By Paul Ludden (Friends of Pheasant Branch Conservancy Board Member) and Mila Gille, third-year student at UW-Madison
This spring, members of the Education Committee of the Friends of Pheasant Branch Conservancy brought the springtime season to residents of the memory care units at Attic Angels and Brookdale facilities in Middleton. Mary Bachhuber, Anne Baskin, and Paul Ludden worked with an outstanding intern from UW-Madison to use a sensory experience to evoke memories of springtime in the lives of the residents.
Mila Gille, a third-year student at UW who is majoring in neuroscience and health care, greatly enhanced the program by bringing the sense of smell into a program in which residents viewed pictures of spring flowers, created a “flower garden” using artificial flowers, and talked about their memories of springtime.
Mila devised a simple device consisting of a small paper cup stuffed with tissue paper, covered it with plastic wrap, and made holes in the covering. Fragrances of roses, lilacs, ginger, lavender and other flowers seemed to awaken memories among the residents in a very positive manner. Essential oil of the various scents was added to individual cups. The volunteer group offered each resident the opportunity to sniff their choice of scent by puffing air out of the cup so the participants could get a whiff of the fragrance of the flowers they had planted in small pots filled with foam packing material.
There were 22-24 participants at each location. We found that, following introductory remarks, breaking the group into three or four tables allowed us to better connect with individuals. Each of us would host a table and make contact with every resident. Anne’s idea of having name tags for them also helped us make the connection–and helped them connect with each other. Paul was surprised to re-connect with one resident who had been his next door neighbor in Madison 20 years ago.
In each of the units, at least one of the participants was a former horticulturalist or serious gardener and would call out the names of many of the flowers of Pheasant Branch as the pictures were shown. Other residents recalled how they planted and cared for various flowers in their gardens.
Mila finished the show by taking the residents on a virtual walk through a forest in springtime with the sounds of babbling brooks and singing birds. One could see the sense of calmness and wonder on the faces of the residents as we “walked” and observed the beauty of another season.
The staff at Attic Angels and at Brookdale were wonderful in helping us engage with the residents. Such committed professionals are heroes of health care in our world. And, at each event, a few family members of residents came in and enjoyed seeing their loved ones engaged in the project.
We were thrilled to be invited to Mila’s presentation of her project to UW Clinical Professor Sarah Endicott’s class on Community Supports for Dementia at the end of the semester and felt that Mila’s presentation was an excellent example of how the Friends can coordinate with the University to address needs within our community.
Bring the Outdoors Indoors is a continuing project, where the Education Committee of FOPBC develops programs for the seasons and brings them to memory care units in facilities in the Pheasant Branch watershed area.