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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1985-12-04, Page 17j, v 'Fr (t) f N 66i ar,r,:e4:;irMAZAIMeenetateltraMlirWeit*WalaletliinKWAYAMIIMagrW litIMINANIMAArro towcomiummatonmunraewnanamalmotimamemilnwmaufammrazara Avorgenmerexer ii4M9.13411A.111rieriL VRAIVIKIM AVANXIPAMIAZ n " r • ' rirr v r' 4.1111,e)1.4 'emeanleanmen=epoeuemennurrAzentory ByAlanRivett CLINTON -_ Thursday's an^ important day. for ley Haggarty. For some senior citizens, each day brings nothing new, Othkg exciting. But, Thursdays are special for Shirley. It's the ,day when she departs from her COMfortable, apartment on James Street in Clinton for the Huron Day Centre for the, Homebound located in Huronview, east Of Clinton. Thursdays begin at 9:30 a.m. By the time Shirley makes her way down the stairs to the main floor of the senior citizens' apart- ment, a volunteer driver from the day cen- tre is waiting for her in the parking lot. Arrival at the centre always means say- ing hello to everyone. It also means sitting around the table with a cup of coffee, chat- ting with the centre's clients who come from all over Huron County. "The coffee pot is always on," says the soft-spoken 81 -year- old. Friendships Most importantly, it means seeing familiar faces she's come to know at the centre. Over the seven years she's been coming to the centre, a number of her friends she's met are gone. It's hard, but she has accepted it. "I've seen a lot of them come and go. I don't like to see it happen but it catches up to people. " When I first came here, I promised myself I wouldn't get too attached to anyone, but you can't help it, you become so attached. I've formed a lot of friendships," Shirley said in reflecting upon her years at the centre. After coffee it's off to the craft room to spend a morning doing her favorite pastime - knitting. With a bag full of yarn and some knitting needles, a couple of hours soon slip by. Exercises It's 11 o'clock and that means it's time for exercises. While sitting in chairs, they engage in "maintenance" exercises put to music which are designed to keep the joints and muscles supple. Some even take a whirlpool bath to enhance the blood circula- tion. Shirley, however, sometimes foregoes the exercises in order to pay a visit to the hair- dresser at Huronview. When she arrives back at the centre, it's time for lunch. Lunch is always good and nutritious. Shirley appreciates the white linen table cloths on the tables which gives them an "old-fashioned" touch. She also appreciates the blessings being given beforethe meal. ' The afternoon, however, is the highlight of Shirley's day. She, along with eight or nine other clients at the centre, go to the Clinton Crown Lanes to bowl a few games. "I like to bowl. Years ago, my husband and I bowled for a few years. But, I hadn't been bowling for a long time before I came to the day centre," she said. Although Shirley's average isn't the greatest, it doesn't detract from the fun of bowling. Currently her average is hovering around 100, but she proudly admits to bowl- ing a 185 game. Senior Games A bowling team from the centre travelled to St. Marys this summer to compete in the Senior Games. Shirley said the centre's team did well, finishing fourth out of seven teams in the day -long tourney. After an hour or two of bowling, it's back to the centre for a cup of tea to wrap up the day. It's 3 p.m. now and time for the volunteer driver to return Shirley to her Clinton apartment. Shirley joined the day centre in 1979 large- ly due to the urgings of her daughter. She wasn't fussy about going at the time partly because she had never heard of the day cen- tre before and partly because of health pro- blems. But she decided to give it a try. The rest, as they say, is history. "After going for a while I really got to en- joy it," she said. "I never rniss it unless I was so sick that I'd have to be in a hospital. I like being with the people and I'm glad I went." Volunteers Helping with sing -songs and card games, serving and cleaning up after lunch, taking clients on jaunts outside of the centre - it's all in a day's work for volunteers at the Huron Day Centre. But Muriel Jones, a volunteer for the past seven years, doesn't consider her Mondays • 41(4 . • ")(4)111,a,',,ftity-g.t(Alk..„6A • • •40,44 Along with the social aspect, the clients at the Huron Day Centre, Huronview resident; Harold Pepper, Clinton; Sam Anderson, located in the far east wing of Huronview, enjoy a variety of ac- Goderich; Murray Rollinson, Auburn and Annie McNichol from tivities. One of their favorite pastimes is a morning round of cards. Seaforth. ( Alan Rivett photo) Playing a game of euchre are, clockwise from left, Pat Thurlow, spent at the centre to be work. It's her nature to help people. "You have to enjoy helping other people. 