Monday, November 9, 2009
Present?! Now!?
Im very nervous about presenting and im scared, I hope I get everything to gether by tomorrow ans ill definately be ready. I still need to work on my website and then all will be well. mrs.Savido...you make me nervous and frustrated when you yell and scream about me not being ready right now. Ill get there dont worry mrs.savido, and we shall never have to worry again.
A part of me thinks ill present well but we will have to wait to find out.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Progress...Need More Progress
I still need to do my notes and complete and outline. i think that will be my focus this weekend and i should be able to complete the task because there are about a thousand paper articles that ive read and highlighted so all i will be doing is making the trasition from highlighted article to word document.
As far as my interviews are concerned I have work to day so I will set up a meeting with my mentor who knows everyone within the building and hopefully ill get some names and numbers.
Im worried that there willl be somekind of law that will prevent me from asking questions or taking pictures for my presentation. but i may be wrong. im hoping im wrong.
Everything may work out for that part next week, so this weekend my plan is notes and outline this weekend.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Third Day...Third Change
Reluctantly, I have decided that this trip to Costa Rica is a once and a life time experience that is worth alot more than one schedule event that will possibly come along again. So i have decided that the best thing for me to do, would be to focus on my internship since i still have a strong connection with alot of the people there.
I hope to base my project on how a senior care facility caters to the caregiving needs required for those who have Alzheimers and various other forms of Dementia. I know this will be alot of work, and im nervous that I may not be able to take the project to the great lengths that I have imagined. This only due to the policies and privacy acts that are enforced within any senior care facitlity.
I must start to recontruct my project all over again, but hopefully it will be easier the third time around.
:D
Friday, March 27, 2009
Essential Question? Essential Decision
("How do families cope with the struggles inherited after a loved one has fallen victim to Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia?")
I thought that it would be a more clear way to express how familes are also affected by Alzheimer's disease/Dementia. Im sure I said in a recent post that I am extremely excited to participate in the Memory Walk that will take place here in Pittsburgh. I have a hundred different ideas for fundraising money to donate and different ways to get my fellow school mates involved in alzheimer's awareness.
I still have tons of work ahead of me, but with school coming to a very close end I think I'll be a little more excited to research my topic. Sooner or later I'll become a master mind in Alzheimer's disease reseach and I plan to make my panel very proud of me(whomever they maybe ;) )
Monday, March 16, 2009
Nothing Done!!!! (blame DeAnna....haha)
One day ill re-write my foundation questions, that way ill be able to focus more on what it is im trying to figure out. Theres alot to focus on with thise disease and im worried ill keep getting set of track. Hopefully that wont occur, ill figure all out soon enough.
Monday, February 23, 2009
MAJOR Platue
Everything went well at the meeting and I am excited to get started with it. While we toured the facility I learned that there was a Dementia Care unit located in the building next to where I would be interning. Mrs. Kretchman and Bobbi-Jo also made it clear that there would be opportunities to complete some of my hours within the unit. I was Fasinated with the idea, seeing how I am hoping to put together a documentory on what life is like inside a facility like that for patients suffering from Dementia. Within the documentry i hope to inteview those who are responsible for treatment, and those who run the unit.
Today I am trying to put together the interview questions for my "documentry/interview." However, im having a little trouble getting started because of my lack of knowlegde. Im not sure who I will be interviewing, nor am I sure whether or not they will be able to coroporate with my project.
This project started off great, but now im starting to hit some kind of platue and I hope it blows over soon because im really starting to loose all patients.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Tired/Sleepy/Lazy...But Still Moving On
Sometime last week I recieved a packet of paper work from Mrs.Peck for my intership at Canterbery Place. I was excited to get that filled out and back in her hands. On the packet it said I would have an interview with im guessing my mentor, on February 17th. Im a little worried, not for my interview but mainly because ill be missing PSSA testing that day and I think that week is the week of the Reading and Math tests.
Im sure i'll be okay. Grad-Projects going great, along with everything else. I believe this trimester is the first trimester in my whole three year career in highschool that I have managed to recieve all A's on my assignments and in classes. I just hope I can keep up with this hectic schedule of mine. Reading three different books, two of those books have a tendency to get less interesting at times, its hard. but some how, I think ill manange.
:) :) :) :) :) :) <:<: <><:<: :):) :) :) :) :) :)
Friday, January 30, 2009
Did You Know?......
- Alzheimer’s disease is a brain disorder named after a physician, Alos Alzheimer who first described it in 1906.
- The first case was discovered in 1901 by Dr. Alzheimer in 51 year old woman named Auguste D.
- Alzheimer’s is fatal and the most common form of Dementia.
