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| Icyf < Service_learning < Students < Internship < Meet_the_interns < Intern_stories < | |||||||
Intern Stories
Meredith WebbAgency: Handmaker Jewish Services for the AgingTerm: Summer - 2002
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| My internship is at Handmaker Jewish Services for the Aging. They offer many services for the elderly including assisted living, Adult Day Care, Alzheimer's Care, and hospice services. The area where I have conducted my internship has been with the Adult Day Care units. I started out at the Adult Day Care Center on Grant Road, and the clientele there are fairly self-sufficient and have only mild to moderate dementia. At the start of the day I would sit down and talk with the clients, get them coffee or tea, or get them started on an art project. Then we would discuss current events, do a quick audiotape of exercises, and serve lunch. After lunch we would hand out all the materials needed for Bingo and I would either call Bingo or help some of the clients play Bingo. We try to make the Adult Day Care an inviting place to be for our clients, so we decorate for different holidays and change Bulletin Boards monthly.
At the Adult Day Care Center on Prince Road my duties are generally the same, but the clients have more severe Alzheimer's disease and are in a smaller locked unit. The focus there is to keep the clients safe, because they become extremely disoriented at times. The clients are also a little frailer physically, so they need extra help going to the bathroom (which I do not personally see to), eating, and even walking around. After lunch we play a simple game of Bingo or form a circle and discuss things like trivia. Towards the end of the day we usually put in a movie and the clients either watch the movie or sleep. I decided to do the internship because I wanted experience in dealing with the elderly. I have been thinking of working with elderly as a profession, but I had never been involved with elderly people on a day-to-day basis. I was undecided as to what my future held for me, and I wanted some hands on experience. Doing this internship has given me the opportunity to look at what I would be doing if I were to pursue a career in Gerontology. I have learned that working with the elderly is not only something that I am capable of, it is something that I find incredibly fulfilling. I plan to eventually go to graduate school for either Gerontology or Social Work (with a preference for working with the elderly). My advice for anyone thinking of doing an internship with the elderly would be to have patience and care with your clients, because unlike you they may not have someone in their lives who cares about them, and they need somebody to watch out for them. The elderly often do not have a lot to look forward to, their bodies and minds are only going to deteriorate further, so keeping them entertained can be challenging, but sometimes it is very simple. For example, I was serving lunch to one of my clients who has Parkinson's disease and he grabbed my hand and started to dance with me to a song that was on the radio. I took that time to dance with a frail elderly man in a wheel chair and it was one of those moments that made me realize how fulfilling it can be just to make other people happy. A little bit of caring goes a long way and the elderly appreciate every last drop. |
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