Photo Description: Codee’s Bitmoji sitting on a large ‘I Love You’ sign language emoji.
My train is now running well and the visits to Community Care Station run smoothly. So smoothly, that one random morning a second sister walked in with the familiar one. Well, that second sister turned out to be an intern!
‘Do you mind if the intern watches along’? the sister asked cheerfully.
“Yeah,” I said. ‘No problem’.
It was a young lady. Later I found out that she had not been involved in the training for very long and had only started her internship a few weeks ago. The first few times she came along, she watched closely and listened carefully to the sister’s explanations. Because she was young and always came in with a happy, enthusiastic mood, it didn’t take long before she was allowed to help me with washing or showering and dressing.
That went smoothly. Her enthusiasm and talkative nature made me feel comfortable and able to guide her through my routine with ease. I could tell her what I needed and when I wanted to do something myself. The sister even dared to leave us alone while she was making phone calls or making my bed. We joked while showering and soon she started to develop her own working technique.
This went on for several weeks. In the end she managed to do everything herself and was now also allowed to administer medication. She knew me and my morning routine well. So good that I had the feeling that she was done learning with me. My morning routine would not change and my health was stable at the time. So there were no additional challenges that she could learn from.
Then one day while taking a shower, she asked more questions about my illness and what exactly that means. How it affects my sight and hearing and how much I can still see and hear. Once I got to the subject of hearing loss, I mentioned that I had participated in The Dutch Sign Language Challenge and had a basic understanding of signs as a result. I use this to communicate in busy places in NmG (Sign Supported Dutch). She found this very interesting.
At the end of the care moment, just before she had to leave, I asked if she would like to learn some signs. I mentioned that the morning routine is always the same here and as an intern I would find that boring. But I wanted to make it even more interesting by showing appropriate signs during care moments. She would then be able to learn a new sign each time she comes and all the signs could be used when working in home care. She thought that was a great idea and immediately asked to show a first sign.
Since she was about to leave, I chose ‘goodbye’. I showed it, explained how to make the hand shapes at a slower pace, and then she repeated it a few times. Nice! Then she opened the front door. made the sign one more time, and happily walked away.
It took a few more days before I saw her again. This time she came with another sister. At the end of the care moment, she asked if she remembered the “goodbye” sign correctly. She did well and I immediately showed a new sign too. ‘Shower’; Because that’s what I had done today with her help. During this little lesson, the sister was still upstairs cleaning up a few things. When she came downstairs and heard us chatting about the sign, she asked curiously; “What are you even talking about”?
The intern explained that she had just learned a new sign from me.
“Oh, but I’d like to learn that too,” the sister said enthusiastically.
I showed the “shower” sign again and she repeated it. Then the intern showed the “goodbye” sign. I loved seeing how much fun they had with that.
They both made the “goodbye” sign as they walked out the door and I was left with a big smile on my face.
In the weeks that followed, the intern kept coming with a different sister. Before I knew it, about five sisters had joined the “lesson.” Learning to wave hands was becoming contagious. How nice to see something positive that was really ‘positive’ in a wonderful way at the time. No red stripes positive, but really cheerful waving hands positive.
CRS Life 