Location: The Imperial Nursing Home
Date: Thursday, February 14, 2013; 6:30-7:45 pm
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| It was Valentine's Day for sure! |
I had a short window to get from
Chicago House to Imperial Nursing, but in the end arrived with a few minutes to
spare. I had been to Imperial Bingo once before, but owing to Valentine’s Day, this one had been titled ‘Sweetheart Bingo’ and that theme was prevalent in the decorations around us. I met
our Volunteer leader Amber, with whom I had worked previously on another
project and who was leading for the first time.
She could not have picked a better occasion since the activities room
had been transformed into something wonderful.
There were red table cloths and even artificial rose petals at the
center of each table. We were sure to
give the residents a great evening.
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| The prize's for the evening |
Amber had a very good selection
of prizes and would also be calling the game.
I went and sat with two ladies, Cindy and Wanda. Cindy is unable to see, which means she
would definitely need help. Usually an attendant
sits with her, but he was busy getting some of the other residents down to the
activities room. She moved her hands
around the table to ensure that there were Bingo cards and coins in front of
her and asked if anyone was there. I
replied in the affirmative, pleased that despite the setback, she was eager to
participate. Wanda was a laidback
individual who would require some help as well.
At this moment another resident was bought into the room and she
occupied the table next to me. Instantly,
the energy of the area around us changed for she looked like someone who was
full of life and had plenty of stories.
She said her name was Susan and liked the number ‘7’, insisting that the volunteer at her table go and find cards
which had that.
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| Susan's Ring! |
Susan and I quickly started a
conversation which turned into a friendly banter. She said that she grew up on a farm in
Wisconsin with pigs, cows and chickens.
She pronounced chickens as “chikons”,
and corrected me when I did it the right way.
I asked about all the cheese in Wisconsin and she pointed at herself and
said, “That’s why I am like this”, hinting
at her weight. I pointed at a picture of
a cow in the room and she said, “Oh, I
thought you were referring to me”.
Man, I was liking her by the minute.
She was wearing a flamboyant heart shaped pink ring with ‘I <3 you’ on it. I complimented her on it and said that she
was one of the few people who could wear such a thing and get away with
it. She asked if I wanted it and said “Susan, the ladies outside would be
chasing me down the street if I wore something like this”. At this, everyone laughed, including the
volunteer at her table.
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| Amy's prize |
There was still a game to be
played and Amber started calling the numbers.
I joined Cindy and Wanda and started helping them, though Cindy very
quickly had an incident and started yelling.
This prompted Tony, the attendant who usually sat with her to take her
back to the room. He told me not to
worry and continue helping Wanda. Every
time Amber called a number with seven in it, I would look at Susan and point. She would acknowledge that shrug indicating
that she was still ways off from winning.
In the meanwhile another lady had
joined our table, taking over Cindy’s spot and cards. She said her name was Amy and needed some
help listening to numbers. I was happy
to comply and together we won a game.
Amber came with the gift’s cart and Amy chose a small statue of a
bird. She said that she liked birds and
her daughter had even sent her two mockingbirds at one time. After a while she won again and this time
took a loofa with a handle.
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| Who needs coins when there are petals |
While everyone around me was
winning, poor Susan was having no such luck.
Her heart was set on a stuffed toy that Amber had and I was determined
to win for her. Never had I concentrated
so hard on my Bingo card as I did this evening.
Even though I came close several times, soon we were down to the last
prize – bath salts. Since the nursing
home does not have any baths, the residents had avoided picking this one and
Amber seemed a bit embarrassed to have it on the cart, though she couldn't have
known. Very soon somebody took that as
well and the game was over. Amy had done
well and I said so. She replied saying
she wanted to win more and asked if it was wrong to be so greedy. "Human
nature”, I replied and she nodded.
I asked Susan if she needed
help getting to her room and she said she wouldn’t mind. Failure to win had not dampened her spirits
and she was constantly chattering as I took her down the hallway. She pointed at the fish tank and said she
wanted the little sharks. I said what
made her think that there were sharks in there and she said they are fish and
all fish are sharks. It had been a
wonderful evening chatting with her and I bid her goodnight at the elevators
and returned to find Amber had almost finished wrapping things up. To thank the volunteers for coming out on
Valentine’s evening, she had made cookies and gave me my bag of a pair of
brilliantly decorated heart shaped cookies.
As I walked back to the train station,
I saw several folks walking with bouquets of flowers rushing to get to their
dates. I have heard countless arguments
by people who claim that Valentine’s Day is just another holiday invented by
card companies to sell more gifts. “If you love someone why would you only
demonstrate it on a single day”, they ask.
Now it’s perfectly alright for everyone to have an opinion, but I am
never going to subscribe to their line of thinking. I think it is fantastic to have day of
celebration… any day, any occasion. Just
because parents, families and friends celebrate somebody’s birthday on a single
day does not mean they love them less for the rest of year. Celebrations are reminders of what’s
important in life and how we should cherish the time given to us. So there are certain day’s like Birthday,
Thanksgiving, New Year’s Eve that I feel are extremely important to spend with
your loved ones and Valentine’s Day is definitely at the top of the list.
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| My Valentine's Day gift |
I stopped for a pizza and managed
to find a place amidst all the couples out celebrating the evening. I looked inside my bag and found the souvenir
that I had picked up at ‘Uncle Fun’s’,
earlier that day. It was a deck of cards
with writings on them and I read through the entire collection. Then I looked at Amber’s cookies. I had wanted to tell her how much they had
meant to me because it was the only gift I had received that day. But this wouldn't have been accurate, because I
had received a lot more. I had met
Carrie and seen what they do at Lakeview Pantry; also having an opportunity to
work with Wilson. I had been a part of
the most wonderfully joyous game of football at Chicago House, not because of its
competitiveness or the skill of the players, but rather the lack of it. But the
thing which I will always remember and which gets me every time
I think about it is what Amy said at the end of Bingo at Imperial. She had asked if I worked for the nursing
home and I said no and that I was just a volunteer. She paused what she was doing and looked me
straight in the eye and said, “Just a
volunteer. No you are not just a
volunteer”.
At that moment, almost ten hours
after I had left my apartment to go to my first appointment, I knew it had all
been worth it. I had made a
difference.
Valentine’s Day; noun: A Day for the exchange of tokens of affection
*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy
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