What Makes Us Different?
by Gaile Perry Dixon
In 1998, I visited a distant relative in a group home in west Phoenix. My great Aunt Mary was once a wild woman of the west, an assistant producer for Walt Disney, a world traveler, a feisty little woman who Barry Goldwater once courted. Now, a broken woman with Alzheimer's disease, she recognized no one. My family did not know where to turn or where to start looking for help. The decision was made by default and Aunt Mary was cared for by the first adult care home that would "take her." She was with people who could not speak English, could not cook American food, nor comfort her, because she could not understand them. I knew there must be a better way for people to spend the last years, months, or days of their lives than to be relegated to a room, watching "shock talk shows," and having no one with whom to talk. The word "warehoused" is commonly used to describe those who are no longer productive members of society and are moved out of the way, to await whatever fate was to be theirs that day, month or year.
At the same time, my 99 year old grandmother had suffered a heart attack and could no longer live independently. The question was again asked, "Where do you go when you can't go home?"
In 1999 we started Dream Catcher, for our own family.
And, here we are today, over 20 years later.
This is why we are distinctly different.
We protect your loved ones like we protected our own family.
We care. And we back that up with a reputation that is one of the very best in the industry.
In 1998, I visited a distant relative in a group home in west Phoenix. My great Aunt Mary was once a wild woman of the west, an assistant producer for Walt Disney, a world traveler, a feisty little woman who Barry Goldwater once courted. Now, a broken woman with Alzheimer's disease, she recognized no one. My family did not know where to turn or where to start looking for help. The decision was made by default and Aunt Mary was cared for by the first adult care home that would "take her." She was with people who could not speak English, could not cook American food, nor comfort her, because she could not understand them. I knew there must be a better way for people to spend the last years, months, or days of their lives than to be relegated to a room, watching "shock talk shows," and having no one with whom to talk. The word "warehoused" is commonly used to describe those who are no longer productive members of society and are moved out of the way, to await whatever fate was to be theirs that day, month or year.
At the same time, my 99 year old grandmother had suffered a heart attack and could no longer live independently. The question was again asked, "Where do you go when you can't go home?"
And, here we are today, over 20 years later.
This is why we are distinctly different.
We protect your loved ones like we protected our own family.
We care. And we back that up with a reputation that is one of the very best in the industry.