Destigmatizing dementia: Austin high school students train to be Alzheimer's caregivers

The residents at the Watermark at Southpark Meadows' memory care unit are using hand bells and drums and other percussion instruments as they watch Tara Jenkins play the guitar and sing during a music therapy session.

With them on this Friday are about a dozen students from Akins High School and the Graduation Preparatory Academy High School inside Travis High School. Both high schools have programs to allow students to do internships or work in health care as well as get certifications to be a medical assistant while going to high school.

Last year, Graduation Preparatory Academy added a dementia care certification. Akins added it this school year. The students, all seniors, began visiting Watermark in October. They watch different activities planned for the residents in memory care, who all have a dementia illness such as Alzheimer's disease.

Sometimes, the students do side-by-side activities, such as art, with the residents. The students' monthly half-day field trip ends with the students having lunch with the residents and informal conversations.

The idea for getting high school students certified in dementia care came from nurse Debbie Wilder.

In 2001, Wilder started a weekly Alzheimer's respite called the Gathering at a local church. It went virtual during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic because the respite guests were medically vulnerable as were some of the volunteers. During that time, Wilder would get calls from some of the families, who now didn't have a break from caring for their loved one and couldn't find enough home health caregivers to bring in.

Learn more: Austinite’s Gathering inspires network of Alzheimer’s respites

She approached Graduation Preparatory Academy last year and trained 11 students in dementia care. Eight have now graduated and are working in memory care.

"This is the type of person that is going into the field of direct caregiving," Wilder said of the students. "We can get more of them interested in (dementia care) at their age. There's such a severe shortage of all direct caregivers."

Wilder said even if this isn't something these students pursue for the rest of their lives, this can be a job they do while they are in college studying something else or in the summers between semesters.

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Emily Calderon, a senior at Akins, says through this program her class has been learning about how dementia affects the five senses, "how they eat, how they talk, how they walk," she said. "You see what patterns applies to them."

"Dementia is a crazy disease," said Dayanara Martinez Torres of Akins.

"It's different at times," she said, "depending on how severe it is."

Kasey Burnham, the program director at Watermark, explains to the students what severe dementia can look like. "They can't always tell you directly what is going on, what they are feeling and what they need," she said. "You have to learn how to read those cues and read between the lines."

She tells the students, "There's a lot of loss in dementia, but we try to focus on what is still there."

The students will return to Watermark in February to do the official training for a dementia care certification.

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Burnham sees this program as destigmatizing what memory care is. "They think it's a scary place," Burnham said of most people.

For the residents, being with another generation is important, Burnham said. "It's hugely beneficial," she said.

She saw what the residents experienced during the height of COVID-19 when visitors could not come into Watermark. They need human interaction, she said.

The students' interactions start off simple. On this day, a few are helping two residents paint pictures of flowers. "It looks good," said Brianna Parker from Akins.

"Put it in a frame," said resident Alfred Omelchuck. "Take it to France. The girls in France don't wear pants."

"You're funny," Brianna tells him.

Another resident artist Margaret Jones looks at the students. "You girls are so pretty," she said.

That gets a smile from the students.

For these students, if they should go into caring for people with dementia, "they can take pride in what they are doing. This is a very important job," Burnham said.

"There is no shortage of opportunities," she tells the students. "We are constantly looking for good candidates."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: How Austin high school students are getting certified in dementia care