When my husband’s care home took a header

Our son, Jackson, was visiting from Chicago when I began to see that resident care at Daylight Senior Living and Memory Care was declining. Sometimes we must experience a situation from an outsider’s perspective to get our new bearings. Walking into Robert’s room with Jackson, I saw Robert’s environment anew for the first time in weeks.

Sunshine streamed in through the east-facing window of Robert’s studio. The azaleas in bloom outside gave his chamber a bright, glossy surface shimmer, but the rest of the room belied a darker reality. A day’s old bowl of oatmeal sat on the table where Robert ate his meals, a spoon cemented in the muck. The water glass in front of him hadn’t been washed since I’d visited last. Robert’s bed was unmade and the sheets needed changing. A damp bloom darkened the indent his body had left behind.

That’s not good!

I felt shock and embarrassment that Jackson should see him this way. The lack of attention from the housekeeping staff broke my heart, but most wrenching was Robert’s beard. He had not been shaved in a week. He was unkempt when I visited him two days prior, but I attributed this to the timing of my visit. Staff would shave him in the afternoon. But he had not been shaved.

Robert was so happy to see Jackson, regardless of his physical state. His face…