Volunteering over the last few weeks

The one constancy here is the volunteering and the how happy it makes me every day. Its the main thing I will miss here as I feel far, far away when at work. One thing being here has helped me confirm is that working in the voluntary sector or public sector is the path for me, as working with others here has helped me feel complete and so motivated (despite all the challenges!)
My work at the elderly home has come to be my favourite time of the week, I have made some friendships there that I will find very hard to leave. This week has been full of triumph and sadness. Monteray is a gentleman which I have become good friends with. He is incredibly bossy and huffy but his never ending energy and determination to remain active is amazing. When I first started working at the home he was in a wheelchair but would take part in the exercises I did with them and would also practise walking it supports in short bursts. Over the weeks he has been practising more and more and when I arrived on friday morning he was sitting on a bench near the gate, not in a wheelchair! He is now walking with two sticks! I was like a child at christmas and I think I might have embarrased him, but I was just so happy. Regaining mobility is so important for longevity and positivity. Though he is quite traditional and didnt think all my fussing was necessary.
Unfortunately over the last few weeks I have been witnessing the slow deteriortion of one of the residents at the home and friday was very difficult for me. Weeks ago Alfonso was walking with a zimmer but after a weekend away I came back to find him in a wheelchair. One of the nurses told me he was sick and so I took him out for longer walks in the garden and babbled away to him in broken Spanish, even though he couldnt respond. Last week he was worse and wasnt eating, even when I tried to feed him and the nurses tried to give him a bottle of milk with nutrients. Other residents at the home have reacted differently with some finding it hard to acknowledge what happening and other spending time sitting with him and reading the bible to him. My heart sank when I arrived on friday to find him bed ridden and very thin and frail looking. I sat with him for a few minutes just smiling and rubbing his arm but I just didnt know what to do. I left on friday feeling sick as I dont know if he will be there on monday.
I cant pray for him as I am not religious but I just hope that if he is suffering it ends soon and if he can pull through he will.