www.olentangytrail.com

Project Title: Helping Others Live with Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia

Service Site Name: The Inn at Olentangy Trail; Walk to End Alzheimer’s 2015; household of Gene Ebersole

During the second semester of my freshman year, I joined a brand new club called Buckeyes Against Alzheimer’s. At one point in time, the president who created the club had a grandmother who used to live in the Memory Care ward of The Inn at Olentangy Trail, or what we simply call, The Inn. This club hit home for me, as my grandmother was in her own fight with Alzheimer’s and my grandfather was struggling with dementia as well. The club really started gaining ground in the Fall of this year. We have meetings about twice a month and discuss advocacy, opportunities for outreach, and bring in speakers to teach us about their research. As members of the club, we carpool to the Inn on Sundays and spend time with the residents for a few hours. The first time I went, I was in awe. This nursing home is the nicest facility I have ever seen, the caretakers really care for the residents, and I loved spending time with the residents. I know their families cannot always take the time to see them, and I think it’s extremely important for them to talk about what they do still remember, or sit in the presence of someone who cares. We played games with them like Bingo and Pictionary, helped serve and feed lunch, bake cupcakes, and on one occasion we sang “America the Beautiful” multiple times. When I joined this club, I knew I would be helping those with Alzheimer’s and dementia, but I had no idea how much they would help me.

Overall, this experience taught me compassion and patience on a level deeper than I had ever known. Every person is in their own unique situation and that must be respected. Some residents thought I was their daughter, and I learned how to deal with that. Others were slightly more agitated, and I helped the nurse’s aids in any way I could to diffuse tension and make everyone as comfortable as possible. Usually, residents did not remember us from week to week, which was sad, but seeing their eyes light up when they saw they had visitors made it worth it. They were so happy, even though their memories and bodies betrayed them as they ailed. It put my own life in perspective. This past August, I lost my grandmother to Alzheimer’s disease, and it was extremely difficult to walk back in and see people traveling down that same path. In the end though, the residents helped me through my own grief. A lot of the women remind me of my sweet, graceful grandmother.

As a result of this service project, I’ve helped advocate for those with Alzheimer’s and dementia. I participated in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s and got people to sign postcards to send to Congress asking for funding for research. I’ve helped stimulate the minds of patients living with this; they play games and talk with me instead of sit in front of a television for hours on end. As I’ve attended lectures about Alzheimer’s research, I can now help educate the public. Because of this entire experience, I will now be a more understanding and knowledgeable health care provider as people live longer lives.

I’ve had immeasurable positive experiences throughout this project, but one that stands out is my talk with a resident of the Inn who went to Harvard University. That, by itself, is amazing, but to do it during that time in history is even more impressive to me. Many of the elderly there, especially women, did not attend college. She told me that she met her husband there, and although I could not understand everything she said, I could tell she was happy just talking about it. She was a kind woman, and she was recently moved to the total-assistance side of the Inn because she could no longer feed herself. It served to remind me that Alzheimer’s does not discriminate. Even this woman, with the intelligent mind she once had, has been affected.

Because of this service experience, I am more understanding, patient, and willing to advocate for a cause I feel strongly about.

My current major is Health Sciences, and I really like it because it gives me flexibility within the health care field by preparing me for graduate school, or jobs within the non-clinical side of health care. I’ve known since high school that I wanted to have a career that works with people, and after helping my mother take care of my grandmother, I knew with certainty I wanted to be in the health field. I’ve gotten glimpses of the clinical side of things; I worked as a floating patient care technician on four different floors of a hospital, and I’ve shadowed physician assistants. However, I was still curious about the non-clinical side of healthcare. This is what lead me to Kelly Shroll, Director of Quality and Patient Safety at Blanchard Valley Hospital in Findlay, Ohio.

Kelly Shroll got her start as a clinician – she worked as a dietitian. She had started her college career at Otterbein University before transferring to Ohio State. After graduating and becoming licensed she worked as a dietitian for a few years. She eventually worked her way up to managing the nutrition department. She went back to school and obtained her Master’s degree in Business Administration and continued to work her way up – becoming the Director of Support Services – until she took her current job as the Director of Quality and Patient Safety.

Kelly starts her days off at a safety huddle with her quality team and other important individuals, including the CEO of the hospital. The heads of each department teleconference into the meeting and they give report while Kelly takes notes. She deals a lot with the statistics of the hospital to make sure that everything is as streamlined as possible while making the quality of patient care the best it can be. She is also involved with the accreditation of the hospital and ensuring compliance. During my day with Kelly I was also able to listen to a teleconference out of Toledo with other officials who work in Quality and look at the hospital’s quality statistics in comparison to others.

Kelly told me that she is glad that she had the clinical background before taking on a more business/administrative role because she already knew the “in’s and out’s” of the hospital workings. I am definitely taking this into consideration as I pursue my own career, because I really enjoy the clinical side of health care. She said that there is so much opportunity within the realm of health, and that it seems like my major allows for flexibility, which is a good thing. For a job like hers, she mentioned that it is important to be able to manage many different tasks at once, meet with many people throughout the day, and know how statistics work.

I really enjoyed talking with Kelly Shroll, and it served to open my eyes to the many different sides of healthcare. I actually enjoyed looking at her large book of statistics more than I thought I would. I will definitely take this into account as I further my education, because I now know for certain that I am not stuck with just one option. There are numerous possibilities and opportunities for working in the health field.

bvhealthsystem.org