a Simple Hug....

..as I watch an online documentary about a couple that adopted a young boy from an orphanage in a foreign country, I cant help but see the similarities to the residents we care for in our elder care communities. The documentary shows a young boy in his new home with all the normal comforts and security that caring parents can provide. He is withdrawn and uninterested, explains his new mom. She trys to provide insight as to his unhappiness, but says most of the time she feels helpless in her attempts to connect.
The documentary further shows an old experiment of a monkey, that lived entirely in captivity, only being fed well, with no companionship, he becomes frail and sickly. As the experiment continues the monkey is given the choice between eating and a stuffed animal, and the monkey would rather starve than be without a simple hug.

I think about all the hugs I gave my residents and children and grandchildren and mom and dad, my sister and brother and all the hugs I'll need when I get older and I am proud to be a part of the Activity Directors profession. Elder care has gone from an Asylum to a Coutry Club community in most of our residents life times. Our friends, our residents are not files and numbers anymore, they are parents, ma's and pa's , there Bobs and Carols Ted's and Alice's.. and you and I are part of making these changes happen.

We are entrusted to watch after peoples parents, their sisters and brothers and grandpas and grandmas, its a wonderfully fulfilling task. These days seem to be getting tougher as did they did in times gone by and as they will in the future.. and when the paperwork is done and the computers and pencils are still, we should walk our halls and see if anyone could use a hug, we should remember this job is about compassion, the only rule is to care, your motivation is love, a simple hug goes both ways...

peace, Pennie