There is not enough time in a day.

So I have had trouble getting up to the veteran’s home because apparently the bus does not run up there on Saturdays.  I have not been to volunteer there since my last post, but I can talk about my other visit a couple weeks ago. 

My last visit I came in at about 3:00 in the afternoon, so the Veteran’s Home was winding down from the busy day.  I first chatted with two World War II veterans named Jerry and Larry**.  Jerry was ninety-five and Larry was ninety-four. Larry was in the army during the war and fought on the front lines.  Jerry was in the air force.  When the nurse introduced me, she first whispered to Jerry “Can I show her the picture?”  Jerry let a slow smile creep across his face, and the nurse pulled out an old photograph of a handsome man in pilot clothes.  The nurse whistled and said, “Quite the looker ain’t he?”  After the war, Jerry transported monkeys from the Philippines to the United States for medical testing.  He told me that they used these monkeys to test the polio vaccine and other medicines.  Both Jerry and Larry had many pictures on the wall of their many kids, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.  Jerry had twelve grandchildren and Larry had 22 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.  While I was there they had me change the television channel to Hogan’s Heroes, their favorite tv show.

      At about 4:30 I made my way down to the dining room.  I went through a short training session and then I was ready to help the residents.  My job was to help residents push their trays down the line, help them put food on the trays, and take their trays to where they wanted to sit.  Everyone had a specific spot that I can only assume is their regular mealtime seat.  It was very interesting and entertaining to see every person’s specific rituals that the full time staff was already well aware of.  

Training

When I signed up for this class, I wasn’t aware of the community service requirement.  I was a little surprised, but I think it was a good surprise…hopefully.  This is a great opportunity for me because I have never really made an effort to do community service before.  I have helped at a few functions through school groups and my grandparent’s church, but I never went to a local shelter or organization and donated my time.  So this is a new experience for me.  I’d like to think I’m becoming a better person for this, even if the service is required for a class.

I enjoy working at the Veteran’s Home.  I have completed my first five hours of training.  We watched some awesome training videos from circa 1991 and there were snacks.  I met some very interesting people during our short training session.  I have to say that the most memorable experience was visiting the Alzheimer’s wing of the Veteran’s Home.  We were at the home late at night, and the Alzheimer’s patients usually stay up later in the evening.  There were about ten patients in the lounge area.  We introduced ourselves to the patients and then our volunteer director made an off-hand comment about her memory slipping.  A lady then exclaimed, “Well your memory slips, and you’re normal, so I must be normal!”  Our director then attempted to say hello to a sleeping man, and the same lady whispered off-handedly to us “She can’t wake him up – They poison the food here to keep us quiet.”  I know that the Veteran’s Home staff does their best to make every resident happy and feel at home, but I can still understand this lady’s frustration.  I would feel the same way if I were stuck in a nursing home, surrounded by people who treat me as if I can’t take care of myself, regardless of whether I actually can take care of myself.  It would hurt your pride.  I’m not sure if there’s a solution to this problem – it’s just an unfortunate byproduct of the situation. 

I’m looking forward to spending more time at the Veteran’s Home and learning more about these people’s experiences