Week One Written Reflection - Kalee Fuller

Over this past weekend, the Best Friends team got the opportunity to go back to the Day Center to have our first official volunteer time. Going back, I was not sure what to expect. Our first visit during orientation had been so interesting as we got to meet everyone involved in the organization that I was excited to see what would happen during the second visit. 

The songs are led by the piano player. 

The participants at the Day Center follow a very structured routine each day. Both times that we have gotten to chance to spend time at Best Friends, we have been there for song time. All of the participants will sit in a circle with song books in their laps as someone plays the piano and leads us through the songs. The majority of the songs are simple songs from the 1950s or before, so most of us students do not know them. It is entertaining to see how much the older men and women enjoy singing these songs, even though most of us can’t sing along very well.

Everyone sits in the circle with the piano to
sing along with the piano.

As we sat in the circle, flipping through the song book, I sat down next to a woman named Virginia. She seemed to be in her 70’s or 80’s so I had assumed that she was just another patient. However, I soon found out that she was actually the founder of the Best Friends Organization. After talking to one of the volunteers, I learned that Virginia had created a method of training for volunteers in centers for people with dementia; and after developing the method, she has been able to travel to world and establish centers that teach based on her methods in 50 different countries. 

To hear that Virginia was so successful, yet still spent time in the Bridgepointe Day Center location with the patients was encouraging. Seeing her passion for the organization and the cause gave me the desire to give my all when working with the people at the center as well. 

Written Reflection One - Madilyne

          This weekend my group and I visited the Best Friends Day Center, which was a spot of sunshine in the rainy week we had just endured. The participants were happy to see us and didn't seem to be allowing the weather to affect their moods. For the most part, the people who attend the Day Center are quick witted, entertaining, and happy people. This week, my group and I had the additional honor of meeting Virginia Bell, the founder of the first Best Friends Day Center right here in Lexington. Not only does she travel the world, but she participates in marathons as well. Age is not slowing down nor preventing this soon to be ninety-four year old woman from doing exactly what she wants to. Virginia Bell has created a safe haven for those suffering with dementia or Alzheimer's disease by creating an activity filled day with the purpose of exercising participants' minds.

The piano at Best Friends Day Center

          This weeks activities consisted of playing a game of hangman using famous cereals, such as cheerios and singing songs again. This time we had a pianist playing the songs for us. Most of the participants have strong voices and know the songs from memory. We were getting teased for needing to use the song books as we sang along. The song selection consisted of anything from classics such as You Are My Sunshine, to hymns, such as Amazing Grace. During this time I was sitting beside a woman who had an absolutely amazing voice. I was amazed that she knew all the words to any song that was picked and could harmonize beautifully and yet she was unable to find the correct pages in her song book. Of course she did not need the book to sing along, yet it fascinated and saddened me to see how the brain works and how dementia and Alzheimer's disease affect such a fundamental part of our brain. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know her as well as some of the other residents.

          I also had the honor of talking to a man in his mid nineties who had traveled all over the United States as a truck driver. He told me stories of long hours on the road and taking his wife to California as she had always wanted to do. the Day Center is filled with amazing people with amazing stories. The fact that we got to meet Virginia Bell, the woman who created such a beneficial care facility was truly an honor. While I'm impressed and pleased that there are Best Friends Day Centers all throughout the country, I firmly believe that there could never be too many. I once again enjoyed my time with the participants and look forward to returning and learning more about the Day Center.

         

Men Need To Volunteer More -written reflection one

Grant Guenther

          As it has been three weeks since my last post on this blog, the viewers need an update I think! "Best Friends" is cooperating nicely with my team and I. The problem has been that owner of the organization has been on sick leave for close to six weeks now, so setting up visits has been difficult, but the owner is back now! We started our weekly visits this Friday, October 2nd, where we finally met the owner of the organization. He was nice and passionate for his organization as he encouraged us to meet as many patients as possible. 

This is where we sung songs all gathered around the
piano. The middle section is where eeryone was dancing.

          During the time my group and I were at the organization it was singing time and time to talk with patients individually. The singing was a great time! It is absolutely astonishing how elderly people can have trouble remembering all kinds of things, but once they are given a song they can rattle it off with no trouble; it turns out that the volunteers are the ones that need the song books rather than the patients. While singing, some of the people got up to start dancing while holding hands including me. The energy in the room was remarkable.

          Meeting some patients individually was my favorite part of the visit. I talked to Dan and Paul the most. Paul was a 93-year-old veteran who participated in World War Two at a very young age. He was comfortable sharing about his experiences in the war, but most of his thoughts were how terrible and scary the war was. Paul was a trucker his whole life, starting at age 14. He lived a life of traveling around the country, causing him to become detached from his family. He still says he doesn’t know where his parents are even though he is 93 so it would be a miracle if they were still alive. His children take turns having Paul stay with them, making a life of travel for Paul. He remarked that he loved “Best Friends” because it gave him something to do and new people to meet. Overall, he was a very healthy looking 93-year-old, and his dementia must short-term because he remembered his past vividly, yet repeated stories often.

This is the area that I talked toDan. Notice
how there are plenty of chairs and games in the back.

           Dan was an interesting man also. He did not seem very old, and was in tremendous shape. He had great hearing, was very vocal, and had a great sense of humor. He made an eye-opening comment of “if you take life serious all the time, then you are living wrong.” That quote explains his constant joke-making. Growing up, he was a hard-working man whose goal was to support his family and he did just that. His first wife died many years ago, and he is now remarried. He comes to “best friends because it gives him something to do while his wife is till at work. He made the comment of “I love meeting the people who are patients here, but I love meeting the young volunteers and the male ones because I can relate to them more.” This comment caused me to really think. Talking to these two men was eye-opening and fun, but gave me a great essay topic for school too!

           For this class, one of our main assignments is to write an argumentative essay on a subject related to our experiences at our chosen organization. Dan and Paul gave me an idea for my argument. Both of them were interesting men who shared their stories openly, but had no males to share their stories with. You could be saying that they can share their stories with females, but that is not the same to them. They want people they can relate with to tell these stories however, there are few males volunteering at the organization. At “Best friends” there are 32 patients with 12 men and 20 females which is 37.5% males, yet only 18 out of 88 volunteers are males which is 20%. This shows that there are not enough male volunteers to accompany the male patients.

          I thought about why this situation is occurring as I threw around reasons like men have more high maintenance jobs and a need to support their family. As I looked nation-wide, the stats are similar but a little less skewed. Nationwide last year, 22% of males volunteered and 28.3% of females which shows that males still do not volunteer as much as females. I feel very passionately that men need to volunteer as much as women, so will focus my argumentative essay on the subject. See you in a couple of weeks, when my essay will be complete and I will fill everyone in on our next few visits.

Written Reflection One-Cassadi

 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.

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.

Here is part of the view inside the Best Friends Day Center