Applecross Opal Nursing Home Analysis
For my service this year, I was involved with Applecross Opal Nursing Home. Opal age care was a great help to me in opening my eyes to the desperate need for an extra pair of hands and the importance of nursing homes. Not only to the individual admitted in, but also to their families and friends. As I would arrive at 12.00 every time, I would go straight into lending a hand with lunch. Handing out the meals, packing away, cleaning up and keeping an eye on a few of the residents was my first job done. Then I would wonder through the compound talking to the residents, playing and colouring in with them and I would gather and assist them to and from their rooms. With all these jobs, you had to keep a look out for and take extra care with some of the more dependant residents.
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Opal age care has a weekly roster with daily activities to be done, while I was there I took part in karaoke, birthday celebrations, musical time and also helped organised for Forest Gump to be played on the big screen.
The social issue that I addressed was the neglecting and loneliness of the elderly. Watching my own grandparents and my other previous experience volunteering at a nursing home I have learnt that the elderly seem to have a stigma associated with them. People often label them to be lonely or alienated, which ultimately leads to this negative idea with ageing. Through my service I aimed to provide compassion to the elderly and to address this injustice issue in society. By the end of my service hours, I was pleased with myself that I had honoured and shown my own appreciation towards the elderly, just as it says in the bible quote“ You shall stand up before the grey head and honour the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord” (Leviticus
19:32).
Throughout all my visits I aimed to address the colleges’ value of compassion, to do this I not only involved myself with the elderly but also with those around them, which ended up beneficial to me. Opal provides the residence with health care and entertainment to those who aren’t capable of looking after themselves anymore. The staff are very compassionate and caring towards the residence, which I saw first hand on many occasions. Each staff member showed a genuine love to all the residence and for his or her work. However, loneliness was still an issue that was evident to me in the nursing home.
This is the issue I addressed during my time at at the facility. I made sure I was chatting to all the residence, to the staff and making sure to show them all appreciation, respect and let them confide in me. There was one resident in particular called Jean, who I spent a lot of time with. When I was talking to her, she would tell me about her life, where she had lived, and all about her travels and all of the jobs she had been a part of. She told me stories about her children and I sat there listening to her go on. Every week I went to visit the home, I would specifically seek her out. By then she had already forgotten who I was but I would listen to the same story again and occasionally hear more details or notice a few that had changed. This was where I showed empathy, by listening to the same stories again and again and being able to ask more questions that made her think and made her question things about herself. I enjoyed doing this, as every time I would ask for her about her travels from Germany or her children, she would grab hold of my arm and tell me to sit. She seemed so grateful for the short period of time I would spend with her that it not only made me feel great, but showed me that I can change or at least improve someone's day. Even if they do forget about it the next day. “Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1:13). I thought that this bible quote applies to my service experience and my particular experience with Jean as ‘the pattern of sound words you have heard from me” represent how I followed the pattern of listening to her stories many times but never felt bored but always wanted to know more.
What I could recommend for the Nursing home facility is to use the location that they have to its fullest. The nursing home is right next to the river and it would be a great opportunity for those residents who are able and well enough to walk around, to be taken down once a week. This would be a great exercise for the residents and can be optional. Another thing would to add more windows, to allow some fresh air and have sounds of nature through out the building.
