So different…

I’ve been thinking lately about how so very different this “job” is from any other that I’ve ever had. Yes, I’ve worked in the service industry for 30 years but here the volunteers are so critical to helping these people in their daily lives. I’m sure that Linda can relate to the similarities it has with her days of working in the nursing home but for me it is very different. It will be 20 years ago next month that my father passed away and although I and my siblings were “around” during the final months when mom’s caregiver tasks were enormous, we still had our own lives that we returned to. Here you can become such an important part of these people’s day to day lives in all sorts of ways. Discussions with the participants can run the gamut from talking about the professions from which they retired, their children, their spouses (living or deceased), money and health concerns. We take them to the doctor’s offices or hospital for appointments or tests and return to pick them up after procedures or if they have to stay in the hospital, we might be the one to pick them up when they are discharged.
Yesterday, I told one of the participants sitting with me at lunch, that I had just spoken to my mom and she told me that last week she produced 100 jars of jelly, 6 apple pies that she froze and various other things. I told him that she is 82 and never stops. He said, “That’s great…that is what should happen. When you stop, you get lazy and just sit and don’t get up again.” He is preparing to leave with his rig and will travel from October till January. You could hear the excitement in his voice as he spoke of the places he’d go to and what he’d do.
You also see, from interacting so closely with the residents here, whether they are in a contented place in their lives or like for some, they seem bitter that their spouses are gone and they are left alone. Many here have had to contend with losing their sight or hearing, which must be a horrible thing to come to terms with. Losing one of our senses is such a drain on the rest of us and our human psyche that sometimes it becomes too big of an adjustment this late in life. There is a huge impact to quality of life and their emotional well being. For several of the participants here, their spouses are in nearby nursing homes suffering from Alzheimer’s. They go weekly to visit them (depending on the distance some may go more often) and we drive them there. As one participant, who has a spouse with Alzheimer’s, commented…”It has an impact on both people…your life is on hold as you watch the other one deteriorate.”
We are coming to a close on our first month here at the Care Center….this first month has been one filled with wonderful experiences and people. We’re hoping our last month will be as richly blessed.