Articles

James City County nuns help those most in need

a reprint from the May 24, 2016 edition of the Virginia Gazette

The Little Sisters of Saint Francis of Assisi is a group of African nuns who run eight facilities in James City County that provide long-term assisted living and day care for the severely mentally ill, as well as the severely developmentally, intellectually and physically disabled.

There isn't a single place that Sister Agnes Narocho calls home.

Born in Nairobi, Kenya, the 60-year-old nun has spent the last 19 years caring for disabled people in the Historic Triangle. Her blue flip phone rings constantly.

On the other line might be another nun or the Virginia Department of Social Services asking if there is room for one more patient. Often it's a patient calling Naracho for comfort, and they can become uneasy when she isn't around.

"I sleep where I can, when I can," the nun said. "I'm never gone, but in my mind I take a day off." Sister Agnes Narocho is the director of the Little Sisters of Saint Francis of Assisi -- a group of African nuns who run nine ministries for the mentally ill and developmentally, intellectually and physically disabled in the Historic Triangle. (Adrienne Mayfield / Virginia Gazette)

Narocho is the administrator of the Little Sisters of Saint Francis of Assisi, a group of African nuns who run eight facilities in James City County that provide long-term assisted living and day care for the severely mentally ill, as well as the severely developmentally, intellectually and physically disabled.

"I have learned how to appreciate people with special needs. They have so much they can offer us," Narocho said.

Unplanned ministry

Narocho didn't plan to spend her life taking care of disabled people. She was searching for a place to open a training school for nuns when she moved into a two-bedroom apartment in Williamsburg in 1997.

She was volunteering as a respite worker for Williamsburg families with sick members when she got her first full-time patient, Robert Smith. Smith, who still lives at one of the nun's facilities, suffers from cerebral palsy, mental illness and learning disabilities. He was a difficult man who had been kicked out of several group homes, Narocho said.

Smith's mother was a nurse whose health was declining, and his sister was newly married and unable to take care of him. The women begged Narocho to take care of Smith. His mother told the nun, "Mother Theresa takes care of everybody. You are here like Mother Theresa – take care of my son." So she did.

Smith moved into the nun's small apartment. Another nun helped take care of him during the day, but at night Narocho was on her own. Smith took up most of the room in the apartment, and the nun's life began to revolve around his needs.

Her life hasn't stopped revolving around the needs of others as her ministry has grown.

Finding a home

Narocho and the Little Sisters of Saint Francis of Assisi were caring for three disabled men by 1998 when they realized they needed a plan to get the men into a permanent home. "We had to start getting into what it takes," Narocho said.

Narocho knew a man who sponsored priests in Rochester, N.Y. He offered to co-sign a $380,400 mortgage for the nuns, and they bought a big house on Jolly Pond Road. It was the first of nine buildings the Little Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi bought to serve the disabled in the Historic Triangle.

The house on Jolly Pond Road can hold eight severely mentally ill men. They sleep in large bedrooms flooded with natural light pouring through the windows. The mortgage is paid for using money from the men's Social Security income, about $1,129 a month, which also covers food, clothing and personal hygiene products. The money doesn't go very far, especially in a house full of men who love to smoke cigarettes, Narocho said.

The nuns' ministry grew over the years to include an assisted living home for mentally ill women on Jolly Pond Road, as well as housing for developmentally, intellectually and physically disabled people in James City and New Kent counties.

The nun's ninth ministry — a day-care program for older people — is scheduled to open in June in James City County.

Some of the patients improve and become independent. Others move into nursing homes. There is no time period set where a patient must improve or leave, Narocho said.

Narocho's facilities are considered "community based" assisted living facilities, said James City County Department of Community Services Director Rebecca Vinroot. Community-based assisted living facilities are less restrictive than other options, like nursing homes. They allow the disabled to live with choice, Vinroot said.

"It gives choice for folks to be able to live how they feel they want to live and still have their needs met," Vinroot said. "You should be able to live how you choose to live. Just because you have a disability doesn't mean you have to be restricted if your needs can be met in this community based environment."

Love languages

Everyone stops to greet Narocho when she walks into Saint Michael's Day Care Support Program on Centerville Road. Byron, an autistic man, grabs the nun's hand and hugs her with a large smile on his face. Mikey is nonverbal. He bows his head and rubs it against Narcho's. It's the way he greets people he is happy to see, the nun said.

Those who work with the patients have developed their own language to communicate with them, said Sister Patricia Wangai, director of Martha's Place, a long-term care for developmentally and intellectually disabled people in Quinton. "You have to learn the language each one uses," Wangai said.

The day care center is full of noise. A 1960s record plays while Smith sits in his wheelchair and writes. Others eat lunch, rest in bed or color. Sometimes an argument breaks out, but it's quickly resolved. The patients help and care for each other,Wangai said.

