Care Partner of the Month: Juan Colon
Care Partner of the Month: Juan Colon
“I like to keep it simple, and take it one step at a time”
Juan cheering on the home team at Yankee Stadium.
by Corey Bliss
Any conversation with Juan Colon, one of Renewal Care’s longest-tenured Care Partners, is sure to be a memorable one. He lights up a room (and a Zoom screen) with his ebullient energy, and his colorful storytelling is second to none. In sharing his own story, he unfolds themes of resilience, compassion, and purpose.
Born in Puerto Rico, Juan moved to New York as a young child, but spent most of his adolescence in an orphanage. “I learned a lot from that time. How to be resourceful, and how to deal with people,” he shares. “I actually thought I was Irish growing up! The nuns who ran the orphanage even taught me how to do the Irish jig.”
But it was Juan’s love of baseball that truly changed his life, and deepened his connection to his Puerto Rican heritage. “My teammate, the star pitcher, said to me, ‘We’re going to win the championship, and you’re the best outfielder, so I’m going to adopt you.’ I was 19 years old, but he convinced his mom and dad, who were Puerto Rican, to adopt me – even though they had 2 children already.”
Juan went on to earn his Master’s Degree in Education from Bank Street College of Education. Later, he directed an after-school program at St. Clement’s Episcopal Church, in Hell’s Kitchen on Manhattan’s west side. He worked with at-risk young children, many of whom had a history of abuse – he saw himself in them, and pulled from his past experiences to help them heal.
“My staff would ask me, ‘Why do you have the worst kids in the whole city?’ ‘Because we need to help them,’ I said. ‘They’re being thrown out of other programs, and we need to learn how to reach them, how to support them, how to help them.’ I trained my staff in how to deal with the most problematic cases.” Decades later, his legacy of compassion endures. “Now, my staff are in their 30s, 40s, 50s. They call me and thank me for teaching them how to care for those kids – ‘Now, I understand,’ they say.”
Juan’s journey with Renewal Care began in 2012, when his friend and colleague John Calhoun, a retired priest and one of Renewal Care’s first Care Partners, told him, “I have a special place for you.” From his very first day, Juan knew he had found a new calling. “Renewal Care is compassionate and humanistic. Everyone has been so good to me over the years.”
Juan applies that humanistic approach to his work as a certified home health aide: “It’s all about relationships,” he explains. “I make sure I keep in contact with clients’ families. My approach is to be sensitive to their experiences.” Fluent in English, Spanish, and Hebrew, Juan says that his language skills help him make a strong first impression. “They respect me, and love my personality and my behavior.”
The respect is mutual. With nearly 9 years of experience working with clients in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease, Juan understands the importance of honoring their dignity and individuality. “I’m very conscious of maintaining my clients’ privacy. They’re intelligent individuals, and we need to respect their space.”
For example, he explains, “if I want my client to wake up in 30 seconds to exercise, that won’t work. He will just get upset. If they don’t want to wake up for 20 minutes, that’s okay. A common mistake is that we often want them to do things the way they used to. We have to allow them to wake up the way they want to, not the way we want them to. Take your time. You can’t force things.”
“I like to keep it simple,” he adds. “When you try to do too much, it’s often more challenging.” It’s important to work within what someone is able to do, and what they enjoy doing, he says. “One of my clients used to like to go out to eat – he never cooked at home. We need to respect that he can’t go out to eat anymore, so we have to be chefs for him. We can make it feel like a restaurant experience at home.”
Juan has always made it a priority to support his fellow Care Partners, especially when they are part of the same care team for a client. “I like to connect with them, and make sure everyone is on the same page,” he says. Juan looks forward to deepening those relationships as an inaugural Mentor in the pilot of Renewal Care’s Peer Mentor Program. In this leadership role, he will be guiding and inspiring his Mentee, a newer Care Partner, to grow and succeed over the course of the next year.
Drawing from his experiences as an educator and mentor, Juan shares this sound advice for all caregivers, families and professionals alike: “Don’t be afraid to speak up, and ask for help when you need it.”