As a caregiver, Robin Chabot refers to herself as “a minute piece of the puzzle that tries to facilitate physical, spiritual, and emotional support.” She supports her parents, Lawrence G. Welcome, Jr., and Barbara Welcome, in “culminating their continuous hearts’ desires and projected moment-to-moment goals.” She shares an anecdote: once, when she asked her father if he had any goals in his heart, he replied that he would like to sit on the porch. So she cleared the porch off, and then her father could fulfill his wish.
“Home is where the heart is,” she stresses. “We all work to keep our home, to keep our safety. The comfort of home, especially for somebody with dementia, is so important.”
Robin and her parents have worked with LifePath for about six years, and she describes the experience as “wonderful.” “I am very blessed and fortunate to have such great community support to aid in achieving goals,” she says. “The workers of LifePath and [other] community social agencies are amazing, caring people who work diligently to allow the elderly to be home safely and securely.” She also mentions the impact local businesses, including grocery stores, farms, and restaurants, can have on the community through donations. “It helps you to feel supported by everybody,” she explains. “It’s uplifting.”
I grew up with giving parents—all that has rubbed off on me.
Internally, Robin finds motivation in her love for her parents and a predisposition for caregiving. Previously, she worked as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) to save up for college; now, she uses this experience to assist her mother and father, saying that her greatest goal is to help them be self-sufficient. When asked what keeps her going, she says that it’s “the joy on their faces. People need a spark in their heart. If you have a goal in your heart, something to look forward to, that’s all you really need. Love, hope, and joy in their heart.”
Her parents, whose sixty-third anniversary is approaching, are still deeply in love with each other. “They’re always kissing and holding hands,” Robin laughs. The home they live in now is her childhood home, where they lived as her father worked on the railroad after his Navy service. His professional goals always involved helping others; as a railroad worker, he aimed to improve transportation to “get food to all the people,” and as a volunteer firefighter, he would “give everything he had to fire victims.” Her mother spent her days taking care of Robin and her siblings, always making sure they were fed and clothed. On weekends, “there was always good food at the table” when the family sat down together. She recalls how her father used to ask for his coworkers’ leftover food so he could bring it home to the children as snacks rather than let it be thrown away. “I grew up with giving parents,” says Robin. “All that has rubbed off on me.”
She is blessed, she says, to have a great relationship with her parents. She describes her father as the sort of person to stop to help people broken down on the side of the road, and her mother as someone who, “if she could teach you something, she would.” Both parents were heavily involved in their local church, and their commitment to supporting their community has given Robin a deep appreciation for the support the community gives to her. She offers a “huge hug to everyone in our communities,” including “businesses small and big.” Without them, she explains, her parents wouldn’t have received all the support they needed.
Though caregiving is hard work, she explains, “My open heart’s door of love streams consistently outwardly towards them and vice versa, making such a wonderful continuum of cherished, loving lifetime moments.” She lists examples of these moments: singing, jokes, joint efforts working through disabilities or illness, outings at concerts, movies, eateries, reunions, community events like fireworks, festivals, home paint sessions, walks on the bike path, or simply sitting on the porch together. All this, she refers to as “precious, joyous, memorable, loving family time.”
“Statistics tell us that we should all be of the mind that it is very likely that we will become a caregiver for someone at some point,” says LifePath Executive Director Gary Yuhas. “During National Family Caregivers Month, it is important for us to acknowledge and appreciate the important role that families play in caring for one another.”
Evidently, Robin’s parents are just as important to her as she is to them. “Them having another anniversary together—that’s what keeps you going through the hard times,” she states. “They are so much in love and so attached.” That is why staying at home is so beneficial to the Welcomes—they can be in the place they worked for their whole lives, and most importantly, they can stay together.
