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As we close in on another unprecedented year, I want to take a moment to thank you, the people who dedicate their lives to helping patients and residents experience a better day every day.
While the nation has attempted to return to “life as normal,” you have continued to battle a worldwide pandemic at your local level. You have cared for others, provided vaccines, administered tests, comforted families, and helped the people in your care adjust to their new world. You deserve our gratitude every day, and especially in this “season of thanks.”
I heard a story once about what “thanks” might mean to someone and I think it is very appropriate for this season and for what you do every day. It goes something like this…
“When Mrs. Klein told her first graders to draw a picture of something for which they were thankful, she thought how little these children, who lived in a deteriorating neighborhood, actually had to be thankful for.
She knew that most of the class would draw pictures of turkeys or of bountifully laden Thanksgiving tables. That was what they believed was expected of them.
What took Mrs. Klein aback was Douglas’s picture. Douglas was so forlorn and likely to be found close in her shadow as they went outside for recess. Douglas’s drawing was simply this:
A hand, obviously, but whose hand? The class was captivated by his image. “I think it must be the hand of God that brings us food,” said one student.
“A farmer,” said another, “because they grow the turkeys.”
“It looks more like a policeman, and they protect us.” “I think,” said Lavinia, who was always so serious, “that it is supposed to be all the hands that help us, and Douglas could only draw one of them.”
Mrs. Klein had almost forgotten Douglas in her pleasure at finding the class so responsive. When she had the others at work on another project, she bent over his desk and asked whose hand it was.
Douglas mumbled, “It’s yours, Teacher.”
Then Mrs. Klein recalled that she had taken Douglas by the hand from time to time; she often did that with the children. But that it should have meant so much to Douglas…
Perhaps, she reflected, this was her Thanksgiving, and everybody’s Thanksgiving—not the material things given unto us, but the small ways that we give something to others.
This Thanksgiving, I share our gratitude with you, the true heroes of the age. You have stayed true to your mission to care for others. Not because you have to, but because you want to. You have held the hand of someone’s mother or grandmother, someone’s father or grandfather, an aunt, an uncle or just a long-time family friend. And maybe that is all they needed…a helping, loving hand.
At Sentrics, we try to stay true to our mission too. We are committed to helping you keep your patients and residents physically safe, medically well, socially engaged, expertly entertained, and cognitively challenged. It’s important to us that your patients maintain control and can communicate easily with caregivers and family members. We help your residents maintain independence, continue to grow and build new relationships. And we help your caregivers be efficient so they can help drive the best possible outcomes. And maybe we can just help lend a hand.
I hope your holiday season is full of joy and good health. I look forward to a wonderful new year of prosperity and truly better years, not just more years, for all of us. It is together that we can improve the lives of those we touch, love those in our care, and truly serve those we lead.