Kevin's Father

On April 30th while I was attending an awards ceremony in North Carolina my father was in the emergency room at Community Medical Center after suffering a heart attack. For the past two months our family has had to deal with what many have gone through and that is determining what’s best for an aging parent and with the help of many my Dad is now a resident of Saint Barnabas Assisted Living at Lakewood.

Through this entire process what I’ve found more than anything is that there’s a lot of help out there and caring and understanding people who will go that extra step. It’s those people who basically came to our rescue.

Our ordeal started after my father had fallen while living in his Ortley Beach apartment and needed assistance from Toms River Township Police. It was determined that he would need medical attention which led to the Tri-Boro First Aid Squad transporting him to the very busy emergency room at Community Medical Center. Once it was determined he had suffered a heart attack he was fortunate that Dr. Jay Stone was available and he received terrific care from him and those in the cardiac unit. Several days later he was off to Jersey Shore University Medical Center for a procedure, which went very well. With assistance from both hospitals we made arrangements for him to then move to the Laurelton Village Care Center in Brick for rehab and continuing care. He needs a walker to get around and the heart attack only compounded his mobility issues. During the six-plus weeks he was at Laurelton Village he came in contact with so many wonderful people that I know I’d miss quite a few if I tried to name them all. But from the Administrator to the Receptionist when he got more than anything was attention…special thanks to the two “Pats”, Madeline, and Heather. They were all wonderful and made the best out of what are very difficult circumstances.

During this period my brother, sister and I came to the conclusion that it was not in my father’s best interests to return home and we set about the task of finding an assisted living facility. Frank Gelormini, a friend and Vice President at Community Medical Center suggested the Saint Barnabas facility in Lakewood…one I did not even know about. After meeting Alexis Commodore, the administrator, and touring the place I was convinced it was the perfect next step for my father. He moved in Tuesday and despite plenty of trepidation seems to be making the transition.

I would be remiss if I did not give a special thanks to Jane Maloney and the many I came in contact with at the Ocean County Office of Senior Services.
They have guided us through every step from day one and provided information and resources which have led us to being able to help our ex-Marine father when he needed it the most. Jackie, Linda and Maria answered our many questions and helped steer us in the right direction.

While the last couple of months have been filled with concern, stress, challenges and frustration the bottom line is we should all sleep better at night thanks to many who not only helped us but do this every day. Underappreciated and probably grossly underpaid…to us they are heroes.