Success Stories and Testimonials - 3/03/2009
How Rest Assured® Helped Our Family
by Colleen Henry, daughter of Lavinia Fitzgerald, Rest Assured® client
My mother, Lavinia Fitzgerald, suffered brain damage in 1974. Since that time she has had difficulty with caring for herself or her family, with walking safely and with any activity that requires instructions. Our father lives at home and “takes care” of Mama, but he is gone from the home a good part of the day and as he is up in years right now, he doesn’t seem to be able to give her the attention she needs to be safe and well. I have been my mother’s primary caregiver since her accident. My sister Peggy and I keep the house clean, fix meals and tend to her daily personal needs. I visit mother every evening and often in the daytime as well. Peggy, who lives 75 miles away in Sylvania, has been responsible for keeping the house clean. She was visiting several times a week.
In June, Peggy arranged to have mother enrolled in the Community Care Program. At the same time, she learned about Rest Assured® and we agreed to be a part of the pilot project to learn how this program worked and how it could help people at home.
It was my understanding that this program would provide monitoring to make sure that Mama was safe when Daddy is out of the home. It would also give us the opportunity to “visit” by computer to see how she is doing at any time. Since Peggy lives so far away, this would really help her out as she would be able to check on Mama without having to drive 150 miles each time.
My parents “went live” with Rest Assured® on June 16, 2008. It has accomplished everything that was promised: Peggy checks in on Mama regularly and feels good about how she is doing. The tele-caregivers alert one of us if there is any sort of emergency (Daddy didn’t return promptly from a routine “trip” to the laundry room and I was called – he had fallen), we have been able to see first-hand how and what Mama does when she is alone, we have learned how often Daddy is gone and to observe the meals he serves her. All of this has exceeded our expectations.
But the part of Rest Assured® that we never thought about is the very best part of all. We were totally unprepared for the tele-caregivers! No one could have described what these people have been to our family. Since we started with Rest Assured®, my parents have a new lease on life. There is a real feeling of happiness in their lives that was not there before. What has happened is that my parents have actually developed friendships with the tele-caregivers. They are very much like extended family to all of us. Mama and Daddy sit and talk to them as if to old friends. It has proven to be a window to the outside world. I have seen the relief on Daddy’s face, knowing that he feels that someone is watching out for him and Mama at all times. We all think of these people as our guardian angels.
Rest Assured® had helped us in so many ways. The service is reliable, my parents are safer than ever before, the tech support is prompt and clear (even to an untechnological person like me!) and my parents have had the world opened up to them by a team of guardian angels! Thanks, Rest Assured – you have really made a difference.
For more information about Rest Assured® and how our remarkable technology and caring people can help make a difference in your life or that of someone you love, please contact us.
