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Sunday, February 7, 2016
Hello, and happy Monday! This is the first post of mine in a series of posts that will continue throughout the Spring 2016 semester, as I blog about my experience with my Service Learning site for the CIS 112 (Accelerated Composition and Communication) course at the University of Kentucky. I was assigned to the Best Friends organization for my Service Learning site, and upon my initial research, I realized that the site isn’t called Best Friends, rather that Best Friends is the name of the approach the organization uses. The site’s actual name is Bridgepointe at Ashgrove Woods, and it is a community for individuals suffering from dementia. The Best Friends approach which they use emphasizes the importance of building relationships with respect, empathy, support, trust, and humor, in order to provide truly compassionate care. This approach also places importance in acknowledging the life stories of the individuals, which is crucial when working with individuals who have Alzheimer’s or dementia.
In conducting research over the organization, I came to understand that there are different types of care, both around-the-clock care where the residents live in the home, as well as day care for individuals while their loved ones are busy during the day, which is the type of care I will be working with. These different types of care include nursing and personal care, medication assistance, daily meals, transportation, vital signs monitoring, and other services to help make the individuals comfortable. In volunteering my time at Bridgepointe, I hope to learn humility in working with the residents, and I am incredibly excited to be enlightened by any stories and memories shared with me. I also hope to establish friendships with the individuals, and a desire to continue volunteering with Bridgepointe.
Thus far, I have yet to begin volunteering, but I start this week and can hardly wait to begin sharing my experience. However, I attended my orientation at the site last week and was thoroughly pleased with what I saw. Everyone working there had a smile on their face and seemed to be proud of the work they were doing, and I was given the chance to look over some of the information on current guests. This information contained loved ones, favorite memories, pets, education history, and other significant life facts. It was touching to begin learning about some of the individuals I will be working with, and makes me very humbled to be given such a great opportunity to help others. After I left my orientation, I browsed Bridgepointe's Facebook page and found an image which touched my heart, and simply says what I believe is a good way to sum up the role of friends, family, and caretakers of individuals suffering from dementia:
Hello, and happy Monday! This is the first post of mine in a series of posts that will continue throughout the Spring 2016 semester, as I blog about my experience with my Service Learning site for the CIS 112 (Accelerated Composition and Communication) course at the University of Kentucky. I was assigned to the Best Friends organization for my Service Learning site, and upon my initial research, I realized that the site isn’t called Best Friends, rather that Best Friends is the name of the approach the organization uses. The site’s actual name is Bridgepointe at Ashgrove Woods, and it is a community for individuals suffering from dementia. The Best Friends approach which they use emphasizes the importance of building relationships with respect, empathy, support, trust, and humor, in order to provide truly compassionate care. This approach also places importance in acknowledging the life stories of the individuals, which is crucial when working with individuals who have Alzheimer’s or dementia.
In conducting research over the organization, I came to understand that there are different types of care, both around-the-clock care where the residents live in the home, as well as day care for individuals while their loved ones are busy during the day, which is the type of care I will be working with. These different types of care include nursing and personal care, medication assistance, daily meals, transportation, vital signs monitoring, and other services to help make the individuals comfortable. In volunteering my time at Bridgepointe, I hope to learn humility in working with the residents, and I am incredibly excited to be enlightened by any stories and memories shared with me. I also hope to establish friendships with the individuals, and a desire to continue volunteering with Bridgepointe.
Thus far, I have yet to begin volunteering, but I start this week and can hardly wait to begin sharing my experience. However, I attended my orientation at the site last week and was thoroughly pleased with what I saw. Everyone working there had a smile on their face and seemed to be proud of the work they were doing, and I was given the chance to look over some of the information on current guests. This information contained loved ones, favorite memories, pets, education history, and other significant life facts. It was touching to begin learning about some of the individuals I will be working with, and makes me very humbled to be given such a great opportunity to help others. After I left my orientation, I browsed Bridgepointe's Facebook page and found an image which touched my heart, and simply says what I believe is a good way to sum up the role of friends, family, and caretakers of individuals suffering from dementia:
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Best,
Katelyn
Images retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/Bridgepointe-at-Ashgrove-Woods-1512999975665429/?fref=ts
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