By Dave Healy

It’s common to hear candidates for public office say that their policies will benefit “hard-working Americans.”

Most such workers labor outside the spotlight.

Some of the hardest-working people I know are seen by only a few. They’re the people who work in nursing homes.

My wife, Nancy Healy (pictured above), spent the last year and a half of her life at St. Anthony Park Home. (Editor’s note: Please see Nancy’s obituary below.) She was not an easy resident to care for.

Nancy could not bathe or dress herself, get in and out of bed on her own, or feed herself. Aides at St. Anthony Park Home did those things for her—consistently and competently and compassionately.

It’s common to hear people say, “I never want to go to a nursing home.” I think the subtext of that statement is, “I don’t want to become someone who cannot care for myself or be cared for by those who know and love me.” That’s something most people would say.

But some of us, and some of our loved ones, will have no choice.

Nursing homes, like any institutions, vary. The residence where Nancy spent her last years is an old building, without the bells and whistles that characterize newer facilities.

But buildings alone don’t make good nursing homes. People make good nursing homes.

Many of the hardest-working people in America were not born here. That’s true of the staff at St. Anthony Park Home and most nursing homes in this country.

When you hear people say that we should close our borders, ask them who they expect to do our hardest jobs.

Many of the hardest-working are among the least well-compensated. That’s true of aides, who do the hardest work in nursing homes.

Nancy Healy was a remarkable woman, with many achievements to her credit. She was also richly blessed—by growing up in a stable home, by opportunities for education and personal enrichment, and by many caring friends and family members.

And when we could no longer care for her, she was richly blessed to find herself someplace where others could take the reins and lead her through the last months of her remarkable life. 

Dave Healy lives in St. Anthony Park. He is a former editor of the Bugle and continues to be a frequent freelance writer for the newspaper.