Because of arthritis, you’re having trouble walking down the stairs by yourself or lacing up your shoes. Perhaps you can’t make out the fine print on prescription labels—even with your reading glasses. After years of doing things on your own, it might be hard for you to acknowledge that you need a little help. But not for Agnes R., a Holocaust survivor in her early 80s, who didn’t hesitate to call upon Seniors At Home after she suffered three slipped discs.
“I’m an independent person, and I want to remain so,” says Agnes, a former social worker who writes poetry and autobiographical stories, and authored a memoir of her survival in Hungary during World War II. “My Seniors At Home caregiver is important to me. In addition to helping me prepare meals, do light housework, and run errands, he drives me to my classes at the university, where I study literature and many other subjects of interest to me. If it weren’t for him, I’d have to give all of that up.”
Impressed with the services for herself, Agnes has also hired Seniors At Home caregivers for her husband, also a retired social worker, who has many medical issues and is on dialysis. She recognizes that it is often difficult for her friends and other contemporaries to admit they need help, but she says it’s critical that they be honest with themselves. “I have a number of friends who fell recently—one in her bathroom, one while taking out the garbage,” Agnes says. “What if they’d had assistance? Perhaps these accidents could have been avoided. You might feel fine now, but what about an hour from now? You have to think about the future.”
