Chris Collins
February 9, 2010
Mr. Salsich
English

Assessment Essay:

Apple Rehab, Care for the Elderly

    As I strolled down the hallway, room after room of glazed, alien eyes examined me. Who could this strange person be, and what are they doing here? That was the beginning of my visits at Apple Rehab in Mystic. Over my 7 visits I learned a lot, and I felt that I was truly making a difference.

    We are young now, but someday, we will be old and need assistance. One reason that I chose Apple Rehab for my Assessment Project was to gain a better understanding of what my possible future might be. I wanted to experience what this future could be like first hand. I wanted to help the people in the nursing home because I knew I would want that same help someday. Another reason I chose Apple Rehab, is because we interviewed elderly people for the biography project in 7th grade, and I really enjoyed it. Elderly people have lived a long life; they have a large wealth of experience, and many fascinating stories to tell. They grew up in a different time period, so talking to them is like taking a glimpse back into the past. One other major reason I chose Apple Rehab is that it is close to home, and well known in the community. I pass the Apple Rehab sign almost every time I drive through Mystic, and I have always yearned to venture inside the building. Apple Rehab has a very good reputation, and after my visits I am happy to say that this reputation is 100 percent true. All and all, I had a great time working at Apple Rehab, and I am glad I chose to volunteer there.

    Volunteering at Apple Rehab was no easy task; I was presented with many challenges during my visits. One major challenge was that most of the residents are old, and have many disabilities. Many had physical disabilities, for example, walking disabilities (wheel chairs), speech disabilities, or hearing problems, that made it difficult for me to interact with them. Many also had mental disabilities like dementia (memory loss). Additionally, I did not have a lot of experience working with elderly people. Therefore, I had to learn how to talk to them so that they understood me and felt comfortable. I also had to learn some safety techniques, like how to maneuver a wheelchair, and knowing Proxy-Connection: keep-alive
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o could walk and who couldn’t so that no one would get hurt. Another major obstacle that I was presented with was that I only had 7 visits there to gain as much knowledge as possible. I had to ask a lot of sometimes uncomfortable questions, like how someone ended up in the home. I also had to get to know people really quickly. Although there were many challenges, I feel I overcame them and had a great time at Apple Rehab.

    During my visits, I feel I not only become another volunteer to the residents, I became a friend. Out of the approximately 60 residents at Apple Rehab there are only 3 male residents. There are not many male volunteers there, so I quickly formed a bond with the 3 men. With nurses and other volunteers, the men mostly talk about health and medicine, so they were delighted to have someone they could talk to about more upbeat things like football. During my visits, I also helped out the staff by doing things like taking down the decorations after Christmas. This was very helpful to them because they could focus on the residents rather then having to take down decorations. Assisting with the supervision of some of the activities, so that many of the workers could accomplish something else, was one of my jobs. While I was there I was a major help in conducting entertainment for the residents. Every week there is some sort of musical entertainment to keep the residents occupied because, “It would be dreadful to increase the duration of life without doing something to make life worth while,” written in Activities Keep Me Going by Charles and Arline Peckham. I helped wheel residents in and out, or stayed to watch the show with them and make sure that everyone was safe. I also entertained the residents by doing one on one visits and talking to them. Even though I wasn’t there for long, seeing the smiles on the resident’s faces told me I was making a difference.

Through research and experiences, it became apparent that elderly people face many more difficulties than I had expected. According to Social Gerontology by Nancy R. Hooyman and H. Asuman Kiyak, even in a nursing home, surrounded by people, elderly people are lonely. They are lonely because much of their family, friends and other loved ones have passed away. Many people spend a good part of their life in a nursing home, and they feel lonely because they are confined to a bed while everyone else is living their life. Elderly people also face some major difficulties: illnesses, for example, Alzheimer’s, which according to the Alzheimer’s Association is a brain disorder that destroys brain cells, resulting in memory loss. These illnesses are difficult for elderly people because they must deal with the emotional stress that they are not going to get better. The elderly must also take a large quantity of medication daily to treat these illnesses. Lastly, I learned that nursing homes are very expensive. It costs a resident an average of about 9,000 to 10,000 dollars a month to stay in a facility like Apple Rehab. Although they are getting good care for their money, it still quickly dries up their funds, forcing them to get state Medicare to pay for them. If you don’t have money or don’t have state funding, it is difficult to get the proper care you deserve. Even in a place with great care like Apple Rehab, I have learned that old age still presents many difficult challenges.

