SBW Haus des Lernens SBW Kurierdienst Nr. 14

Daniel Hauck
Lernpartner
IS Neustadt
SBW Kurierdienst
International School Neustadt
Daniel Hauck’s (MS4) CAS experience
Working at the St. Elisabeth old age
home
For the past 3 years I have been working
on the 1st floor of the St. Elisabeth old age
home in Deidesheim. This floor is manly
for people who have ‘dementia’. This is an
illness that makes you forget everything
about yourself, your family and your life.
Dementia can strike sometimes in less
than a day.
At the beginning this activity was, in my
thought, just to get my CAS hours done so
I could get a good grade, but soon I started
to like to work with the older people. They
told me stories about how life was for
them in the past; stories that you could
not imagine. I learned about moments in
their lives when they were happy or sad,
about how they earned money to feed their
families. Those stories just told things you
could not find in any history books. They
were real, untouched and untainted. When
you are there with them, you just needed
to ask “tell me about your life” and they
would share their whole life story and
experiences with you.
These people have sometimes lost all
their family and need somebody they can
talk to, just to feel needed again and to
feel the warmth of a friendship. There are
some who have gone through experiences
that most people would not want to know
about and they have suffered by not saying
it to anyone else. So it is we, the young,
who have the choice of giving them the
feeling of inner freedom and to give them
hope and security that everything is OK.
With this feeling they will thank you and
will reward you with a smile.
As I have said, I worked on the first floor of
the dementia area. After the 1st year, when
I left for summer break, I thought they
would forget me and that I would have to
start regaining their friendship again. I had
given them my best smile when I left and
as I walked through the door for the first
Kurierdienst Nr. 14 Juni 2009 bis Dezember 2009
time after the break they greeted me with
warm smiles. This gave me the feeling that
I did well in that year so I did it another
year and a 3rd year.
During the last two years I became good
friends with an eighty year-old lady called
Elfriede, R. She had an artificial oesophagus
so she could not swallow big or dry
pieces of food nor talk for a long time;
she also could not walk long distances so
she was sitting in a wheelchair most of
the time. Still she played harmonica and
accordion and was always with me in the
‘Activation Group’. Mrs. R. died last summer
and I did not have a chance to say
“good bye” or “I will see you next week”
to her. The news made me feel terrible
because I did not have the opportunity to
say farewell to her. But at least, she is not
in pain anymore.
By working with the older people I have
gained knowledge and experience which
I cannot possibly get or learn in school.
I have learnt to be patient, to appreciate
and to value the life experiences of other
people.
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