On her first day, she changed one part of staff orientation.
She stood before a group of new caregivers.
She told them about a resident without using Margaret’s name.
“She screamed every bath day.”
Sophie looked around the room.
“People called her difficult.”
“They called her dramatic.”
“They called her attention-seeking.”
“One person even wrote noncompliant in her chart.”
The young caregivers listened.
Sophie continued.
“But nobody asked the right question.”
She paused.
“The question was never, ‘How do we make her cooperate?’”
“The question should have been, ‘What is she afraid of?’”
Then Sophie told them one rule.
“If a resident says stop, you stop.”
“If they say no, you listen.”
“If something seems irrational, do not assume it is meaningless.”
“Trust is part of care.”
The lesson became standard at Willow Creek.
Margaret never knew that.
But Sophie believed she would have liked it.
Especially because the coffee at Willow Creek eventually improved too.
