"A visit to a local care home, Martindale Road Care Home, was organised by the Medicine Society. Before arriving, I was, admittedly, worried as to how I would handle being presented with many elderly and disabled patients. How should I act? How should I talk? What should I say? With all these questions in my head, I entered alongside the members and had an incredibly eye-opening experience.

One word to describe the staff who worked there is patient. They never got angry, rather taking the time to talk and understand them, however difficult it may be. A kind of patience fuelled by compassion and understanding for the difficulties the residents faced. They clearly communicated amongst themselves regarding residents around us and those all over the site. Having seen this, I decided to adopt a similar style of interaction, being loud and clear in dialogue, whilst also trying to have fun with whatever I was doing. Though it was only table tennis and conversations, I found that I actually enjoyed being there, something I did not expect.

Also, spending time with the residents and seeing how much they appreciated being spoken to was a memorable moment. Listening to them recount their life stories with such joy in their eyes was particularly notable.

Overall, the experience was a valuable one, and I thank the staff at Martindale Road Care Home for allowing us to visit, and Mrs Chhibba for helping organise it."

Moaiad Adam [12H]