An Out Of The Blue Mention in Social Workers Speak

http://www.socialworkersspeak.org/cheers-and-jeers/helping-relative-age-with-dignity.html

Helping a Relative Age with Dignity

Posted by GWright on 1/31/12 • Categorized as Cheers,Cheers and Jeers

Mary Walker Baron. Photo courtesy of www.shewrites.com.

Cheers to the National Association of Social Workers member Mary Walker Baron for her blog on Huffington Post about helping her elderly father-in-law age with dignity.
John was 94 years old and blind and almost deaf when he decided to relocate to California from New Jersey to be closer to relatives after his wife died. Baron soon realized their home could not meet John’s disability needs.
So with much angst they decided to put him in a senior citizen community. And to their relief things worked out, although John complains sometimes about things, like being served coffee at the end of his lunch instead of the beginning.
“John is living his life and life lived well is full of challenges and complaints and quiet caring for others. Yes, he is declining. So am I. So are you. But in his full throttle claiming all of life’s vagaries, my father-in-law has forged dignity into his decline and that might truly be the best of all possible worlds.”