Kacey Mikuteit

5/2/15
FSN 315
Service Learning Project
ABSTRACT
Nutrition in Aging and more specifically volunteering at Garden
House opened my eyes to the struggles that patients with Alzheimers
disease and/or dementia face everyday. Many of the residents I met
often seemed confused or anxious, which was mainly due to their
dementia. However, my time spent at Garden House showed me that
although the residents may not remember who I was or what we did,
they would remember that they felt happy because someone was there
to talk to and be with. Unfortunately, there is currently no cure for
Alzheimers, but there are multiple medications to help with cognitive
and behavioral symptoms such as anxiety or depression that occur
during the early stages. Patients with Alzheimers can also partake in
non-pharmacologic therapy in hopes to maintain their cognitive
function. This therapy can include physical therapy as well as
reminiscence therapy, in which photos and other familiar items may be
used to elicit recall (1). Although Alzheimers is a prevalent disease
among the elder with no current cure, doctors are working hard so one
day we can hopefully live in an Alzheimers free world.

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BACKGROUND
Alzheimers disease (AD) is a very prevenient and serious
disease that affects over five million Americans age 65 and older (2).
Alzheimers disease progresses in three stages, the first being an early
stage with no symptoms, the second being a middle stage with mild
cognitive impairment, and the final stage of Alzheimers dementia (3).
While there are some cases of middle age adults getting Alzheimers,
majority of those affected are over the age of 65. Because both
Alzheimers and dementia affect the brain and cognitive functioning, it
can be very dangerous for patients to live alone. Patients with AD
and/or dementia can forget to eat, forget that they have eating, forget
to shower and clean themselves, and much more. When AD and
dementia gets to the severe stages, patients must depend completely
on other people to complete there activities of daily living (ADLs).
Thankfully, there are many great programs nationally that help the
elderly, especially those who have AD or dementia. The Elderly
Nutrition Program is a program that provides congregate and homedelivered meals and other nutrition and health related services to
those elders who choose to participate (4). While this program was not
made specifically for elderly with AD or dementia, it benefits them
because it provides them with a hot meal everyday that they may

otherwise not have had because they forgot how to cook or forgot they
needed to eat. Patients who can no longer live by him or herself can
also go to one of the many Alzheimers and other dementia specialized
homes found throughout the country that provide 24/7 care. Although
Alzheimers is a disease that requires a lot of help and attention, it is
great to see that there are so many resources for the patients, both
nationally and locally.
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GARDEN HOUSE- overview of GH
Garden House is a home located in Morro Bay that specialized in
patients who have Alzheimers or another dementia. It is a cozy home
that provides 24/7 service for its residents. There is a beautiful patio in
the front of the house that the residents sometimes sit on if the
weather is nice. The inside dcor provides a homey, comfortable feel to
allow the residents to feel like they are at home. Majority of the day,
the residents are sitting in their chairs in the living room either playing
games, watching t.v., or talking with their visitors. The social calendar
for the residents consists of events such as dogs visiting from the
Woods Humane Society, painting nails, chair exercises, live music
performances, and much more. The meals served at Garden House are
always made fresh and well balanced. From my experience at Garden
House, their lunches typically consist of a meat entre, a vegetable or
fruit side, a starch or carbohydrate based side, and a dessert for after.

The residents typically always love the food that is prepared and
always thanks the nurses for making a delicious meal for them.
EXPERIENCE
I was a little hesitant walking into Garden House because I wasnt
sure what to expect. When I was a kid, my great grandmother had
dementia, but I was too young to really understand what was going on.
However, when I went to Garden House I found myself enjoying the
company of the residents. We talked, played games, watched some
t.v., and had lunch. While there were some residents who kept quietly
to themselves, many of them were active in the conversations and
activities
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we did. There were only a few times during my first visit at Garden
House when I thought that the residences seemed like they had
dementia. One resident whose name was Oscar continuously told me
how there was a man climbing a tree outside. Whenever he told me
that, I would look outside and make comments like I hope hes being
safe or he is probably trimming the branches. When I had a chance
to talk to one of the nurses, I asked them about Oscars comment and
what the proper way of handling it was. They told me that Oscars
dementia and poor eye site leads him to believe the rustling of the
trees outside is a human. I then asked if I should say something to him
or if I should just go along with it. They informed me that as long as

