Trenton Student Supporting Nursing Homes
The Health Science Technology vo-tech in Chillicothe MO have Trenton students in their CNA program doing group projects for career pathway showcase.
Graci Crouse; an 11th grade Trenton student, is part of the group project called “Project Loving Hands” to help assist Nursing Home residents and to raise awareness of depression and loneliness in the elderly; especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. According to an article from the National Library of Medicine “Loneliness affects nearly 40% residents of the homes surveyed. Quality of their residents’ lives is reduced. Relations with their families and levels of motor efficiency imply a sense of loneliness. Degrees of illness acceptance, ability to adjust to change, and life satisfaction influence the level of loneliness felt.“.
Graci’s group project consist of taking orders from others for baking goods in exchange for money. Graci then spends hours on end in her kitchen baking away. Graci makes candid grapes and strawberries, chocolate covered pretzels and strawberries, and cake pops/oreo balls .Graci would use the money earned to provide some basic needs to residents. She would buy crosswords to one of our ladies at Sunnyview Nursing Home who can go through them in a week! She would buy coloring books to one of our ladies who spends most of her days coloring and singing. Graci enjoys showing love to the local community in small, meaningful ways but she would like to take this project and branch out to other homes in other areas! “I thought that if we provided some basic items for them, we could meet their spiritual, emotional, and physical needs; we could make them feel less lonely and more seen and loved, and we could meet small physical needs with a nice blanket or bottle of lotion”
Graci’s group project has been to districts and received a gold medal! They will be presented at state April 4th-6th in Linn, MO. Graci states she plans to work hard and make it to Nationals in Atlanta, Georgia! Graci’s goal is to make a huge impact not only for her small community but for other nursing home residents who are also struggling with depression and loneliness.
