My Nonprofit Reviews

My grandmother had just turned 93, while in hospice care in Colorado. She is the widow of a WWII veteran of the 166th Combat Engineers, my step-grandad who passed away in 2000. The last of the Greatest Generation is leaving us, each day draws us closer to the end of that era. My grandmother's mind and body are failing, but in a moment of clarity, she asked to come back to Arizona, she said "I don't want be cold anymore." She's outlived nearly everybody in her life, save her baby sister, they're the last 2 of 7 children. She's outlived her 3 sons, including my father. There was nobody left to keep watch on her and her affairs, except me. I have a duty to those who brought me here, one way or another I was going to grant her wish.

I'm in college for social work, so it was time to put some new skills to work. My ole lady wasn't getting left up there all alone if I had anything to do with it, so I did what I do best, and started to search for a way to move her as safely and quickly as possible. Sadly, after all these years, she had very little to her name, and almost no money to her name. The struggle I dealt with in simply getting her qualified for Medicaid in Arizona was hard enough, only to come to find out the state would not approve her application for long-term care without residency, so I couldn't put the cart before the horse. Worse yet, there are basically no licensed facilities in Arizona that would take her in, so she can be with family before her time is up, as a long-term care pending resident. So I withdrew her application and tried again.

So, I couldn't afford to move her, didn't have any place to put her, and couldn't afford to even pay the daily rate at one of these places while her application was pending approval. I needed a miracle, and by the Grace of God, I got one, plus like three more. This plan had a razor thin budget and required delicate timing and logistics. I found Veterans Airlift Command through TAPS, they expressed willingness to help, but I still needed to work through or around those obstacles. I managed to find a place that would take her in, the case worker gave me a deadline to get her here before they were required to issue a decision on her case, so the only other piece to the puzzle was her.

I applied for assistance with VAC, and a pilot from my own town accepted the mission. My grandmother didn’t believe I was coming, despite her dementia, her eyes lit up when she saw my face and realized it was actually happening. It was hard to tell if she was cognizant of everything that was happening, but during the flight back, she turned to me and said, “Thank you.” That’s all I needed.
I figured that visits with her great-grandchildren would be the best thing for her quality of life, for however much time we have left with her. She has her good days and bad days, but every day she gets to see our son and daughters is a blessing she would have been otherwise afforded. Even if all we can do is sneak her a Honeybun and try to have conversations, I know that she knows she is loved, and still has people in her life that care enough to never give up on her.

Thank you.