Students gain experience with senior living residents

HARLEYSVILLE » When special needs students from all over the area come out to The Birches at Arbour Square to lend a hand everyone involved benefits, noted activities director Asta Fusco.

“The students gain valuable workplace experience and the residents like the inter-generational engagement. Each kid comes with a different challenge, but once I get to know their challenges we go from there,” Fusco explained.

The high school students, who travel from such places as Souderton, North Penn and Perkiomen Valley, work directly with Fusco to learn workplace etiquette while enhancing their communication skills. They assist residents with activities, such as Wii sports games, trivia and even the larger social events. The students also enjoy a complimentary lunch provided by The Birches before helping out with various jobs in the dining room.

“Some come in every day and others not as often, it all depends on whether they have the busing,” Fusco said. “They go through training and then they help myself or my assistant with activities ... whether it’s bingo, games, trivia, there are many different aspects of the program. There’s a game we have called Kentucky Derby that uses large wooden horses on the floor and everyone loves playing it.”

Any potential communication issues between the kids and the residents are resolved easily, Fusco added.

“Sometimes the kids will have to speak up because the elderly can’t hear and they get frustrated, so I’ll have the kids just do something else that they’ll be more comfortable doing. They really get to assist us in a lot of ways. Once we get them on a routine and they’re comfortable with our residents it’s very rewarding for all of us.”

The special needs students are treated no differently by the residents than other students that have participated in the high school engagement program, Fusco noted.

“They treat all the kids the same and they’re not told about the challenges the students have. The higher cognitive level ones can figure it out for themselves, and the others just enjoy the inter-generational engagement for what it is. The program works out so well for both the students and the residents.”

Currently, four students are participating in The Birches engagement program, including North Penn High School student Mike Rueffer, who is part of the school’s job training program that works with students to prepare them for the workplace. Rueffer has been volunteering at the senior community for about two years. Launched in 2009, The Birches at Arbour Square Personal Care and Dementia Care Community is on a 20acre campus at 691 Main St., Harleysville, and is part of Heritage Senior Living LLC, which develops, markets and manages senior housing communities throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.