Location: Lakeview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center
Date: Monday, September 21, 2015; 6:15-7:45 pm
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| Roses for M'lady |
Last week when I was here, I had promised Emma that I would
get her flowers and so I stopped to buy some Red Roses before the project. She was in the Bingo room and as I gave them
to her, she said "Oh they're
nice". She was trying to poke
into the bouquet's interior, but I told her to keep them aside till she went back
to her room. I went back to where the
pets were assembled and saw that Robyn was there with Bruce and June. Charta was also present, along with a cute
girl pup who looked happy to be here.
Also in attendance was a beautiful kitty called Oona. As the dogs went to get treats from folks in
the Bingo room, Robyn asked if I could look after June tonight – without Robyn walking with us. I said that as long as
June was willing, I would be delighted to do so.
I was paired with another volunteer Lisa, and the 3 of us
set off to go to the 2nd floor.
Right away it was apparent that June wasn't too happy to be separated
from Bruce and was dragging, so much so that I had to carry her. A gentleman in the corridor who loves dogs put
June on his lap and asked the usual questions like how old etc. We stopped to see another lady and when I
asked if she wanted to pet June, she asked if the dogs were for sale! I said no, though she loved visiting with June
anyways. She told us that she owned 2
dogs who were pure bred and worth $1000 each.
She said that they were really tiny and extremely well behaved.
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| Oona |
Next, we went to see Loritta and as usual I jokingly asked, "What's new?" She said
something under her breath and it very much sounded like a curse. But Loritta is always in great spirits and I
told Lisa about her son. Loritta stepped
in to say how he had gone down south chasing, well, “pussy” – her word, not mine!
I knew from last week that he was visiting Chicago and so asked if he
had come to see her. She said no, he was busy with friends. As if speaking of the devil, her son came in
and I found him to be a pleasant guy. I said that I had heard a lot about him
and he laughed, thanking us for coming as we left.
June was whining and dragging me out of the room, and for good reason
since Bruce and Robyn were in the corridor.
Looking at her, we decided to continue together. We went over to see David and put June on his
bed so that he could go to work on her.
She looked pleased as a punch and was smiling as she got a good
rubdown. David seemed in a bright mood
and said that it had been his birthday a couple of days ago. He even showed us flowers from a lady
friend. As we left him, Robyn mentioned
that he was more coherent than before and how he had come here to recover from
a severe head and brain trauma from a motorcycle accident 5 years ago.
Next stop was with Jerry, and both Bruce and June were
taking turns at getting treats, though in a well behaved manner. Bruce’s hearing is really good, compensating
for his lack of sight, and he was grabbing treats from Jerry’s hand quite
easily. We then went to see Hannah and
she said that there was no news from her lawyer. She was in good spirits though and told the
new volunteers about her book, Johnny B, her modelling career as an extra –
telling us to register with her talent agency.
Robyn asked about her exercise routine and she said she was doing it
diligently. Before leaving I told her
about my travels and she said she loved travelling when she was young, living
in Hollywood. She said that she was even
spotted by Howard Hughes before her mother made her move back!
Final stop was to see Polly and she was as chatty as ever. I said that I had stopped by last week but
she was in the bathroom. She said that
moving forward she would never be in bathroom during this time. We chatted for some more time and then it was
time to leave. I had not been able to
see Linda and discuss books, but had a good visit nevertheless. I pitched some other Chicago Cares programs to
Lisa and after she had left, Robyn told me that June had been diagnosed with
cancer today and would need surgery soon.
I said that I hoped she recovered soon because that’s the last thing
June and Bruce need at this stage.
*All the client's names have been changed in
order to respect their privacy
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