The first elderly women I was able to talk to and get to a more personal level was a lady named Ms. Henry.
Ms.Henry's childhood I asked her if she remembered any historical movements or something that really stood out in her generation. She recalled the Great Depression as being one of the most visual memories she holds. When the Great Depression hit many people lost their jobs and homes due to the economical chaos going on. Her family in particular was different, although it still burdened them it had no real effect other than they had to be more careful with the food they ate and they were only able to get shoes at intervals of a couple months. As a child her parents hid the real dangers of this time period but the neighbors all helped one another out by serving meals potluck style and sharing whatever they had. Her house was small but modern and she was the youngest in the family. They had a dog who she adored growing up they were in animal terms the best of friends.
She recalls a funny memory when the family put in a dog gate so their dog couldn't get out but the gate was too high for her to reach so she would be stuck in the backyard until someone came by and unlocked it. Her father eventually remade the lock so she would be able to reach it on her tipi-toes. Ms. Henry also wanted to know if math was still studied at schools because she said that was the hardest subject; thus, should be taught only by great professors who would not get upset if the students did not know the answers like she had in school.
Jumping ahead to her career she joined the church for their service of spreading the Lord's message and she loved it. She trained to become a nun in her church. I asked her if she wanted to become anything else since nun is a very uncommon thing for this generation to hear about, but she said that was her dream she always had and set out to become one. Before she was able to go through with the training to become a nun however, she became a teacher for seven years. She had a passion for creativity and she said children were the best way to see it with the light-bulb moments in their lives. After seven years of teaching she moved on to execute her real dream of working for the church.
Ms. Henry passed her testing and became a nun after a few years. She said although her father was an atheist and mother being a Catholic she wanted to join the church since on her own accords due to her connection she had with her faith. This upset her father and he essentially disowned her from the family; yet, the mother continued to support her through the trials in her life. This is why she said she became as it is called a "mamma's girl" since the moral support only came from one parent.
Then she was a nun her entire life and talked about the amazing trips to France and across America she went on for missionary work. She said her favorite thing was to see a small town church in France because it had beautiful mosque work done to the windows and every design was incredible to see.
The funniest thing was I asked her if nuns were allowed to marry, see she wore a simple wedding band on her right ring finger which can only mean one thing. She proves me wrong by saying, "Oh NO! We aren't allowed to marry that is a big no no, but this ring is for the Lord. See I am married to him." I think it was one of those in the moment type of innocent giddy that made it so wonderful. The way she said it made it seem as if she has never been asked that question previously to me. All in all her life was made up of very small dear moments that although she had a lot of trouble recalling once she was able to it made her seem younger. At the end of my visit we painted roses and she told me about the upcoming visits of her sister that she was excited about. I even tried showing her some of todays top hits with some music top charts and she said they all had nice beats but she did not understand what they were saying, which I thought was cute and accurate in todays fast lingo-type instrumentals. She was a great lady and I am glad I was able to meet with her and get to know a past generation a little bit more.
And that was the life of one lady who I am glad I was able to meet for her lesson for the younger generations was to do what you like even if you stand alone by it. If you think it is your passion then do it. And I think that means a lot especially since everyone is so tied up with stress and the future when all you have to do is think about the goodness in life and explore your passion.
Monday, March 30, 2015
Monday, March 16, 2015
Patients
Starting off my volunteer experience I was greeted by the lead director a man named Red. He is in charge of looking after the 100 or so elderly people they have at the facility. More women are staying at Fatima Villa than men because unfortunately it appears that women out live men. So the ratio of the men and women in this particular home aren't even around 2:5. However, they still spend their time looking after these people as if they were the employees' own grandparents.
When I arrived I was put to work right away comforting and interacting with the people there. I was at a loss due to the fact I was put in the room where the people are past the ability to talk. The lady I was able to understand a few words she told me she had a stroke and that she was trying to work out more to get in better shape. She loved to play volleyball and I would pass it from her left and right sides working on her coordination. Although I do not remember her name I do remember one characteristic which was her hands. I was intrigued by the way you could see each vein in her hand and that her entire hand looked like it was in water too long. This must be the result from age and the health issues she had had in the past. The good outcome of the visit was I was able to watch and help out with their workout class.