Patients at St. Michael's have a routine. They drink coffee and have a snack in the morning, followed by an outing. They might clean up around a park or work in the Williamsburg Botanical Garden, Program Director Kim Cuddihy-Howard said.

After work comes play. Patients may go out to eat, shop or bowl, said Program Business Manager Ed Gerhard, who started as a volunteer 13 years ago. Staff often ask patients what they would like to do.

Once a woman told them she wanted to take a boat ride, so they took her on the Jamestown-Scotland Ferry, Gerhard said. A man told the staff that he wanted to be an astronaut, so they took him to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C., Gerhard said. The man sat in a real space capsule and took a picture with people dressed up as astronauts.

The joy on his face was priceless.

Community calling

Narocho isn't a rich woman, but if she had a enough money, she said she would use it to buy more homes for the disabled. The disabled population's need for help is so great in the Historic Triangle that the nun believes she could fill many houses with patients.

Narocho views her work as a community calling rather than a ministry. Meeting the needs of a community is a missionary's calling; all they must do is listen, Narocho said. "We are here to fill the need. We are here to be observant enough to know," Narocho said. "God is calling you to do something, but it's what is around you – the pressures that you feel around you that makes you wake up and you have to do something about it."

Want to help the Little Sisters?

To find out how you can help the Little Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi, call 607-821-1821 or email lsosfmission12@gmail.com.

For more information on the Little Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi, visit, lsosfusamission.org/index.html

Little Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi open home for homeless

With joy and love, the Little Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi are slated to open a transitional house for homeless women with mental illness in January and a senior center in February, both in Williamsburg.

The order, which has its motherhouse in Uganda, is already well established in the Williamsburg area. Its St. Michael’s Day Support Program can care for as many as 37 adults with intellectual disabilities. A transitional home provides shelter for up to three homeless pregnant women, and its group homes for adults with mental health and intellectual disabilities collectively serve up to 26 individuals who are poor or marginalized. (At press time, there were openings for two more people in a group home for individuals with intellectual disabilities who may also have co-occurring health issues, mental illness or physical disabilities.)

In addition, the Little Sisters’ Seton House in Quinton serves six people with intellectual disabilities who also have severe physical impairments which require intensive aid such as therapy exercises or special medical equipment such as feeding tubes.

The Little Sisters’ new transitional house for homeless women with mental illness will accommodate up to three women at a time. The Little Sisters created the home in response to frequent requests from a local psychiatric hospital to house homeless women from the time they are discharged until permanent housing can be found for them, according to Sister Agnes Naracho, the regional coordinator for Little Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi in the United States

The Little Sisters’new senior center will be open weekdays and can accommodate up to 41 individuals 55 and older including those with dementia and other health issues. The center’s goals are to provide respite care, support and education for the families and caregivers of the clients and to provide social and health-related services that help the seniors develop and maintain life skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, effective communication and interpersonal communication skills. Therapeutic activities include mentally-stimulating activities such as crafts, games and puzzles, opportunities to garden and exercise and special outings to stores, restaurants, the movies and other places of interest. Clients will receive nutritious meals and snacks that accommodate some special diets, Sister Agnes said.

The center is open to both private-paying individuals and persons with Medicaid which will cover the $66 daily fee. Eighteen seniors had enrolled as of press time, and more can apply by calling Sister Refina Quan at 757-784-5378 or 626-328-5657 for an appointment. Clients do not have to go to the center everyday but can sign up for the particular days needed.

St. Michael’s Day Support Program currently has 20 more openings. In addition to having an intellectual disability, the client may have co-occurring health issues, mental illness and physical impairments. Enrollment is open to both private-paying individuals and those in the Medicaid Waiver Program. St. Michael’s director, Kim Cuddihy-Howard, said the center’s activities are tailored to the client’s interests and run the gamut from music and dancing to simple cooking and reading (and being read to). The center regularly takes individuals to the library, stores and restaurants. Special field trips are made to other places of interest. For example, they’ve gone to museums, fed the horses in Colonial Williamsburg and walked its streets to admire the Christmas decorations. They have also had opportunities to provide public service by picking up trash in a local park and helping at a botanical garden.

“It’s good for them to get out and do ‘normal things,’” Ms. Cuddihy-Howard said, adding that these socialization opportunities make a positive impact on the clients in many ways.

“I see growth,” she said. “We encourage them to make friends and to stand up for each other. We help with their behaviors. We help them feel purposeful.”

Sister Agnes said the Little Sisters rely on volunteers from local churches, the community and the National Catholic Network of Volunteer Service to make their services possible. They also partner with the Franciscan Sisters of Divine Mercy to run the group homes for adults with mental illness.

Sister Agnes said serving the clients is rewarding.

“We are all created in God’s image,” she said. “I see Jesus in each person I take care of. For me, it’s joyful when I work with them.”

“I like what I do,”she continued. “For me, it’s the right place to live my faith.”