Michael S Wheatley

DOS 772 Clinical Practicum II

Service-Learning Journal
As our society tries to move forward in the face of an ongoing pandemic, we must find creative
ways to get life as we know it back to some normalcy. While many things in my area have
began to reopen in limited capacities, the one thing that is still tightly controlled and limited is in
the nursing care facilities. This population is one of the most widely affected by viruses such as
Covid-19 and due to this fact, they remain mostly of limits to outsiders and visitors.
My neighbor is a director for several local nursing and rehab facilities that are a part of Signature
Healthcare here in Louisville Kentucky. In speaking with him, one of the major issues he sees is
that the residents of these facilities feel alone. Many cases they are only allowed one visitor and
often the more at-risk residents are not allowed visitors at all. This gave both my son and I an
idea on how we may be able to do some small thing to help during these trying times.
My son is going into his senior year of high school and part of his education involves service to
the community. As a project that we could do together, we decided that we would get note cards
and write individual notes to each of the residents at my neighbors nursing facilities. He was
able to provide us with a list of all the residents and what facility they were located in. We split
up the names and began to just write little notes of encouragement to hopefully brighten one’s
day. I took the names of all the veterans at the veterans’ home and as a former service member
myself, I just focused on thanking them for their service.
Once we had written notes to all the residents, my neighbor collected them and distributed them
to the facilities. While this was something that seemed like a small act, I can only hope that it in
some small way let someone know that while they may be isolated that there are still people out
there that are thinking about them. For me personally, it was also a good chance to see my son
feel like it was something productive being accomplished and not just something that he was
doing for school.
I think it is important that we find ways to help out our communities even in these trying times
when social distancing has become the new normal. While we may no longer be allowed to
gather in groups or physically be able to be in certain places, there are still ways to make
meaningful contributions moving forward.
Signature Healthcare
https://shcofsouthlouisville.com/

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