Alumni Profile
To Love andBe Loved
CARING WELL FOR THE ELDERLY DURING THE PANDEMIC
a workplace. The residents are always first, and their families are also part of this family. She explained this to me not only through words but, more than anything, through her actions. Our residents are human beings who were created for community. They need to be able to love and be loved. Above all else, our residents are to be treated as Christ. Within the struggles of human frailty and sinfulness, it is no surprise that this can be more difficult with some residents than with others. In a way,
and he breathed his last. We prayed, cried and said our goodbyes. It was beautiful. I have worked in the activities department at the Little Sisters of the Poor’s Holy Family Residence in St. Paul for a year and eight months and became the activity director in December. Whenever a resident passes away, I grieve another loss. Each resident is a unique, beloved child of God – some loud, some soft-spoken – and all part of the Little Sisters of the Poor family. When I first began working, Mother Maria made it clear to me that our Holy Family Residence was a home, not
By CASSANDRA SCHWETZ ‘17
James was the first person I had ever seen die. Staff gathered in his room after we were notified that he was actively dying. As I arrived a volunteer was on his knees finishing the Divine Mercy Chaplet. His family was at his bedside. Mother Maria Francis, our mother superior at the time, was kneeling near his head at the top of the bed. The staff, which included housekeepers, kitchen aides, activity and nursing staff and maintenance men, filled the rest of the room. Mother attended to James and led the sisters in a hymn,
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