Get Crafty!

Location: Lakeview Nursing and Rehabilitation Centre

Date: Sunday, March 03, 2013; 2:30-4:00 pm

I arrived at Lakeview Nursing around 2 pm, way earlier than was required.  I waited near the reception area and watched Larry return from church.  It was nice to see that he is still active enough to go out independently.  After some time Amanda, the volunteer I had met the previous time, arrived as well.  She wears the most awesome jewelry, and I mentioned that one of these days we should have a jewelry making session that could be led by her.  While we waited, we looked at the facilities activity board for the month and it looked like the residents were in for a great time.  Besides the games and Chicago Cares programs, they had ice cream socials, shopping trips and also ‘Happy Hour’!  Amongst the gaming schedule, there was something called ‘Wii games’, one of those being held the same time as our activity for this afternoon.  It looked like we were in for some competition. 

Activity Board

Soon our Volunteer leader Alisa arrived as did Sara, who I had met the previous time, and Wilson.  Alisa said we would be decorating photo frames, something that was fresh in my mind from the project at Pat Crowley.  She said that we could either use ‘Easter’ or ‘Inspirational Women’ as a theme.  We discussed how the concepts would look, but our problem was the lack of participation.  Only two residents had arrived and Alisa asked if we could go looking for others.  I went to the second floor activity room and found Emma sitting there by herself.  I said that I was looking for her and if she would like to join us for Arts.  She seemed eager and said a man made something nice for her.  I hope she was referring to my cards from last time.

We got to a table and I assembled some of the supplies we would need.  I asked Emma if she wanted to paint a frame, but she just wanted to watch and so like before, I would be doing the art work.  We were also joined by another resident, Anna and Alisa would be working with her.  I asked Emma which of the two themes she wanted and she said we should do 'Easter'.  Then I asked if there was any particular color that she liked and she said pink.  Fortunately we had that color and I decided to give the frame a coat of pink paint.  Then I asked how we should decorate it and she kept talking about the leaves and flowers, referring to the trees outside.  Just like the rest of us, Emma was also waiting for spring to arrive. 

The problem was that I had no clue how to draw a decent leaf, let alone flowers.  Alisa is a competent artist herself and coached me on both, doing a great job with tulips.  I gave it a try and soon had a vine of leaves on one side of the frame with some tulips on the other.  Emma was watching intently and kept commenting, “It’s beautiful”, whenever I asked.  She is such a nice person, that I have never heard anything but praise from her.  I asked her how her hometown of St. Louis was in spring and she said it was definitely warmer than Chicago.  We once again talked about her family, 2 sisters and 3 brothers.  She referred to her brother in Miami and how her had moved there because of the weather.  Based on the cold outside, it did not seem like a bad idea.

Our frame was progressing well and I knew how much Emma liked gems and shiny objects.  I went and grabbed a handful from other table where Amanda was working with Miss Wendy.  She had made a very simple, but elegant frame, with emerald green wash and green gems on the corners.  Amanda told me later that those are Miss Wendy’s birthstones.  I returned back to our table and put some of the gems on Emma’s frame, which delighted her a lot.  I asked her if she had eaten the crackers she won during Bingo and she said she had not.  I wonder if she is even allowed to have them. 

Finished frame for Emma:
Tulips, leaves and gems

Alisa and Anna had also put beads and gems on their frame, which was looking fantastic.  Wilson was walking around taking everyone’s pictures and when Alisa asked why he never wanted to be in any of the pictures himself, he said it’s because of his prior work with the Government.  This led to all of teasing him and Wilson being called everything from ‘The most interesting man in the world’ to ‘James Bond’.  Well if he is 007, then he certainly has ‘License to Serve’. 

Our time was up and I gave the finished frame to Emma, not before taking her picture through it.  She loved it when I showed her the picture and was overjoyed to receive the frame.  I took Emma and dropped her off on the 2^nd floor, at the exact spot where I had found her.  I then came back and took Miss Wendy upstairs and looked around to find that all the residents were sitting in the activity room and as I had seen in Imperial Nursing, none of them were communicating.  It was as if they were just…existing. 

I came down to see Alisa and other volunteers were chatting and heard Wilson mention to Amanda that he would see her at a ‘One Brick’ event.  I asked what that was and Wilson mentioned that it was another avenue to volunteer in Chicago, and he was a manager there as well.  Why did that not surprise me?  Amanda and I were walking to the train station, not before Wilson asked us again if we wanted to accompany him to another project after this.  We declined and later when we were on the train, Amanda and I talked about the afternoon’s activity.  It had been a fun event, though the one lasting image I have is seeing Emma in the second floor room, sitting by herself before and after the project.  For just over an hour we had brought something to her life, something that will hopefully keep her going till we return the next time.  

*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy