Simple visits can ease loneliness, brighten days
Kaia McClure, right, and fellow students from Syracuse High School play bingo with residents at Raintree Assisted Living in Syracuse.
When school started this year, I decided to take a class that would require me to do 12 hours of community service. I wasn’t thrilled about it, but I was happy to do it to avoid taking extra classes.
Later, I discovered that I would have to do this service in a group of the teacher’s choosing. I wasn’t very excited about this, and it didn’t seem like others in the class were either.
When the first hour of community service rolled around, I wasn’t excited. We had chosen — out of all the places we could have gone — to go to an assisted living center. Not that it was a bad place to go, but I had lost grandparents in the last couple of years.
I worried that I would get close with the residents in the facility, and when they passed away I would be horribly sad.
I felt as if I couldn’t bear losing another person I loved.
Puzzling together
My attitude completely changed after I started to work on a puzzle with one of the residents at Raintree Assisted Living in Syracuse. He seemed lonely, and he couldn’t hear very well, so for the most part we sat in silence working on the puzzle.
Occasionally, he would ask me a question about my family or how school was, and I would answer briefly, but politely. It was awkward, and I didn’t want to start any deep conversations.
However, I began to realize that the longer I simply sat and talked and spent time with this gentleman, I felt love for a guy I barely knew. I learned his name, and later on I found out that he kept the other residents from working on the puzzle when we were gone so that we could work on it the next time I came in. It was a really sweet thing for him to do, and I started to feel a love for him and all the other residents at the center.
After we had finished a few more hours, we were talking to one of the residents. She told us that not many visitors other than family members stop in, and it can become really lonely. She is a person who is always busy, and I realized that her busyness could be something to distract her from the fact that she is extremely lonely.
As we near the holiday season, I believe that there is no greater service than to comfort those who need it. When we serve others selflessly, we look beyond the toys, candy, gifts and food that we will receive and partake of this holiday season, and we are able to give back. Assisted living homes are the perfect place to do service for others.
When we’re out of school and we aren’t busy over the holidays, we often sit down to watch television or browse the internet, choosing not to connect with the real world. But at assisted living centers, we have the opportunity to go out and visit places where people are in need of love, care and attention.
Make connections
There is nothing that could improve society more than if people became more connected, especially through service.
I have witnessed this firsthand, not only in this instance of visiting the assisted living center, but also in writing letters to veterans and making blankets for people in hospitals through my school’s National Honor Society.
We all feel lonely at times. But imagine feeling that way over long periods of time. It isn’t healthy, it isn’t enjoyable, and it isn’t how anyone should feel during the holiday season.
So take time out of your schedules, whether you are busy or not, to visit one of the facilities for seniors near you. I have made some very good friends there, and I know that after this class has come to an end, I won’t stop going and visiting with the residents there. It has become something that I love doing and love being a part of. I could never give that up.
If you want to make a difference, just go out looking for opportunities in the world around you. There is need for help all around you. And who knows? It just might be worth your while — and you may even make some new friends while doing it.