Ms. McDowell finds a friend
she didn’t know she needed.
Every Wednesday at 3 p.m. Ms. McDowell looks forward to a phone call from her Senior Companion Asleen Griffin. “I am mightily blessed to have Ms. Asleen in my life. She gives me positive advice and encouragement. If there is anything I need, and Ms. Asleen can help. She’ll do it.”
At first, Ms. McDowell was hesitant about receiving phone calls from someone she had never met. She had just spent three weeks in the hospital with COVID-19, and when she came home, she was bedbound. Ms. McDowell was “feeling down in the dumps,” physically and mentally. When she learned about Senior Companions, she wasn’t prepared to start talking to a stranger, but her in-home nurse told her, “you never know, it might do a lot of good,” and she was right.
Asleen became Ms. McDowell’s Senior Companion and called for the first time to check on her and see if there was anything she needed. Ms. McDowell enjoyed the conversation, so she agreed to a second phone call. After the second phone call, Ms. McDowell was hooked! She shared, “I love being able to call Asleen when I’m having a difficult day. I tell her about it. We talk it through, and she encourages me.”
One day Asleen told Ms. McDowell, “Do you know you’re such a blessing to me!” That surprised Ms. McDowell because she is bedbound and felt like she couldn’t really do anything for anybody. Asleen told her in spite of being bedbound, she continues to speak love, compassion, and encouragement to others. With this newfound perspective, Ms. McDowell calls friends and family on a regular basis to encourage them the way Asleen encourages her.
After a year of having a Senior Companion, Ms. McDowell is no longer hesitant about this relationship. She shared, “The Senior Companion Program has been and continues to be an absolute blessing for me. Seniors in Service is loving on seniors and doing a great work.” If you know a senior who could benefit from a Senior Companion, contact Gabby Lugo at glugo@seniorsinservice.org or (813) 358-2699.
