Posted on 11/25/2014 7:30:42 AM PST by beaversmom
When an assisted living home in California shut down last fall, many of its residents were left behind, with nowhere to go.
The staff at the Valley Springs Manor left when they stopped getting paid — except for cook Maurice Rowland and Miguel Alvarez, the janitor.
"There was about 16 residents left behind, and we had a conversation in the kitchen, 'What are we going to do?' " Rowland says.
"If we left, they wouldn't have nobody," the 34-year-old Alvarez says.
Their roles quickly transformed for the elderly residents, who needed round-the-clock care.
"I would only go home for one hour, take a shower, get dressed, then be there for 24-hour days," says Alvarez.
Rowland, 35, remembers passing out medications during those long days. He says he didn't want to leave the residents — some coping with dementia — to fend for themselves.
"I just couldn't see myself going home — next thing you know, they're in the kitchen trying to cook their own food and burn the place down," Rowland says. "Even though they wasn't our family, they were kind of like our family for this short period of time."
For Alvarez, the situation brought back memories from his childhood.
"My parents, when they were younger, they left me abandoned," he says. "Knowing how they are going to feel, I didn't want them to go through that."
Alvarez and Rowland spent several days caring for the elderly residents of Valley Springs Manor until the fire department and sheriff took over.
The incident led to legislation in California known as the Residential Care for the Elderly Reform Act of 2014.
"If I would've left, I think that would have been on my conscience for a very long time," says Rowland.
Audio produced for Morning Edition by Jud Esty-Kendall.
StoryCorps is a national nonprofit that gives people the chance to interview friends and loved ones about their lives. These conversations are archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, allowing participants to leave a legacy for future generations. Learn more, including how to interview someone in your life, at StoryCorps.org.
Reminds me of that episode of walking dead where staff took over a retirement home.
There are some decent people in this country.
God bless them!
We hear so much about the ones who torch cars and loot strip mall businesses.
We don’t hear often about those who help the elderly and make their lives easier.
They are our heroes.
Two of the good guys.Now find the people responsible for closing the place like that and put them in jail.
My mother just passed away at home - a year after a stroke, some time spent in a nursing home and rehab.
I learned a lot about the hairball of rules and payments that is our health-care system and end of life health care.
I do not doubt this could happen
Good men. I wish we could package their sense of responsibility and distribute it world wide
God bless them both.
Definitely...need more stories like this highlighted and celebrated.
Would be nice to see someone step forward with some formal training for these two, so they could move up from their current careers. They obviously have the right mindset, something apparently missing from the actual “licensed” caregivers.
Two unlikely angels.
God bless them both.
Wouldn't that be nice!?
Way to Go Men!
What wonderful men.
OMG ROFL That too came to my mind when reading the story and the pic of Rowland and Alvarez. The episode was called “Vatos” I bekieve.
*believe
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ “ —Matthew 25:35-40
blurry monitor problem.
Thanks for the uplift. Just what I needed as a counterweight to the evil coming out of Ferguson.
Thanks and praise to GOD for the goodness He instilled in these kind men. GOD’s blessings on them here in our temporary home, and beyond.
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