We are going to the Buffer Stepdown Unit to take care of the elderly during June holidays. I know a little about elderly so I think I won’t be able to take care of them well and I think it will be difficult to take care of the elderly. We need to accompany them, feed them, play games with them etc. There are many things we need to know before we are ready to handle the elderly. So they arranged a training for us at Tan Tock Seng Hospital to know more about the elderly and their condition and also how to take care of them.
After the training, I learned a lot from the nurses. I learned that there are different types of food that they eat, whether it’s normal or softer. I also learn that some elderly might have swallowing difficulties, so they will put a special powder in it. It will become like honey so it will help the elderly to swallow the water better. I like the taste, but the elderly have no choice but to consume it. I also learn about different types of personality the elderly have and how we can care for them. We also need to wash our hands after our voluntary work so we will not fall sick easily and we learn how to wash our hands the correct way so our hand will be super clean.
We also had a tour around the BSU and there were lot of elderly. We learn what kinds of patients are there and which elderly we should not handle as it may be difficult for us, young volunteers to do. Also we visited the areas we can hold our activities.
Some tips to share are that, we can talk to the elderly about the past since most of them only remember the past. We can show them some old photo and share some old stories with them. We also must try to be patient with them, not to rush them or show them unhappy faces because they are slow. We must be kind to them let them accept us as some might reject us as they can’t accept us so easily. So we have to be patient and wait for them to accept us.
I think when we are there for the volunteering work, we will be looking after them. For instance, to talk to them or listen to their experiences. We lend a listening ear to them to make them feel comfortable with us. I think we also need to feed them and help take care of them in case they fell. We also accompany them so that they feel like they are not alone and make them feel comfortable.
We are preparing the busy box, so we need a budget and I think twenty dollar is quite good for the budget. So each person approximately needs to provide like three dollar plus which is quite a small amount. We also can bring our own stuff that we don’t need and put it in the busy box. For instance like stuff toy that u don’t use any more, board games or even old games that they play in the past like Five Stones. We also can put some past photographs in it to let them see. So the busy box will be filled with things for the elderly to be occupied.
The Girls' Brigade 9th Company
Meetings:
Sec 2s: 
Captain: Mindy Yeo