Search Results for: bingo night at the mansion

The first thing I learned at the Mansion is that almost every resident (except two) love animals. They love dogs, cats, stuffed animals, Red, Bud. There have been three animals at the Mansion in recent months.

Ellen chose a stuffed Llama for her Bingo prize tonight, she could not be happier.

One of the animals is summer the cat, who the Army Of Good helped get her shots, treatment,  and doctors approvals to live there. The other two are parakeets, both named by the Army Of Good.

She manages to get into Winnie’s room every night, Minnie leaves the door open a crack and always has food out for her.

One of the parakeets died a couple of weeks ago, and this has been a sadness for Mary, the resident who cares for the birds and loves them deeply. The surviving bird has been alone and Mary and the residents worry about her.

I talked to Mary tonight at Bingo and she very much wants this parakeet to have some company.  So do some of the other residents. She will care for the bird in the new cage (we bought that a few months ago).

I’ve found a nearby Petco that sells parakeets for $21 and if they have a white or yellow female (female parakeets get along with other parakeets) I’ll go buy one and bring it into the Mansion tomorrow. Mary was crushed when the other bird died, and her eyes lit up when I said I would get another one.

The residents spent a lot of time sitting by the parakeet cage watching the birds, listening to them sing and play. This is important to them.

We awarded Jean the “Best Smile At Bingo Night” at the Mansion tonight, Friday is the night Maria and I call the Bingo Games. Lots of winners. I brought some new prizes – stuffed animals, large print novels, some crossword puzzles (Madeline loves crossword puzzles and word games).

When I first came to the Mansion, I would often find Jean vacuuming the floors and hallways, even though the staff had just vacuumed them. She told me she loves to do housework, and has loved it all of her life.

After Bingo – she won two games – she stopped to make sure all of the chairs were pushed forward and in their right place. Jean has a very warm and radiant smile.

Tia Smith is a Mansion aide, I call them the Better Angels. They work hard, are paid little, are unfailingly patient and caring. You have to have a lot of heart to work as an aide in a Medicaid Assisted Care facility.

Tia works the night shift and makes sure everyone has taken their medication and gets to bed comfortably.

She and others are on the front lines of this unsparing and emotional work, they are the humanity that the residents cling to, the only people they often see day in and day out, and in the most intimate and difficult settings, from getting dressed to going to the bathroom to help taking medications, dealing with all kinds of accidents.

They take care of our aging mothers, and sometimes our fathers as well.

In a just world, they would be handsomely paid for the critical and urgently necessary work they do. They are the people the residents turn to when they are sad, lonely, frightened or sick.

They know who needs slippers, socks, pants, sweaters,  robes and underwear because they help the residents dress. They monitor their medications, fill in their memory blanks, I’ve seen the many times pay for things out of their own pockets if the residents are short of cash.

They have inspired me and also helped me to understand what help is, and who really needs it. Tonight, the residents came to me – some asked Tia and Megan to talk to me – and I came home with a list of things that are needed: shoes for the Fall, stretch pants, nightgowns, winter bathrobes.

I’m on it.

It’s going to be cold this weekend, and I know on Monday I will have a bigger list of things than usual, and I will make my rounds of thrift stories and visits to Amazon. Time to make sure everybody has what they need to be warm.

Sometimes the angels take me aside in the hallway and tell me somebody’s shoes have holes, and sometimes they come up to me on my rounds with Red and slip me a piece of paper that says “Donna: size 10, sneakers/fall shoes.” Nothing else needs to be said, I go and find a shoe that size and bring it to the Mansion.

I try to do it quickly, i don’t like money to sit around in the Mansion Fund.

Small acts of great kindness. I wanted to make sure tonight to honor these dedicated people who brighten some hard lives. They represent our Better Angels to me, it gives me great hope to see everyday how good some people are who share our world.

This work is a calling, it can be hard and unforgiving, and some day, as compassion grows in the world, they will get the recognition and compensation their jobs deserve.

And tonight, Peggie came up to me at Bingo and said a friend has offered to pay to take her on a short cruise, somewhere beautiful and warm for a couple of days. Peggie wants to go but she has  no suitcase with wheels, something she would need to travel. She leaves Tuesday.

I told her I’ll find one Saturday somewhere, and have it her before Wednesday. I’ll be checking around tomorrow.

If you want to support this work, please send your contributions, large or small to Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or via Paypal, [email protected]. Please write “The Mansion” on the check so I can make sure it goes where you want it to go.

And thanks.

Some of you may remember Connie, Red and Maria and I became quite close to her in the last few years of her life. She was one of the first people Red and I worked with at the Mansion, one of the Army of Good’s first projects was to get her yarn for her knitting.

She set the tone for my work there, she also became friends with Maria.

This photo was taken in the hospital shortly before she died. She told us she was ready to go, and eager to go. She had suffered greatly.

Red still goes to Connie’s room quite often when we visit the Mansion, which we did today. Sylvie is in her room now.

Tomorrow the Mansion Director Morgan Jones leaves to take a job in Saratoga, she will be missed, I am so grateful to her for supporting my Mansion work, and Red’s therapy work.

I know she will thrive, I know she is special.

The Mansion residents loved her dearly, she always fought for them.

It was a soft sweet visit to the Mansion. I brought Sylvie 100 stamps so she can mail her letters to the people who write her (Sylvie, 11 S. Union St., Cambridge, N.Y., 12816).

Matt loves the four new sweatshirts we bought him so he can go outside in the coming chill.

Jean is walking well on her new wider shoes, and she dearly loves the comfort doll we brought her two weeks ago. She sleeps with it at her side.

Ruth is grateful for her sweatshirts and the photograph of the Memorial Service for her husband Ken that I took and had printed for her.

Joan is thrilled with her new CD music player, she especially loves Fleetwood Mac and the Beatles.

The staff says she lies down in the evening and listens to the CD’s, they calm and soothe her, she had been getting increasingly restless. She loves the music, and it has made an enormous difference to her, say the Mansion aides.

Gertha loves her new pants, they are comfortable and colorful, they supplement her dresses.

Tim is taking a lot of pictures with the used Canon Powershot we got him. He’s already worn out one strap. I hope to see some of his photos soon and share them.

Peggie is thrilled with the new laptop she was sent by a member of the Army Of Good, Kathy Gorman, she uses it every day, and says, thanks, thanks thanks. She means it. We’ll see Peggie Friday night at Bingo.

The new fireplace insert we bought is still in its box, awaiting approval from the state.

I am still searching for the right Karaoke machine to get for the Mansion.

The Mansion is a wonderful place for me to work, their needs are small and inexpensive, we can do so much good at little cost – small acts of great kindness.

If you would care to support the Mansion work,  you can send a donation – small ones are very much appreciated – to Jon Katz, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816, or via Paypal, [email protected]

We are doing a lot of good there.

I was thinking of Connie today, I think she thought me how to help people at the edge of life.