osteoporosis and arthritis so that she needed to use a…a…a…WALKER! To her this was an insufferable fate.
It was more than annoying when (more…)
