Nomination Letter
Written by the client’s daughter, Amy G.
Simply stated, Comfort is amazing. Comfort entered our lives as a live in aide to care for our 94-year-old mother after returning home from a hospital and nursing home stay. Our mom has advanced dementia, which has caused her to decline physically and mentally over past six months. She is now bed bound and requires constant and total care: bathing, feeding, cleaning as well as the inherent challenges of caring for person with dementia. Comfort immediately rose to the challenge.
As a daughter and a nurse, I’ve been intimately involved in the care of my mom over the past several years, and often it can be hard for me “to let go” and let others do the caring. The minute I met Comfort, my concerns and anxiety were immediately allayed. Comfort came in with such a positive, supportive and calm demeanor that it eased my mind so much. I remember the first thing Comfort said when we met: “We’ll work as a team to do the best for your mom.” Her team approach and philosophy continues to this day. She has provided me with many useful ideas and suggestions to provide a comforting, safe environment for our mom. One example is her recommending a baby monitor so she can keep an “eye and ear” on her at all times, such as when she’s in the kitchen fixing her meal. Very, very comforting!
Comfort deserves to be recognized for this award because she epitomizes a person who goes above and beyond in providing the highest level of care and companionship to our mom. In addition to the exceptional physical care, she provides bathing, meticulous skin care, preparing her meals and feeding her. She goes beyond her companionship by providing many extras to give our mom some joy, which can be so challenging with her dementia.
Within her first week or so with mom, Comfort knitted her a lovely headband! I was no longer able to get my mom out to the hairdresser, and along comes Comfort to the rescue! Comfort has made our mom’s bedroom a sanctuary with soothing music and aroma therapy to provide comfort in her so limited world now. So thoughtful!
As I mentioned, our mom is bed bound with dementia. She can no longer be “distracted” or “entertained” with TV or reading, but Comfort often comes up with creative ways to “entertain” her such as: sorting cards, folding things, uses the constant presence of music and song. Comfort has even done a bit of dancing for mom to elicit a chuckle or smile!
Needless to say, as a dementia patient, her behavior can change moment to moment from calm to agitated to frightened and tearful. Comfort knows how to adapt to all these situations and often can anticipate when a change is coming in order to intervene to minimize the various emotions our mom goes through. Comfort’s years of experience are clearly evident. Our mom recently celebrated her 94th birthday. Given her current physical and mental states, it was very limiting what we could do to mark her special day, but once again, Comfort came to the rescue. She fixed my mom’s hair, knitted a new headband, did her nails, put some makeup on her and made us (her children) a sweet & poignant video that we will always cherish. My brothers and I were touched by this gesture by Comfort.
Adjectives such as kind, conscientious, caring, compassionate, and competent all apply to Comfort, but simply do not do justice for all she does for our mom and us!
As I mentioned earlier, Comfort has impacted the life of our mother and of us (her children) by bringing comfort to both. Our mom gets comfort, physically and emotionally, from Comfort’s outstanding care and presence in her life. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to completely focus at my work or sleep at night as I was always worrying about mom with all of her needs. I still worry, but not in the same way. Knowing Comfort is with her helps me focus at work, and more importantly, to get some overdue sleep! I live the closest to our mom, and her care has fallen on me over the past several years. Caregiver became my first and foremost role while my role as daughter kept getting pushed further down. Now with Comfort in our lives, I can return to the primary role of being my mom’s daughter, spending this precious time with her. Comfort has been a Godsend for my mom and our family. She truly deserves to be recognized and honored for her care and dedication.