After having a couple of sessions with Auntie Mary, Eddie Lam (coordinator at Apex Harmony Lodge) decided to substitute her for another resident, given the severity of her condition. Although this was a bit disheartening, we were presented with a new opportunity to interact with one of the dementia patients online. My group was provided with details for Uncle George, who was said to be interested in old songs and games. We centred our activities around this, organising karaoke videos for us to sing together, along with some light-hearted quizzes and puzzles about food and Singapore. As one resident is paired with an entire group of us, during session time my group and I (4 other members) had to collaborate effectively in order to create the most enriching experience with Uncle George at the time of the google meet. As a result, we took upon a ‘divide and conquer’ approach in which we were each assigned different activities to assemble. This seemed to work pretty successfully, with the main hindrance being staying on each of our individual tasks. This was mainly an issue revolving around staying on task (considering the temptation to chat with some of my close friends) along with understanding the nature of each of our activities. For example, one member’s job was to design a crossword for Eddie, however the way in which to do this was not communicated, therefore leading to lots of extra time dedicated to that. As a whole, however, I believe our team functions quite highly together and this will improve as more sessions advance. Attached below is a snippet of the google slides designed for Uncle George’s meeting/interaction.
