WLE Prompt #1

My workplace is called Alzheimer's Services of the East Bay (ASEB) and it services and helps the elderly showing different stages of Dementia. They work to help prevent progression of the disease and have different progams and people set up specifically for each person to work with depending on stages and personal needs. They also have support groups set up not only for the people in care, but there families to help learn to deal with a loved on with this disease. It is a relatively small corporation, because it only has three sites so far in Oakland, Hayward and Berkeley. My workplace is located at 561 A street Hayward CA 94591. From the outside, my workplace looks like a cozy, living center because it's attached to apartments but is really open and spacious inside. At every site for ASEB there is, a program director, a activity coordinator, social worker, diver, program specialists, occupational and physical therapy aid, a dietary aide, program administrative assistant, volunteers / interns, contract staff and most importantly the registered nurse that must be at every site every day. All these roles are imperative in running this program because they all work together to set up successful activites to help the participants in their progression. Also, to make their time enjoyable and better with people setting personalized programs for each participant so they can be there best selves. For example, the dietary aide follows their doctors requests and for a less capable participant would assign easier food to eat that is different from a higher capable participant who can eat fish tacos on their own, no problem! I think that most people there have at least a 2 to 4 year college degree, depending on their job assignments and roles. The strengths of my workplace is it's dedication to their participants, even in crazy or chaotic situations they might be put in. They also don't just serve the participants but also reach out to families and have check - ins on how they are doing as care givers. Some weaknesses of my workplace are maybe how they control their "wonderers" or that's about it!

WLE Prompt #2 - My Mentor

My mentor's name at my workplace is Sherly Ganter and she is the activities director. I do whatever she wants or tells me to do, but when I'm not instructed by her, I help anyone that may need it or asks for my assistance with something. They have a schedule for every day, and every day has a different schedule with things planned. This means, they always do the same things on the tuesdays that I work with them. A typical tuesday would be, arriving at 9:00 am, putting my hair net and gloves on because every worker must wear these while participants are eating or food is being passed out or cleaned up. We give breakfast for the ones who arrive at 9am until breakfast is over and offer than tea, coffee or sometimes hot chocolate. Then, we help the participants move to room B where they do stimulating activities. Some participants participate in a group stimulation, while other like less functioning participants work on their own at tables, doing things with their hands. The group stimulations are always based off of someone's name, while the participants working alone, put pins in the holes in a board, then take them and do it again until they move onto another game similar to removing or placing objects in a matching piece.  They usually do this until lunch time, which is when we set up the table and move participants at their assigned tables to eat. This normally takes a while and is a lengthy process, where most staff takes turns for their lunch breaks. After lunch, they are moved back into their groups or play bingo, dominos or color. After, this time it is snack time! followed by a few more activities and dismissal to the bus, to take them home (door - to door- services). I'm not sure why most of them became interested in this feild, but once you start working with these people they kind of hook you in and that makes it hard to turn your back on them. Their education background depends upon the role they have at this organization, but they all need a good understanding of Dementia and how to work with people who have dementia. 

WLE Prompt #3 - My Role

My main responsibility is to help everyone working their, not just my mentor. I do what my mentor tells me to do for the day, which is usually participation or leading in certain activities while others are on a break or working with another group. I don't really have a title for what I do while I am there. Besides helping others, I also work and talk with the participants that come that day. In the morning, I talk to them and reminisce with them while I keep them on task with the activity if they get bored. A regular day for me is, arriving at 9:00 am and putting my bag away, calling my AS advisor and putting on gloves and a hair net. Until 9:30, it is breakfast and while there is food being served all staff must wear gloves and a hairnet for sanitary precautions. During breakfast, I serve people their food, take away dirty or empty dishes and help set up for the activities to follow. After breakfast, we move every participant to room B and have the higher functioning people participate in a circle around  a white board and the rest sit at table and do stimulating activities with their hands. I sit with participants at the tables and give them activities to do, like putting ties in or out of the case they came in, or putting them on rings. We also have them put poker chips in and out of a poker chip stand, I think is what it is. They also color, and do other similar activities while the other group is playing their game at the other end of the room. This lasts until lunchtime which we begin getting ready for at about 11:30 to 12 pm. The way we set up for lunch is by moving the lower functioning people who may not even be able to feed themselves into room A, while we set up more tables in room B. Every table has a table cloth and flowers at the center. We distribute, place mats and napkins but not everyone gets both because they either bend or take the place mats thinking it's theirs. We serve different types of food depending on the participants meal plan, determined by ASEB's dietitian and doctor. at 12:30, I take my lunch break and eat for about 20 minutes then go back and help clean up. By this time, there's bingo in room A and a simulating group activity in room B. But this is not always the case, like this week we carved pumpkins instead of playing bingo! For the group activities, at first they're physical where we throw a soft ball back and forth 10-15 times or have them throw the ball in a mini - basketball net. We also have them throw rings around pegs on the floor. After this we have thinking activities, where we talk about an object and go around saying whether a person's had it or likes it et. Then, With the white board have them name all the states, or this week we had them think of words with that began with the letter "S". At 2:30 I think is snack time, at which we must put our gloves and hairnets back on. After Snack time some participants start to leave or board the bus to go home while we play music that everyone sings along to. I help some participants out to the bus, then get my mentor to sign my timesheet, sign out and try to leave at about 3:40 because I need to run to practice at 4. 

