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Wheelchair Rides: Volunteer - Patient Learning Opportunities

Posted by Frances Shani Parker on September 30, 2009 at 9:38pm
As a hospice volunteer, I provided patients with many wheelchair rides that were priceless occasions for learning. A patient named Nat had a wheelchair-riding contest with himself every time we returned to his room from outdoors. He briefly pushed his wheelchair fast to beat the door buzzer that went off when we entered from the porch. This was a race he always won. People sitting in the lobby began to expect that when we entered, there would be a lot of hoopla over Nat’s beating the buzzer. Laughing with triumph, he enjoyed celebrating his victory and telling everybody I was his wife. This came from a white man who initially expressed reluctance about being assigned a black volunteer. Sharing time with patients on wheelchair rides, I sometimes felt like I was watching them perform a dance of seven veils as they gradually revealed new layers about themselves. And because volunteering is such a win-win experience, I also learned a lot about myself. Frances Shani Parker “Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog”

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