It is one of the most emotionally draining jobs anyone can have: Being a Hospice caregiver.  But this Arkansan of the Week goes above and beyond--even putting her own safety at risk to help her patients. Thirty-four-year-old Sharon Edwards makes her living making elderly--often terminally ill--patients feel comfortable in their last days of life.

(Sharon Edwards, Hospice Caregiver) “I go in, make sure they're comfortable, bathe them--just do normal things. Be an ear to them, to the family.”

She has seven patients in all. But it's one in particular that she thought of on the night of December 27th. That's the night one of the buildings at Auxora Arms Apartments exploded.
Sharon saw the story on the news, and quickly thought of one of her patients who lives there.

(Edwards) “Only thing I could think about was Ms. Helen--Ms. Borkins as I call her. Granny. She's got to be scared. She's 95-years-old, she's in a power chair. She had to be frightened.”

So, Sharon jumped into her car to check on 95-year-old Helen Borkins. When she arrived, the firefighters, police officers, and TV crews were there. Sharon and her son parked more than a mile away, and walked through a disaster area to find Miss Helen.

(Edwards) “When I got here, one of her neighbors was here. They was both shook up. I think they was happy to see a face--a friendly face. A face that they knew.”

Helen would have to be moved to one of Arkansas Hospice's inpatient rooms temporarily while her gas was shut off. But she's back at home now, and thankful for her friend Sharon.
For Sharon, it's the smiles she gets that make the job worthwhile. But, it's a job that is an emotional roller coaster. It's the nature of her job that she won't be spending much time with her patients. But, she says, she'll keep doing it.

(Edwards) “It's hard. It's very hard. I've had patients that I've lost that I was very attached to. But, I realize they are probably in a better place than we are, and I know that I done my best. There's nothing else that I could've done, and that's what hospice is all about.”

If you have someone you'd like to nominate for Arkansan of the Week, send an e-mail to scottinman@katv.com.