Sunday, April 17, 2016

Making conections at Aras Chois Fharraige




During my time here in Ireland I have been given the amazing opportunity to volunteer four of my afternoon at Aras Chois Fharraige, the nursing home just down the street.   They had us help with different activities each time we came.  This home has a very busy activity schedule (including: pet therapy, work out time, cards, gardening, and much, much more) and they house over 50 residents so they were happy with the extra sets of hands to help out. During our first visit the four of us split into two groups. One group played cards with the residents who chose to play cards while the other two just sat and talked with some of the residents who chose not to.  I was one who did not play cards.  I got to meet a lovely lady named Ann.  Ann has lived in Ireland her whole life and we spent the entire hour comparing my life in Nebraska to hers here in Ireland.  The next visit we helped with their work outs.  They call this Spree.  We would call it chair aerobics.  Some of the residents have a hard time lifting their arms above their heads so we would hold their hand and help them stretch out their muscles.  The final activity we helped with was catch.  This activity is simply just tossing a beach ball around with the residents.  This helps them work on their coordination and always involves a lot of laughter.  Our final visit we just talked to the residents and said our goodbyes.
            I really enjoyed my time at the nursing home.  Experiencing how passionate the employees were about top of the line care for each resident has secured my future plans of going into occupational therapy.  This was truly and eye opening experience.




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