Location: Lakeview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
Date: Wednesday, January 9, 2013; 6:30-8 pm
Although I had been to Lakeview
Nursing for other program, I had not attended this one for almost two months. Irina joined me on this occasion and we
arrived to find that Larry and Jack were already in attendance. Gwyn came soon after and so did several other
volunteers. This was going to be the
most well attended ‘What’s The Word’ session
since I started participating.
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| January/February issue |
Once again, I had inadvertently chosen
to be at the unveiling of the bimonthly newsletter. Gwyn handed out the January/February ‘As We
See It’ issue, which was thicker than the earlier ones. The issue started with discussion on some of
the upcoming holidays and other occasions such as, 'Martin Luther King Day', 'President’s Day', and 'Valentine’s Day' etc.
Besides these well-known events, I also learned about other days such as
‘Three Kings Day’ on January 6th,
which has religious significance across many different cultures. I discovered new fun facts about Valentine’s
Day, such as 8 billion candy hearts being produced this year, and the number one
recipients of Valentine’s Day cards – Teachers.
Who would have known!
In local news, 'Chicago Auto Show’ was going to be back in
town, something that I would definitely go and visit. I learned that this started back in 1901,
when visitors were allowed to test drive the vehicles on an indoor track,
unlike the more formal occasion that we have today. Also discussed was the 'Chinese New Year and
Parade' on February 17th. I
made a note to try and go see it as well.
Next up was the book review, and
another thriller. There’s one thing to
be said about the residents of Lakeview Nursing - they like their edge-of-the-seat
excitement. I am wondering if we
should have a separate book club meeting every month, since it would be
fantastic to discuss with Larry and the others.
Speaking of Larry, I had seen how passionate he is about sports, particularly
his Chicago Bears. Gwyn discussed the sports section, including
a wrap-up on the Bears season, and
some other fun facts about the superbowl.
I asked Larry whom he thought would be playing in the big game and he said
Atlanta and Denver were looking good. “Don’t say that”, I replied and made a
case for my New England Patriots. This led to a passionate discussion between
me, Larry and another volunteer regarding the remaining teams in the
playoffs. Larry can go at it for a long
time, and I could see out of the corner of my eye that Gwyn wanted to keep
moving. So I tried to conclude this
debate, but that’s easier said than done with Larry. Finally, we managed to end the topic and moved
on.
Next was a restaurant review,
where this time IHOP was
featured. Once again, I learned a new
piece of trivia that February 18th to 24th is 'National Pancake Week'! In every issue, there is an interview with
one of the staff members. This time it
was Monica Jones from Medical Records and it was great to learn some fun things about her. After this was my favorite section ‘Did You Know’, which is full of
trivia. For example, I learned that
January 2nd is 'New Year’s Day for Cats' and January 20th
is ‘Penguin’s Awareness Day’. Some of the other fun days are February 17th
which is ‘My Way Day’ or its
counterpart, February 28th which is ‘Inconvenience Yourself Day’.
Finally, January 21st is ‘National Hugging Day’ and February 16th is ‘Do a Grouch a favor day’.
We had a great time with this section, particularly since almost everyone
had not heard about any of these days and were probably looking forward to
participating in some.
 |
| The puzzle |
The final activity was solving the word puzzle and as usual, it got quite competitive,
with people trying to find the words first and yelling out once they did. Everyone got a chance to spot at least one, and we finished the evening after solving the puzzle. As usual, Gwyn had baked cookies for one of
the resident’s birthdays and she gave them to Larry for delivery. It is truly remarkable how much I enjoy this
simple activity of reading through a newsletter together. One of the quotes from Monica Jones’
interview struck a chord with me. She
was asked what was it that she liked best about working at Lakeview.
“The residents and the staff are like family. We may not always see eye to eye but in the
end we are all working for the benefit of each other”.
It is the last part that rings true with
me “We are all working for the benefit of
each other”. I do not see these
evenings that I spend doing Chicago Cares projects as simply a service that I provide,
but rather something that benefits me as well.
I have learned so much about the people of this world... and myself. Also, how would I have known otherwise that February 8-14th is ‘Love may make the world go around but laughter keeps us from getting dizzy week’?
*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy
*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy
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