RICHMOND —
For local adults who are experiencing memory loss related to dementia or Alzheimer’s, the Department of Occupational Therapy at Eastern Kentucky University has provided “The Place to Be” for the past two decades.
The department will again sponsor the free seven-week program on Fridays, 10:45 a.m.-2:30 p.m., beginning Sept. 28. Applications are still being accepted (call 859-893-0653) for the free service, which is offered in Room 200 of the Dizney Building on EKU’s campus.
Occupational therapy students, under the supervision of a faculty member certified in dementia care, provide one-on-one interaction with each participant. Tailored individual and group activities include crafts, music and free movement, cooking and exercise/physical activity. Lunch is provided.
“The focus is on cognitive vitality,” said Katherine Nicholas, MS, OTR/L, the OT faculty member who coordinates the program.
Participants must be able to walk and engage in simple activities. Transportation to and from the site is not provided. Referrals from physicians and social workers are accepted, but not required. Some clients are already under Hospice care.
The respite the program provides the caregiver can also be valuable, Nicholas said.
“This is an opportunity for them to restore their energy, run errands or have lunch with a friend.”
“Even if the client has not officially been diagnosed as having Alzheimer’s and the family needs a respite, he or she will be considered for the program,” Nicholas said.
The program also holds enormous benefits for the EKU graduate students.
“Some of our students have never experienced a friendship with an older person,” Nicholas said. “Most students are trained in hospitals where their concept of the elderly is a sick person. This gives them the concept of what a community-based health care model is like. They learn how to structure age-appropriate activities and learn how to preserve people’s skills, personality and essence of who they are.
“At the end of the semester, students will say they thought they were going to teach the clients ‘xyz’ but what they really learn about is life, love, and loss, and that loss has a beauty all its own.”
The EKU students also will participate in the Alzheimer’s Association Walk to end Alzheimer’s in Berea on Sept. 15, in Lexington on Sept. 30, and in their home communities across the state. Community members who have participated in The Place to be, EKU friends and alumni also are welcome to join in the effort.
Nicholas, an occupational therapist who has taught at EKU for 15 years, is also a home health practitioner, a qualified dementia care specialist through the Alzheimer’s Foundation, and a certified gerontologist with the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging at the University of Kentucky.
EKU’s graduate program in occupational therapy has been ranked among “America’s Best” by U.S. News & World Report.
For more details about The Place to Be or to register for the program, contact Katherine Nicholas at 859-893-0653.
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EKU’s ‘Place to Be’ program for adults with memory loss set Sept. 28
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