For the fourth time Madawaska Valley Hospice Palliative Care ran its program Compassionate Teens: Aging and Dementia Awareness on July 31. The half-day workshop teaches students about aging and dementia, communication skills, and meaningful activities to interact with people with dementia. The program can lead to weekly supervised volunteer opportunities towards their high school diploma or for their resume. MV Hospice Clinical Director, Karen Wagner, who ran the program said that eight students from the two workshops offered last summer volunteered 60 hours during July and August 2018.
The three students attending this summer’s course began their afternoon with a discussion led by Wagner about their assumptions and prejudices when it comes to elders. All three still have grandparents living so they were not unaccustomed to some of the issues faced by today’s seniors. Above from left: Hadley Trebinskie, Maddy Gienow and Emily Borutski.
To help the young people understand some of the “functional” losses that seniors may experience, the course challenged them to complete different tasks based around the senses including hearing, touch, vision and mobility.
Karen Wagner (left) explains the vision challenge to Hadley Trebinskie, Maddy Gienow and Emily Borutski
Workshop participants all attend Madawaska Valley District High School. Hadley Trebinskie and Maddy Gienow are Grade 9 students while Emily Borutski is in Grade 11. Emily said she is considering a health care career and when she saw the course on Facebook she thought it would be a good benefit. Maddy said she signed up to learn about the aging process and how to communicate and get along better with the elderly. Hadley said she heard about the course from Maddy’s mother, Erin Gienow, who works at the hospital. She wanted to acquire the skills to talk with seniors.
Vision: Each student had to wear different strength eye glasses. Despite impaired vision, they had to thread a needle, read the dosage instructions on a pill bottle, and work together to find a business phone number in the local telephone directory.
Mobility: The students were given a selection of dried beans and seeds to stuff inside socks; they were then encouraged to try to walk on these. They wrapped tension bandages around their knees and then were told to try to put on a sock without sitting down.
Some of the activities tested the effects of reduced mobility (left) and touch
Touch: The students had the opportunity to learn how it feels to have a condition like arthritic hands. They had to bandage their finger joints, put on gloves and then try to zip up a jacket, button a shirt and tie shoelaces. They also tried to use a cell phone, open a pill bottle and take out a particular pill.
Hadley and Maddy (left), Maddy and Emily
Hearing: Ear plugs were handed out to the students. Then they had to whisper to each other and write down what they heard. They also had to make a cell phone call to request telephone repair assistance.
Wagner said they have been successful in gaining student volunteers who are eligible to begin volunteering immediately after the workshop. They will work, usually in pairs, with support provided at all times. Students can continue to help throughout the school year, although often their school work prevents this. Wagner pointed out that no matter what medical career path students might eventually follow, they are more than likely going to deal with seniors. She said that MV Hospice aims to offer similar educational programming to Madawaska Valley District High School students again during Hunting Week this fall.
