This experience was very valuable in helping me learn more about the medical system and how senior care is implemented. More importantly, in my opinion, this experience taught me more about how people view death and how having relationships, however brief, are so important to a meaningful existence. Over 6 to 7 months, I met with 5 patients and had meaningful and eye-opening conversations with them. During the first three months, I met with a woman who had Alzheimer’s Disease and could not verbally communicate. This was difficult at times because I did not know whether I was disturbing her, and she wanted me to leave, or my presence was comforting for her. In addition, since she could not respond to me, there were times when it was slightly uncomfortable for me because I felt that I was just talking without any flow. However, after the first few visits, I learned to talk about anything that I had experienced during the week and hope that she found it interesting or at least different from what she was used to hearing. In December, I left to go home for winter break, and I got an email during my break that she had passed away and that I would be visiting with a different patient in the Spring semester. This left me feeling slightly conflicted because I had not known her long enough to form a strong connection and I was not sure if I had truly helped her by giving her company.
In the Spring semester, I visited with two patients along with two of my peers. One of the patients has Alzheimer’s Disease and is not communicative, but she loves music. She especially loves Taylor Swift music which we found out after playing some of her songs and watching as the patient became very enthusiastic and started to dance. Knowing that she responds to music has been very helpful in helping to communicate with her. She also seems to love holding hands with others as she often requests to hold one of our hands.
We typically visit our other patient in her apartment and sit with her in her living room. We have had many meaningful conversations with her, and she tells us about her family, especially her granddaughter who went to the same college as my peers and me. She especially enjoys listening to us talk about where we are originally from and telling us stories about when she visited these places. There are times when she tells us that we should have as much fun as we can now when we are young and that she regrets that she is unable to do as many fun things now. Especially, she tells us that she wishes she could visit her sister who lives in a different state.
Being a Hospice volunteer has strengthened my desire to go to Medical School because I have seen how important it is for people to be treated as individuals with needs at all stages of their life. In addition, this experience led me to think about death and dying more than I have ever done before. Thinking more about the process has allowed me to not consider the topic as a taboo anymore and I have realised how important it is to think about death and that everyone has different perspectives and wants different things before death. The benefit of this experience is that it has allowed me to think more about my own humanity and how important it is to listen to other people.