| ||||||||||||||
|
Our Volunteers Say...
Our volunteers spent their afternoons after school or Saturaday mornings with elderly with dementia from Lions Home for the Elders and Peacehaven Nursing Home. Although we felt awkward at first visit, upon closer interaction with the patients, the elderly are actually very friendly, participative and "cute". Some topics of conversation had to be prepared though before we visit them every week. No amount of language barrier can stop us from expressing our concern and understanding for the dementia residents here. A simple smile or touch would leave a greater impact than talking. We also do not want to stress and confuse the residents by keep asking them questions. The purpose of direct service sessions is also to let us understand the difficulty in "connecting" to the dementia patients who usually live in their world. We have lots of fun and excitement throughout today's activities. Some of them even sing songs towards the end of the session. Many of us agreed that this is the "life-simple pleasures" for the dementia residents indeed. Every session with them was truly fulfilling. "My buddy was such a friendly lady, she not only took me through the whole session happily. She taught me some simple Hokkien words, even though she expressed it wrongly. She also help me to control my patience as she kept askng me the same questons but I know it wasn't her fault. I look forward to my next trip to know her better." - Ng Min Hui, CHIJ St Theresa's Convent "This week I got a lady who had a lot of stories to share. Listening to her, I understood that sometimes such patients need to have a listening ear even if the person listening may not understand what she is talking about." - Cheryl Lam, Raffles Institution (JC) "I think it was a god chance for me to interact ith a few of the elderly. I was quite heartbroken by the conversation I had with one old lady who kept repeating that her family had abandoned her and didn't want to visit her. I didn't really know what to say except " it's ok you have your friends here." I hope to get to know the few old women I interacted with even beter in the weks to come." - Koo Si Xuan, Raffles Institution (JC) "Really awesome experience, I've not had experience interacting with elderly in a home before, and this was the first. The elderly were reall cute, the old lady whom I was chating took so much effort to make me feel welcomed, she constantly said "sorry" because there were no chairs or milo or me to sit or drink. She talked alot, needed a listening ear and though I only understood half of what she said, she was really happy when I laughed with her." - Jharyathri Tiagarajah, Raffles Institution (JC) "I managed to have a good chat with Michael (fictitious name used to protect the elderly's identity) today, and completing the stipulated activity. Michael is very good at reading, but dementia still shows in his incoherent answers to my questions. I managed to build up trust with him and he was very willing to talk to me." - Leung An Li, Hwa Chong Institution (High School) "This has been my first day at the Lions Home, and I feel that the home is a very sociable place allowing the elderly to be able to commnicate with us students on a wider range and level. Moreover, I have also felt the importance and need of understanding and speaking dialect so as to be able to communicate with the elderl more effectively. I really hope to be able to put a smile on heir faces on every saturday we visit and I will try my best to learn and understand dialects between the visits, so as to make every visit and session more meaningful and joyful." - Daniel Tan Wei Liang, Hwa Chong Institution (High School) "I feel very sad after seeing the elderly, and it was really heart-wrenching because this is the first time I went to a home or the elderly and interacted with people suffering from dementia. Some of the people I talked to responded while most of them didn't want to paticipate in the activities. But I think I can try better the next time. An old lady I talked to just smiled at me and didn't reply to me and another old lady said that she couldn't talk. I saw her drinking the milo with great difficulty and I really felt sorry for her. I think that society should really shower more care and concern to these needy who are often neglected." - Huang Liling, River Valley High School
Also, our volunteers had a crash course on dementia, conducted by our very own in-house volunteers from D-Act 2008. Through the course, the participants learnt more about dementia, how it changes a person, and how to prevent this illness. They, too, had a taste of how dementia is like through numerous hands-on activities and viewing snippets from Away from Her and Notebook. To ensure that correct information was disseminated, we were fortunate to have Dr Philip Yap (Department of Geriatric Medicine, Alexandra Hospital) to help tidy up the course contents. Here were some of the reflections by the participants: "I feel that they are quite pitiful as they can't even remember their family members. I think dementia brings (a form of) misery to both the patient and family members." -Adeline Lim, CHIJ St Theresa's Convent "Before the course, I wasn't aware that a lot of information can be difficult for them to process (and understand). Now I understand they are easily confused so it is important for us to be sensitive." - Chloe Lim, Raffles Institution (JC) "Dementia patients display mood swings and can be destructive. We should not agitate them by doing things which make them unhappy." - Mei Hui, Jun Yuan Secondary "I am now confident that I would be willing to sacrifice my leisure time to care for them in any aspect. Thus I hope to communicate with the residents more often when given the chance." - Ryo Yap, Hwa Chong Institution (High School) "Dementia patients may not remember us and their moods may change anytime. We may not be able to have a smooth conversation with them all the time. I think this is very sad." - Zhou Ke, River Valley High School
|
Who said what? 
Prior to this web-based competition, D-Act'09 brought students closer to dementia by having them to interact with elderly diagnosed with this illness. What were their thoughts? Read more here. Who gets Dementia? Will you? 
What exactly is dementia? Will it affect you? Are you at risk? Have you shown signs and symptoms related to the illness? Is your 'normal forgetfulness' really normal? How can you prevent it? Get your questions answered here. Know-It-All 
Think you've stomached all the information on this website? Dementia guru? Put yourself to the quiz. Test yourself here. |
|||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
