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By M. PAUL JACKSON michaelj@leader.net
Monday, March 03, 2003 Page: 1A
DALLAS – Kelly Puffenberger wanders the room, toy tambourine in hand,
whipping up the crowd.
The members of her audience sit in contentment, clapping their hands to the
music that plays nearby.
Kelly isn’t entertaining in a concert hall or performing in a band. She’s
leading the music class at the Lakeside Nursing Center in Dallas.
Kelly, 14, is a youth volunteer at the nursing home. She typically spends
Thursday afternoons entertaining and serving meals to the center’s residents.
She is one of about six youth volunteers at Lakeside. And, she’s
participating in a program that interests few young people, center officials
said.
Teenagers often are afraid of the elderly and tend to avoid nursing homes,
said Jean Stang, Lakeside’s activities director.
“It’s unfamiliar territory,” Stang said. “Just to work in a nursing home
– it is a little scary for them.”
Center administrator Midge Gregory agreed. “This is a great thing,” she
said of Kelly’s contributions. “We have a difficult time getting young people
into the facility.”
Kelly, a freshman at Bishop Hoban High School, understands the reluctance
of her peers to spend time with the elderly.
She has learned to enjoy her four-hours-a-week volunteer time at the
nursing home but admits she was nervous at first.
“I didn’t think I would” enjoy the experience, said Kelly, a smiling,
gregarious girl. “I thought: `Old people. This isn’t going to be good.”’
After four weeks, she says: “I find joy in just talking with people.” The
residents “say funny things,” she said. “I get a kick out of them.”
During the center’s 4 p.m. music program, residents Helen and Kathy chatted
with Kelly, asking if a newspaper photographer is related to another resident.
“I go home with stories every week,” Kelly said.
Kelly, who works as a volunteer for a community service program organized
through her school, hopes one day to work at the center, she said. She became
a volunteer because of her father, Dr. Mark Puffenberger, who cares for some
of the patients in the seniors home, Stang said.
In addition to the Lakeside’s youth volunteers, Lakeside – owned by
Allentown-based PennMed Consultants – gets church group volunteers.
Young people are suited to be volunteers, Stang said. Residents who are
reluctant to communicate respond better to younger, energetic people, she
said.
“You have to be outgoing,” she said. “You have to try to pull it out of
them.”
After the music program is over, Kelly usually helps deliver meals to the
center’s 31 residents, then spends time visiting some in their rooms.
For Kelly, who wants to be a pediatric nurse, the best part of her
volunteer time is communicating with the home’s residents.
Still, she worries about the possibility one of the patients she has grown
to care for will die.
“I get emotional over stupid things,” she said.
But for now, the music program in the center’s lounge area is going well.
Seniors, reclining in wheelchairs and easy chairs, follow along as Kelly
and a center employee entertain them.
For some residents, the activity is a welcome change of pace.
“I love all kinds of activities,” said Helen Klecha, a resident in her
late 80s. “That’s what makes you young.”
M. Paul Jackson, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7134.