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On Monday, February 20, members of the University’s Student Occupational Therapy Association (SOTA) and National Student Speech Language Hearing Association (NSSLHA) joined forces in the creation of busy blankets to donate to Saint Joseph Villa, a nursing facility, in Flourtown, Pa. The facility has a dementia and memory care unit where a second-year SLP student is completing her spring 2016 externship.
Meant for people with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, Amanda Feinberg ‘18OT, SOTA president, explained that as the disease progresses, people often have fidgety hands or are agitated, and pull on their clothes or rub their hands together repetitively.
“We are making the blankets so they have little ties at the ends of them, and yarn with beads that they can play with,” she said. “This will help them by keeping their hands busy for hours.”
Students from the organizations purchased materials, made 22 blankets during the above session, and have materials left over for four more.
“Knowing that both SLPs and OTs often share clients with Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia, we thought it would be a great opportunity to get our organizations together,” said Lauren Bevan ‘17SLP, NSSLHA president. “We have been looking for a way to bring our organizations together for a long time, and this project was the perfect opportunity.”
