Some 18 years ago, when I was approaching retirement at 62, I needed a part-time job to bring in income until my SS check began appearing in my checking account. Since I had a chauffeur's license, I applied for a job with an Adult Day Care organization, picking up clients in the mornings and then returning them to their abodes in the evening. Most of the clients lived in a support home of some type because they were unable to take care of themselves because of developmental disabilities. The daycare center allowed them to get away from their evening, night, and weekend abodes. Many had limited mental capacities and most were physically unable to care for themselves without some support.
I drove a 9 passenger van with a lift gate on the rear because two of the patients I transported were wheelchair-bound. One of my riders was a young man (at that stage of my life all men are young, but he probably was around 40). I would arrive at the housing center where he spent most of his life. Always he would not be ready. I would go to his room and wait while a couple of nurses would finish dressing him and feeding him.
He could not speak and couldn’t make a sound. They would spoon the food into his mouth and then have to wipe most of it off his face as he struggled to even swallow anything. He always had a lopsided smile on his face. On the stand close to him was a stack of playboy magazines. Of course, he would have to have someone show him the pictures as he didn’t even have use of his arms. In fact, he was strapped to the wheelchair so that he wouldn’t fall forward and out of the chair. He had ALS, the same disease that Stephen Hawking had. Stephen Hawking had electronic support and was able to communicate with his computer system which he operated with his cheek. Mypatient friend had been a travel guide.
I always had the radio on with music while I transported those in my care. One day, out of the blue, my ALS person suddenly made an almost screaming noise. He was trying to sing, but didn’t have the capabilities to do more than that screaming noise.
I retired and during my winter stay in the south, I purchased a karaoke system with a number of songs. I had enjoyed singing karaoke for a number of years. When I returned to KC, I contacted a number of senior citizens residences, day care centers and other places which had groups of older people with limited mobility issues. I had one adult daycare center where my previous ALS contact now went during the day. The second-year I was there, when I arrived, I saw this young man sitting in his wheelchair with a priest at his side. The priest came up to me and asked if the young man could sing a song. He then gave me the name of the song.
To this day, I have no idea how the young man could have communicated to the priest that he wanted to sing, let alone give him the name of the song. When his turn came, as I played the music, he let his voice be heard through a number of unintelligent sounds. He had a smile on his face when he finished.
There had been three ladies who had sang at my previous show and they harmonized beautifully. I didn’t know them from any other encounters so I don’t know what their situation was. On the occasion above, only two of the ladies were there. When I asked them where the other lady was, they informed me “She died”.
For two years, I spent many happy hours going to different places and giving people a chance to sing. One of the most memorable events was at a home I had worked at. The manager of that home every year had a picnic type of meeting bringing in several other centers for a get-together. These were not daycare centers, but the homes where the people with developmental disabilities lived the rest of their lives. I approached her about bringing my karaoke machine over to allow some of the patients a chance to sing.
I really didn’t know how this would work because almost all of the patients were so developmental disabled that they couldn’t even read. My karaoke machine has a tv screen with the words on it so that the singer will know what to sing. I arrived and set up in an adjoining garage. I shouldn’t have worried. All through the afternoon, a line formed as they waited their turn to sing. They knew the words. Of the 40 or so who were at the party, probably 10 or so spent the day singing.
Some memories just linger!