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The Long Journey Home

by Gaily Ligaiya Romero
"I'll remember you always," said Sarah Gertrude Conder, 90, a promise she made at Helmwood Healthcare Center to housekeeper Sumon Alpiger. Gertrude broke her hip on her 90th birthday, and in the two months she spent recuperating at Helmwood, she formed a strong bond with Sumon.

“Goal met, goal met, goal met,” says the physical therapist at Helmwood Healthcare Center, checking off Sarah Gertrude Conder’s accomplishments over the past two months. Gertrude broke her right hip on her 90th birthday, the night before her big party, and is now reaching the end of her stay at the physical therapy facility. “I’m excited to leave because it’s one step closer to going home,” Gertrude said.

But she’s not in the clear yet.

Before she’ll be fully ready to return to the Elizabethtown house that’s been hers since 1945, Gertrude is moving from Helmbrook into a temporary assisted living facility called Allegro.

Gertrude’s daughter Regina Grubbs, who lives in Lexington, came to town to help her pack up her belongings in preparation for the move. The two even returned to the family home to pick up a few practical odds and ends — a nightgown, a bathmat, extra blankets — to make the 90-year-old former school cook and dietitian more comfortable at Allegro.

Gertrude will stay at Allegro for 30 days and then — if all continues to go well with her healing process — return to the address where she has lived on her own since her husband died in 1992.

She has embraced each step in her recovery with good spirits and determination. Every day, she says, “I feel like I’m getting closer to home.”

Sarah Gertrude Conder misses the freedom of waking up and going to bed whenever she's ready, two things she was able to do at home. Her recovery from a broken hip has made the journey back home a long one, but finally it is coming to an end.
"Pray that I'm satisfied and that I get to go home," says Sarah Gertrude Conder, center right, during a visit from Rev. Tony Carson, left, and Al Blanchard, center left, of First Baptist Sonora church in Gertrude's hometown. Together with Gertrude's daughter, Regina Grubbs, right, they pray for Gertrude's speedy recovery from her broken hip.
Sarah Gertrude Conder, 90, tries out her new bed at Allegro at Helmwood. "I try to be happy wherever I am," Gertrude said. She suffered a hip fracture, but each night brings her closer to sleeping in her own bed at home.
"I hope I like it over there. I just know it's going to be different," said 90-year-old Sarah Gertrude Conder, as she packs only what is necessary for her stay at the Allegro at Helmwood. A hip fracture put her in a physical therapy facility for two months, and she will now move into more transitional houseing at Allegro to eventually return to her normal life.
Doloris, left, and W.T. Snyder, center, visit their aunt Sarah Gertrude Conder at the Helmbrook Healthcare facility, where she has spent the last two months recovering from a hip fracture. Friends and family from her hometown, Sonora, visit often and remind her that home is not so far away.
Although Sarah Gertrude Conder eagerly awaits her return to the home she has lived in for the past 65 years, she has made the most out of her stay at Helmbrook Healthcare facility and formed strong friendships with the staff. "Since the beginning, she was very determined to get better and go home," said physical therapist Christy Hunt, right.
"I don't know what I'd do without Regina," said Sarah Gertrude Conder, right, about her daugther Regina Grubbs, left. Regina came down from Lexington to help her mother move into Allegro at Helmwood.
"Goal met, goal met, goal met," physical therapist Christy Hunt said to Sarah Gertrude Conder, 90, as she checks off her accomplishments during the last two months at Helmwood Healthcare facility. Although she is still recovering from her hip fracture, Gertrude has come a long way.
"I like to have fun," 90-year-old Gertrude Conder said with a chuckle. Even as she heals from a hip fracture, Gertrude knows how to have a good time and sticks to her normal routine, including getting her hair permed at the salon.