I wrote a Letter to the Editor back on April 23 asking the mayor to please listen to the seniors in regard to hiring a new director at the Northampton Senior Center. I am writing once again to strongly encourage the mayor to make a change in who he hired as the director.
I have sat quietly for the last few months, just watching and reading about what’s been happening at the center. I’ve considered just looking the other way and doing nothing since my mom, Mary Lastowski, has passed away and these issues no longer affect her. However, I feel my mom would want me to help the friends and co-workers that she left behind.
I’d like to share a couple of incidents my mom endured during her last few months of life. A little history first though. Both of my parents volunteered at the senior center since it opened in 2007. After my dad’s passing in 2012, my mom increased her volunteering hours tremendously.
She loved the Senior Center, the employees, the volunteers and the community. She was always happy to go the extra mile there. I don’t know what she would have done if it wasn’t for the center and the wonderful people there. I cannot count how many times she would say to me “They are so good to me there.” She found friendship and comfort there. She felt like she mattered and was needed.
She had her own kiosk there that was named Mary’s Mini Sales, where people would donate items and she would sell them to make money for the center. The seniors really enjoyed checking out the variety of bargains. All was good.
That was until a new “sheriff” came to town. The disappointment with choice of the incoming director was felt by many, but my mom was still going to give it her all because the center meant the world to her. Unfortunately, she had no idea how things were going to change. Who would think the new director would take over two weeks before even acknowledging my mom. She’d walk right past her without so much as a hello. Hmmm, in charge of the center, but cannot even introduce herself or utter hello?
As time went on, things continued to decline. That Mary’s Mini Sale that the community loved to shop at? Yeah, the director didn’t want it. When mom said people love it, plus it makes good money for the center, she was told two things. 1. Money isn’t everything. 2. I’m the boss. The kiosk wasn’t immediately eliminated. At first it was downsized by pushing it against the wall so you could only access half of it. Eventually, though, the whole kiosk was gone.
Next my mom was told she could not answer the telephone at the reception desk anymore — you see my mom was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and while she could still talk, it was slow and sometimes her words were slurred a bit. Imagine that — a senior with a debilitating disease who still wants to be a help to society told no — you are not good enough to talk on the phone.
My mom needed to use oxygen and a walker, but struggled with bringing them to the center for fear the director would take more away from her. I would be so angry and feel so heartbroken for my mom when I would hear how she was being treated by someone who should actually thank her for still making volunteering a priority. Instead she didn’t want my mother to sit at the reception desk anymore — yet another slap in the face to a lifelong Northampton resident — who has faithfully volunteered for 12 years.
You tell me — shouldn’t a director of a senior center want to help seniors and ask them what they want? Shouldn’t they have some empathy, some compassion and dare I say manners and respect? When my mom passed away in July, I wondered what I might say to this director at my mom’s services. I didn’t have to worry. She didn’t show up or even send a condolence, absolutely nothing. The seniors of Northampton deserve better. It’s too late for my mom, but I’ll still fight for what’s right and for the future of a place my mom called her “second home.”
Lynda Lastowski Broadhurst
Easthampton