A Day in the Life (& my Hospice Work)

 

Hello Dear Friends! 

I have always loved reading the "day in the life" posts some of you do from time to time. I've always thought it would be fun to do one of those myself. So this past Friday I did just that. I took photos all throughout my day to put together a post like that. 

So here is how my day went last Friday up here in the WI northwoods: 

Friday is often my afternoon up at the hospice house.  And early in the evening we would be heading to the cottage on Ten Mile Lake.  So I woke up and had my morning coffee. I forgot to take a pic of the news...as I usually watch the Today show in the morning for a bit while I sip my coffee. 

Once I feel awake I do my prayer and devotional time. Sometimes at the dining room table and sometimes in my office. This morning out in the dining room as I was going to work on some last decorations I found to put out, after I was done with prayer. 

So I had gone through a last bin and put out a few more of the Autumn things I had found.

As I knew we would be heading to the lake on Friday -  the day before, on Thursday,  I had pre-made chili and taco meat to bring there. So I was going through the other things we would need to bring with us later that day and getting it bagged up and put out on the kitchen island, so it would be ready to go. We could then just load up the cooler and hit the road. 

I had already packed up my clothes and things the night before - but I finished a little laundry that morning and put it away. As you can see, I had out my laptop because I also checked my email..... and there is a duster out as i was working on cleaning around the house a bit. Does anyone else do that before you leave for a little trip? Make sure the house is cleaned up? Or is that just me? 

I usually listen to music on the alexa echo show while I clean. Ruby is always my audience cheering me on too. Lol 

I also loaded the dishwasher but I always wash the wood things by hand. I had used that rolling pin to make the peach pie I was bringing up too. And once done I put it back in my "baking drawer". Does anyone else have one of those? I know mine is a mess and needs organizing, but believe it or not I know pretty much everything that is in there. 

Then it was time to finish some dusting and vacuuming. I use the hard floor setting (& crevice tool) to vacuum the hard floors too. 

Then Bubba decided to join the party (after all the hard work was done). I guess he just supervises the results. And then I got out my makeup bag and curling iron and did my best to look a bit nicer for the volunteer work I would do up at the facility. And I knew we were going out to dinner that night up at Ten Mile, so I decided to wear a dress that day. I always dress up a bit for hospice and for church - often a skirt or nicer pants...but Friday was a dress kind of day. Plus, this one had been too small for a while and it finally fit again! 😉 Always a nice feeling! 

 So I got on my name tag and I was ready to roll!

I live on the border of WI and MN on a bay off of Lake Superior. So, many of the places we go are in MN (my kids grew up going to school in MN, I used to work in MN as a social worker, we go to restaurants there and shop there all the time). So we consider ourselves Minnesotans as much as Wisconsinites. Lol So I drove on the bridge over big beautiful Lake Superior on my way to the hospice house in MN. 

It was a beautiful day outside and a lot of trees were starting to change color, so it was a lovely drive in. You can see the facility's sign and the hospice house is called Solvay which comes from "Solveig" which is old Swedish and Norwegian for "sun" or strength. We have a lot of Scandinavian population up here in the north. My area is so far north we're only a few hours from the Canadian border. 

I found my parking spot and walked into the facility. I sign in on a volunteer logbook. Fun fact: our volunteerism is important as we are part of the facility's requirement in order to get Medicare funding. I went through a month of training and background checks etc, in order to volunteer here.

 🙏🏻💗 I love this place and consider it sacred ground in many ways. I have been volunteering here 7 years now. 

Once inside I check in to see where the greatest needs might be. If it isn't too busy - I will head to the dining room and work on the obituary scrapbooks. They are lovely albums with a scrapbooked obituary page of each resident that stayed and passed away there. I pray over each one as I work on them. For them to be resting in the arms of angels and for their families left behind etc. Many people love to look through the books and many visitors like to find their loved ones in them. It was quiet so I worked on the obits that day. 

They have been behind in the books, as before Covid time there were a lot of volunteers working on them... and once Covid hit we weren't allowed to go to the facility. Once we could go back many people didn't for a long time. And some never returned as volunteers. Granted many of the folks that are regular volunteers are older. I'm kind of "young" for a regular volunteer. 

Anyways, after Covid I went back as soon as I was allowed and the books were several years behind at that point. And, sadly,  I have been the only one working on them ever since. So I do my best to keep catching up on them. I have probably scrapbooked close to 1000 obits or more by now. It's kind of my mission "calling" at this point. 😉💗

My view from the dining room was looking very colorful.

I also often help in the big kitchen there (industrial staff kitchen). I assist with baking goodies if that's needed. Solvay always provides treats and coffee, tea, etc for visitors at the facility. Or if the cook is getting behind I will do dishes and get them into the sanitizing drawer for them...or put dishes away. I will also help the cook by delivering prepared food trays to residents at times too. 

This is the main lobby at Solvay.

And there are other lovely rooms for visitors to spend their time if they need a break from their loved ones room.

Including this family dining and kitchen area. Loved ones are encouraged to bring their own food to leave in the fridge there. And to use Solvay dishes, oven, microwave, slow cookers etc. Family members may spend several weeks being with their loved ones - sometimes night and day. 

As you can see on the table there is a covered cake plate - that is always filled with some goodies. And the big counter behind it houses a coffee maker and teas, sugar, creamer, mugs etc are all there for all. 

 The shelves behind the table hold the obituary scrapbooks. I didn't take a pic of the main area with the nurses station and resident rooms to respect privacy. I love the staff there too. They are amazing angels working for all the right reasons with what they do! I'm so proud to be a part of this place. 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

When my shift was done it was time to make the drive back down the hill to head home. Yep, that's big Lake Superior. 

We then loaded the car with our food, luggage, and Ruby and headed to the cottage on the lake. There was some pretty leaves along the way. It's about a 2 &1/2 hour drive. Bubba stays home and my Mom checks in on him and our mail. 

We got to the lake and dropped off our things quickly as his Mom had made reservations at their favorite restaurant in the area. So his folks loaded in our car and we headed right to the restaurant. We had a great night of conversation, laughs and relaxation. I didn't take pics after this, but we headed back to the cottage after dinner. We got into our pj's and played a little bit of cards before bed. It had been a full but wonderful day! 

🧡🧡🧡