Upon request, the MS Society Oregon Chapter facilitated an in-service for the staff of an assisted living facility and my mom’s home. There was no charge for this sort of service, all I had to do was ask. Our donations made it possible.

Assisted Living facilities are designed to accommodate the needs of our growing elderly population. Vision, hearing, body strength, and bowel/bladder tend to degrade as we age. We eventually lose some capacity to live independently. People with MS are young, strong, and look just like anybody else in the peak of their lives. The complex and debilitating symptoms of severe MS make living independently impossible, much to the bewilderment of the people around them. Because MS attacks people when they are young, it is often before they have an established career or family. Or the family can’t fit in caregiving with their own demanding lives. Without other resources, they turn to foster homes and assisted living facilities. Unable to deal with the myriad of complex symptoms, these facilities too often evict people with MS. Caregiving staff are not certified medical professionals and many don’t know what MS is, much less have the skills to help.

The facility my mom lives in is nothing short of amazing. They have asked for help and instruction at every turn, when they could have just given up. That’s where the MS Society came in. Carol Choutka is a program and engagement manager at the MS Society. She helped caregivers understand what MS is and gave them tools to help those living in their facility. In the months since the in-service, staff haven’t had as many questions for me about my mom’s symptoms. It didn’t take much. Just one short talk gave these staff tools they can take with them the rest of their lives. Most caregiving staff are students and will eventually move on to other careers. I imagine these caregivers spreading information about MS out like a spider web, wherever they go. Imagine if everyone, everywhere, remembered that we can never know a person’s battle just by looking at them? My heart is filled with gratitude.