Our Story.
Rosa’s Gift is a Senior In-Home Assistance and Supplemental Personal Support Service
Left: Naomi
Right: Rosa- The year she was diagnosed with early onset dementia
Rosa’s Gift Foundation began based on the in-home medical and personal care needs of Rosa Maria Thorp, a widow who recently passed away from Covid-19 complications. Rosa was diagnosed with early-onset dementia in 2013 and was increasingly unable to care for herself as the disease progressed. Naomi, Rosa’s daughter, a working mom with zero home healthcare experience, placed Rosa in an assisted living facility believing that professional care would be the best option. During her six-month stay there, Rosa broke her hip and dropped 30 pounds necessitating a new at-home care plan provided by Naomi and her family.
As Rosa’s dementia progressed, she heard voices, screamed incessantly, and rambled continually during her waking hours. Rosa’s medication affected her mobility causing the shuffling of her feet, losing her balance, and requiring assistance getting in and out of bed or a chair. During her last year Rosa also became incontinent, mandating additional personal care requirements on an already over-burdened family. Imagine the family’s overwhelming stress and hardships involved every day care for a loved one with little or no hope of recovery.
Naomi enrolled Rosa with Hospice who provided some much needed in home assistance with physical therapy, bathing and general healthcare services. Naomi and her family watched and learned how to deliver the best care possible for Rosa. Naomi was determined to provide her mom with the loving care that Rosa had given her throughout her life. Sadly, Rosa passed in 2020, but even under the heavy cloak of dementia she undoubtedly knew that she was loved and cared for.
Knowing how challenging caring for Rosa was, Naomi wondered what do other families do under these trying circumstances? How do they cope with the stress of caring for a family member in-home layered atop the everyday tasks of working, raising a family, and the ongoing tasks of daily life. What if you are by yourself with no family to help? What if there is no insurance? What if there are cognitive or mobility issues? How do you manage the wave of hopelessness that is inevitable?
Naomi had a calling. She was compelled to aid others who like herself were thrust into the role family caregiver. Naomi wanted others to not feel the isolation and overwhelming responsibility that she experienced. Naomi discussed with her friends and family how she might help others manage through their situations and decided to create a local foundation that provides in-home care and personal services to those in need. It is Rosa’s Gift.