Rhonda

I was taking care of Ms. Levisa.  And Bridget had asked me to go over and help take care of Ms. Gail - not full time but certain parts, like breakfast and dinner, I would spend some hours. 

Ms. Gail was just always sweet, and always nice, and liked to laugh and go.  And we stayed on the go.  We would go to eat, we would take rides, go to the park, stuff like that.  She LOVED to go to the Vietnamese restaurant - Kim Anh's Noodle House.  She loved their grilled pork chops with shrimp fried rice. She LOVED that shrimp fried rice.  She would eat all the shrimp first and then eat the rice.  

She loved to eat.  And LOVED cokes.  When I was with her she would drink a coke with dinner and she loved it.  And then the family got her some kind of other drink - one of those sparkling waters - and she didn’t like those drinks.  She wanted her cokes.  

In the beginning, she was not as bad.  She never knew my name, but when she saw me she knew who I was.  She knew me.  She would tell me stuff, like stuff that went on in her life, but everything she told me when I first met her was true.  So she was still ‘there’ to a large extent.  Everybody I take care of likes to confide in me because they know it won’t go any further and yeah, she did that.  

She was a happy person, she liked to laugh and dance.  She would play music and dance.  I used to dance with her - I did, it’s true - I used to dance with her.  And there didn’t even have to be music and she would dance. 

She loved to laugh.  And she loved those dogs.  Murphy was her favorite.  She would whisper that to me because she didn’t want to TK to hear.  Stuff like that would be just so funny.  She would also sneak and give Murphy a treat, without giving TK one because he was bad.  But she would never do it in front of him. 

She would be in and out.   Meaning, she wasn’t 100% herself.  Sometimes she’ll just talk about something that doesn’t make sense, and laugh.  And then I would laugh just because she was laughing.   You have to agree.  But she made it easy to agree, because she was so sweet all the time.

I worried about Ms. Gail a lot.  I worried about her being alone, and I would just … I really don’t like to talk about it because it makes me emotional, but I would get out of my sleep and just go to her house any time of the night, like whenever.  Like whenever she fell on my mind, I would just get up and go – and go check on her.  

When she went into the memory care facility – I was glad but I wanted everybody to treat her like I did.  You know what I’m saying?  That’s how it was for me.  I was glad, because she wasn’t by herself and I would go.  But I just wanted everyone to be with her like I would be with her.  Not that anyone was treating her ugly, it’s just you want to make sure she’s taken care of. 

So I would go see her when she was in the memory care facility everyday.  Even when I wasn’t supposed to go.  Because I had a certain time to go but I would go whenever I felt like I needed to go.  You see what I’m saying. 

She had a camera in her room where you could check on her and see what was happening.  I was addicted to it.  When I wasn’t with her, I would watch it to make sure she was alright, all the time.  Like constantly.  Like, it would beep – I think it would beep if I can remember, like letting you know that someone came into the room.  And whenever someone was in there, I would be looking.  Even if she was just in bed lying by herself.  But if someone came in I would watch her just to see how they was with her. 

By the time she was in the memory care I was taking care of Ms. Ruth and we would go there every day.  I would bring Ms. Ruth there every day and then I would go back to Ms. Gail by myself.  Every day.  And if Ms. Ruth didn’t come, I would still go.  I went, gave her a bath, and made sure she was alright when I left from there.  

It was all affecting Ms. Ruth because Ms. Ruth looked at Ms. Gail different.  Ms. Gail was so special to Ms. Ruth.  I think she was just worried a lot about Ms. Gail.  A lot.  But we would go and go get Ms. Gail and go to the park and get a snowball and get something to eat - even when Ms. Gail was at the memory care facility.  They had a beautiful relationship.  They had a deep connection.  Even in the state Ms. Gail was in, you could see the connection they had.  

Ms. Gail just always showed the same spirit so I could just imagine how she was before then.  And it kind of put me in the mind of my mama.  My mama was a Christian woman who was just nice to everyone all the time, and that’s the kind of spirit that I got into Ms. Gail.  I just felt her spirit.  

This is a job but it’s not a job.  Since I’ve been taking care of people, I’ve never - not one day - didn’t want to go to work.  And with Ms. Gail I just really wanted to protect her and make sure nothing bad happened to her.  She just deserved to be well taken care of.  Even my children loved Ms. Gail.  All my children met Ms. Gail except one.  All the rest of them met her.  My momma and my auntie met Ms. Gail.

Even meeting her when I did, when she wasn’t totally in her right mind, I could still just imagine how she was before then.  And when I walked in the room, I don’t care where we were, she was getting up.  She knew me.  Always just so sweet - never upset or anything.  Never.  Just a sweet lady.