This past
school year, we have continued the Dementia Awareness Program through our
weekly blog posts and volunteer work with seniors with dementia. At the
beginning of this year, we were met with an overwhelming number of students
interested in joining the program and have ultimately formed a group of 10
dedicated student volunteers. Each student has been paired with a resident with
dementia at Briton House – a seniors residence in Toronto.
Since October
2017, we have visited our partners at Briton House weekly to provide
companionship and engage in mentally-stimulating activities, such as arts and
crafts. While we all had varying degrees of experience, with some students who
had no prior experience with seniors with dementia to others who were involved
with this program last year, we were able to successfully engage the residents in
conversation, activities, and even holiday-themed parties. Although there were
challenges at times, we have learned to problem solve and ultimately improved
our communication skills when working with individuals with dementia. It has
been a privilege to work with these amazing seniors and we are honoured to have
made a difference in their lives, as they never fail to let us know how much
joy we bring to their day.
As our time
at Briton House comes to a close for this year, we want to thank the residents
for letting us into their lives. We will miss them dearly and look forward to
seeing them again soon. We would also like to thank the staff at Briton House
for supporting us weekly and helping us to organize all the activities we did
with the seniors. Last but not least, we are grateful to Dr. Herrmann for his leadership
of the Dementia Awareness Program and his mentorship throughout our learning
process this year.
To our
readers, thank you for following our blog posts again this year, and we hope that
you have been able to deepen your understanding of dementia through the ‘Ask
the Expert’ segments and the bi-weekly updates on current research in this
field. For additional information on dementia, you can also follow Dr.
Herrmann’s “Memory Doctor” blog for dementia caregivers at: http://health.sunnybrook.ca/memory-doctor/
On behalf
of all the Havergal College students involved in this program, thank you for
your continued support of the Dementia Awareness Program. It has been another
successful year of this community initiative, following its inaugural year last
year, and we hope to continue enriching the lives of individuals with dementia,
advocating for this important cause, and de-stigmatizing the illness.
Nathan
Herrmann MD FRCPC
Professor,
Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto
Lewar
Chair in Geriatric Psychiatry
Head,
Division of Geriatric Psychiatry
Sunnybrook
Health Sciences Centre
