Philip Y. Kao PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText

transfer residents out of beds and their chairs, most of my interaction involved helping
residents with their wheelchairs and foot-pedals. As a volunteer I was not allowed to
touch or make their beds. I was also strictly forbidden from helping them eat during
meal times. The residents in the health and rehabilitation centre viewed me as a
friendly young person, who was in their eyes not going to be a permanent fixture of the
place. For the time being, I was someone they could engage with superficially. Many of
the residents talked to me about their sons and daughters, especially if they were
deemed successful. One resident let it be known to me early on, that her daughter had
just been promoted in the local police force. Although I was not part of the care system
as such, the caregivers in the health and rehabilitation section commented to me on
more than one occasion that what I was doing, volunteering and studying old people
and care, was something ‘nice’ and ‘probably valuable for society’. As long as I did not
get in the way of their professional care, I was more than welcome to hang about, and
even to talk to the caregivers. If I was in a resident’s room while a caregiver had to come
in and take the resident to the toilet or to administer medicine, it was assumed that I
would gracefully depart and not ask too many questions. Additionally, if I was sitting
with a resident during a meal, it was expected of me not to question or interfere with
any resident’s diet, and their eating habits and preferences. This was deemed a medical
issue, and not a concern of the volunteer.
Some of the other tasks I performed while I was a volunteer included helping a woman
resident order clothes from a mail order company. On several occasions, I brought clean
bed sheets and bed spreads for the residents. In the afternoons, I made coffee and
delivered coffee to residents who could not make it to the dining room. Some of the
residents really enjoyed it when I wheeled them downstairs to the ground level of the
CCRC to take a look around at the small confectionary store named ‘Stop N’ Shop.’ I kept
residents company during meal times and attended monthly resident council meetings
with some of the residents as well. When family members came to visit, which was
rather seldom in the health and rehabilitation centre, I would talk to them about the
weekly planned recreation activities, and about how their loved ones were doing in a
rather cursory way. Over the course of just a few weeks, my chores expanded to include
taking residents to the front of the CCRC so that they could then be transported by the
Tacoma Pastures transportation services to various medical appointments in town. I
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