"He was small, but he was mighty. That strength is in every home we walk into."
Wu Cares Home Care was born out of over twenty years of working in hospital and home care as a CNA, medical assistant, and peer recovery coach, and out of love for my son. Across those years, I noticed something the textbooks never taught me. Many of the seniors I cared for were not only facing physical decline. Years of untreated struggle had quietly turned into depression and isolation, and it showed in their skin, their energy, and their will to keep going.
So I became more than a caregiver who helped with bathing and dressing. I cared for the whole person: cooking nourishing meals, making all-natural skincare remedies, taking clients out into the world, encouraging meditation, and connecting them with community resources for their minds as well as their bodies. Clients kept asking for me by name because they could feel the difference.
One client I will never forget showed me what this kind of care can do. I helped her stay connected to her community and keep her independence right up until her last breath. We went to church together so she could keep worshipping with people who knew her. We walked through local parks and volunteered together at food banks, so she was still giving back instead of only being cared for. Her family got to simply be her family. She did not spend her last years shut inside. She lived them, with purpose and with people around her.
Wu Cares gets its name in honor of my son, La'Velle, whose affectionate nickname was WuWu, which means warrior. La'Velle lived with schizophrenia, and when he left school, he came to work with me. The seniors connected with him, and he connected with them. Though his nickname meant warrior, he called himself an ox, because he said he was strong. He was small, but he was mighty, in body, in personality, and in his faith.
We were building Wu Cares together until the day he passed. Finishing it is how I carry his memory forward, and how I keep my promise: to care for people in mind, body, and spirit, the way I always have, and the way my son and I planned to do it together.
Carla RobinsonFounder