PCAs and Caregivers

 

 

"This is not about me, it is truly about thee..."

I was at the fair three times this year. I had search my memory banks to remember being there that many times before. Let me just say, I had much more hair, and many fewer pounds when I did go more than once a year. Two of the days I worked at a booth. The other day it was sightseeing and trying different food items for my wife and myself.

It seems like every year when we go, we see more and more people with physical disabilities in attendance. Some have minor disabilities, others more profound. The ones with more significant disabilities are accompanied by a Personal Care Attendant (PCA), or another kind of caregiver.

Every time I see a PCA or caregiver at work with their client or loved one, I am amazed and humbled at the same time. These gentle and compassionate servants are cut from cloth most of us are not. They constantly treat their client or loved one with the respect and attention they deserve. At the fair, it was important to allow everyone to enjoy as much of the fair experience as possible. The PCAs and caregivers were not there for themselves - they were there solely for the people they were caring for.

Every year we go to the fair, we say we go for the people watching and the food. The people watching is always good, as there is always a collage of people roaming around every day of the fair. However, part of the people watching is for me to be inspired. I am inspired to watch people with more aches, pains and disabilities than most of us will ever know, enjoy every minute of being at the fair. I am also inspired to watch the love, the unselfish love, of PCAs and caregivers as they do their level best to make this a special day for the people they are caring for.

Many people think that our veterans, our law enforcement officers and our first responders are heroes. They are. However in my book, PCAs and caregivers are also heroes. Some say heroes, some might say angels. Both terms work just fine as far as I am concerned.