Catherine McAuley, a model of the way God calls us to respond to situations with our hearts, as she can see the needs of individuals who were in negative and poor situations. She made a difference with those who were struggling and did what she could to help. She showed respect to everyone, not only by caring for them, but also doing it out of love and kindness of her heart. During my service I was able to follow in Catherine McAuley’s footsteps. She once said “There are three things that the poor prize more highly tan gold, tho’ they cost the donor nothing; among these are a kind word, the gentle compassionate look and the patient hearing of their sorrows”. Reading this, I have been able to reflect on my own experience at Opal and I have realised that I showed this. Every time I went to the home, I wouldn't bring gifts, or do something ridiculous, all I would do was give them my time, compassion and genuine love. This is all they wanted, this is how I lived out Catherine McAuley’s dream. A biblical reference “Rise in the presence of the aged and honour the elderly face-to-face. “Fear your God. I am the LORD.(Leviticus 19:32)
During my time at Opal age care, I learned many things, some about myself, my faith and some about the responsibilities of looking after others. Through my service I was shown the difficulties, emotionally and physically, that looking after the elderly demand from you. However in the end it was always be worthwhile. Working with the residences at the nursing home I have grown in a way that makes me more aware and thankful of all those people out there, taking care of someone other than themselves. I learned different things about myself every day I visited. The first few times I learnt that I was more shy and timid then what I thought, so during my service I aimed to be more confident and more conversational. One thing I also noticed was that I was very intrigued to learn how to care for them, and also to listen and learn about their individual stories. Through this, I have seen that I can be patient and quick to react. All of these qualities I have noticed about myself has made me see who I want to be later in life. After completing my service hours, I can now say that my view towards the Catholic Faith has changed positively. This experience has changed and impacted my choices after leaving the nursing home. After leaving I have been more gratefu and aware of the happiness and wellbeing of l to see my grandparents, which is valuable.
What I found beneficial by completing my service hours was being pushed into a new area of life, which explored my weaknesses. In the end, this experience became positive due to teaching me confidence. Normally I’m very hesitant to do things out of my comfort zone. In the end, I have gained many benefits other than confidence, including meeting new people, making friends, learning about the hardships and tough times many people go through and also the overall feeling of self worth. I was able to make a difference in the home and that alone has made me feel helpful. Other than all my rewarding experiences, there were some disadvantages of being involved in Age care. Meeting all these new people and listening to them, you do start to build a relationship. However many of the residents are very ill or unwell. One of the worst moments in my service experience was being told that the lady I had been talking to 5 hours before, had passed away only 3 hours later. This was a hard lesson to learn, I know that people pass away but being one of the last people that lady spoke to hit me. So one of the disadvantages of working with age care is the heartbreak you feel when something goes wrong with a resident.
Doing our annual service hours, girls at Santa Maria College are able to expand the knowledge and skills that play an important part when leaving school. The program teaches us how to communicate, how to organise and how to act when interacting with people outside of the school environment. I think Santa Maria makes us do this program to help us grow as Mercy Women, it shows us how to live like Jesus in and outside of the school community. By doing this we our helping others and ourselves, we are enhancing our own skills while making somebody else day easier or more enjoyable. This is what Santa Maria is all about, it is about showing compassion, justices, patience, knowledge and mercy to all of those we interact with.
Opal age care has a weekly roster with daily activities to be done, while I was there I took part in karaoke, birthday celebrations, musical time and also helped organised for Forest Gump to be played on the big screen.
The social issue that I addressed was the neglecting and loneliness of the elderly. Watching my own grandparents and my other previous experience volunteering at a nursing home I have learnt that the elderly seem to have a stigma associated with them. People often label them to be lonely or alienated, which ultimately leads to this negative idea with ageing. Through my service I aimed to provide compassion to the elderly and to address this injustice issue in society. By the end of my service hours, I was pleased with myself that I had honoured and shown my own appreciation towards the elderly, just as it says in the bible quote“ You shall stand up before the grey head and honour the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord” (Leviticus
19:32).
Throughout all my visits I aimed to address the colleges’ value of compassion, to do this I not only involved myself with the elderly but also with those around them, which ended up beneficial to me. Opal provides the residence with health care and entertainment to those who aren’t capable of looking after themselves anymore. The staff are very compassionate and caring towards the residence, which I saw first hand on many occasions. Each staff member showed a genuine love to all the residence and for his or her work. However, loneliness was still an issue that was evident to me in the nursing home.
This is the issue I addressed during my time at at the facility. I made sure I was chatting to all the residence, to the staff and making sure to show them all appreciation, respect and let them confide in me. There was one resident in particular called Jean, who I spent a lot of time with. When I was talking to her, she would tell me about her life, where she had lived, and all about her travels and all of the jobs she had been a part of. She told me stories about her children and I sat there listening to her go on. Every week I went to visit the home, I would specifically seek her out. By then she had already forgotten who I was but I would listen to the same story again and occasionally hear more details or notice a few that had changed. This was where I showed empathy, by listening to the same stories again and again and being able to ask more questions that made her think and made her question things about herself. I enjoyed doing this, as every time I would ask for her about her travels from Germany or her children, she would grab hold of my arm and tell me to sit. She seemed so grateful for the short period of time I would spend with her that it not only made me feel great, but showed me that I can change or at least improve someone's day. Even if they do forget about it the next day. “Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 1:13). I thought that this bible quote applies to my service experience and my particular experience with Jean as ‘the pattern of sound words you have heard from me” represent how I followed the pattern of listening to her stories many times but never felt bored but always wanted to know more.
