Hospital for Women

Out of all my placements, Hospital for Women is my favorite. Generally speaking, I find it rather unusual that someone my age would prefer Hospital for Women over Hospital for Kids. I say this because the volunteers that are my age seem to prefer Hospital for Kids. In fact, these volunteers request to go to Hospital for Kids placement everyday.

Hospital for Women and Hospital for Kids are both alike and not alike in the respect of how the individuals are placed in the system and the mentality of the system.

At Hospital for Kids, each child is placed there for various reasons and stay for various lengths of time. A child can be placed in the hospital for two various reasons: either the child is having behavioral problems or is mentally unstable. These children come from either an orphanage (mostly) or the parent’s place the child in the hospital. If a parent places their child in the Hospital, the child will only spend the day and then go home with the parent at night. Hence the child has no say in how this process works.

On the other hand, the Women at Hospital for Women must consent to being placed at the facility. The women at this facility are could be there for various reasons. All in all, I’m not entirely sure why some of the women are placed here. There are women who are definitely mentally unstable who do belong in this facility, but then again it seems to be considered a “nursing home.” If it is considered a nursing home, it is nothing like the USA’s version, not even close!

The volunteers are drawn to Hospital for Kids because the volunteers are dealing with children. Children are still innocent and therefore there is still hope for their future. I find this admirable and reasonable, but I truly feel that these Women deserve the same hope and energy as the children. The children still have the opportunity to get better and still live a normal life, but the Women on the other hand, are most likely going to live in the Hospital for the rest of their lives. Its like society/volunteers have given up on them before actually giving them a chance. I don’t believe in that. When I go to the Women’s Hospital, I go with the mentality of wanting to brighten their day. These Women deserve just as much.

When I am at the Women’s Hospital, I usually play checkers with Luba, a former Checker’s Champion. The first time I played with her, I was surprised at how patient she was with me. Russian Checkers is entirely different from American Checkers. In Russian Checkers, the opponent is allowed to move forward and backwards before being Kinged. In American Checkers an opponent is allowed to move only forward and then after being Kinged is able to move backward and forward. There are other various rules, but hopefully you get the idea. After a few sessions, I’m getting better. I actually hold my ground and then maybe, if I’m lucky, I win at least once during a session.