Location: Lakeview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
Date: Monday, September 14, 2015; 6:15-8:45 pm
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| It was Fall time at Lakeview Nursing |
Fran made the assignments and I was paired with Al. We were starting on 1st floor and
as usual I started going in the rooms.
To my surprise many people actually wanted to meet with us. There was a young woman in one of the rooms
and she talked about how Al was making her miss her puppy. We moved on and another lady gave Al some meat
from her plate and he was ecstatic. His
owner told me that looking for food was his favorite activity and I said “mine too”. We had couple more visits and then moved on to
the 2nd floor. Our first stop
was with David and he proceeded to give Al a rubdown just as I had predicted, with Al enjoying every moment of it. We
went to see Polly, but she was with the nurse and so proceeded to Loritta’s
room. Loritta was in top form and I
asked if she had heard from her son lately.
It seems that he and his wife were here - visiting from Georgia - and
would be stopping by later in the evening.
She still talked about how she had taken away her son from her and we
laughed at this. It is always good to
see her in in such spirits.
We stopped at another room and there was Linda, the lady
from Hannah’s room, who loved reading.
She had moved here and I asked why.
She said that she had requested a room with a view and now she had one,
albeit a boring one. She was reading
some mystery novel and we chatted about it.
She said that she was running out of good books. She asked what I was reading and I told her
about my audio book and reading of the “Shadow
of the Wind” in September and how it was my 5th year doing
so. “It
helps me remember my life”, I said.
In the meanwhile, Al was staying away and wasn’t in the mood to come
closer. His owner had to lift all 60
pounds of him for Linda to touch Al.
Next up was Jerry on the 3rd floor and again it was a chore
getting Al up on his bed. However, once
Al saw the bacon treats, he was all over them and came alive. We then went to see Hannah and she was chatty
as usual, telling me that her lawyers would have a verdict soon on her book,
even showing me a letter that she had written to them. She said that two psychologists told her that
she was meant to write books and it looks like she truly believes in it. I said that I looked forward to the good
news, but in either case she had done something to be proud of.
It was time and Al was tired by now. We came down and after they had left, I went
over to drop Emma to her room. She had
not won tonight, though her spirits were still high. Before I could take her away, the Volunteer
leader gave her a pack of 3 tissues and Emma was thrilled, not least with the
bright colored packs. I asked if she
wanted me to open them and she of course said yes. She was delighted when I did so and kept
saying “that’s nice”. I dropped her in the corridor and came back
down but not before she called me “Sweet”;
first time in 3 years that she had done so. I came down and saw that Jack needed to be
dropped off to his room as well. He said
that he had to make a stop on the way on 2nd floor and it was to
drop off his Bingo prize, “peanut butter
cookies”, with some lady. She was
pleased to see him and to receive the present.
She asked Jack if he got his “butterscotch
hard candy” and he said that he had won just once. She said that next week he better get that
for himself rather than something for her and he said “maybe”. Way to go Jack! Definitely looks like there are some sparks
here.
I dropped him off and saw that Amanda was on the 3rd
floor as well. As we were coming down,
we saw that Emma was still waiting to be put to bed. We chatted with her and she was talking about
her youth, and about her parents. She
mentioned how her father was strong and would carry her everywhere. She said that her mom was German and we
started talking about German food, at which Emma mentioned “sauerkraut and potatoes”.
She was indeed sharp and talked a lot about her family. She also mentioned how someone was nice
enough to open the tissue paper for her – me - and how he had brought her there
- me again. The nurse came to take her
and I said to her that she was still my favorite girl.
Amanda wanted to stop and see Faye and she was coherent as
well. She talked about some wound that
she had on her forehead and that was because she kept picking at it. A friendly nurse came and she scolded Faye
for doing that, but it was all good natured.
I said that we should put a cone around Faye’s neck like a cat! She had some pictures on her night stand and
they were of her daughters when they were little. She said that they were 18 years old now,
though in another picture they looked older.
Amanda said that Faye gets stuck in time and always at different times
in her life. We spent some time with her
and then left. It had been a great
evening and I had been able to spend more time with Emma than before. Plus she had called me “Sweet”.
*All the client's names have been changed in
order to respect their privacy
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