Introduction
In the society that we live in today, incidents of social injustice are very evident. Poverty is also something that is noticeable in every part of the world. The sad thing is that few people are willing to chip in and help those who are less fortunate, or even help curb social injustices. However, there are organizations that have set up institutions where the unfortunate and poor can go seek help. There are also nursing homes that provide specialized care to people such as the aged.
I am a nursing student in my third year. During the holidays, I decided to volunteer and work at Ozanam Hall Nursing Home. I volunteered my services on the 10th floor since I felt I needed to work among the aged, so as to learn more and put into practice something that I had learnt in class.
In the due course of my voluntary service at the nursing home, I had the grand opportunity to meet people from different races, with different problems and different personalities. Some were very friendly, while others were a bit difficult to deal with. I also met people who were entertaining, others rude and others very joyous.
I met a particular old lady who loved playing the piano. She said that she felt at home while at the keyboard. The music from the keyboard helped her forget her worries and troubles and appreciate the fact that she was alive and there were people around who cared for her. The lady had a way to catch everybody’s attention with her music and keep them entertained. However, she had a bad case of diabetes type II and there had to be someone to keep checking on her all the time, since she was a bit weak to inject herself with insulin when she needed to. She however did not let this bring her down. She taught me how to play some keys on the keyboard and my experience with her was one that I will never forget.
I also met a very interesting 108 year old German lady. The lady loved playing ping pong and spent most of her time on the game. It was amazing that at her age she was still strong enough to play the game and even teach anyone who was interested. She was often heard trying to convince other ladies to join her in the game. Another outstanding thing about the lady is that she never gave up easily. When no one would turn up to play as her partner, she would just hold two rackets and keep juggling the ball in between the two rackets. The lady had no problem with her health. The only thing was that her family had placed her at the home since they felt that she was a burden to them. She also told me of how much she had achieved as a tennis player when she was younger, but all that she had accumulated had been taken over by her son who had put her in the nursing home. She also told me that her son used her very own money to pay for her upkeep at the nursing home. I had an interview with the lady from where I got to learn her story. The interview went as follows:
Old lady: I am now 108 years old and I come from Germany. My son brought me to this son and said that I would get all the attention I needed here. He went on to say that I was too much to handle and was making it difficult for him to live his life, the more reason why he wanted me to stay away from him.
Me: why your special interest in the ping pong game?
Old lady: when I was younger, I used to be a tennis player. I won most of the games I participated, and thanks to that, I was able to accumulate a lot of wealth. However, I have been quite unhappy since my only son wants is to get rid of me so that he can have all the right to my estates. Now that I am not strong enough to play tennis, I find consolation in playing the ping pong.
Working with the aged also helped me learn how to be patient and how to deal with different people. This is because many aged people tend to be very demanding, commanding, and arrogant. There are also those who can be very rude. I met some people at the nursing home who could tell me the same thing over and over again. For a person to handle all these, they need to be very patient and understanding, something that I learnt from my experience at the nursing home.
My experience at the nursing home also taught me how to value everyone around me. A common adage states that man is not an island. Human beings need each other to survive on earth. For this reason, no one should degrade the other or view others as a burden to them. We should learn how to coexist with each other and learn how to tolerate each other, since we all have different personalities.
Another lesson learnt from my experience at the nursing home is that poverty is a factor that has contributed to the increasing numbers of people in nursing homes, and especially the aged. Many old people have no one to take care of them or simply cannot afford to take care of themselves. Others may have lost their families for one reason or another, the most common one being immigration. Many families have been broken when circumstances force them to move from one place to another. In such cases, those rendered homeless will seek help wherever they can. Fortunately, nursing homes exist for the sake of the helpless, and especially the aged.
In conclusion, it is important to always give back to the community whenever we can. For me, giving back to my community has helped me have a sense of belonging. I feel that I have a major role to play and will not hesitate to do so when I have the chance to. Giving back to the community also makes one feel at peace with themselves and psychologically satisfied.
