Concerned about YOUR elderly Loved One?

My name is Michael Tummillo and I'm a Workplace Chaplain in Texas. My purpose is to encourage and disciple Christians in the workforce, making them aware that each of them has a ministry that's every bit as important as anything that goes on within an institutional church building.

For the past 6 years, I have been working with the employees of nursing homes and an assisted living facility. Typically, an Employee will either call, text, an eMail me to let me know of some situation that needs prayer or where they might need advice. 

Lately, I've been doing a great deal of reading as I've researched the greatest needs of the elderly and their loved ones. One of the articles I read had to do with making the difficult decision of knowing when an elderly person is actually ready for Assisted Living or Nursing Home care. One of those tell-tale signs had to do with physical injuries resulting from falling and hurting themselves.

Yesterday, I was visiting an elderly man who lives alone in cabin in the woods. I had offered to do some carpentry work inside and tended to a weed problem he had in his rose garden. A robust ex-Marine and cowboy, he is a trained psychologist who still loves riding horses. A spiritual man who enjoys writing and reading, he considers the solitude of living in seclusion "an occupational necessity."

At one point, he and I were walking on the property and, as we approached the house, he tripped on a stone and sailed, face-first, onto a cement slab. It was terrible! He was in a great deal of pain, lying still on the ground, moaning, bleeding from his right eyebrow and the back of his hand. I'm sure his knees were skinned as well. 

When I finally helped him get off the ground, he went straight to the bathroom to clean his wounds. When he was finished, we sat down across from each other and he called my attention to something I had not yet noticed: a cut under his chin, a scab on the bridge of his nose and a "strawberry" on his forehead. He told me these came from a fall he'd had a week earlier when he was leaning over the commode, feeling nauseated. That was the last thing he remembered, waking up between the toilet and the sink - a very small space - his blood pooled under his head. I could still see the slight blood stain on the tile. 

A single man with no family, I left him later wondering 'what's next?' I decided I would be visiting him more often.

Chances are, in a nation with an aging population, someone reading this now has had a similar experience with an elderly loved one. Maybe it's not merely cuts and bruises but perhaps their fine-trimmed yard is suddenly overgrown and their neat-as-a-pin house has become a mess. Every time you see them, are they in their pajamas? Is their hair always a mess? Are there any dirty dishes in the sink? Anything to eat in the fridge? Have they made mistakes in regard to their meds? Do they talk about being lonely, hearing voices or seeing people, especially deceased loved ones?

If you need advice regarding long term care, allow me to recommend Park Plaza Nursing Home and Country Club Retirement Community - both in Whitney, Texas, "The Get-Away Capital of Texas!" - and Azalea Trail Nursing Home and Rehabilitation in beautiful Grand Saline, Texas. The staff in both these facilities are great people and the leadership are godly Christians who really care about their Residents and do things by the book. By the way, these homes have a new "On-Call" 800 Help-Line designed to assist anyone who calls, no matter where you call from. Check it out!

I hope this message will help somebody when it comes to their long term care decision.

Every blessing,

Michael Tummillo