Catalina In-Home Services is proud of our caregivers every day. Here is a true story about just how amazing our staff is.
You don’t know her, but Catalina had a client this March we’re going to call Lorena. A year ago, she started out with just some short shifts several times a week because she had a heart condition and was having a few falls. Three months ago, as her condition progressed she started overnight caregivers from our service. Then, about a month ago,she went on to hospice care, and Catalina provided 24-hour support. The family just couldn’t manage everything that needed to be done.
Lorena was the kind of woman who always liked her hair, makeup and nails done. While she was still well enough the caregivers took her to the salons to make her feel as she said, “ like a million bucks”. Big smile on her face when she would see herself all dolled up. When she eventually had to go on oxygen Catalina got her a small unit that sort of looked like a shoulder purse. Now she could strut around and still go to restaurants, get her beauty treatments and do all the things she loved to do. While she was still up to it, one of our caregivers took her to see her old house and neighborhood which was a real treat for her, of course. She was getting her makeup and hair done by the caregivers when she was having less energy to go to the salons. Around the middle of March was the Anniversary of her husband dying one day before his 90th birthday. At this time she started talking about, “My husband is coming to pick me up”. She kept repeating over the next few weeks how she had to look really good for when she met him on the other side. She had a final fall and they got her a hospital bed at this stage. After 2 weeks of not eating or drinking and getting weaker, she was still talking about seeing her husband on the other side. One day our caregiver had an intuition, having been trained like all our caregivers in hospice care. She did Lorena’s makeup for her and put her wig on. The caregiver then asked the family to come visit. With her family members sitting around and telling stories, Lorena died within a few hours – finally joining her husband for their last date.
