Volunteering at The Good Samaritan!

Well this week we volunteered at a home for the elderly called The Good Samaritan, which has about twenty residents living there. It is a great nursing home in Vicente Guerrero, just about a ten minute drive from were we live. People who live here are usually dropped off by the family never to be seen again or are found wondering the streets. But some families put them there because they just can’t care for them anymore.

The opportunity to be able to volunteer here is especially special to me because I work in a nursing home back in Ontario as a resident assistant. Doing this reminds me of home so much and makes me miss all the people and residents I work with. The work we do here is a little different then what I’m used to, but it’s still great to help in any way. We volunteer here once or twice a week, depending on how busy we are with other things. The jobs that we do consist of  cleaning duties, helping with lunch like preparing food, setting up tables, doing care for the residents, and also bringing the residents to the dinning room to eat. Matt and I have been working on the washing machine, trying to help set it up and get it in working condition as the old one is broken. We got it set up and thought it was good to go but when they put a load on, the timer to tell it to stop putting water into the machine didn’t work, so it keep filling until it over flowed with no one realizing until the entire room was flooded. It was not fun to clean up to say the least, but Paty, one of the workers there, helped me.

It is so hard to have a language barrier when meeting or just trying to get to know someone at the home. Trying to talk to the residents or staff is very hard but we manage to get by with common and familiar words. There is a resident named Maria who speaks amazing English and whom Matt has become special friends with. The first day we visited the home and after they met they talked for half an hour. It is also great to see the staff care for these people. They have big hearts and work with smiles on their faces. Taking time to chat, as well as care for them. I know how easy it can be, after working there for awhile, to slip into just physically caring for them and forgetting the personal side of the care. A touch on the arm as you walk by, or a five minute conversation can change a residents day for the better. The whole team loves going and loves being around the residents. We can’t wait for the next visit!

Shane, a School of Leadership student living in Mexico