A enthusiastic lady was mixing normal weights with the join positions that they were able to perform. She had them circumduct their wrists and extend their arms and legs. She was also depressing and elevating their shoulders and other simple positions they would be able to do. I thought it was healthy for them to do some type of workout to keep them busy and healthy since most sit in wheelchairs or have serious health issues. After the workout most were falling asleep so we escorted them to their rooms and I helped clean up the room. Something that was interesting was while I was helping out all the music and television shows available were from a completely different time. The music was more jazz and classical melodies than todays pop and rap music. The television was also interesting since they were watching old cowboy and Indian re-runs. It seemed the people their thought it was normal as the weather, but it was almost like they were keeping them in this safe bubble of when they last were able to remember or something they enjoyed. As if the past was a better way to live each day thinking about the "good old times".
When I arrived I was put to work right away comforting and interacting with the people there. I was at a loss due to the fact I was put in the room where the people are past the ability to talk. The lady I was able to understand a few words she told me she had a stroke and that she was trying to work out more to get in better shape. She loved to play volleyball and I would pass it from her left and right sides working on her coordination. Although I do not remember her name I do remember one characteristic which was her hands. I was intrigued by the way you could see each vein in her hand and that her entire hand looked like it was in water too long. This must be the result from age and the health issues she had had in the past. The good outcome of the visit was I was able to watch and help out with their workout class.
A enthusiastic lady was mixing normal weights with the join positions that they were able to perform. She had them circumduct their wrists and extend their arms and legs. She was also depressing and elevating their shoulders and other simple positions they would be able to do. I thought it was healthy for them to do some type of workout to keep them busy and healthy since most sit in wheelchairs or have serious health issues. After the workout most were falling asleep so we escorted them to their rooms and I helped clean up the room. Something that was interesting was while I was helping out all the music and television shows available were from a completely different time. The music was more jazz and classical melodies than todays pop and rap music. The television was also interesting since they were watching old cowboy and Indian re-runs. It seemed the people their thought it was normal as the weather, but it was almost like they were keeping them in this safe bubble of when they last were able to remember or something they enjoyed. As if the past was a better way to live each day thinking about the "good old times".
Monday, March 2, 2015
Introduction
For our 20 time project, we (Mena and Kayla) are going to volunteer at Our Lady of Fatima Villa, a retirement home near our school. We are taking this opportunity to talk with the elderly and learn about their life experiences to better understand how life was like in generations before us. Everyone has a good story to tell, and we want to get to know these elderly and listen to their stories while taking care of them as well.
Our main goal is to use the social aspect of the 5 pillars we learned in Anatomy and Physiology class to communicate with the elderly. We signed up for visiting and writing letters to them, and hopefully through these methods of communication we will be able to get closer to them and learn about their life. We can then compare their experiences with our own, other elderly people in the retirement home, and our own grandparents'. In the end we hope to compile a journal of all the interesting stories.
Some difficulties we may encounter is that the elderly might have different conditions that make communicating with them harder. For example, they might not talk clearly, or have memory loss. Another difficulty is finding time throughout the school week to go volunteer because we might have tests or additional school work that may pile up. However, we're confident that we can work through these difficulties and ultimately achieve our goal in the end. With two of us working on the same thing, we will be able to compile twice as many experiences because we are volunteering at different times of day.
Our main goal is to use the social aspect of the 5 pillars we learned in Anatomy and Physiology class to communicate with the elderly. We signed up for visiting and writing letters to them, and hopefully through these methods of communication we will be able to get closer to them and learn about their life. We can then compare their experiences with our own, other elderly people in the retirement home, and our own grandparents'. In the end we hope to compile a journal of all the interesting stories.
Some difficulties we may encounter is that the elderly might have different conditions that make communicating with them harder. For example, they might not talk clearly, or have memory loss. Another difficulty is finding time throughout the school week to go volunteer because we might have tests or additional school work that may pile up. However, we're confident that we can work through these difficulties and ultimately achieve our goal in the end. With two of us working on the same thing, we will be able to compile twice as many experiences because we are volunteering at different times of day.
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