Shelia Cronin
In 2007, Sheila Cronin found herself with a “gaping hole in her life.” Retirement and the passing of her
.JPG)
mother had left her with a space, not so much free time, but a space which “nothing else seemed to fill.”
Already familiar with Connors House through her mother’s regular visits to the home’s Day Care Centre, Sheila called in to the home to have a chat with the home manager about volunteering. Before long, Sheila was visiting the home on a weekly basis to spend time and enjoy activities with the residents.
“It took me a while to find my feet, at first I found it difficult; starting conversations with strangers and dealing with people with dementia took some getting used to.”
Before long however, Sheila settled in to her new role. She began making friends with the residents, having regular chats with them and even enjoying the occasional sing-song!
After a while, Sheila was invited to attend a resident’s meeting, where, amongst other things, residents expressed some activities they would like to do.
“One gentleman, Albert, wanted to go for a pint. A friend of his used to visit the home on a weekly basis and they would go together to the local Leopards Head pub and enjoy a drink together. Albert’s friend had passed on and he was too frightened to go on his own. It was such a heartfelt plea, I asked the home manager if I could take him out.”
A few days later, Sheila accompanied Albert in to town to visit Wetherspoons. Albert bumped in to some old friends and enjoyed a nice catch up. From then, days out with Albert became a regular occurrence.
Sheila began to build up friendships with a number of residents, becoming particularly popular with the ladies in the home’s Holly and Evergreen Suites, helping them to do their nails or working on jigsaw puzzles together. Things Sheila describes as “little things.”
After the success of her trips out with Albert, Sheila asked the ladies if any of them would like a day out too. Mary Azzapardi was the first to join in, going for a walk to the local Starbucks and to feed the ducks. Then Lillian joined in. Then more and more.
Sheila’s favourite thing to do is to take the residents for days out. It doesn’t have to be walks, before Christmas she drove a group of ladies to the local garden centre so they could do a bit of Christmas shopping.
Connors House resident Mary Azzapardi with volunteer Sheila Cronin.
In volunteering for The Abbeyfield Kent Society Sheila has become embedded in to the social life of Connors House and the residents, particularly her group of ladies, adore her.
Sheila finds volunteering very rewarding as she enjoys the residents company, but, most importantly, they enjoy hers.