1t gives me a feeling of satisfaction and fulfilment to know that I'm helping others," she said. She lives in the same Clinton seniors' apartment building as Shirley Haggerty. While Shirley is a client, Mrs. Jones, 79, says she continues to enjoy her role as a volunteer at the centre. On a typical Monday, Mrs. Jones helps the clients with a variety of activities. Besides assisting with meals or taking clients for whirlpool baths, a Monday may include a trip to the museum or bowling, or just an afternoon drive. She enjoys the overall aspect of the centre and finds the residents really receptive to the work of the volunteers. "They really appreciate everyone who works with them. They really enjoy the company," said Mrs. Jones, a retired school teacher. In addition to the volunteer work, Mrs. Jones is active as the president of the cen- tre's New Horizon Committee. Consisting of 10 people, the committee meets on a yearly basis to apply for a New Horizons Grant which enables the centre to purchase new items in order for the clients to undertake new activities. On the suggestion of a friend who was a client at the day centre, Mrs. Jones became involved in volunteer work. It's a decision she has never regretted. "She saidrd be good at it, so I tried it and I've been there ever since... I don't think that being a volunteer is for everyone. You have to have a certain amount of ability and you have to enjoy being with people," says Mrs. Jones. Important Role While talking with Rosemary Armstrong, the co-ordinator of the Huron Day Centre, you know she's a firm believer in role of the day centre for area senior citizens. In fact, she's has a number of plans for expanding the centre's programs beyond their current bounds. always, funding is the primary stumbl- ing block. But, at least a few of her big pldns will soon become reality. The centre recently received some good news in the funding department with a New Horizons Grant from the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The program is set up to help senior citizens groups create projects of their own choosing. In recent years, the grant has helped to buy furniture for the day centre, she said. The money, in the amount of $4,553, will be used to purchase a new piano for the centre, says Mrs. Armstrong. The centre currently uses a piano on loan from Huronview. "We use the piano a lot. The clients enjoy playing the piano and they love gathering around for sing -songs," says Mrs. Arm- strong, an employee of the centre since it opened in 1977. Hopefully, with the new piano, the centre will be able to start a musical group and choir. Tentatively called the Day Care Song Birds, the group will also include violins and mouth organs, she said. "When we start our own choir we'll be able to go entertain somebody else for a change instead of them always entertaining us," said Mrs. Armstrong. A portion of the grant money will be used to buy a velo bind machine. The machine will be used to establish a small book bin- ding operation for the centre. It can produce year-end report booklets up to one inch thick .for.businesses..and, best atall,jtcan be run, by the clients. aHopefully, it'll be a money- making project," she said. Other agencies have also helped in the funding of new equipment. The Atkinson Foundation donated money for the purchase of a whirlpool bath and exercise equipment for use by the clients and the Stroke Club which meets at the centre every Wednes- day. The biggest provider of funds for the day centre, however, is the Ministry of Com- munity and Social Services which con- tributes 50 per cent to the centre. Additional financial support is received through the $6 user fee charged to the clients, Huron Coun- ty Council and from donations from service clubs and church groups in the area. Finances aside, Mrs. Armstrong says another lingering problem is an apparent identity crisis which the day centre has struggled with since its opening. Even though it has been open for eight years, Mrs. Armstrong says senior citizens still believe the centre has ties to Huron - view, which still conjures up images of a "poorhouse" where they'll be locked up and forgotten. It's a stereotype which she says is misguided. "The day centre has nothing to do with Huronviow. We have to keep stressing this. Turn to page 2 • :WeVALIA - ,,rerrreerr e • e'er?. 41,WeeWee' Muriel Jonei\(ieft) and Shirley Haggarty have had a long association with the day ceil- tre. Mrs. Jones has been a volunteer on Mondays for the past seven years while