“Several years ago, I got a call from a aging life care professional, and she was working with a woman that was up in her 90s. She would, at that time, was in a skilled nursing facility because she’d had a hip fracture and just wasn’t able to take care of herself, lived alone, but more than anything, she wanted to be home with her cats. She had two cats. She was an avid gardener and had done all of the, planted every tree and shrub and plant in her yard. It was just beautiful.
She wanted to be home with those cats and with her garden, so we arranged the services that she was going to need, and we brought her home. She lived seven years with the cats sleeping by her at night and her petting those cats. People would send her amaryllis at the holidays, and she and I would go outside and plant them in her garden. I did the planting. She told me where to put them and how much dirt and much fertilizer and how much water. It was just a wonderful experience to make the things that mattered to her a part of her plan.
I’ve been at Able Healthcare for 25 years in August of this year. I like this kind of nursing. I like feeling like I make a difference in people’s lives and to help them live what their life is. It’s not based on what I think they should do, but what they think matters in their life, and that’s rarely doing their home exercise program or eating a special diet. There are things that matter to people that is what’s important to them and what makes life worth living. I want that to be a part of what I get to make sure happens for them.
In addition, I don’t really like being micromanaged. Maybe that’s not politically correct to say, but in all the years that I’ve worked at Able, never one time has anybody suggested to me that I try and convince somebody that they need more care than what they need or that they stay in the home if a memory care unit is really a better choice for them. I’m allowed to do what my best nursing judgment tells me I should be doing, and that matters to me. It’s a match made in heaven. I get to help people live the life that matters to them and do the job the way I was taught nursing is supposed to be done.”
Anita Roberrson RN
Director of Nursing | Aging Life Care Manager
