MR2-Sooner86
6/4/2009, 11:04 PM
So yesterday I finished up my 15 hours of volunteer work at the Veteran's Hospital for a scholarship. Why did I pick it? Well, my grandfather died of cancer and spent some of his last days at a Veteran's Hospital where he was miserable and the nurses there didn't give a damn about the patients as he got dropped and got a bruise on his head. Thank God dad went and got him so he could spend his last days at home with his family. Anyway, because of this I wanted to go to the nearest Veteran's Hospital and try my best to make it a little better while I was there and try to show some the people there that I care and am thankful for what they have done and their sacrifices. I think I did that.
Anyway, I won't lie, I was a little iffy about it at first because I've never felt comfortable at nursing homes or places of that nature. However, I knew this would make me a better person and I would see things I should see so I went on with it. At first, it was a little bit like that but that soon wore off. It hit me when I told myself, "most of these people are in this situation because of what they did to serve this country". I mean a majority of the guys when they ate wore a big baby bib because when they ate they got it all over themselves. Several of the guys even had to be fed by nurses because they were unable to.
I did my work in the kitchen and what I mainly did was help the people out with their meal trays and help seat them. Some of them didn't want me to help them at all and insisted that they could do it by themselves but for the most part many of them were nice and let me or just said, "no thanks".
I saw a whole lot of guys that looked like they were young enough to have served in Vietnam and I saw them with deformations and looked like they had some type of disease. I soon realized what it probably was, the after affects of Agent Orange. Some of the guy's hands looked like they were curling up and slowly dying. It's hard to explain but that's what it looked like. A few of them had some type of rashes or skin diseases and had their arms and legs wrapped up and had to use wheelchairs. I don't know if it was Agent Orange but that would be my guess.
There were several World War 2 and Korean War veterans who didn't have arms or legs. Some of the men had only part of an arm or it was so messed up they couldn't use it too much. I saw one man who had no legs literally past his waist and looked like only half a man. There was several other people who had no arm past the shoulder.
So many of these guys because of this, were very bitter and it was hard to like them. As time wore on though I was sad for them because most of them have spent a majority of their lives in this situation and not by choice. There were others that just blew me away. Some guys I saw in scooters that could barely move with no strength and on oxygen but they were in the best of spirits. I did my very best though on the guys that had the "I hate my life" look to joke with them and get them to smile and maybe even laugh. I wasn't able to do it with all of them but I know I cheered a few of them up.
One instance I was walking around and just asked a couple of guys "is there anything I could get you like a refill on your drink?" The guys looked at me like I was on fire and responded, "nobody has ever had the curtsy to come over and ask us that, thank you young man." There were also several times the guys asked what I was doing there and I told them I was volunteering and they looked at me with a surprised look but then looked thankful as they said, "thank you for doing this very much." On my last day I had several people come up and say, "thank you for all you've done we really appreciate it very much."
The sad thing is I'm the only volunteer they've ever had there. All of the "volunteer" workers are really people ordered by the court to do community service there. Several of the workers seemed puzzled by this with a "why in the hell would you want to spend your time in this dump with these people?!" look on their faces. This makes me very sad because our veterans deserve better. Now don't get me wrong there are good people working there but there are also people that view at as "it's money who cares about the people" type of job.
Anyway, I plan to go back and do it again when I get the chance. There are a bunch of people I know who would never put themselves in that situation but not me. When I got done it was hard to walk out of that place without crying because of all of the emotions, sadness, etc that you get while being exposed to the environment and the people. I'm thankful for every single one of those men and women in that place. God bless every single one of them. Also, when you can, thank a veteran. They deserve more but thanking them would be a good start.
Anyway, I won't lie, I was a little iffy about it at first because I've never felt comfortable at nursing homes or places of that nature. However, I knew this would make me a better person and I would see things I should see so I went on with it. At first, it was a little bit like that but that soon wore off. It hit me when I told myself, "most of these people are in this situation because of what they did to serve this country". I mean a majority of the guys when they ate wore a big baby bib because when they ate they got it all over themselves. Several of the guys even had to be fed by nurses because they were unable to.
I did my work in the kitchen and what I mainly did was help the people out with their meal trays and help seat them. Some of them didn't want me to help them at all and insisted that they could do it by themselves but for the most part many of them were nice and let me or just said, "no thanks".
I saw a whole lot of guys that looked like they were young enough to have served in Vietnam and I saw them with deformations and looked like they had some type of disease. I soon realized what it probably was, the after affects of Agent Orange. Some of the guy's hands looked like they were curling up and slowly dying. It's hard to explain but that's what it looked like. A few of them had some type of rashes or skin diseases and had their arms and legs wrapped up and had to use wheelchairs. I don't know if it was Agent Orange but that would be my guess.
There were several World War 2 and Korean War veterans who didn't have arms or legs. Some of the men had only part of an arm or it was so messed up they couldn't use it too much. I saw one man who had no legs literally past his waist and looked like only half a man. There was several other people who had no arm past the shoulder.
So many of these guys because of this, were very bitter and it was hard to like them. As time wore on though I was sad for them because most of them have spent a majority of their lives in this situation and not by choice. There were others that just blew me away. Some guys I saw in scooters that could barely move with no strength and on oxygen but they were in the best of spirits. I did my very best though on the guys that had the "I hate my life" look to joke with them and get them to smile and maybe even laugh. I wasn't able to do it with all of them but I know I cheered a few of them up.
One instance I was walking around and just asked a couple of guys "is there anything I could get you like a refill on your drink?" The guys looked at me like I was on fire and responded, "nobody has ever had the curtsy to come over and ask us that, thank you young man." There were also several times the guys asked what I was doing there and I told them I was volunteering and they looked at me with a surprised look but then looked thankful as they said, "thank you for doing this very much." On my last day I had several people come up and say, "thank you for all you've done we really appreciate it very much."
The sad thing is I'm the only volunteer they've ever had there. All of the "volunteer" workers are really people ordered by the court to do community service there. Several of the workers seemed puzzled by this with a "why in the hell would you want to spend your time in this dump with these people?!" look on their faces. This makes me very sad because our veterans deserve better. Now don't get me wrong there are good people working there but there are also people that view at as "it's money who cares about the people" type of job.
Anyway, I plan to go back and do it again when I get the chance. There are a bunch of people I know who would never put themselves in that situation but not me. When I got done it was hard to walk out of that place without crying because of all of the emotions, sadness, etc that you get while being exposed to the environment and the people. I'm thankful for every single one of those men and women in that place. God bless every single one of them. Also, when you can, thank a veteran. They deserve more but thanking them would be a good start.