LeadingAge recognized dedicated caregivers on the frontlines in member communities across the country during the 2023 LeadingAge Annual Meeting. Care partner honorees were selected by their home state association and recognized for their excellence.

Award-winning poet Cin Salach created an original poem, “Chosen”—and delivered her words live from the General Session stage. Salach creates workshops and experiences for older adults, caregivers, and others living with dementia through her organization, Poem Grown. Read the poem below. 

CHOSEN

For professional caregivers everywhere

Dear Caregiver,

When I ask why you do what you do,

you tell me it was reading all fourteen Oz books

to your mom during her last year of life that was the beginning

of your soul’s insistence

on who you could be in this life.

You tell me about Ann, who lived with Alzheimer’s.

Her amazing spirit. The sunsets

you watched together, and how she told you to

do the things in life that you want to do now,

“Do them now,” she said, because “Time waits for no one.”

You tell me about Phil. How his type 1 diabetes

meant no birthday cake for at least 50 years.

So you cut, measure, and weigh

one piece of birthday cake to determine

the exact number of carbs he can safely devour,

and serve it to him.

Then you tell me about his smile.

You tell me about your client living with dementia

who was in WWII, and how

in the middle of a PTSD moment,

thought you were the enemy.

How you redirected and redirected and

redirected until he felt safe

and home again.

Dear Caregiver,

You are home for so many.

Diverting a person from scared to calm,

walking a person from lost to found

is a superpower.

Knowing when to say,

“Let’s play” or “Let’s pray.”

is a superpower.

You don’t wear a cape, but dear caregiver,

you are a superhero.

There’s no degree for what you do, and yet

You have a masters in compassion.

You have a masters in respect.

You have a masters in patience.

You have a masters in comfort.

You have a masters in presence.

You have a masters in dignity.

You have a masters in laughter.

You have a masters in love.

We belong to each other.

What more important work is there?

We of the aging body, the new diagnosis,

the painful recovery, the fading memory.

There is so much fear here.

So many questions.

When will we need help? How much help will we need?

Who should we ask? How will it feel?

Will they like us? Will they love us?

Dear Caregiver,

Somehow, you find us.

You enter our lives and become instant family.

As beloved as a brother, sister, daughter, son.

No matter how alone or broken we feel,

you remind us we aren’t.

I didn’t choose to be a professional caregiver.

It chose me.

I didn’t choose to be a professional caregiver.

It chose me.

Inspired, I sit quietly with the things

that have chosen me, and there are three:

my son, my parents, my poetry.

Here’s what I know:

when life tells us which direction to go,

and we go,

love happens.

Again and again and again.

Dear Caregiver,

Because of you, love happens

again and again and again.

Everywhere you go, everyone you touch.

Chosen. And loved.

Again and again

and again.

Written by Cin Salach and commissioned by LeadingAge.