During this season there is a renewed emphasis on compassion. I am sharing this powerful story regarding the power of compassion in healing others. McFarlan Home has a resident who had shut out the entire world when she arrived. Her “family” consisted of four bears, stuffed animals which she had named. She would only communicate with them and through them.
Creative and compassionate staff at McFarlan addressed the bears by name and communicated with her through them. Gradually she opened up and began communicating directly with staff. It took some time for her to trust them since she had suffered years of abuse and neglect moving around a social services system which was ill-equipped to handle her situation.
Recently a goodbye celebration was held with the bears in attendance. Our resident is now ready to say goodbye to the bears as her family as she stated: “McFarlan and everyone here is my family now.” We are sure the bears will remain as guests. What a powerful story about the boundless possibilities via compassion.
This is definitely a unique and upbeat story for these times. Yet it is a familiar one in that McFarlan Home and PVM staffs exhibit this kind of compassion and service excellence every day for everyone. Thank you McFarlan team for turning a life around!
https://pvm.org/pvm-blog/the-power-of-compassion/#sigProIdbdb7535506
