Working with Seniors - Intro (Part 1 of 3)

I took down my previous journal entry from last night, because I was kind of in a bad mood when I wrote it and my work today was a lot more fun than it had been earlier in the week. I work at a senior and assisted living facility in Webster, called Bethesda Dilworth, where I fulfill a variety of tasks given by my instructor, Darla. During the first few days, she had me work mostly in maintenance, so I spent most of my time cleaning chairs, which I was very good at, as I took a lot of time and care to ensure that my job was done well, however, it was not entertaining or meaningful, so I kind of grew bored of it. Today, I delivered mail to the residents on all six floors of the building, which was a lot more rewarding, and put me outside of my comfort zone a little bit; I enjoyed the smiles that I would get from random residents, but I'm not a huge people person, so knocking on doors and announcing myself was unfamiliar and kind of awkward at first, especially when I accidentally walked in on someone bathing (!), though I am very quiet when approaching new people, so this fortunately went unnoticed. I have also proctored Bingo several times, and I did this again today before I left, which is actually very fun, because the employees who organize activities tell me that I'm very good at it, as I can talk loudly and enunciate clearly so that all of the residents can understand me. The most fun part of my day was speaking to a few of the seniors one-on-one, asking them questions about their lives and talking about mine, which I find very satisfying most of the time; however, it is always a bit sad to see that some of the residents have declined to such a point that it is difficult to communicate with them, not usually as a result of alzheimer's, but often because their sight and hearing has withered to the point where they cannot easily make out what I am saying without me yelling and they certainly so not pick up on subtle aspects of conversation, so one always has to be completely frank with them. Overall, I am enjoying my experience so far, though I am very excited and ready for graduation and college next year, which is a frequent topic of conversation with the residents as well as with my coworkers, many of whom I have quickly befriended, as they appreciate my willingness to volunteer, and I genuinely appreciate the impressive level of enthusiasm that they bring to work each day. Not going to lie, I sometimes feel burnt out and tired, as working in a new environment can be kind of draining, especially with track and my very physically involved occupation on the weekends, but today was a good day, and overall very enjoyable, and so I hope that I will recover soon from my self-induced exhaustion, and I am hopeful that the rest of my work will be just as fulfilling as today.

- Zach