CARING for ROBERTA

The process of caring for a person with dementia is likely to involve many different individuals playing a variety of roles. We knew that we could not care for Roberta as she needed to be cared for without help. The plan of care we developed to steer us through her final years brought us into regular contact over extended periods with an impressive and diverse group of people. The members of this group did not all know one another, since they became involved in her care at different periods.

Roberta herself already had well–established contacts with the Visiting Nurses Association of Southeastern Connecticut. Thus, in a sense, she had laid the foundation for her own plan of care, in which we gradually became more involved over time. The plan itself first came into being as such around 1992 through the Project Home Share program, administered by New London United Community Family Services. The agency placed non-professional volunteer helpers, adults in need of low–cost housing, under a contractual agreement with Roberta to share her living space, with encouragement and occasional mediation from us.

Later, under the guidance of Connecticut Community Care, Inc., we organized more professional help to address the evolving situation at home, until Roberta was able to qualify for a special program of the State of Connecticut (called Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders), designed to help elders on fixed incomes to remain at home as long as possible.

Finally, though, the combination of Roberta's advancing dementia and our own diminishing resources led us to seek shelter for Roberta in a group care environment. We were fortunate in finding such shelter in the Odd Fellows Home of Connecticut, also known as Fairview.