Location: Britton/Budd Apartments & Lakeview Nursing and
Rehabilitation Center
Date: Monday, October 12, 2015; 6:30 -8:30 pm
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| This would have helped |
Chicago cares wanted me to lead “Job Coaching at ODS” project, but I turned them down since I wanted
to come here. I was late than usual in
getting here and arrived just before the start.
I was looking forward to seeing my buddy Elvina but she was absent this
evening. I looked at the prizes selection
for today and Veronica had done a great job, as is usually the case each time. Besides the usual things, we had earphones and
an apple shaped green cutting board, as well as a purple tote bag. I joined 2 ladies who were happy to welcome
me to their table. Very soon I realized
that one of those was the lady who translates every number into Spanish. The gentleman for whom she does this was
sitting behind me and was repeating the numbers. When he won and started repeating the numbers
in Spanish, the lady at my table said that he usually knows enough English when
it suits his purpose!
Needless to say, as the game progressed I wasn't doing so
well on my board. The ladies at my table
were struggling as well. So when
Veronica asked if anyone wanted to call the game, I volunteered and the ladies immediately
said that I may change the luck – not sure if they meant by my leaving or
calling! I started calling and I usually
try to include the people in this activity. For example, when a gentleman got a call, his
ringtone was musical and I said that we should leave it on. He told the caller to call back in 20 minutes
and I said that we would still be playing in 20; else we could hurry so that
the gentleman can take his call. Later
on when the lady who translates got a call, I told her to tell them that it
would be 20 minutes as well!
The balls over here are tiny and I dropped them a few times
and had to run after them. When some of
the residents would ask for a specific number, I would say "coming right up". One
of the volunteers was the only person who hadn't won and she said that she
desperately wanted to yell "Bingo".
I said that if she didn't win till the
end, she should just sing the “Bingo
song”. However, she did get her chance when one prize was remaining and
everyone applauded…only to learn that she was kidding. The gentleman who required translation was in
good voice and yelled out loudly when he won. He picked up a bottle calling it shampoo and Veronica
corrected him by pointing out that it was body wash. I said that we should double-check to make
sure it wasn't dish washing detergent instead.
Yeah, I was on a roll this evening. I was commenting on the prizes, saying that no
one was picking the cute purple tote bag.
Soon thereafter one lady picked it up and I said, “Good choice”. The great
thing about this place is that everyone wins and people really like each other.
Soon the last prize - earphones - was
picked and we were done.
I stopped at Lakeview Nursing on my way back and saw that
Bingo was on. I said hi to Jim and Jack
and saw that Jack had picked up the “Peanut
Butter Cookies” for his lady friend.
Jim, as usual, was scowling at Kenny and at the fact that his hated ‘Cubs’ were winning. Emma looked like she was asleep and after the
game I went to say hello. The volunteer
with her said that she had won a pair of socks, at which Emma said, “Socks are good”. The volunteer was telling me about her pets
and told Emma a funny story about how her cat drinks from the fish bowl. I said the cat is just trying to get lucky, at
which Emma laughed. The Volunteer leader
came over to give Emma some cookies at the end and she held on to them tightly.
I took Emma upstairs to her room - after
she said that it would be nice - and Jack also got off at 2nd floor
to go meet his lady friend. Talk about
getting lucky!
*All the client's names have been changed in
order to respect their privacy
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