My group visited the Best Friends Day Center this past Friday and we all had a great time. When we arrived it was ice cream time, which is always Friday at 3. We are very happy to have figured that out. After the treats we played a simpler version of a hangman game by guessing cereal names and all of the residents seemed to really enjoy doing that. Next was song time, which is one of my favorites. The people really get into it and some of them got up and danced, I was even pulled along to join them. It was heartwarming to see them having so much fun. I didn't know most of the songs but I could tell that some of them were very meaningful to some of the residents.
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| This is the room where we played games and sang songs |
The last hour of our time at Best Friends was very interesting for me. I got to sit down with one of the residents there and just talk to them for a while. The man I talked to was such a nice person and at first I couldn't really tell if he had dementia or not. After about 15 minutes I started to notice some small things, but for the most part he's a pretty sharp person. He told me about how he came to Lexington when he was a young boy. He would also talk about things like some of the jobs that he's had and how Lexington has changed a lot over the years. He never ran out of things to say and would even ask me question. When it was time to leave I didn't realize we had been talking for so long. We all said goodbye and I am looking forward to going back and visiting him and getting to know some of the other residents.
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| Here is part of the view inside the Best Friends Day Center |
I really enjoyed reading your reflection. I am also volunteering at Best Friends (1pm) and I totally agree with you; it is so heartwarming to see that they can still have fun. Going there, I always meet new patients with different different stories; that is the reason why I am really happy to be part of their life. I have a question, have you already a scene when one of the patients was angry or frustrated? If yes, what did you feel and how did you react?
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a really heartwarming experience. Did you have a specific reason for choosing this organization? What questions did he ask you and how did they impact your experience?
ReplyDeleteA lot of the time he would ask me about how long I have lived in Lexington and if I knew how much it had changed over the years. He has very good memory of what Lexington used to look like and how he came to Lexington as a young boy. It was when he was explaining this to me that I noticed the dementia because he repeated the story to me about 8 times as if he truly believed I didn't know what he was going to say. It made me a little sad when I noticed this but I was able to push that aside and continue a nice conversation, and I look forward to going back and speaking to him again.
DeleteI used to volunteer at a nursing home here in Lexington and I absolutely loved it! There were some things that were hard, though, like having a couple of my new friends there pass away. It made me really respect the people who worked there. Did you all have good relationships with the employees? Would you ever consider working there?
ReplyDeleteYes I've really enjoyed volunteering here. It's been great! I agree that some of it is hard to watch, but I'm happy that I can help make even one person's day easier and better. I think the employees at Best Friends do a great job and they try very hard to create a family-like atmosphere for the people with dementia. The employees have all been very nice to me and seem to really appreciate us college students dedicating our time to these people. It definitely makes their jobs easier, and they work hard enough to deserve that. I don't think that I would want to necessarily work there or in a place like it because I have a different idea of what I want to do in my career, but I certainly would enjoy continuing to volunteer there.
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