The project Helping Hospice was created by Rebeca Dominguez, Emma Wilson, Sarai Dominguez, Brooklynn Fields, Audrey Anderson, and Tori Johnson. Brooklynn's mother works in a senior citizen home. After visiting her mothers work, she and her classmates thought it would be nice if they went to senior citizens' housing to visit with the residents and hopefully make their day a little better.
When we thought of this project we knew that we were going to need specific dates, places, and a community partner. Our teacher, Mrs. Taylor, knew a lady that worked for several of these homes so we emailed her and asked her about where we could host activities at. While waiting for her response we came up with our plan. For our first activity we decided on ‘A Night at the Movies.' For ‘A Night at the Movies’ we planned on what snacks we would take, what film we should play, and the two groups that we would break into. For the movie night we used a Cricut, Glowforge, plotter, printer, and a sound system. The night of the movie we did have one problem. We hadn't made sure that the sound on the computer worked so when we got there and played the movie, the sound didn’t work. Doing this first activity made my group and I realize how much having a cohesive group meant to our project. A big part of the project depended on how we all had to learn to get along and listen to each other.
For our next activity, we had "Spa Day." We came up with the spa day because we knew that it was near Christmas and we wanted to bring the holiday spirit to residents. The spa day included filing fingernails, hand massages, and we also polished nails. We also took sugar cookies that a group of girls here at the junior high decorated. For a successful spa day there had to be participants to massage hands, paint nails, and file nails. We created a Christmas playlist to add to the atmosphere of the spa day. We also had to make sure that we all knew how to do what we were assigned to do so we had to practice several times so that we wouldn’t mess up. We also had to make little signs on each table to polish, massage, and file.
The next activity we chose was for Valentine's Day. With the occasion chosen we needed to decide on snacks and gifts. After coming up with the idea we had to decide on a location so we would know how many people would be attending. The technology we used to prepare all the gifts and the bingo card was the Cricut, printer, and Glowforge. We used the Cricut to cut out the bingo cards, approximately 20. We also used the printer to print out a poster so we could put it on the stand. We used the Glowforge to cut out gifts that say Happy Valentines. These small gifts were in gift bags.
Having the opportunity to help seniors was a wonderful experience not only for the participants but for EAST as well. Giving back to our senior community is a great way to show appreciation to the residents in our local facilities who may not have a lot of interaction with the outside world. We can’t wait to plan another day with the senior citizens!