Location: Lakeview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
Date: Monday, March 30, 2015; 6:30-7:45 pm
I arrived early and saw that a new volunteer was trying to
find her way around. I told her to grab
a seat near Josie and Holly and chat with them till Maureen arrived. I looked around and saw that the room had
been decorated for ‘Easter’. The reason I had come early, was to go see
Pearl. She had sent me an email the
previous week with a ‘Youtube’ link
to an Indian Dance competition and I was looking forward to having a discussion
with her. I went upstairs, but her room
was vacant and her name missing outside.
I guess she must have finally left and I sent her an email to confirm
that.
I came down and got a seat next to Elmer, Jack, Larry and
Jim, who was visiting once again. I
asked Jim what he liked about his new place and he described the nice view from
his apartment. I said that it definitely
beats the one of ‘Walgreens’ over
here! Elmer said that he was leaving soon
as well to move to an assisted living facility. I guess everyone is looking at Jim’s situation
and longing for the same. I said to
Elmer that he should move to his native NYC and he said that his family is
asking for him to do the same. We then
talked about our love for the city and how it was better than Chicago in some aspects.
 |
| Howie |
The dogs came in and we had all sorts here this evening,
including a friendly ‘Beagle’ named
Howie, who became Jim’s best friend since he was feeding him treats. I asked Howie’s owner if he had been here
before and she said yes, pointing out a gorgeous female dog who she said was
Howie’s girlfriend. I said that I don't
blame him since she was indeed pretty. I heard that many residents from 2nd floor
- including Emma - couldn't come down since there was some work being done on
the flooring. I said that it was a shame
that she couldn't be here and so went upstairs and try and get
her, but saw that she was sleeping.
I came down and saw that the guys
were enjoying some ‘Easter’ treats
that one of the volunteers – who always sits with them and is their favorite –
had bought for them. Jack had a medal around his neck
and it said "winner". I asked him about it and he said that he had
won it during a trivia game here. His
winning answer was to a question "what
was General Eisenhower first name" and of all people he should know,
since he had served in ‘WWII’. We were
off soon and just as 50 was announced, I
looked at Kenny and he said that “Hawaii
5-0” will not be on this week due to ‘NCAA’
tournament, though it would be back on ‘CBS’
next week and that there were reruns on ‘TNT’. Trust Kenny to give us our TV update!
Larry won a round, but Elmer and I were having the most
terrible luck, as were Jim and Jack. I
told Elmer that it was because we had praised NYC over Chicago and that we
were now cursed. However, he finally won and thanked me for the encouragment. I
asked what he would do with his winnings of $1 and he said that he would get
ginger ale! I chatted with Jim about ‘Sox’ and ‘Cubs’ prospects for the upcoming season, since he is a baseball
fan. One of the staff members came in to
announce that some cars were being towed and while it wasn't anyone in this room;
it could be one of the ‘Pet Therapy’
volunteers. What a shame if that was to
happen since it would spoil their experience.
Jack seemed to have given up after losing continuously but
through encouragement from Jim and me, he gave it one more shot and won in the “lightening round”. So did I, but wasn't going to announce it till
Jim said "pass it to me". The other volunteer told me that we are to
give our winnings to the residents and I said "of course I know after all these years". As Jim collected his prize, I wished Elmer goodbye since he was leaving and I may not see him again. We reminisced about the time we had met at
the ‘Get Crafty’ program. He said that there had been a pretty girl
called Olivia and he hadn't seen after that. "If
only I had taken her email or number", he said. "And
if only I had a nickel for every time I had thought that”, I replied!
*All the client's names have been changed in
order to respect their privacy
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