Second Visit at Aegis

Yesterday I visited Aegis and met with my mentor for 2 hours.

My mentor hosted the activity for the day which was on the evolution of penguins. I know it sounds silly, but it is a great way to stimulate the residents memories. As Joe talked about the penguins, he would constantly compare penguins to all sorts of things. One thing he connected the penguins to was humans and the fat in our body. It was interesting to see the residents get very into the topic. One woman even asked what types of predators penguins have to watch out for. It's amazing what things the residents can actually remember. I also noticed that the residents were very good at making jokes. Despite deteriorating memory, it was nice to see them engaged in the activity. Seeing them laugh and having a good time was really heart warming.

For the last hour I helped serve dinner in Assited Living. One highlight of serving dinner was when a resident was singing, "America the Beautiful," very loudly as he waited for his food. Their tendency to act like small children can really make my day sometimes! All in all, it was a good day with the residents. No outbreaks or weird phases yesterday. Can't wait to visit again.

First Day at Aegis

Yesterday was my first day meeting with my mentor at Aegis Living. For those of you who don't know, Aegis is an assisted living facility for elderly people with Alzheimer's Disease and Dementia. As of right now, the facility is almost booked. It is divided into two sections: Assisted Living and Life's Neighborhood. Residents are placed in each section based on the severity of the disease. 

For the first hour, my mentor and I discussed about the disease itself. I learned a lot about Alzheimer's and the following information caught my attention: it is genetic, it is a suffocation and loss of brain cells, it is fatal because the brain shuts down, and patients are a danger to themselves. After our discussion, my mentor and I led the afternoon activity for the day for the residents on the Assisted Living side. The activity was on the history of fashion hats. It may sound boring, but it is really important for residents to have these types of activities in order to stimulate brain cells that they still have. My mentor, Joe, repeatedly connected the different styles of hats back to certain time periods and eras for the residents. He explained to me later that it is one of his strategies to really get the residents thinking. One thing that had caught my attention was that before the activity, I had introduced myself to a resident named Vera. About 10 minutes later, Joe introduced me to her again and she greeted me as if she had never seen me before. 

After the afternoon activity, I went to Life's Neighborhood to serve dinner. The residents on this side are less active than those in Assisted Living. After serving the residents their food, one resident got up and started walking for the door. She said, "Where's my credit card? I have to pay for the food." We told her that the food had been paid for and she quietly walked back to her meal. It was definitely sad for me to see that. Almost every worker at Aegis said, "Its the disease that causes them to act like that."

I would say my first day went well. I'm looking forward to my next visit.