Hospice
So I tried going to bed at 7:30 pm today. I knew that I'd wake up in the middle of the night if I did but I was just so TIRED. So here I am, awake at 1. Dad called me at midnight; it's noon in China and he assumed I'd still be awake, which I normally would be.
The reason I'm so tired is because I fell asleep at a little after 4:30 am last night/this morning and woke up at 8:30ish because I had to schedule my drug test and go visit Harley with Ricky. It ended up being a busy day. I called the people at the drug test place around 9, headed out around 10:30 after having some breakfast, Got to Harley at like 11:30 after picking up Ricky, visited until around 2, dropped Ricky off, went to the Maurici household to drink some orange juice, went and took my drug test/brought Joe along at like 3:30, ended up staying for dinner at their house (Wendy made homemade pizza and it was AMAAAAZING, especially when paired with beer from Rohrbach, our local microbrewery.) We went through three and a half pizzas and a big jug thing of beer, which had a name that I don't remember.
Back on the Harley note, I saw Madame Colosimo and Bob Kane, among others. I tend to avoid the art wing, or more specifically, Kelly Fallon. I'm glad Mr. Kane's office moved away from there. Ricky and I talked with him for almost an hour, and I really want to go with the hospice class to either Calcutta, India or Belize. That would be such an enriching trip.
I do actually enjoy hospice work, end of life care, and other countries are really struggling with programs for it. Bob was telling us about their recent Belize trip, during which they helped set up a program for the country's "scouts," which are just like our boy and girl scouts, for a merit badge for hospice work, which is a very new and relatively revolutionary idea. Hospice is becoming more and more necessary it seems like, either that or people are starting to realize the need for it.
Bob also talked about how China is having real problems because of their population issues, how there aren't enough people available to take care of the elderly as a result of their population control efforts, and people are starting to find the elderly dead in their homes days or weeks after they die simply because they live on their own and people don't visit them often enough. Also, after they are found, they don't know what to do with the bodies. He said something about China wanting to build big death centers. This is one of the reasons hospice care is in need of thoughtful, creative, and dedicated people, so that China's solution to this problem won't be to create gigantic buildings designated for the dying, but rather something that will allow people to keep their dignity and humanity until the end of their lives.
I don't know how hard it is or what you have to do to get into hospice work since I was introduced to it through a class in high school, but if you can, I would definitely recommend looking into it as a volunteer activity. They always need volunteers, caregivers, even if you just go and sit with a person for fifteen minutes, half an hour. You always come away with something and you always leave the other person with something. Everyone really does have a story.
The reason I'm so tired is because I fell asleep at a little after 4:30 am last night/this morning and woke up at 8:30ish because I had to schedule my drug test and go visit Harley with Ricky. It ended up being a busy day. I called the people at the drug test place around 9, headed out around 10:30 after having some breakfast, Got to Harley at like 11:30 after picking up Ricky, visited until around 2, dropped Ricky off, went to the Maurici household to drink some orange juice, went and took my drug test/brought Joe along at like 3:30, ended up staying for dinner at their house (Wendy made homemade pizza and it was AMAAAAZING, especially when paired with beer from Rohrbach, our local microbrewery.) We went through three and a half pizzas and a big jug thing of beer, which had a name that I don't remember.
Back on the Harley note, I saw Madame Colosimo and Bob Kane, among others. I tend to avoid the art wing, or more specifically, Kelly Fallon. I'm glad Mr. Kane's office moved away from there. Ricky and I talked with him for almost an hour, and I really want to go with the hospice class to either Calcutta, India or Belize. That would be such an enriching trip.
I do actually enjoy hospice work, end of life care, and other countries are really struggling with programs for it. Bob was telling us about their recent Belize trip, during which they helped set up a program for the country's "scouts," which are just like our boy and girl scouts, for a merit badge for hospice work, which is a very new and relatively revolutionary idea. Hospice is becoming more and more necessary it seems like, either that or people are starting to realize the need for it.
Bob also talked about how China is having real problems because of their population issues, how there aren't enough people available to take care of the elderly as a result of their population control efforts, and people are starting to find the elderly dead in their homes days or weeks after they die simply because they live on their own and people don't visit them often enough. Also, after they are found, they don't know what to do with the bodies. He said something about China wanting to build big death centers. This is one of the reasons hospice care is in need of thoughtful, creative, and dedicated people, so that China's solution to this problem won't be to create gigantic buildings designated for the dying, but rather something that will allow people to keep their dignity and humanity until the end of their lives.
I don't know how hard it is or what you have to do to get into hospice work since I was introduced to it through a class in high school, but if you can, I would definitely recommend looking into it as a volunteer activity. They always need volunteers, caregivers, even if you just go and sit with a person for fifteen minutes, half an hour. You always come away with something and you always leave the other person with something. Everyone really does have a story.