My service learning project is going great so far. I really love working with the elderly, especially the Alzheimer's patients. I've been doing about two activities a week the past couple of weeks, and every week we do the same one. Basically we take big baloons and throw them to the elderly person and they hit it back. It really doesn't sound like much, but to them it must be a lot of fun because they are always smiling. The little movement it takes to move their arms is great for them too. Another activity is taking a foam bat and having them hit the balloon which is on a string. I was surprised with how well they all did this. One patient in particular couldn't move her wrist or arm enough to fully the swing the bat. All she could do was lightly tap on the ball with the bat. It was really sad to see that she could barely move, but when I rolled the balloon to her she could really kick it! It surprised me that she had so much more movement in her legs when she is even in a wheel chair. A few of the patients are better off than others, so I took about 4 of them and put them in a small circle and had them kick a ball back and forth to each other. They were sitting though because they have pretty bad balance. They did really good kicking the ball and were smiling and laughing the whole time. I also help with just moving the patient's arms and legs up and down, so they get some movement since most of them can't move them much on their own. It is really a weird feeling to feel how stiff they are and how hard it is to move their joints.

While talking with one of the patients, she asked me what my name was and where I was from. I told her my name is Kayla and I grew up in Green Bay, and she asked if I liked it and I said I did. She then answered well that's great and gave me a big smile. I walked away and came back about two minutes later, and I was surprised that she asked me the same exact question, and had the same responses. I know this is from her dementia, but it still surprised me.

This past week I went in on Wednesday since I had some time, and I hadn't been there since the friday before. I was very surprised when one of the patients who's dementia is pretty severe came up to me and said," Oh your back again!" She then asked what we were going to do that day, so I really think she rememered me. That was such a great feeling because I felt like it really means something when I come in and spend time with them. Even though I work there, the patients don't remember who I am, and always aske me my name, so it was great to know that doing the extra activities was giving us a better relationship.