The Amazing Care Charitable Foundation has established an award to recognize the emotional and financial hardship associated with end-of-life care.  Funding is given to caregivers and others who support the patient and his/her family during a difficult time.  This award is made in memory of Grace Lucia who, regrettably, did not receive the kind of care our Foundation wishes she could have had.  In the words of her son, Bill Lucia, former President, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Healthcare Management Systems, here is Grace’s story:

“My mother passed away on September 9, 2014 at the age of 88, having been married to my father, William, for 69 years.  My mother was a strong, funny, hardworking woman who took care of everyone around her, friends or family.  Grace grew up in Philadelphia to parents who immigrated from Italy. They were poor so she had to quit high school in the 8th grade to help support the family.  Eventually, she met my father at a textile mill.  They lived in somewhat opposite neighborhoods in Philadelphia and he would take the trolley car an hour each way to see her.   They built a happy life together; my Dad was a factory floor manager at a textile mill and my mom cleaned doctor’s offices for 30 years or so.  They raised three kids, and experienced the grief of their eldest, my sister, dying before them.

Grace suffered from and survived cancer.  However, a few years later, she had a pretty devastating stroke.  This tough woman was now a shell of herself fighting to get better.  She was in a nursing home from the time she left the hospital until the time she passed.  Every week, my father would ask when is Mom coming home, and every week I had to explain that we would need to find a costly, yet qualified in-home caregiver.  My father doesn’t like a stranger in the home and was worried that he might do something wrong (not help her exercise her limbs, or with speech therapy or even eating).  But she always asked if she could die at home.

I arrived in Pennsylvania the evening before she passed away.  The home had set up a bed next to my Mom for my Dad, and he held her hand and slept next to her for the last time.  The next morning, my Dad, my niece Terri and I all held her hands and let her know she could slip away – we’d all be ok.  And within a few seconds of saying that, she let go.  She no longer needed to worry about everyone and take care of everyone – she knew my niece and I would now do that.

Six years later, my father still goes to a grief counseling group at church. He’s now 94 years old, active, and misses my mother every day.  What he tells me he missed the most during that period was not having her at home to comfort her.”

How to Apply for this award:

Please send a letter indicating interest, amount of funding desired, and purpose of award to:
Cora M. Tellez:  corat@amazingcarefoundation.org.