what it's like to take care of old people

As a senior, I have a quarter of the school year dedicated to doing community service. Most students sign up to work with young kids in the Head Start program. I, however, decided to work with the elderly because my grandfather passed away around the time that we were deciding what program we wanted to work with. I wanted to give back and work with the elderly community, so I selected volunteering at the Central Union Church Adult Daycare center as my first choice.

Not many choose to work with the elderly; some may think that working with old people is boring or even gross. Many of the members at the daycare center have dry, wrinkly skin, crusty, red-rimmed eyes, and bent, deformed fingers. They have reached a stage in their lives where their bodily functions are slowing down and they don't have very much strength or control over they movements. Many have short-term memory and have trouble speaking. However, I do not see these qualities as disgusting or repugnant, nor do I think that working with them is boring. There is so much that we can learn from them and their experiences. We will all reach the state that they are in right now some day.

I go down to the daycare center twice a cycle for two hours. I have one session in the morning, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m., and another one from 1:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. In the mornings, the elderly gather together in a large circle around the room where they sing songs and do exercises together. My job is to encourage anyone that doesn't participate to sing along and do the exercises. However, most of the elderly go along with the activities, so all I have to do is sing with them and demonstrate the exercises.

Doing exercises is one of my favorite parts of my time at the daycare center because the exercises we do aren't the kind of exercises you would think of; the kind of exercises that are done by younger, stronger people. The exercises we do at the daycare center are simple and meant to loosen their muscles and joints. Since many of them are frail and weak, they do the exercises in their chairs. It's really funny watching some of them do their exercises because some of them dose off to the monotonous drone of everyone counting: "1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…9…10…11…12…13…14…15."

After exercises, everyone goes outside for a walk. I always help push someone in a wheelchair. The weather is always nice outside, and there's always a wedding going on at the church. During this time I have conversations with some of the elders. We never have any deep conversations or anything, but simple comments and compliments always brings a laugh or a smile to their face.

Working at the Central Union Church Adult Daycare has been a really great experience for me. It has made me think about life, both life in general and my own life. I noticed that our lives are kind of like a roller coaster. In the beginning we start out slow and climb up to the top of the hill; then we drop down the hill and reach top speed, going through twists and turns, loops and drops. There are times when the ride slows as it climbs up another hill, while there are other moments where the ride picks up speed and zips down and around the tracks. Then the ride levels and slows down again, eventually coming to an end.

There are several ways you can look at this perspective on life. Some may feel depressed at the thought of getting old and weak; or you can look at it the way I do, and see it as a reason to live life to the fullest while you can! :)

Perspective

As I mentioned in the previous post, as a part of the "No Impact Man" website, Colin Beavan posts his answers to viewers' questions and comments. I was particularly interested in his answer to one question that asked why he and his family didn't take public transportation (as quoted from his "No Impact Man" website):

“Yes, public transportation is wonderful and once the No Impact experiment is over, we'll probably use it, at least when it rains or snows. But it still has an impact, environmentally speaking, that is bigger than walking, biking or scootering.

"It seems extreme, I know, but we are trying to have as low a negative impact as possible. Also, one of the questions underlying the No Impact experiment is what do we really need? Our experiment is deliberately radical. What happens when you give up everything?

"The culture tells us we need so many things, so many comforts, so many services--just to get by. But do we? We are stripping down our life, seeing what we really miss, and at the end we'll very deliberately put it back together. Michelle [Colin Beavan’s wife] calls it a life redesign.”

This is exactly what I was trying to get at in my previous post on “The 3 C’s”. Like Colin Beavan says, “our culture tells us we need so many things, so many comforts, so many services--just to get by. But do we?” Here Beavan questions the ways of our society, as I do. Is it really necessary for every person to have their own personal car? Is it really necessary to package everything plastic bags? Is it really necessary to constantly upgrade cell phones with a camera, an mp3 player, internet access, etc.?

However, Colin Beavan also presents us with another point of view on the topic of public transportation:

“On the other hand, if you follow the argument of Wharton Professor Karl Urich, each year of cycling increases the rider's health and therefore his or her overall life expectancy by 10.6 days. The extra environmental resources consumed by living those extra days negatively offsets the energy saved by pedaling your way around. In other words, Urlich argues, by cycling and scootering, Michelle and I will live longer and therefore ultimately hurt the environment. Oy vey! Yet another mistake!?”

I found this take on the issue to be very interesting because it reminded me of how situations can vary depending on how one perceives the situation. With this issue on public transportation, we have one situation where we analyze and calculate the immediate impact one has on the environment by utilizing public transportation, while the other situation deals with the predicted increased impact one would have from their expected increased survival. Which one is correct? Is there a right or wrong? Who is the one to draw the line between right and wrong?