Personal Narrative: Working At Harvest Home

Harvest homes was less of a choice of volunteering than a responsibility to. Two years ago my mum was offered a job at this facility by some of the friends that she volunteered with. The job she was offered was quite simple in concept. She was asked to direct all activities for the residents to participate in and, sometime in the future, was asked to spend some time every day working at the front desk. Over the two years following, I witnessed my mother struggle to continually meet the demands of the heavy workload. As I witnessed this, I realized that I could be some help to her. I started going to work with my mother to help with basic tasks to keep her focused on her job. I realized more and more that the residents suffered when the employees …show more content…
I did not interact with any residents or employees. The more consistently I was there, I began feeling comfortable and was able to meet and help different residents and employees. It did not take long after I got comfortable at Harvest Homes for a dramatic experience to happen. As I often did, I stopped by to give my mum some coffee and to help with any quick task she needed. I dropped it off in her office and started to leave but was suddenly stopped by the sound of yells for help. A resident had fallen on the ground in his room and no employee was near. In that instance I knew I needed to step in, but uneducated on this situation or the etiquette in dealing with a fall, I had no idea what to. I decided that the most I could do was hold the resident's hand and talk to him to get the focus off of the pain he was in until paramedics arrived. In doing so I had no realization of what it could have meant for the man. I had only been filled with thoughts of fear for him. While this experience was emotional, what really affected me was the letter I received from the man a week or so after thanking me for being there and telling me he was all right. This simple quick note struck a chord with me on a level unreached before but soon over passed by another experience, this experience being with another resident months later. I had gotten close with many residents through calling bingo, cleaning