Care Partner of the Month: Larry Espiritu
Care Partner of the Month: Larry Espiritu
“I like to frame all of my experiences around helping others.”
Larry after performing at a New Year’s Eve concert.
by Corey Bliss
Born in Peru, classically-trained violinist Larry Espiritu is now a New Yorker through and through. After several years of study in a conservatory and performing professionally in his home country, he decided to join his mother and family in New York, but admittedly “without knowing how big this country was!”
Though he is fluent in English and Spanish and also speaks some French, Larry’s true language is music. “Through music, I met wonderful people in New York who helped me to understand the life of the city,” he explains. “They welcomed me and helped me with my English. It’s very hard for many immigrants to adjust, with all the hardships they encounter. But at least through the arts, there are connections that make it easier. It is its own community.”
In talking with one of the teachers at the school where he was learning English, Larry learned that she was a flute player, and just so happened to be his neighbor on the Lower East Side. “She invited me to a group, and we started making music every Saturday with a pianist, flute player, and other musicians. That group taught me how to give, because they were so welcoming. Through that experience, I learned that it was my time to start giving back,” Larry said.
After earning his green card, Larry studied liberal arts and psychology at Hunter College, and began his journey working with older adults as an office assistant at a senior center. “After the loss of my mother, I was looking for that sort of connection again,” he explains. “At the center, I started listening to people’s stories about the United States, World War II, and other countries. I was in awe. They shared all of these experiences with me through their stories. And at Renewal Care, I’ve had the same experience.”
Larry’s approach to care is shaped by the bonds he forms with his clients, one of whom he has worked with for the past three years. He is now progressing through the later stages of Alzheimer’s disease, but Larry continues to deepen his connection with him. “The essence of him is still there – he is a wonderful person, a gentle man. In my mind, he is the person I first met three years ago, and knowing that helps me to manage his behaviors, and his agitation. There are different approaches that make it easier for both of us, and for his wife as well.”
“The client’s wife considers Larry a part of the family. He is an outstanding Care Partner, who always puts his best foot forward. He has a true passion and commitment to care for his clients wholeheartedly,” says Kemi Ajayi, Larry’s Care Manager.
As Larry explains, he and his fellow Care Partners “have this emotional involvement in this work, so it can be challenging to let go. But somehow, we have to overcome it to be there for the next person who needs our help.”
“I feel like I am helping the whole city.”
New Yorkers were never more in need of help than in the early days of the pandemic, and Larry answered that call. He joined the Renewal Care Corps, a specialized team of Care Partners committed to caring for COVID-19 positive clients. “I feel like I am helping the whole city,” he says.
Through the Corps, Renewal Care provided several thousand hours of pro bono care to COVID-19 positive clients this spring, helping them recover safely in the comfort of their own homes. Larry and the other members of the Renewal Care Corps receive additional training, resources, and mentoring to support their heroic service.
“I like to frame all of my experiences around helping others,” Larry explains. “New Yorkers are sometimes reluctant to accept help, because they are very independent. As a companion, I have to work to gain their trust. I have to respect their independence, and make sure everything is about them. And they respect me in turn, and help me grow.”
Larry performing in a community choir.
Larry’s commitment to helping others extends not only to his clients and community, but also to his fellow team members. He is an inaugural Mentor in Renewal Care’s newly launched Peer Mentor Program, an initiative providing experienced Care Partners with the opportunity to take on leadership roles within the organization. Larry will be guiding and inspiring his Mentee, a newer Care Partner, to grow and succeed over the course of the next year. He is looking forward to reconnecting with his community of Care Partners in a new way, for as he explains, “We all need to share our experiences with our colleagues, and learn from each other.”
In addition to the arts, Larry also has a passion for fitness. To ensure his safety during the pandemic, he’s focused his time on exercising outdoors, riding his bicycle all over the city. “It’s my workout now that all the gyms are closed, but I’ve always loved the feeling of a cool breeze on my face.”
But most of all, Larry says, “Music is calling me again. I stopped playing for a while, but during the pandemic I started playing more at home. My friends are asking me to join some new virtual groups, and I’m getting back into performing shape.”