what the residents think or see isnt causing them any harm, then to
just go along with it, so that is exactly what I did. While Oscars
dementia caused to see harmless images, that isnt always the case.
It was a cloudy, cold day on my last day at Garden House and
that seemed to affect many of the residents. I walked in and saw
Richard, a resident who usually shows minimum signs of dementia,
looking flustered and trying to sign himself out. He asked me twice
about who he could talk to about escaping this prison because he
has to go meet his family and he is already running late. I was thrown
off guard because I have never seen Richard in this state of mind, so I
told him to go talk to one of the nurses and she can answer his
questions. The nurse had to tell him that he was where he is supposed
to be and everything is taken care of. After talking to that nurse,
Richard looked very embarrassed for what he said to me, but I
reassured

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him that it was all right and asked him if he wanted to play a game in
hopes to change his focus to something more fun.
Robby is another resident at Garden House who typically was
very social and able to hold conversations well. However, on that same
day she was very quiet and sleepy, and when I tried to talk with her,
she seemed very confused and concerned. I asked Robby how her

lunch was and she responded by saying what do you mean late lunch?
I dont think this is a late lunch, this is when I always eat my lunch. I
had to tell Robby over and over that I didnt say late lunch and that this
was in fact her regular lunch time.
Although there were some times at Garden House when the
residents dementia was very prevalent, there were also many fun and
playful times as well. Many of my best memories involve playing ball
and talking with Oscar, Robby, John, and many of the other residents
in the house. One of my favorite memories was when Betty asked me
arent you cold in that tank top? I told her how I wasnt cold and I
was in fact a little hot and Betty responds, Yes you are hot. You are
sexy hot!. I loved that Betty said this to me because it reminded me
of the time when my great grandmother told my sister that she looks
sexy in her new sunglasses.
Another great memory I had at Garden House was spending time
and feeding Luann. Luann is a resident who walks around non-stop all
day, which can make feeding her hard. Although she cant formulate
sentences, she often makes stutter sounds and occasionally can speak
an actual word or two. The nurse told me that although we cant
understand her, she could still most likely understand us. So
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whenever Luann would walk up to me and make sounds, I would nod
my head and talk to her as if I knew what she was saying. I think Luann

really enjoyed that because whenever she saw me, she would smile
and whenever we talked, there would always be giggling and laughter.
It was great to be able to take what we learned from class and apply
that information to when I was feeding Luann at lunchtime. The nurses
were not very informative about the specifics of feeding residents, so I
was grateful that I had learned from class previously about feeding the
elderly. Although Luann was difficult to feed because she always
wanted to get up and walk around, I was able to learn first hand the
proper ways to feed patients who cant feed themselves, which I found
very rewarding.
RECOMMENDATIONS
I had a very positive experience at Garden House, which leads
me to believe the residents who live there do as well. The nurses were
very caring and patient with the residents and always had hot, wellbalanced meals provided. Their activity calendar looked very fun and
filled with various events or crafts. However, whenever I volunteered
there was only one activity for me to do with the residents, which was
toss around a ball. While the residents seemed to have fun with that
activity, it would have been nice to be able to have a few different
activities to do with the residents when I volunteered. Overall, Garden
House was an incredible home filled with caring people, both nurses
and residents and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a
home that specializes in Alzheimers and other dementia.

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REFERENCES
1. "2014Alzheimer'sDiseaseFactsandFigures."Alzheimer's&

Dementia10.2(2014):n.pag.Web.
<https://www.alz.org/downloads/Facts_Figures_2014.pdf>.
2. "Alzheimer'sDiseaseFactSheet."NationalInstituteonAging.N.p.,
n.d.Web.02June2015.
<http://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/publication/alzheimersdisease
factsheet>.
3. "AboutAlzheimer'sDisease:Alzheimer'sBasics."NationalInstitute
onAging.N.p.,n.d.Web.02June2015.
<http://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/topics/alzheimersbasics?
utm_source=ad_fact_sheet&utm_medium=web&utm_content=basics
&utm_campaign=top_promo_box>.
4. "ResultFilters."NationalCenterforBiotechnologyInformation.U.S.
NationalLibraryofMedicine,n.d.Web.02June2015.
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11846117>.