Willie Mae, now 85, was a hardworking nurse at Saint Francis Hospital. She also was a missionary highly involved in the church and someone who opened her doors to everyone. Then, two years ago, she lost her vision due to an infection after surgery for a cornea transplant.

Family immediately stepped up to the plate to care for this well-loved, well-respected, proud woman.

“I moved from my home and left my husband in North Granby to live with my mom in Bloomfield,” sys Dolores, Willie Mae’s daughter. “Services for the Blind wisely advised us that it would be best that my mom live in her home due to its physical familiarity. Still, completely blind, she became extremely depressed. I could hear her crying and moaning in her room each night. I started to get burnt out. My mom grew troubled that I wasn’t home with my husband," recalls Dolores. She continued, “You see, parents want their children to have a good life too.”

Not one to leave a stone unturned, Dolores sought out and received counseling, training, services, and support from many organizations, such as Connecticut Community Care, the Bureau of Education and Services for the Blind (BESB), UConn and many other experts. “I don’t know where either of us would be today without Medicaid and the Connecticut Home Care Program. It was such a quick turn-around to receive services. My mom went from someone who did not want to go on living, back to her joyous self,” recalls Dolores.

Dolores is also very grateful for her mothers care manager. “Our CCC Care Manager Cori Zuppardi and team of providers have enabled me to have a better quality of life. I’m more energetic and present. Were it not for the help we have received, my mom would definitely be in a nursing home and lost. She had depleted most of her money paying for her eye surgery bills,” says Dolores.

“As a retired teacher, I had plans to start a school for boys. But God had other plans...A mission [to help mom] that was realized by the grace of a dedicated team of workers...” - Dolores, Willie Mae's daughter

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