About Samantha

Reviewed on 4/15/2014

In early January 2012, my 92-year old mother was diagnosed with a rapidly invasive case of terminal lung cancer and transferred to a Nursing Facility in Roanoke, VA for end-of-life care. She and my father had been a five-year resident of the independent living facility. Several months after my father's death in August 2011, my mother's health began to deteriorate and she was briefly transferred to the assisted living facility before being relocated to the nursing complex. Soon after my mother's arrival at the nursing facility, I realized that she both wanted and needed more personalized care, particularly in the afternoon after waking up from her nap, that the staff at the facility was able to readily provide. We had hired Samantha to be a sitter with my mother a few times in December when she was still in the assisted living facility and they seemed to get along very well together. Samantha was the first person I thought of when my brother and I decided to engage a private nurse's assistant to help get my mother up from her nap at 3:00 PM and to get her organized for bed at about 6:30 PM after she had had her dinner. Samantha worked out perfectly and my brother and I could not have been more pleased with the decision. Samantha came every afternoon, seven days a week and, in addition to the normal and routine nursing care activities, provided a great deal of personal care and companionship to my mother which greatly enhanced her final days. Samantha made life "fun" for my mother and she really looked forward to Samantha's daily visits. Samantha would take the time to read to her and about once a week take her out to her favorite restaurant, Red Lobster. With Samantha's assistance, they were able to go out to dinner less that a week before my mother passed away. With the quick death of my 92-year old father of a sudden heart attack followed within a few months by the rapid deterioration followed by the terminal diagnosis of our mother, both my brother and I were distressed and quite "anxious" over whether we were providing the best possible care for our mother. I live in New York City and my brother lives in Raleigh and we would alternate weekends in Roanoke but we couldn't really be there on a daily basis. After Samantha came on board, our concerns were greatly relieved as we were confident that mother had a "healthcare advocate" and companion in Samantha and the best possible care that we could give her. Along with the rest of us, Samantha was there when our mother passed away on March 10th. To this day, I remain grateful to Samantha for all that she did for mother in her final transition.