Acts of Kindness
Woman with Alzheimer's has best employer ever
This company's compassion is absolutely unbelievable.
Ashley Fike
04.04.19

Doron Salomon started to notice that something wasn’t quite right with his mom when she was in her fifties.

She had begun to show symptoms of early-onset Alzheimer’s Syndrome–a heartbreaking disease that no one would wish upon their worst enemy.

For most of her life, Doron’s mom was a bookkeeper and had organizational skills that so many employers admired which always made her extremely valuable to them. Soon, however, Alzheimer’s started to get in the way of her bookkeeping job and she ended up taking another job as a ‘picker’ at Sainsbury’s–the second largest grocery chain in the United Kingdom.

Wikimedia
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Wikimedia

Doron’s mom worked at a Sainsbury’s in the Kenton neighborhood of England. For the next decade, she ended up loving her new job and her employer valued her as well.

Every day, Doron’s mom would go to Sainsbury’s and pulled items from the shelf that customer’s had ordered online for pick-up. She rarely needed assistance doing her job and did so for years. However, in her sixties, her health started to take a turn for the worse.

Soon, Doron’s mom wasn’t able to perform the tasks of her job without asking other employees for help. Doron and his dad kept Sainsbury’s in the loop about her medical situation and they had been very understanding, but they were dreading the day the grocer would let her go because they could no longer use her services due to her Alzheimer’s.

Twitter
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Twitter

“Alzheimer’s, for those that aren’t aware, is more than just memory loss,” Doron explained on Twitter. “To name a few things it impacts: social skills, mood, increases disorientation, exaggerates emotions, can make you aggressive, increases tiredness, loss of language, inability to make decisions etc etc.”

Doron continued to explain that rather than letting his mom go, they couldn’t have been more surprised by Sainsbury’s compassion and respect for his mom.

Sainsbury’s management team continued to help retrain his mom every time she forgot how to do the duties of her job. They would change her hours, trained her coworkers on how to better help her, and had regular check-ups and meetings with her family to keep their finger on the pulse of her medical situation.

Twitter
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Twitter

“Sainsbury’s have seen my mum deteriorate to the point that every day for the last year or so she has gone into the store confused, as if she’d never been there before. They have always stood by her, going above and beyond to make sure she’s happy and feeling valued.”

Soon, Doron’s mom forgot how to do her job as a picker–the store then created an entirely new position for her.

Twitter
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Twitter

Heartbreakingly, it wasn’t long before she could no longer perform the functions of the job they had created for her. Even the simplest job proved to be too difficult for her and six months later, it was time that she left Sainsbury’s. The grocery chain made sure that the transition was as smooth, dignified, and respectful as possible.

“The sense of self-worth and pride has undeniably helped with aspects of her Alzheimer’s, such as giving her something to talk about in social situations,” Doron stated.

Twitter
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Twitter

Doron shared on Twitter that he rarely takes to social media to talk about corporations, let alone praise them. But this was such an incredible story that he felt the need to share it with the world. He wanted to thank Sainsbury’s for being by his mother’s side while she battled with Alzheimer’s.

Doron wants everyone to know that Sainsbury’s is an incredible and compassionate company that sees value in every employee–no matter their condition.

Twitter
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Twitter

We want to thank Sainsbury’s as well. Their actions during a very difficult time in a family’s life prove to be beyond admirable. Read Doron’s full Twitter post below.

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