Blog #4 - Project Brainstorm.

What I am thinking about doing for my WLE project is a handbook / guide on the things new interns or volunteers must know and learn within their first few weeks that they didn't learn from the orientation. It'll have all the "What - to - do's" and "What - not - to - do's" in certain situations and when interacting with the participants. How to react in other situations, how to talk with the participants, how to lead a group or help lead a group activity et. But not a bulky handbook, like the one they give us at the orientation. My goal for this is to just summarize all the most important things that they will need to know and will help them just jump right in and not have to wait such a long time to become comfortable with the setting and schedule. I will also try to have live music make a commitment to coming and playing for the participants on a regular basis. As well as, religious groups and any other groups of that sort that the participants might enjoy during their days. I came up with these ideas at my meeting with my mentor and advisor, and we discussed different things that my mentor would like to have happen that she has a hard time doing because of her busy schedule. However, I also thought of the handbook myself because, the orientation packet they gave us was helpful, but not so much with my position at the organization and it was a lot to read and take in all at once. To accomplish these things, I won't need much in AS because I plan to brainstorm all of my ideas for the handbook, then type it up to show to my mentor. After getting feedback from my mentor, I will make revisions and put it in a pamphlet or handbook layout. I will also, possibly need time to call different organizations during class, to talk about their participation with ASEB.

Blog #5 - Progress On My WLE Project

Tuesday at my WLE I, checked in with my mentor and advisor about the plan for the day. Then helped with breakfast and talk with the participants while they ate and others were still arriving. Afterwards, I helped set up the activities in room B and painted some of the ladies finger nails, before lunch. When that was done, I cleaned up the activities and started setting up for lunch. I got participants situated at their designated lunch tables and feed some of the less capable participants that can't feed themselves before taking my lunch break. By the time I finished with lunch, I noticed paramedics and went out to see if I could help with anything. By then, they had already moved all the participants into room B and I stood in between the two rooms, blocking everyones view so they couldn't see. What happened was, a participant had fallen in the quiet room, I think that's what the room is called. after that, we moved participants into room A for Bingo and I helped with a stimulating group activity in room B. Afterwards we sang, and had snack time which is when most participants begin to leave. My mentor began in the morning telling my specifics about what she wants me to help provide and important things she wants in the handbook. Such as, the safety precautions, how to manage difficult behavior, always stay occupied et. Also the types of religious groups she wants to come in, Sheryl suggested baptist and Christian et. So far, for the completion of this project I've began gathering and brainstorming different important ideas to incorporate into the handbook but haven't began looking for religious groups.

Blog #6 - Leadership Skills

At my WLE, I actually use all of the leadership skills in someway that help me do my job. The main leadership skill I use the most are completing projects effectively, collaborate productively, and communicate powerfully. I use completing projects effectively, during every activity throughout the day, and all the transitions  in between. For example, when participants are in groups before lunch, we need to finish the activity before it's time to eat. Or after lunch, we need to always keep track of time so we can help participants leave, or get ready for snack time. This is important because we want to make sure we get to all the activities planned for the day and not taking too long on anything unnecessary. I also use, collaborate productively when talking with the employees or other volunteers. In the mornings before participants begin arriving, we have a meeting and in the meetings we discuss the day, any issues or expectations. If there are any problems we talk through it. Throughout the day, I also talk with others about participants or activities. Sometimes, there are problems between participants, issues a participant might have in general so for the most part we'll ask each other what we should do before doing anything drastic. Lastly, for communicate powerfully, it is very important to know how to talk to the participants. Being able to talk to with them in the best way possible is the most emphasized quality that is looked for in volunteers and interns. You must speak their language and talk to them in a way that they can appreciate what you're saying. So this is the biggest and most important leadership skill I utilize and my workplace. This leadership skill helps me do my work because being able to talk to and with the participants, make it easier for me to get them to do what they need to do. Being able to communicate the importance of an activity, makes it more likely that they will do it, if I express it in a certain way. If you ask the participant to do something for you, or to help you with doing something, makes it seem to them that what you want them to do is important and you couldn't do it without their help. The leadership skill that my mentor uses the most, would be a mix of collaborate productively and communicate powerfully because she is always working out situations with the team.    By communicating powerfully, she gets her point across and keeps it short and sweet. With collaborating productively, is when she works out any issues with the team if they have any, or concerns with a participant. She basically regulates all of us and our work and keeps us all in check, by talking to us about anything she might have concerns about too. 

