Adventures with Effie

I want to tell you about Effie, a person I worked with through Private Home Care Inc. She was an elderly lady who grew up in the Searsport area, in which she still lived. She had several people she would call each day as part of her morning routine. I was on that list! Effie would call me at 5:00am. If Effie was up so should everyone else. We would do our usual five-minute talk and say goodbye. She would keep me updated on who was sick in the hospital or who had died. 

            Effie had several different staff work with her through the years, but I was always her coordinator. We helped Effie with her ADL’s, take her grocery shopping, getting her hair done and whatever else she needed. Effie would call me if she needed me to pick something up at the store on my way home, I went right by her house and she knew it.

            Effie has 3 children that lived in Florida and one son in Connecticut. The son would come up and stay at least a week at a time with Effie. Her children from Florida would come up in the summers and visit with her. They always offer Effie to move to Florida closer to them. She would always say, “I’m staying right here!”

            Effie’s health started to decline and her daughter started talking with Effie about moving. Effie decides to move to Florida. Now the big question was how is she getting there? Effie simply said, “Ellen will take me”. Her daughter called me, and I said let’s figure this out. It was too long of a road trip for Effie to ride to Florida. Effie and her family decided she needed to fly to Florida. Effie had never been on an airplane before and said, “Ellen will fly with me” (I don’t like to fly). I said, of course, I will to Effie. Effie’s big day came, she was all ready to go. Her son was driving us to Connecticut, we were spending the night and then headed straight flight to Florida.

            Effie and I had a fun night in the motel room. We talked most of the night. We were up and ready to go to the airport on time. Effie told everyone she was 94 years old and it was her first time on an airplane. So much so that the pilot gave Effie her very own set of wings! We found our seats and Effie wanted the window seat then decided she would be scared so we switched seats. Effie was nervous but okay, then we went up. Effie holding my hand tight. The plane made a turn and Effie thought the plane was tipping over! The whole plane heard what Effie thought. We talked, and she calmed down, still holding my hand with a tight grip. 

Effie’s son was on the plane with us but not sitting by us. We found our way out of the airport. Her son’s wife picked us up. We stayed there for the night. The next day we went to the beautiful assisted living place where Effie would be living. Effie and I had lunch there so she could meet people there. I stayed with her most of the day; so, did her children. I left that night. I said bye to Effie and told her I loved her. Then I flew back to Maine the next day.

            Effie didn’t have a phone at first when she got one and I heard from her again! She really enjoyed living in Florida close to 3 of her children.