Family Education Nights Begins in Burlington
By Elena Roppel, Administrator at HomePlace Special Care in Burlington, WA
June, 2009

I originally came to the idea of a family resource night because of the long and stressful conversations that I had to have with numerous families in our community.  Our support program events had had as few as four people, but with the new approach, we have seen as many as 16.  I came to the conclusion that I could not provide “support” to our families because I did not know first-hand what it feels like or how it is to deal with a loved one experiencing Alzheimer’s and/or dementia.

I do, however, understand that education can be the first step to empowering people to deal with and handle such a devastating disease.  Families need someone to be upfront and honest and to touch on subjects that are sometimes overlooked when we learn about dementia care.

I started by simply looking at the education topics I would want our staff to understand.  One of the biggest challenges with families and dementia residents is communication.  You could hold a meeting every week and still not touch all of the communication topics families need.  Families need to know what they can do to enhance their loved ones lives, not their own lives.  If we can educate families to understand this is not about them, but the resident, it can open doors we would never open before.

For education nights, I found materials on the ADSA website, information from our dementia specialty training, and the ALZ.org website.

Since hosting the family resource nights staff has had to spend less time education families, families have begun to support one another, better communication occurs between families and their loves ones and some of the newly educated families have begun volunteering in the community helping residents.

An education meeting or education night is a start of showing our families we love and care for them as much as we do our residents.

Taken from: Washington Aging & Adult Disabilities Newsletter, December 2008, Vol. 1, Issue 4

 

Miles for Memories Walk/Run
April 25, 2009

In support of the Alzheimer Society of Washington, the staff at Home Place Burlington and Where the Heart is joined staff from Home Place Oak Harbor and participated in the Miles for Memories Walk/Run in Bellingham April 25th 2009. The event raised $30,000 for the Alzheimer’s Society of Washington and was attended by 500 people and 60 dogs.

Homeplace Burlington begins program between senior residents and local second graders.
March 19, 2009

Bridging the generation gap one dance at a time!

Administrator Elena Roppel of Homeplace Burlington has been preparing second grade students from Lucille Umbarger Elementary School in Burlington for a trip back in time.

Elena gave a presentation to Bonnie LeHecka’s 2nd grade class at the beginning of March to help explain to the kids how Alzheimer’s can be a funny disease. “The kids loved it! They wanted me to stay longer and talk about memories they have of their own grand and great grandparents in their lives.” The students were very verbal in participation of understanding how Alzheimer’s can affect all types of families. “They told me about their grandma who used a wheelchair or has oxygen and also how it felt to know their grandparents had passed away”. “Each moment was so precious and enlightening, they were so pure in their responses and we were able to familiarize them with things they might see visiting the Dementia specialty facility.” Elena brought a model brain to explain to the students how the brain makes all things in the body work. “All they could talk about was my brain, they wanted me to bring it back or see it in my office.”

The 2nd graders were able to visit the Dementia specialty facility and have the opportunity of a life time. The second graders visited during Homeplace’s monthly music with the Ernie Tyree band. The students, teachers, and Homeplace staff danced to old Polka’s, Waltz’s and feel good songs from the 40’s and 50’s. Kids and seniors mixing dance steps from the 50’s with dance steps of today was interesting, neither of the two parties knew any different.

I really feel that this was an opportunity out of a text book. Having the chance to educate kids to respect, relax, and remember with our Alzheimer’s and Dementia residents is a pure blessing and the kids took more from that one single experience than I could have ever imagined, said Elena Roppel.

Elena plans to have the 2nd grade student’s visit on a monthly basis and interact in numerous ways. The student will be ultimately paired with a senior buddy and they can write letters, do crafts, listen to music or just tell stories.

If you would like any information on having students or groups interact with Homeplace Burlington residents, please contact Elena Roppel at 360-755-7000.