Entrepreneurship in Chaplaincy for the Elderly
By Martina Keens-Betts O
ne of my most enduring ideas of entrepreneurship is the individual who makes a difference by helping others make the best of a situation where options are limited and the outcome is painfully inevitable. One of the individuals I consider
to have made this difference, in a most striking way, is a wonderful lady by the name of Debbie Thompson. This is a classic story of entrepreneurship hidden in a provincial community and within a municipal structure. This type of entrepreneur is often overlooked, but nevertheless perfectly satisfies the typical criteria inherent in the commonly- accepted entrepreneurial profile. They are the first to be doing what they are doing and where, they network, they create, they raise money, they promote, they are efficient, they expand - in other words they get things done. But over and above this they deeply inspire because they are often those making the most fundamental difference to individuals’ lives through an occupational position which can be described in a term borrowed from oil jargon as upstream ie away from the hub of commerce and close to the action - action which is unglamorous, sometimes distressing and often without hope. Let me tell you the story of how I benefited from an unsung hero of this type of entrepreneurship.
It was some time in the summer of 2009 that I was sitting in the garden of the care home with Mum enjoying their annual fete. Mum was getting very uncomfortable as it was hot, but as usual the carers did their utmost to ensure her well-being by moving her into the shade. I was holding her hand and giving her comforting kisses when a very smartly dressed lady moved into the shadowy doorway to sit with us and introduced herself as Debbie Thompson, the new Chaplain. I laughed and said to this lovely smiling figure: ‘Well, I’m afraid your services are wasted on us, love - she’s forgotten she’s Roman Catholic and probably that God exists into the bargain!’ Debbie laughed at my black humour but said quite emphatically that God hadn’t forgotten my Mother. I explained that I couldn’t say yes or no to this because on the one hand Mum was being treated like a princess by
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her carers, but on the other hand, when I thought about it, my once beautiful, exuberant and smart Mother was now a highly confused and frail figure who didn’t know who she was, let alone where she was. However, I hastened to add that I continued to be surprised by the joy of discovering that the heart never forgets, as the relative and sufferer are continually and unconsciously learning to love each other in the moment. Just like Mother and Baby.
It was great to be able to share the positives and negatives of my Mother’s illness with Debbie and in return she described her extensive chaplaincy work within homes and the wider community. In fact, I felt so impressed and uplifted by the images she presented that when she was leaving, I suggested that she go on TV to which she laughed and responded ‘I already am’! I was consumed with embarrassment because it was only when she stepped out of the shadows that I recognised her as ITV Meridian’s Debbie Thrower! It turned out that after caring for her own parents and having developed a lifelong interest in the elderly, Debbie (who works now under her married name
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