Christmas Decorations

December 5, 2012

When I walked into the nursing home today, the nurses were really enthusiastic on seeing me, because they were putting up Christmas decorations. The nurses had already decorated some hallways, and I began by helping them decorate the dining hall. I brought the small Christmas tree and ornaments from their storage room and began decorating. The volunteer coordinator asked all the residents that were in the room to help me decorate the tree, but only a two residents helped. Then I helped put some lights up around the room. Two other volunteers were also setting up lights outside the nursing home.
It was kind of sad to see that the residents were not in a festive mood, while we were decorating but I could understand why. Most residents are leaving the week of Christmas for a few days to be with their families.
Since we gave our dementia presentation yesterday, I was looking out for symptoms. If a resident ignored me, I don't know if it was because they're just cranky or are they comprehending what I'm saying. One resident always introduces herself with her really long name every time I say hi to her. (I played dominoes with her previously, she was a little slow but was able to play fine.) Some residents I could tell obviously had dementia or a related disease, because when I asked questions like where they are from, they would say they don't remember. I'm not sure if confabulations are symptoms of dementia, but some residents made up really random stories. For example,  one resident said her husband is waiting outside for her, and she wanted me to take her outside. When I couldn't open the door (since there was a code) she got really upset and just stood near the door. Another resident would speak, but she did not make any sense.
Anyway, I hope that every resident gets to go home for the holidays.