With the two theses I established at the beginning of this dissertation, I mainly wanted to prove that when we, volunteers, dedicate our free time to elderly people, we evoke feelings of happiness and valuableness in them, and what is most important, this act of giving enriches and enhances our own lives. Loneliness and the impression of being pushed aside are the two feelings that make a person dislike life and nursing homes. This state of mind comes mainly from the idea that nursing homes, even nowadays, are considered institutions where elderly people waste away after they lose their money or someone who could take care of them. However, nursing homes are institutions that are quickly developing, their capacity is gradually improving, and their services are getting better. In this thesis, I presented Nursing Home Lenart in detail, I described the home itself, and more importantly, the vision of its management and the tasks they set on to complete. The goal of this dissertation was to evaluate the work of a volunteer, to prove how much we are worth to inhabitants we frequently visit and spend time with. The value of this thesis is mainly in the fact that it was based on my own experiences, which I acquired as a volunteer in Nursing Home Lenart, where I’ve been working for the past two years. Through my own experiences and mostly because of the inhabitants I visit, I can conclude that we, volunteers, are an invaluable addition in nursing homes; we truly mean a lot to the elderly people there, because we give them the feeling of being an important part of our society. We help them rebuild social relationships with other people.
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