Mrs. Haggarty has been a client every Thursday for the past seven years. Here, they look at a summary of a recent volunteers workshop. ( Alan Rivett photo) 4 Rpbert Groves helps Myrtle Barker from the car after a trip to the Huron Centre for the Homebound. I may not be completely bilingual but you could. say I'm conversant in the language of football. I have a vague familiarity with the rules and the pur- pose of the game. I know that a wide receiver or running back on either team has to run, dodge, trip, jump and stumble his way down the field past an army of 300 pound attackers (called tackles) to the end zone in order to score points. And, I know that • touchdowns are six points, field goals are three points, converts are one or two points and safeties are two points. I know that tackles usually take steriods, that kickers usually have short careers if they miss one convert and that retired quarterbacks usually end up on TV whether it's on commercials or on Monday Night Football as "experts." And, I know that just about any football player who's anybody (or athlete for that matter) ends up in a light beer commer- cial. And, most importantly, I know that football players look best when they're in a huddle. So, with all that knowledge, another female reporter (who also feels she has a vast knowledge of football) and I figured. we'd take the male -dominated company football pool by storm back in early autumn. We had a strategy. We decided to pick the winning team by the players who had the best buns. Before I begin to hear accusations of sexism and treating men as sex objects, let me explain that our strategy didn't work for a variety of reasons. .For AM(!trot kewy,wolka,. neither,,,C1IL .'t'hthegarnes"ao we had no dile about the physical attributes of any of the players. Consequently, we were using the less sophisticated "close your eyes and pick" method more commonly known as the roulette wheel method. When we finally did watch some games, we were in a quandry about which of the "tight ends" to pick. I mean, how can anyone (within reason, of course) look bad in football pants? Next, we considered actually reading the sports pages of the newspaper, listen- ing to Jimmy the Greek make his predic- tions, taking in the extremely intricate sports knowledge floating around the of- fice and taking a look at Sports Il- lustrated. Then, we thought, "Nah!" We weren't that interested. We then considered phoning Phyllis George but our winnings were so few we didn't have enough money for the long distance bill. As a last resort, I even tried calling on my mother's spirit fur some advice. My Mom, when she was alive, was one of the best football fans I ever knew. She knew every statistic on every player in the NFL since the first Super Bowl. I've even known her to stump football junkies with her knowledge of football trivia. Unfortunately, her knowledge did not rub off on her daughter and we remain (now going into week 13) in last place in a field of 30. But, we've decided there are advan- tages to being in last place. For instance, everyone knows who you are and wat- ches your progress ( ? ) every week. A prize for last place was also suggested earlier when one man thought he might be giving us a run for our money for the bottom position. But, once he moved up a few positions, the idea was dropped. Plus, any time you manage to pick the most winning teams in one week and win $10 ( which we've done twice now), the thrill of victory is phenomenal. The thrill is intensified when you realize that even people as high as sixth place haven't won a red cent so far. ( And, it's so much fun to rub that in. ) Our latest method has been to pick the teams which have won the week before. It doesn't always work and we have been accused of being "fair weather fans" but we've learned that football is a ruthless business; there's no room for sentimen- tal favorites no matter how good their buns are. (Sorry Dwight Clark and Joe Montana—we'd have to pick Refrigerator Perry if he were up against you both. ) As you may have guessed, we really haven't taken the whole thing too serious- ly. Our two wins must be infuriating to those who watch every football game faithfully, read every newspaper write- up and recite every football statistic in their sleep. And, we're quite irreverent about the game. We've been known to ask when the • football teams will play the Stanley Cup just to exasperate the die-hard fans. We're having fun but we refuse to lose sleep over a bunch of padded men runn- ing around on fake grass and falling all over each other for a strange -shaped ball. We're just hoping we stumble across one more win so we'll have played the whole season for free.