Happy to help
Mega-volunteer shares vitality with others nearly every day
BY DIANE GILES dgiles@kenoshanews.com
One year ago, a good chunk of Deanna Brown’s life was spent chasing between two nursing homes, caring for her parents.
In the four months before her father’s death last summer, she spent mornings with him at Brookside Care Center and afternoons with her mother at Kenosha Care Center (now Beverly Heath Care).
By then she was well-acquainted with nursing home life, as her mother, now 87, had moved into the facility months before.
It’s a phenomenon that many sons and daughters experience, but unlike most people who have a loved one in a nursing home, Brown made a decision that expanded her time surrounded by grayhaired heads, walkers and wheelchairs.
And she is determined to continue after her personal reason for coming to the facility is gone.
“I had said to one of the ladies, ‘I might as well volunteer here, I’m here all the time anyhow,’” Brown recalled. “I no sooner got that out of my mouth and here comes (former recreation director) Sue Lewis.”
Brown’s volunteer hours increased after the death of her father last summer. Since then, Brown has become a mega volunteer, working at it six days each week for about 100 hours a month.
Brown says she knows she will continue to volunteer at the facility after her mother passes away. “I’ve become so close to these people. They look forward to seeing me come there just as much as I look forward to seeing them,” Brown said.
The vivacious woman has received a number of accolades for her volunteerism, including the President’s Volunteer Service Award and the Wisconsin Governor’s Certificate of Commendation.
Brown was chosen the Retired Senior Volunteer Program’s Rookie of the Year in 2006. Part of her award was a framed photo of herself that looked like her face was on a Wheaties cereal box.
“The residents thought my photo was going to be on all the Wheaties boxes on the shelves, so I had to explain to them that wasn’t the case,” Brown said.
Brown’s goal at the center’s activity room is fun and games with a purpose: to entertain and keep residents engaged in the world around them.
On Sunday and Monday there’s poker, and on Tuesday the horse races, played on a plastic runner with oversized dice.
“On Wednesdays we do happy hour. I sing and dance,” Brown explained. Come Thursday, it’s bingo, followed by dominoes on Friday.
The horse races became more interesting after Brown began showing up with a roll of quarters.
“Now I spend about $5 on Tuesdays giving out quarters to the winners,” she said. “But it’s worth it because they have so much fun.”
Similarly, whoever wins the most chips at poker gets a dollar, too.
She even picks up shears and a comb and gives haircuts to about a half dozen of the residents who can’t afford them. It’s a skill she picked up along life’s journey, she said.
As her days of volunteering at the home began to rack up, Brown learned that some of the residents seldom had visitors. Then are the ones who never get visitors.
She spoke of a particular resident, a stroke victim, and the special relationship they have come to have.
“I just love his smile,” she said. “It’s real hard for him to talk, and he can’t move unless he jerks. He’s got quite a personality.”
The cure for boredom, Brown insists, is to volunteer with the elderly. It’s the same advice she gave her daughter in Alabama who complained about being bored.
“Go volunteer. Go to a nursing home and ask who is in charge of activities,” Brown said. “That’s all you have to do.”
KENOSHA NEWS PHOTOS BY KEVIN POIRIER Volunteer Deanna Brown serenades Russell Smith during Happy Hour at the Beverly Living Center.
Volunteer Deanna Brown, middle, and Social Service Director Allison Schmidt, right, dance the hokey pokey during Happy Hour at the Beverly Living Center.
