Last Updated: Friday - 09/24/2010
Week of May 12, 2008
Wrap your elders in a cocoon of love
Bring them ice cream on the Day of Compassion
By MICHELINE PARE
Special to the WCR
The mission of the Pare Labrecque Training Centre is to totally accept the aging person as a unique and whole person.
Regardless of their functional level, seniors in loss of autonomy, especially those suffering from cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer's disease or similar illnesses, deserve respect, dignity and unconditional love.
In 1999, the Senate of Canada recognized the centre's mission and proclaimed May 20 as the Day of Compassion. Spoil a senior - not just on May 20, but everyday.
Those that have become voiceless members of our society are still mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and our friends. They belong to our love stories.
Ice cream treats
The centre's concrete way of expressing love and protection is by distributing ice cream to long-term care facilities enabling the caregivers to celebrate their residents with an afternoon delight of extra love and attention through ice cream.
Family and/or professional caregivers are taking care of love stories. This special event where family members and friends can participate showers sunshine on voiceless seniors' solitude. Many of them might be unable to express their feelings but they feel a loving presence.
Connectedness is still precious to them. Inside they certainly tell us "You hear the words I don't say, feel the joys and fears I can't voice, know the very heart of me, you know . . . that I can still feel." I have always thought of life as a book, with every chapter being a phase or a time in our life to be held sacred. We are writing, with voiceless seniors, their last chapter.
Let's write with them a conclusion where love and respect exist with a zero tolerance for neglect and abuse. They are someone's love story.
To know more about this event www.parelabrecque.com. Celebrate May 20, Day of Compassion, and treat our love stories with ice cream.
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