Our heroes are unknown until their story is told. This quarter our spotlight volunteer is Ms. LaVera McClain who has been a volunteering with the Senior Companion program for 7 months. She is the mother of 4 children, grandmother of 16 and great grandmother of 4.
Ms. McClain has lived in Alabama all her life and resided in Dothan for 40 years. She currently resides in Pleasant Grove.
The following story was submitted by a caregiver, who was very impressed with the services of the Senior Companion Program.
My name is Asha Xulu, and I am the daughter of one of your clients. My mother was also a former Senior Companion volunteer at Positive Maturity for 11 years. It was a beautiful experience for my mother when she worked as a companion for your organization, and it is still a beautiful experience for my mother and our family now that we are on the receiving end.
I want to express what a help and relief it is to my family to have companionship for my mother on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. My sister and I must work, and Positive Maturity Senior Companion Program allow us to work in peace, knowing my mother is in good hands. Working with you and your incredible team has been wonderful. You made sure that you match the right person with my mother. I am saying this because when Positive Maturity resumed services after the pandemic slowed down, you introduce us to the person that would be offering companionship to my mother. The volunteer was very nice but had some difficulty moving in and outside of my mother’s home. You called me the next day and said that you wanted to bring another volunteer over to meet my mother. You even said not to worry that you would place the previous volunteer at another partnering station that was more accessible to the volunteer’s needs.
You returned a few days later and introduced us to Ms. Vera. Ms. Vera is the main reason why I am writing you today. Ms. Vera was sitting with my mother on one of her scheduled days, and my mom became nonresponsive, she could not open her eyes and her tongue was hanging out. Ms. Vera contacted me immediately and we called 911.We found out that my mother’s blood sugar had dropped to 43. If Ms. Vera was not paying attention to my mother, she would not be here today. Ms. Vera saved my mother’s life. Just think, if you had not matched the right person with my mother, we could have lost her.
God bless you Ms. Laquita and your wonderful staff and God bless the Senior Companion Ms. Vera!!!!
Congratulations to Ms. LaVera McClain for making a difference and being our Family Album Spotlight Volunteer.