Ms. E. lives alone, and is 87. Using English haltingly, she loves to talk in great detail about her childhood in the Anhui province of China and the VIP Volunteers love to listen. Ms. E’s short-term memory loss is significant, though, and before The City of Fremont’s Case Manager, Betty, connected her to VIP Rides, she had basically stopped going shopping, to her doctor, or anywhere else. She had relied on a neighbor and her granddaughter to periodically bring her groceries.

Now she uses VIP Rides weekly and has been able to resume visits to her doctor at Washington Hospital and is able to get fresh groceries. While we don’t measure quantitative health status; anecdotally, Ms. E’s health and vitality seem to have improved over the last several months since she’s been on our program.

She laughs more and says ‘you are wonderful, wonderful’ to each volunteer who helps her. She, her family, and our staff have placed great trust in this program as she often tries to give one of them, John, $100 bills as tips! John is her primary and most regular driver and has gotten used to helping her find her ID and purse (once it was under the kitchen sink) to be sure she’s prepared before they go out. And Lori, our program coordinator, calls her the day before and the morning of the trip to remind her of it.

It takes a village to care for our elderly and fortunately VIP Rides is part of that village.

For many people, retirement conjures up images of rest and relaxation. When Larry Roberts retired in July 2007, he gave that rest and relaxation a try — for about 2 weeks! Larry quickly realized he wanted to do more with his new-found spare time: he wanted to give back to his community and do something useful for others.

Larry has lived in Fremont for over 40 years, and loves the city and its people. So since he likes driving, he gave Meals on Wheels a spin. He figured if he didn’t like it, he’d move on and try volunteering somewhere else. We are very pleased to report that, after six years, Larry is still volunteering for us. In fact he is one of our most reliable drivers and usually delivers meals 5 days a week!

LIFE ElderCare is very grateful to Larry for being such a dependable volunteer for our Meals on Wheels program. Barbara Emge, LIFE’s Meals on Wheels Coordinator, knows first-hand just how reliable Larry is. Says Barbara, “He’s always there when we need him, and he always takes that little extra step to think things through, offering help and suggestions to make things run easier. We know Larry could have chosen to volunteer for many agencies, and we’re sure glad he chose us!”

When asked why he keeps volunteering for us, Larry says he really loves getting to know our clients. And by all accounts, our clients love him, too. Larry also enjoys the camaraderie that the Meals on Wheels drivers share. Every day before starting their routes, the drivers chat about the news, swap a few jokes, and generally catch up with one another. That sense of community, and the feeling he gets from helping others, keeps him coming back. Larry says, “I consider myself lucky in a lot of ways. You see what a lot of the clients have gone through; I hope that, should I get in a similar situation, someone would bring me food and visit me. You live in this community for so many years, it’s nice to give something back. It feels good.”

I had an amazingly rewarding experience working with clients from Meals on Wheels these past few months. I gained new knowledge of the needs of the elderly in the community and ways to help them live their life as independently as possible. I especially felt rewarded when working with Mrs. G. She had weak legs and knees, and had fallen off her treadmill last year. Since then, her activity level has decreased, leaving her at even high risk of a another fall, so I taught her exercises that she could easily do at home. The next two times I visited her, she said she has been doing all the exercises and they really give her a good work out. I was also able to just sit and listen to her talk about her problem with her son who was struggling with drug addiction. She is widowed and really grateful to have me listen to her problems and give support. I gave her some good articles to help her cope with this difficult situation. She told me: “you are and will be a really wonderful nurse.”

Tiffany Ting   Cal State East Bay Nursing student

When I went to Mrs. W’s house the first day, she was all messy and sad. She wasn’t comfortable talking to me, but luckily she let me come in again and see her next week. Our patient-nurse relationship started getting closer from then on. Eventually, she started waking up earlier and taking her blood pressure meds on time- because she didn’t want her blood pressure to be too high when I am checking it. She also started grooming herself to look nicer for our visit. She would have a big smile when I visited her, and she started being very talkative. She made sure she told me all her stories she’d saved up for me. At the same time, I would teach her about different health issues that could be helpful for her. She understood all the teachings, and thanked me for providing all those info for her.

I enjoyed every moment of making a difference in her patients’ life. I feel like I was an independent nurse, and built good patient-nurse relationship with all of my patients. I am very happy that my patient changed so much, and she started taking care of herself even better. I believe I accomplished something big and I would like to thank Life Elder Care for giving us this opportunity and our instructor Marty Fraga for supporting us and being there for us this quarter.

Hellai Momen   Cal State East Bay Nursing student

For six weeks, I visited an 88-year-old man who had numerous physical problems and lived alone at home. He is legally blind, has difficulty hearing, is undergoing treatment for prostatic cancer, and has hypertension and high cholesterol. I was able to teach him more about his medications, vaccinations, and home safety; I monitored his blood pressure every week and taught him more about hypertension. One of his major problems was his “lack of appetite”, so I provided tips on how to increase his appetite along with a suggestion to consult with his physician about it. I followed up on this topic weekly with him and every time he stated his appetite was getting better and that his doctor was working with him to determine other ways to treat the problem.

I used therapeutic communication skills to help him verbalize any concerns or even just reminisce. He was able to open up about his career, family, and health concerns and he told me he was thankful to have someone to talk to. He also shared his love of music but said he misses being able to read sheet music so I played one of his favorite songs on the piano. Doing this really made him happy; his face was brighter than I had ever seen it! I also found out that one of his foster children was a girl I went to kindergarten with- small world! I feel fortunate to help him with both his physical and emotional health.

Angela Ramirez   Cal State East Bay Nursing student

Mr. D, a friendly easygoing gentleman is also a veteran. During one of my visits, I asked Mr. D what topic he would like information about and he replied he was interested in burial services provided to veterans and connecting to his veteran benefits in general. So I went to the veteran services office next to the Family Resource Center in Fremont and got veterans’ benefit handbook and an application form for enrolling in the clinic there. I flagged the chapter on burial services and also the pages listing veteran service offices/facilities in California. On my next visit to Mr. D, I gave him the handbook and form. He was surprised, delighted, and grateful that I provided exactly what he requested. I felt good knowing I made it a little easier for Mr. D to access the resources he needed.

Aden Habteab   Cal State East Bay Nursing student