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.