Ursuline 8th graders devote service year to elderly, build relationships with PACE seniors

Rather than making a one-time trip to a senior facility, Ursuline Academy’s eighth graders are building tangible fellowship with the elderly over the course of the entire school year by making quarterly visits to the Shirley Landry Benson PACE Center, where they spend more than an hour each visit doing theme-related crafts and swapping stories with frail elders who would likely be homebound, if not for PACE’s services.

Patty Mathes, Ursuline’s eighth-grade religion teacher, said the frequency of visits has created a comfort level between the two age groups.

“The girls have gained a great deal of empathy for the elderly,” Mathes said. “They have learned about Alzheimer’s. At first they were frightened of it; now they’re asking to go and to be in that (section of PACE)to interact with them.”

Students in each of Ursuline’s four eighth-grade religion classes determine what activities they will do during the visits. At school, they study the various needs of the elderly and design the trips to stimulate seniors on three levels:  intellectually, spiritually and socially.

For example, word searches and mazes use fun to get hands and brains in motion.

“Our girls are taught to assist in the least way necessary  – to let the elderly do what they can for themselves,” Mathes said.

Past activities have included a Halloween party and costume contest and a cheerleading exhibition during Super Bowl week.

“You’d be amazed at how many cheerleaders and dancers we had among the elderly,” Mathes said. “They were thrilled. They told the girls how much they liked to do it in their high school years, so they brought them back to a happier spot.”

Now eager to become part of their buddies’ social support community, once-reluctant students will typically run straight to the seniors they have befriended on past visits.

“There’s kind of a love that’s built up both ways as they share each other’s stories,” observes Mathes.

Eighth grader Elizabeth Miller said the seniors enjoy the attention and care she and her classmates give them.

“We help them just by talking to them. It makes their day a little bit better and we enjoy (the visits) just as much as they do,” said Elizabeth, noting that the majority of PACE’s guests still wield sharp writing and scissors skills.

Abbe Tassin’s favorite activity involved painting the nails of the PACE seniors – in the requested pale shades of polish, while Angela Higginson cherishes the time she made a Valentine’s card with her friend – and watched the senior give it to its recipient with a hug.

Rosemary Lloyd said she would never had been exposed to the Alzheimer’s therapy of offering patients dolls and stuffed animals to cuddle had she not been part of the service visits.

“Talking to the people with Alzheimer’s requires a lot more patience than I thought I had,” said Rosemary Lloyd. “You learn that you dohave a lot of patience talking to people who can’t always respond to you,” she said, noting that each visit culminates with a short prayer with the seniors.

“Part of being Catholic or Christian is helping others, so when we come here, we say prayers with them, and we always have prayer cards to pass out,” Rosemary said. “It just kind of helps spread it around – the love and the faith.”