what our members and their families are saying
From M.L. (Ruidoso):
Last week, just as it was getting dark, my phone rang; it was my sister calling to tell me that she had cut a piece of skin off her finger tip, and that it was bleeding ferociously. She asked for my help and said to bring gauze. Looking in my medicine cabinet, I realized that I was woefully lacking in any kind of medical emergency items, and very lacking in “know how.”
On the short drive to her home, I realized that my son, an M.D., could be called to be asked how to stop the bleeding, but he has recently moved from New Zealand to Arkansas, and I don’t have a phone number for him as yet. Also, the only e-mail access I have is at my office, located across town. It’s been a lot of years since my sons were small and I knew how to cope with these medical emergencies. And so, neither my sister nor I seemed to know anything about how to stop the bleeding. However, I remembered that a Registered Nurse and member of Sacramento Mountain Village had volunteered to help those of us in need. Again, my membership book was at the office, and [she] is not listed in the phone book.
A call to dear friend who used her book to find contact information for me.
A call to [the nurse], who told us to come to her home. She was wonderful--calm, professional, knowledgeable, and in full command. We had caught her as she was about to go to bed, but she took care of my sister, giving us almost two hours of her time. What I lovely woman! The next day she called to see how everything was going, and gave us further advice.As we left her home that night, I realized, “This is truly what Sacramento Mountain Village is all about—helping one another by sharing our wisdom and talents.”
From E.E. (Ruidoso):
After my last operation, I was home in my own house, but the wind was blowing through the cracks around my back door. In August, a repairman had looked at the door and said that it needed to be rehung, and that he'd be back. He never came back even though I called. Sacramento Mounain Village sent out a wonderful volunteer, Chuck, and his wife Jolene. Chuck saw what had to be done, went to the store and bought supplies (of course, I paid for them), came back and put weather stripping around the door and did many other necessary repairs on my house. He said that the door never did have to be rehung. He's a dear person. He gave me some good advice, too.
From J.T. (Ruidoso):
My mother is a member of the Sacramento Mountain Village. The membership has been a good experience for her. She is in her late 80's and home bound. Sacramento Mountain Village has enabled her to have contact with others reducing her time alone. They have helped her with some transportation issues by taking her to meetings, parties and physical therapy. The social contact has been wonderful. She also has some responsibility to others through the phone tree. It has provided her with a good opportunity for interaction with others and a sense of usefulness through her "job" on the phone tree. Sacramento Mountain Village has also helped me, her care giver, by providing these helps.
We are grateful.
From P.S.F. (Lincoln County):
I am neither a member nor the family of a member, but I do volunteer for the Village. I am impressed by its goal of helping members stay in their homes as they age, giving family at a distance an added measure of security about the well-being of their loved one. I like, too, that each member has the responsibility of helping others. I want the Village to be
around when I am ready to move from volunteer to member.
From N.M. (Ruidoso):
When I was working, through last July, I never thought about not having anyone besides my co-workers to call on. But, in December, I kind of felt bad about asking my neighbor to take me to the hospital and pick me up. She has a fiance', and spends every weekend with him, and we really don't know each other well from a few conversations over the fence. She took me and picked me up gladly, even cheerfully, but then at the hospital I put down my mother in Texas as my point of contact. If something had gone wrong during my very minor surgery, she would not have known anyone to contact here.
Now I have the whole of the Sacramento Mountain Village to turn to and they actually expect to be called on when there's a need. Thanks for all the work they've done for so many years now to get the Village going.