Caring caretakers

Sincere thanks to Mary McDaniel Cail for her excellent Nov. 8 column, ‘He may be naked, but I’m only looking at his wrinkles.’

Both of my parents developed dementia at the end of their lives, and over my years in ordained ministry, I have called on many parishioners who whipped off their clothes as soon as someone covered them up. That has never been a problem for me — dignity is a lot deeper than being covered.

So now, being the older generation, I have some concerns for my own care when I can’t hold it together anymore.

The one thing for which I pray is to be cared for by caring people, as I’ve seen too many less-than-caring caretakers.

I trust that part of their caring will be recognizing my dignity — clothed or unclothed.

I’ve never read a more professional and compassionate article on a sensitive and totally human subject.

This story was originally published November 10, 2015 at 9:18 PM with the headline "Caring caretakers."