Blog #7 - What I learned, Reflection

One major thing that I learned and gained from this WLE is patience. It's really helped me be able to speak with people a lot easier and even my own family and grandfather. I also learned that I really enjoy the feeling of helping people and knowing that I have the capacity and experience to do so. However, a challenge that I faced in the very beginning was being quite timid and shy. I knew that I was being shy and talked to my mentor about what I should do and how I should act. She gave me advice to just be silly and get involved with everything and everyone to broaden my assistance. She also gave me specific tips on what I should say at certain times, which I still think about when I'm working. My WLE placement affected me because, I learned how to become more comfortable in a new environment. Being comfortable and confident in a workplace makes it easier to do my job and more. By interning at ASEB, I affected the participants that come daily because I help and have fun spending the day with them! And I affected the employees, by making their job a little less stressful with my assistance.The most important skills that I've learned in this profession is being patient with everyone and how to speak with someone who has Alzheimer's. If someone were to ask me why what I did at my WLE was important, I would say because I helped everyone there and also learned a lot about myself and other things that will be helpful for my future. What I did at my WLE will affect my choices in the future because it will affect the way I speak to some people and act around or at a workplace. It will also have an affect on what I wish to pursue in the future for college!

Blog #8 - Professionalism

In order to find my WLE and get hired, I had to create a resume and cover letter. I called several places and called some specific ones again that didn't answer the first time or to follow up on a message I had left. It's very important to call many different people so you can have a backup internship, just in case the internship you hope for does not work out for some reason. I also scheduled times to come in and visit. For my internship now I had to go in for an interview and make sure I was qualified for the internship. I also had to go to an orientation the following day so I can learn an overview of everything I needed to know in order to work there. I had to dress professionally for both the interview and orientation to make a good first impression of myself on the workplace and so everyone there can take me seriously and know that I'm serious about the internship. I also had to be punctual to show how serious I am about working with them and the position I'd be fulfilling. From working at my internship I had learned that in order to be on time, you must be at least 5 minutes early to prepare yourself and set up to get ready for the day. Such as putting my bag away, checking in with my mentor and adviser  for the day before I begin my work. I also think think that to be successful in the work world, you need to be responsible and accountable for yourself. By this I mean, Checking in when you don't understand something about your role, or keeping yourself in check while your working. Keeping yourself in work is by making sure you don't get distracted and stay focused on the task at hand. These are the main things that I have learned about finding work and working and that I think are very important things to know and qualities to have. 

Blog #9 - Life at my WLE

Today, at my internship I presented my WLE project and left immediately afterwards because I was sick and wasn't allowed around the participants. I have improved as an intern tremendously because I now have a complete and knowledgeable understanding of my role and expectations. I know and have my daily routine and can now talk to and communicate on a deeper level with the participants. I now know how to act and hold myself while I'm there and during the day. What is great about my internship is security and opportunities of growth for the participants. It's a very caring and friendly environment from every, including the participants towards each other. All the participants understand and respect each other there and have no hostility towards anyone having difficulties in any way. It's basically a really supportive and fun environment which is good for all the participants there. Something that's not so great about my workplace, is that they're always running out of supplies and that sorts of stuff. But other than that, there are not very many things that aren't so great at my internship. 

Blog #10 - The End.

1. My WLE was amazing. I absolutely love all the people I met and got the chance to work with and learn from. Everyone is so nice and friendly, including the participants! I had a blast, it was so much fun working at ASEB. I'm definitely not done working here, I plan on continuing to volunteer and intern at ASEB and other places over the summer. From this experience, I learned so much about myself and gained a lot of new and important skills. Skills that will help me with picking an internship for next year. I think, next year since I've become so much more patient and might try to utilize this with working with kids. I've already been in touch with the George Mark hospice and Childrens hospital. So something like this will be fun, and a good change or alternative. I've already volunteered and worked in senior centers before, so I think it would be good to switch things up!