Volunteer Placement Paper: Jacksonville Health and Rehabilitation. During the course of this semester for this Introductory course, we were required to complete a volunteer placement in a Social Work Agency Facility. The purpose of this assignment was to provide us experience working directly with Social Work agencies that would give us valuable resources to be great advocates in our profession. While working at the volunteer placement site, we were required to be professional and reliable in engaging ourselves in activities that were assigned. I overall enjoyed this great experience and built bonds with the patients and faculty at the facility while gaining skills that would help me in my future profession.
My volunteer placement was done at the Jacksonville Health and Rehabilitation, located here in Jacksonville, AL. The purpose of the organization is to provide a rehabilitation and long- term care facility for the elderly and disabled. Usually, most nursing homes have more elderly than the younger generation, but this is a facility that is mixed with both. Services at this facility are designated for the elderly, disabled, and medically eligible patients who need long term care.
While volunteering here at the nursing home they have various activities for the patients to participate in like bingo, trivia, thanksgiving dinner, Halloween festivities, and so much more. Jacksonville Health and Rehabilitation is a facility composed of RN nurses, CNA’s, Social Workers, Activities Directors, and more than all play a part in making the transition for the elderly to have a place to call home. As discussed over the semester there are many fields of Social Work Practice, but this specific facility works with the elderly, so it is considered a “Geriatric” facility.
During the placement, I found out a Geriatric Social Worker is one who carries responsibilities of behavior management, social history assessments, and much more. In a nursing home, there is a high demand for Geriatric Social Workers needed to carry out the functions to help a nursing home run smoothly. Also, a Social Worker in this agency also helps provide individual counseling to patients, helps with discharge planning, and transportation for medical appointments. During my time at the nursing home, I observed how well equipped the staff wherein calling the ambulance and getting transportation for patients to get to the hospital or their whereabouts.
According to Vilena Billups, the Social Service Director, a typical workday for her is unpredictable but usually very busy. She states that a typical caseload is 167 residents in which there are two Social Service employees at the facility. Mrs. Billups says she enjoys working with elderly patients, but her dislikes about the job are the horrendous amounts of paperwork. I worked mostly with the activities department and the Activity Director, Sue Chastain and Mrs. Michelle also liked working with the elderly. While observing them they showed great compassion for their patients and always made them feel at home.
At the Jacksonville Health and Rehabilitation facility volunteers are always appreciated and welcomed anytime. As a volunteer, my major responsibilities were assisting the staff in providing socialization activities for the residents. A typical day for a volunteer would consist of working with the activities department at the 10:00 or 2:00 activity hour. This would also assist the staff in pushing residents from their room to the dining room or day room. I would also take the time to go do room visits with patients I had grown close to overtime.
It warmed my heart to always see this one lady who always would hug me every time she would see me. She always told me how she appreciated the time I took out to spend with her through my volunteer service. I would also ask sometimes to lead the activities to better connect with the residents and it gave me an opportunity to interact with them more. I also would do mail runs to different units in the facility while delivering mail to patient rooms. I spent the majority of my time with my grandmother when I was little while my parents would work. Therefore, the volunteer experience made me realize that I truly have a passion and the patience to work with people. As discussed in class, there are more Geriatric Social Workers needed to work with the elderly.
In a nursing home facility, there are Social Work Supervisors present as well to help the staff assist the residents and their families with proper care. A Supervisor in this agency is someone who is highly qualified and has many years of experience to coach their staff in making decisions concerning the residents. A typical day of a Geriatric Social Service Supervisor is one who supervises their individual departments in the facility.
A workday for them may be very busy and is unpredictable in which there are many things needed to be done. Their daily responsibilities include creating opportunities for their staff to properly meet the needs of the aging population through workshops, training sessions, and more. The Supervisor in this Agency wants qualified Social Workers that are well trained to work with the elderly population. They make sure to send their staff to training sessions that would give them the knowledge to help them better provide services to the aging population.