-There are many ways that Apple Rehab can be related to To Kill a Mockingbird. First of all, one related them is loneliness. Boo Radely is lonely; he is stuck in his house watching the world go by. This is what it is like for many residents. Some of the residents at Apple Rehab are stuck in beds, watching, as the rest of the world goes about their daily routine of driving to work, or going for a walk. Secondly, another related theme is education. Scout goes to school, and while she is growing up, she learns new things everyday; just like the rest of us. The residents were the same, they learned throughout their whole life, but as they grow old this reverses and they begin to lose this knowledge. Lastly, in To Kill a Mockingbird, there is a lot of irony. For example, the missionary ladies try to help people in other countries, but ironically, they are racist towards blacks in their own town, and treat them poorly. After Scout heard Miss Gates talking to Miss Stephanie Crawford, she asks, “Jem, how can you hate Hitler so bad an’ then turn around and be right ugly about folks right at home?” (Lee, 331) In the nursing home, one of the men I formed a bond with, Bill, has 6 kids. It is ironic because even though he has all these kids, none of them come to visit. Young people sometimes disrespect elderly people, but ironically they will all be old someday. The themes found in To Kill a Mockingbird are relevant to the issues facing the elderly.

I had a great experience at the nursing home, and I feel I did my job well, but there are a few things I wish I had done differently. Firstly, I wish I had spent more time there. I had a very enjoyable time, and I wish I had started my visits earlier to have more time to talk to the residents. Conversely, I could have gone the same number of visits, but stayed longer each time I went. Secondly, in their old age, many of the residents get tired early in the afternoon, and are not very talkative. I feel that I might have gotten some better information if I had gone to talk to them in the morning. It was difficult to go in the morning because the most convenient time for the majority of my visits was after school. Lastly, between my visits there, one of the residents, Will, died. He was a great man, and a lot of fun to talk to, and I wish I had spent more of my time talking to him instead of doing other things. He had many great, unfinished stories that I wish I could have heard the end to. Even though I wish I had done a few things differently, I still have a sense of accomplishment, and I feel my time at Apple Rehab was invaluable.

I feel that I learned many things over my visits, and these things have made me a better person. Firstly, I learned a lot about the future. I am young now and I must live my life, but I have now realized that someday, I will be old just like the residents at Apple Rehab. I will now treat elderly people with a great amount of respect because I know that’s the way I would want to be treated if I were in their position. Secondly, through the visits, I have enriched my knowledge about the past. Through many of the resident’s stories, I have gotten a glimpse at what life was like many years. Life was very different, they did not possess many of the things we take for granted today, for instance, back then, they did not have computers, so I would have to write this essay by hand. Lastly, I realized that both the elderly people and I benefited from my experience. I was filled with knowledge about what it is like to be old, while they had someone to talk to and could reminisce about being young. While they were enjoying my company I felt gratified that I could make a difference in someone’s life. This was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life so far, and the sense of self accomplishment I gained will stick with me until I am in their places.

I have learned many things during my experience at Apple Rehab; I have learned about the past, the present, and the future. I have also found out that, to me, there is no better feeling than the feeling that you making a difference in someone’s life. This is the feeling I felt while volunteering at Apple Rehab in Mystic, Connecticut. As I walked out of the building on my 7th visit, the eyes that watched me no longer seemed alien, they no longer studied me. Instead, they were friendly; the people had smiles on their faces. The place that had once felt so uncomfortable to me, now felt like home.