What I could recommend for the Nursing home facility is to use the location that they have to its fullest. The nursing home is right next to the river and it would be a great opportunity for those residents who are able and well enough to walk around, to be taken down once a week. This would be a great exercise for the residents and can be optional. Another thing would to add more windows, to allow some fresh air and have sounds of nature through out the building.
Catherine McAuley, a model of the way God calls us to respond to situations with our hearts, as she can see the needs of individuals who were in negative and poor situations. She made a difference with those who were struggling and did what she could to help. She showed respect to everyone, not only by caring for them, but also doing it out of love and kindness of her heart. During my service I was able to follow in Catherine McAuley’s footsteps. She once said “There are three things that the poor prize more highly tan gold, tho’ they cost the donor nothing; among these are a kind word, the gentle compassionate look and the patient hearing of their sorrows”. Reading this, I have been able to reflect on my own experience at Opal and I have realised that I showed this. Every time I went to the home, I wouldn't bring gifts, or do something ridiculous, all I would do was give them my time, compassion and genuine love. This is all they wanted, this is how I lived out Catherine McAuley’s dream. A biblical reference “Rise in the presence of the aged and honour the elderly face-to-face. “Fear your God. I am the LORD.(Leviticus 19:32)
During my time at Opal age care, I learned many things, some about myself, my faith and some about the responsibilities of looking after others. Through my service I was shown the difficulties, emotionally and physically, that looking after the elderly demand from you. However in the end it was always be worthwhile. Working with the residences at the nursing home I have grown in a way that makes me more aware and thankful of all those people out there, taking care of someone other than themselves. I learned different things about myself every day I visited. The first few times I learnt that I was more shy and timid then what I thought, so during my service I aimed to be more confident and more conversational. One thing I also noticed was that I was very intrigued to learn how to care for them, and also to listen and learn about their individual stories. Through this, I have seen that I can be patient and quick to react. All of these qualities I have noticed about myself has made me see who I want to be later in life. After completing my service hours, I can now say that my view towards the Catholic Faith has changed positively. This experience has changed and impacted my choices after leaving the nursing home. After leaving I have been more gratefu and aware of the happiness and wellbeing of l to see my grandparents, which is valuable.
What I found beneficial by completing my service hours was being pushed into a new area of life, which explored my weaknesses. In the end, this experience became positive due to teaching me confidence. Normally I’m very hesitant to do things out of my comfort zone. In the end, I have gained many benefits other than confidence, including meeting new people, making friends, learning about the hardships and tough times many people go through and also the overall feeling of self worth. I was able to make a difference in the home and that alone has made me feel helpful. Other than all my rewarding experiences, there were some disadvantages of being involved in Age care. Meeting all these new people and listening to them, you do start to build a relationship. However many of the residents are very ill or unwell. One of the worst moments in my service experience was being told that the lady I had been talking to 5 hours before, had passed away only 3 hours later. This was a hard lesson to learn, I know that people pass away but being one of the last people that lady spoke to hit me. So one of the disadvantages of working with age care is the heartbreak you feel when something goes wrong with a resident.
Doing our annual service hours, girls at Santa Maria College are able to expand the knowledge and skills that play an important part when leaving school. The program teaches us how to communicate, how to organise and how to act when interacting with people outside of the school environment. I think Santa Maria makes us do this program to help us grow as Mercy Women, it shows us how to live like Jesus in and outside of the school community. By doing this we our helping others and ourselves, we are enhancing our own skills while making somebody else day easier or more enjoyable. This is what Santa Maria is all about, it is about showing compassion, justices, patience, knowledge and mercy to all of those we interact with.