By Usha Manorama Tirkey
Five years ago, when Aloisia used to speak on the phone with her daughter who lived abroad, she never failed to ask her to return home, her voice filled with suffering and desperation, as she wept. Aloisia was afraid of dying without seeing her daughter one last time.
She was ill for some two years and underwent treatment from many doctors, but her illness continued to worsen. Because the doctors did not fully understand her illness, they could offer her no suitable treatment. She could not afford to be treated in a better hospital and her despair increased, as her illness progressed.
Worried about her mother’s serious condition and looking for a way to resolve the situation, her daughter followed the advice she was given by Sister Linda Marie Vaughan, then Mother General of the Congregation of the Daughters of Saint Anne, who advised her to take her mother to a home run by the Daughters of Saint Anne. Aloisia was thus admitted to the home for the eldery in the Indian village of Ulhatu.
The home’s new environment
Aloisia found a completely different environment in the new home, where she met many people who suffered from different physical problems.
Nurses and assistants were on hand to help them day and night, giving them their time and tender affection. Above all, the patients found an atmosphere of prayer, which helped them have hope and inner joy, despite their suffering.
The Sisters of the Congregation of the Daughters of Saint Anne take special care to ensure that the sick receive physical, mental and spiritual assistance.
Sister Jacinta Kerketta, DSA, who has worked in the home since its very beginning, is now the hospital Administrator. She takes great care of all the patients, both materially and spiritually.
Sister Jacinta explained that the “centre had been founded to tackle the needs of the moment. It was opened for the sick, the helpless, the elderly, the lonely and the disabled, so that they could find the courage to continue living.”
Christian hope for those enduring illness
Speaking to Vatican News, Sister Jacinta pointed out the different ways in which the Centre assists its patients: walks, recreational activities, counselling, nursing care, prayer and more.
Patients live in tranquillity. Once their health improves, some of them return to their homes, while others stay on at the clinic.
Three years later, when Aloisia’s daughter, who was living in Italy, saw her mother again, she could not stop giving thanks to God. Although her mother had become weaker, she had a serene expression on her smiling face and no words of complaint.
She expressed her gratitude to those who served her selflessly by giving them something back: she lay on her bed, helpless, but with her weakened lips in a continuous movement of prayer. This was the fruit of Christian hope. Aloisia had found the hope that led her to find the greatest treasure of her life, Christ.
Pilgrimage of hope
Aloisia is not the only one in Saint Anne’s home for the elderly to have found this hope and to have left this world peacefully. Today, there are many people who wish to spend the last days of their lives in this peaceful place.
The home is for the elderly, for people with incurable illnesses, and for people who are disheartened by loneliness. Its goal is to give residents renewed hope and help them move forward in their pilgrimage of hope.
Saint Anne’s home for the elderly was founded in 2016 by the Congregation of the Daughters of Saint Anne of Ranchi. Since then, the Sisters have been providing their selfless service to people in need. – Vatican News
