When Audra and I started in the Assisted Living business we quickly reached out to the Harpers. They had hosted recitals for Brighton and Adaira and were always happy to help and share anything they could. They agreed to sit and chat about some of their experience caring for others. Perhaps one of my favorite interchanges is the following - to lead up to it, we were talking about those who give up living and those who have something to live for:
Lynnette: If they realize they really don’t have a purpose, you know some of them, a few get to the point where they don’t have a purpose, or they know they’re not needed.
Mark: If you don’t wake up every morning and go “you know what?, I’m going to go milk the cows, I’m going to go milk the goats, I’m going to go build this fence, I’m going to go haul this hay, I got a project here, a project here, a project here. You know, I got lots of things to do."
Lynnette: I think in a lot of ways, that keeps us all going because we have a reason, we have responsibility, we have you know, goals, we have purpose in what we do.
It is a reminder as operators of an assisted living facility that no matter what stage someone is at, we strive to help them feel needed and that they bring joy to our lives. On a broader scale for those of us who may not be as close to the end of life, What are we living for? What is our purpose? What can we do to reach out to others?
The full audio is found here: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/16900376
And the transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FDoxeQNTwaIZfOLgKViqwRsqDmIuM_O2VuWTczWuyXI/edit?usp=sharing
-Justin