08/03/2026
Adventures in Caregiving…Stories from the last 16 Years
Senior Helpers of Chicago is adopting CHAP’s (Community Health Accreditation Partners) Age-Friendly Care program, and we expect to be accredited within the next couple of months. We have always subscribed to CHAP’s guiding mantra: “What Matters Most.” We believe it is the essential starting point for providing truly elevated care. Here is one of our stories.
Maxine was a fighter…independent, determined, and burdened with more maladies than one human being should have to endure.
At age 77, she parked her stick shift sports car in a Jewel parking lot and, while walking toward the store, was struck by a car. She lost most of the use of her left arm because her orthopedic surgeon believed she was simply too old to withstand the surgeries needed to repair it.
That was just part of her story.
She had survived cancer years earlier. She had emphysema and, during the last years of her life, required continuous oxygen. She suffered a broken hip which led to one of those terrifying “I’ve fallen and can’t get up” moments, leaving her on the floor for hours until she could painfully inch her way to her Princess phone. Multiple TIAs—and perhaps a couple of full-fledged strokes—had taken their toll, leaving bruises and over time robbing her of much of her mobility. A heart attack didn’t stop her. Hearing loss, Bell’s palsy, trigger finger, and the massive edema in her left leg were simply terrible annoyances.
Yet she was like a very battered Energizer Bunny.
She just kept going.
She insisted on doing as much for herself as she possibly could. She made dinner one-handed. Carrying that dinner while also relying on her walker was a feat of determination that I still can’t quite explain. She finally accepted help only when she absolutely had to.
As our journey together continued, Senior Helpers of Chicago found two remarkable caregivers: Janese and Barbara. Each brought different strengths and different gifts to Maxine’s life.
This story is about Barbara…and the Yo-Yo Ma adventure.
Maxine treasured her Chicago Symphony solo performers subscription. She loved the great pianists who performed there, but above all, she adored cellist Yo-Yo Ma. She had attended many of his concerts over the years and, as she sensed that she was entering the final chapter of her life, there was one thing she wanted more than almost anything else.
She wanted to see Yo-Yo Ma perform one more time.
Among other things, this was What Mattered Most to her.
Barbara listened.
Janese listened.
Senior Helpers of Chicago listened.
Getting Maxine to that concert was going to be extraordinarily difficult. On the surface, it seemed almost impossible. But we decided we were going to make it happen.
Sizing up the situation:
• It would be winter, with the possibility of snow, slush, or ice.
• Maxine required continuous oxygen.
• She was now using a transporter chair.
• Large crowds would make navigation difficult.
• What if she needed the restroom?
• At the end of the concert, how would Barbara push Maxine’s chair through the crowd, hail a taxi (this was before Uber), negotiate icy sidewalks, and safely help Maxine into the cab without further injuring Maxine’s severely damaged shoulder?
Barbara, who was scheduled to be with Maxine that evening, became part of the planning process, as did Maxine herself.
Together, we developed our plan:
• Purchase a concert ticket for Barbara.
• Develop a relationship with one specific taxi driver and offer to pay him extra if he would be waiting for Maxine at the end of the concert.
• Explain to the driver our best practices for safely helping Maxine from her transporter chair, down the curb, and up into the taxi while protecting her fragile shoulder.
• Arrange for Maxine’s oxygen supplier to provide three small, quiet continuous flow oxygen tanks.
• Teach Maxine, with Barbara’s assistance, how to change the oxygen tanks herself, since Illinois regulations generally prohibit non-medical caregivers from performing that particular task.
• Have Barbara carry two spare oxygen tanks in a backpack while Maxine entered Symphony Center with the active tank resting on her lap.
• Arrive early to visit the restroom before the concert and before the crowds arrived.
• Safely transfer Maxine from her transporter chair into her seat near the aisle, but still three seats in.
• Wait until just before the performance was going to begin, switch to a fresh oxygen tank that would comfortably last until intermission, and then store that tank beneath Maxine’s seat.
• Have Barbara sit in her own balcony seat during the performance while both enjoying the concert and keeping an eye on Maxine.
• During intermission, have Barbara return to Maxine’s seat so the two of them could switch to the final oxygen tank, ensuring enough oxygen for the remainder of the evening.
• After most of the audience left, Barbara would transfer Maxine back into her transporter chair.
• Ensure that their taxi driver was waiting exactly where they had arranged with a phone call.
• Barbara and Maxine get to their pick-up location, get into the taxi and go home.
The concert lasted only one evening.
Everything went exactly as planned.
But Maxine anticipated it for weeks beforehand.
She talked about it for weeks afterward.
We didn’t simply help someone attend a concert.
We helped someone reclaim a piece of herself.
For one magical evening, Maxine wasn’t defined by oxygen tanks, transporter chairs, strokes, or physical limitations. She was simply a woman listening to one of the world’s greatest cellists perform music she loved.
That concert was one of the things that Mattered Most to Maxine.
At Senior Helpers of Chicago, What Matters Most isn’t a marketing slogan.
It is where we begin.
Of course, we help with bathing, dressing, meals, medication reminders, transportation, companionship, and all of the countless tasks that high quality caregiving requires.
But we also believe our responsibility is larger than that.
Sometimes the most important thing we do is help someone preserve a treasured tradition, fulfill a lifelong wish, reconnect with something they love, or simply feel like themselves again.
Making life a little richer.
A little more memorable.
A little more fulfilling.
That’s what Matters Most to our clients.
And that’s what matters most to Senior Helpers of Chicago.
Postscript: Senior Helpers of Chicago provided care for Maxine until she died a the age of 94.
