The Madawaska Valley Hospice Palliative Care Program is hoping to educate teens on aging and dementia.
The Compassionate Teens: Aging and Dementia Awareness workshop is going on at the St. Francis Memorial Hospital July 31st. It will be held in the education room from 12:30-4:30 as part of their Compassionate Teen Program.
Karen Wagner Clinical Director of the Madawaska Valley Hospice Palliative Care Program helps run the workshop. She stresses the main purpose of the workshop is to teach compassion. She says when people are young, teaching them the struggles of growing old will allow them to become more passionate as they grow older. She says the workshop teaches this by putting the students through a number of exercises to simulate the challenges of aging. These exercises range from putting Vaseline-covered glasses on and having to look up a phone number, to putting in ear plugs and trying to work a phone. These exercises mimic the loss of sight and hearing older people experience. Wagner says this will give teens an awareness as to why old people do certain things. A large portion of the workshop also focuses on dementia, which Wagner hopes to create awareness through sharing of stories of those who have the disease.
After the workshop, teens are offered the opportunity to volunteer at St. Francis. Wagner says it’s a great way to gain community hours to graduate. She also says that some teens are thinking of going into healthcare-related fields when they graduate, and this program lets them get hands-on experience. Anywhere between 8-25 students attend classes. Wagner encourages teens to ask a friend to join, as the program is much better done with friends. She wants as many students as possible to call, as it is a very rewarding and non-demanding experience.
Students interested can call 613-756-3045, x 350 or apply at [email protected]