Day one at Sunrise

On Saturday April 18, I started my Service Learning at Sunrise Retirement Villa in Everett. There are two buildings within the center. One serves as a retirement villa and the other is a convalescent center. The Villa has been in the community since about 1983. My activities coordinator says it's a unique center as in you don't have to go to another center if you get sick, or if you get better, you can go back over to the assisted living side. This is great for married couples if one can live independently, and the other is sick, they can still see each other everyday.
On my first day I worked mostly on the convalescent side. Most everyone was in a wheelchair or used a walker. There were a few that were mobile on their own. My first task was to remove nail polish then apply hand lotion to some of the ladies who wanted my treatment. It went really well. Some were more talkative than others, which was enjoyable for both of us. I tried to talk to the quiet ladies, but perhaps they didn't feel comfortable talking to me yet. After I was done with all the ladies, I went to the dining area to help out with BINGO! Liz, my "boss" had me call the numbers. I was a little nervous at first, I could see the look of uncertainty in some of their eyes, like," who's this girl"? After I called the first few, they let me know it wasn't just "I-20" but also "I- two-zero". This was cute because after I met their requirements the players smiled and were happy with me. For the last part of my shift I got to go wash all the BINGO chips! I did this in the dining room during lunch where I noticed most of them sit at tables with their spouse, a group of friends, and a few were lucky enough to have family come join them for lunch. You see how happy they are when they get visitors, and it's a good feeling to see them smile.
I chose this site because we were supposed to choose something we aren't familiar with and maybe out of our comfort zone. I volunteer regulalrly at my son's school, I'm familiar with the foodbank (my brother worked at the voa in Everett) and I've used their resources before. That narrowed it down to Cocoon House or the few assisted living centers. I knew I would enjoy working with teens so I chose Sunrise view Retirement Villa. Since I was young, I've always had a fear of being around old people who might not be working with all their capacities. Something about it makes me very uneasy. As a child our school choir would go to the local nursing home and sing during the holidays. I always felt very uncomfortabl there and couldn't wait to leave. I've carried this feeling with me my entire life. I want to break this barrier while I do my service learning. I'm hoping to gain a new and better opinion of the elderly. They are someone's Grandmas or Grandpas they've lived long lives and I want to appreciate that.