Location: Lakeview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
Date: Monday, September 2, 2013; 6:15-7:45 pm
It had been over a week since I
had done a project and almost 3 months since I had done this one. I arrived at Lakeview Nursing on this ‘Labor Day’ to see that people had
already started gathering for the Bingo. I was welcomed by Mary who said that she had
not seen me for a long time and asked how to pronounce my name. There were some of the other usual suspects
present and everyone was settling into their favorite spots. I went outside into the small waiting room
where the dogs and their owners usually assemble and there were a few there,
looking excitable as usual. Leading the
pack was a white fluffy thing that was quite adept at sanding on his two hind
legs. It was a Maltese named Oscar, and he
jumped up raising both of his front paws in greeting. Well, looks like humans and pets alike were
pleased to see me.
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| Oscar greeting me! |
Our Volunteer Leader Maria had
her dog Bailey, and there was also a little Yorkie called Ernie, who was busy
playing with his stuffed toy. The dogs
went to socialize with the residents in the Bingo room and I chatted with Fran
and Wilson. Maria then pulled us all out
into the hallway and we were ready to pair up.
I was going to be with Ernie and his owner Juliana, and I knew that I was
going to get along with the little fellow.
In fact, Ernie looked like a friendly dog that would be quite popular
with the residents. We started on the 3rd
floor and visited some of the residents who enjoyed his company. As usual, whenever we went into a room the
residents wanted to know everything about Ernie. I learned that he is 2 year old Yorkie pure
bred and Juliana has had him since he was a pup resembling a tiny fur ball. He was wearing a tiny bow and Juliana said
that he had plenty of others at home. His
real name is Ernest, but she calls him that only when he has done something
wrong and she has to reprimand him! She also
had another 19 year old dog at home but Ernie, being younger was the more
active one. Juliana is a filmmaker, with Ernie having been in many of her films.
I was in presence of a star, one who also had his own Instagram account
with over 400 followers!
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| Ernie |
Next we went over to see Hannah and she is always enthusiastic to receive visitors. As usual, she asked me to open her drawer and
pull out the picture of her cat Johnny B.
Then she told us the story of his kidnapping again and said that he is
waiting for her to get back home. I
asked her how long she had been at Lakeview Nursing and she said 4 years. She mentioned that she was now thinking of
going to one of those faith healers to see if that would make her better so
that she could leave. She wondered if
that would be free and I said that I highly doubted that. When Hannah heard that Ernie is in Juliana’s
movies, she mentioned that she herself had been an ‘Extra’ in movies as well – following in the footsteps of her
mother. Wow, I had been visiting with
Hannah through this project for some time, but this was the first instance when I was
hearing of it. She said that even an ‘Extra’ makes decent money and
encouraged me and Juliana to register with some talent agency and while we were
at it, get an agent for Ernie as well!
The thought of me recruiting a talent agent for a movie was both
hilarious and scary at the same time.
Speaking of talent, Ernie is
training to do tricks and other than jumping around excitedly, was very well
behaved. Juliana told me that he doesn't
eat real people food and so does not stare at anyone when eating. We said goodbye to Hannah and went to see Jerry,
who is probably the most popular with dogs and Ernie took an instant liking to
him. He enjoyed that visit and our next
stop was with a resident who was under a blanket which had monkeys printed on
it. I told her that I wanted one of
those for myself, as Ernie allowed himself to be petted. By now he was getting tired and so after a
visit with Loritta, Juliana thought that it would be best for him if they
left. I saw them off at the front entrance
and since Bingo was still on, stopped to see what my buddy Emma was up to. Wilson was sitting with her, but told me that
he had a ‘Red Cross’ emergency and so had to leave to deal
with a fire. I was more than happy to
take his place since it is always a pleasure to play with her. We instantly won a round which meant that she got
a precious dollar, which she clutched in her hands tightly for the remainder of
the game. I went to drop her off in her
room and met Kenny of the ‘Hawaii Five-O’
fame in the elevator. He told me that
the show had now moved to Friday’s from Monday’s and so he could now take his
time leaving the Bingo room. I left
after that and it had been a pleasant conclusion to my evening, seeing Emma
win. Plus I had spent it with a movie
star. Not bad for a lazy Labor Day!
*All the client's names have been changed in order to respect their privacy
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