Mr. Soleyn Visits his Homeland
Mr. Soleyn has been a client of Family Services, Inc. since
2007. He was born on the Caribbean island
of St. Croix, but moved to New York when he was in high school. Mr. Soleyn is a Vietnam Army Veteran. He is 67 years old and has suffered from
several strokes and seizures which make it difficult for him to verbally
communicate. These strokes and seizures have also left him as a quadriplegic
and unable to care for his self. He suffered his first stroke 30 years ago and
he has spent the last three decades in a VA nursing home. Mr. Soleyn was in a conservator program for 15
-20 years before he became FSI’s client.
A nurse who works at Mr. Soleyn‘s residence truly listened
with her whole heart when Mr. Soleyn expressed his deep wishes to return to his
homeland of St. Croix. She too is from St. Croix and she understood his longing
desire to visit home. She made the connections and contacted FSI employee Mary
Heatherly, Mr. Soleyn’s conservator counselor, to see if the trip would be
possible. It had been more than 40 years since his last visit to St. Croix. Mary knew that Mr. Soleyn had the available
funds to make the trip but she also knew that she needed the approval of a
judge. Mary spoke with the judge and was
told, “Well, it is his money, you make it happen!” Mary knew that in order to make Mr. Soleyn’s
dream come true, there would be many barriers to cross due to his physical
condition. She also knew that it would take a lot of team work. She decided to
plow forward whole heartedly with determination to make his dream a reality.
Linda, a nurse, and her husband, Dale, agreed to escort Mr.
Soleyn down to St. Croix and be his caregivers for the duration of the trip. Many
FSI employees along with Linda and Dale coordinated the details of the trip and
contacted his family members. This was no easy task because he didn’t have a
passport or a drivers’ license, and special arrangements had to be made due to
Mr. Soleyn’s physical condition. Mary said there were “three pages of single
spaced items to conquer” in order to make this trip a possibility. “Everybody
had their part to play,” she said.
Mr. Soleyn had a few requests upon visiting St. Croix. He
wanted to eat island food, see his mother’s grave, and see his family. They
arranged two family reunions at local restaurants for Mr. Solyen. While in one
of the restaurants, he found out the owner was his cousin. They took him to the
church where his mother grew up in and to see where his mother was buried. “He had
tears rolling down his face,” Linda said.
Both Dale and Linda knew that it wouldn’t be a vacation for them but
said “to see him happy and light up at certain foods and see raw emotion” made
it all worth it. On the last day, he was
so happy, he didn’t want to leave. “We haven’t seen him this happy in all these
years. This was a God thing and a blessing to everyone involved,” said Mary.
*Name has been changed for protection of privacy By: Lindsey Jenkins
