Yesterday, I went back to the hospital.  Sam had been transferred to a rehabilitation center.  After visiting Sam, I found that his sister, Willa, had called me.  She explained that she had not been notified that Sam was in the hospital. 

I had been surprised that Willa had not returned my call last Saturday. In the past, she would respond immediately.  Her brother, Sam, is in his 80’s and mentally challenged.  Sam is a part of Special Gathering in Vero.  We are a ministry within the mentally challenged community.  Our mission is to evangelize and disciple people who are developmentally disabled.  

Sam is spry for any age.  Until about five years ago, he was a mainstay on the back streets of Vero Beach, Florida, maneuvering his bicycle around town. He relished the independance his own transportation gave him.  “Bowling is only four miles away,” he would tell me. Or “I can easily ride my bike to church.  It’s only five or six miles from my home.”  At that time he was living with his mother in an adult living facility.  After his mother died, his sisters moved him to a nursing home.  That was when he stopped riding his bike. 

I had gone by to pick him up for Special Gathering on Saturday.  The group home staff told me, “You just missed him.  He was taken to the hospital a few minutes ago.  We expect him to be back home in a few hours.”  Because I transport a man from Melbourne with me and I couldn’t leave him in my car while I went to the hospital after Special Gathering, I did not get to see Sam that day.  In fact, the next week when I called, he was still in the hospital.  That is when I called his sister.

“We had no idea that Sam was in the hospital.  I was out of town and didn’t visit him this week.  The nursing home didn’t call me,” she said in frustration.  “If you had not called, we wouldn’t have known Sam was in the hospital.” 

Family is important to everyone who is sick.  That may be especially true for our members with intellectual disabilities.  As a program director, I’ve learned to always include the family in decisions and concerns.  My phone calls with Willa have only re-enforced my concerns regarding the well-being of our members in regard to health issues. 

Sam’s family is extremely involved in his life.  They are there for him.  But somehow in the overload of work schedules, the nursing home had forgotten to call the family members.  “Thank you for calling,” Willa said.  “Sometimes you are our only real link to Sam.”

Have you seen times that your members’ families are not valued or left out of the planning process?  Are you proactive to include families?  What do you do to include them?