Marlena Bhame, a senior Girl Scout in Troop 71490 based in West Windsor, has spent the summer working on her Gold Award. She planned and coordinated social and memory care activities for the residents of Care Bridge Alzheimer’s and Dementia Center in Hamilton. “Memory care includes creative and musical activities, physical tasks, and conversations that engage the patients and help them to remember things,” she says. “Research shows that people with Alzheimer’s disease benefit greatly with social and physical activity. There is no cure for the condition, but people feel less agitation and depression when they are engaged in activities they enjoy.”
Bhame chose this project partly because her grandfather suffered from dementia from Parkinson’s disease, and her grandmother currently has Alzheimer’s disease. She has seen how talking with them about old times, playing games, doing puzzles, and singing songs they know helped make them feel better. “With Alzheimer’s disease affecting one in eight older Americans, it is the sixth leading cause of death, and we don’t yet know the cause of the disease,” says Bhame. “I wanted to make a difference for people who suffer from not being able to remember their own lives.”
Throughout July, Bhame led activities several times a week at Care Bridge Hamilton. Bhame used her love of music, arts and crafts, and trivia to plan the two-hour sessions and invited area high school students to volunteer at the center. “I enjoyed building a relationship with each of the residents,” says Bhame. “I made new friends and I loved how they greeted me with hugs and smiles each day. I saw improvement in their activity levels and interest with each new week of involvement.”
Some of the activity sessions were sports and movement, gardening, and a July 4 celebration. For each session, she planned the activities, bought all of the needed materials, and entertained the residents with the primary goal of stimulating memories and helping them to socialize, laugh, and share their experiences with each topic.
The funds, raised through pet sitting, were used to purchase supplies, jigsaw puzzles, and pattern games designed specifically for patients with Alzheimer’s disease. She also created memory boxes focused on gardening, sewing, sports, cooking, and baby care to help stimulate memories during activities. One of the sessions, Let’s Go to the Beach, included ocean waves playing on a CD. The residents dug for shells in sand, wore sun glasses, and talked about things they used to enjoy about the beach. The residents made nautical crafts, and created their pictures of seashells using paint, markers, and stickers.
The center will continue to use the memory boxes, games, and puzzles. Bhame also plans to perform for the residents during the school year with vocal groups from High School South. A rising senior, she is a member of the choir as well as a capella groups, First Edition and Tickled Pink. She also participates in the school’s fall dramas and musicals.