- Alzheimer’s is a mixture of dementias, it includes a certain type of dementia that · reduces the amount of blood flowing to certain parts of the brain.
- The most amount of knowledge has been developed in the past 15 years.
- The year 2007 entered the history books as the period of tremendous advancements in Alzheimer‘s research.
- Alzheimer’s is divided into two major symptoms:
-“Cognitive”: symptoms that affect memory language, judgment, planning, ability to pay attention and other thought process.
-“Behavioral & Psychiatric”: affect the way the patients mental abilities and their actions.
Source: http://alzheimers.about.com/od/whatisalzheimer1/a/causes.htm
- Alzheimer’s is thought to be characterized by a buildup of proteins (Plaques & Tangles).
- They block the cells’ ability to communicate with each other, making it difficult for the cell to survive.
- Aging is the number one risk for developing Alzheimer’s.
- One out of eight people over the age of 65 has Alzheimer’s and one out of every two people over the age of 85 has Alzheimer’s.
- The probability of developing and being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s nearly doubles every 5 years after the age of 65.
- People who have a parent or sibling that developed Alzheimer’s disease are two to three times more likely to develop the disease than those that have no history of it in their family.
Source: http://www.alzheimerscombocare.com/?s_cid=1000
- Approximately 5 million American have Alzheimer’s
- Unless a cure or prevention is found, that number will increase to 14 million by 2050.
- People as young as 30 and 40 have developed the disease.
Source: http://www.umm.edu/patiented/articles/what_symptoms_of_alzheimers_disease_000002_5.htm
- alzheimers is often aver looked and diagnosed as natural aging
- alzheimers is often confused with MCI (mild cognitive impairment)
Quotes:
“Scientists are still studying how plaques and tangles are related to Alzheimer’s disease. One theory is that they block nerve cells’ ability to communicate with each other, making it difficult for the cells to survive.”
“Autopsies have shown that most people develop some plaques and tangles as they age, but people with Alzheimer’s develop far more than those who do not develop the disease. Scientists still don’t know why some people develop so many compared to others. However, several risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease have been uncovered.”
Source: http://alzheimers.about.com/od/whatisalzheimer1/a/causes.htm
I only had a maximum of 4 sites because a lot of my sites were supplying me with the same information, so I picked out the four that supplied me with the best and most reliable information.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Foundation Questions...
"What are the treatment available to help the person and their family that has fallen victim to Alzheimer’s?"
1. How much of the treatment is available? Are nursing homes a better type of treatment for the disease?
2. Where is the treatment distributed, does location affect the amount of treatment one may receive?
3. What treatment is the best, does it depend on the severity of the case?
4. Is there treatment available for the families that would include something like support groups?
What are the possibilities towards finding a cure for Alzheimer’s?
1. What causes Alzheimer’s, what is used to treat it?
2. What are steps being taken to prevent and possibly cure it?
3. Why are the majority of Alzheimer’s victims elderly, what is the youngest age capable of getting it?
4. What are the scientific factors that make the disease incurable?
5. Is Alzheimer’s disease hereditary?
6. Are there ways to prevent the disease?
( I hope to have more foundation questions for the rest of my key terms)
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
The Best Intern EVER!!!
I was happy to learn that my requests for completing my intern at a nursing home was granted and I would be interning at Cranberry Place.
I believe Mrs.Peck said it was located near Oakland, I am very excited about this because I will get the opportunity to work with elders and I can possibly use that information towards my graduation project.
She noted that there were two other students in my class that were currently completing there interns at Craberry Place, and that if I had any overall questions I was encouraged to ask them. Mrs.Peck also noted that I was going to be focusing more with the elders, unlike my classmates who are on a roatating schdule and move to various sections of the building.
I am very anxious to get started, I just emailed Mrs.Peck my resume like she asked and I am looking forward to meeting my mentor and become the BEST intern they have ever had.
:) :) :) (: (: (:
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Clear and to the point???
I am starting to get a little nervous as far as my topic, im starting to wonder whether or not it will make a great project like I want to put forth. Along with whether or not I will be able to make my point of the project clear.
Maybe I should talk to Mrs. Savito to make sure im on the right track and see whether or not my ill be able to get my project point across.
:/ :/ :/ :/ :/ :/
I LOVE DOM! <3
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Things are looking G.R.E.A.T
And to make things even better on Wednesday during Grad Class Mrs.Peck pulled me out to discuss my interest for my 3rd trimester internship. She had mentioned some of my previous choices which were all perfect and well, but i had an idea pertaining to my Grad Project that included me interning at an elderly home. She loved the idea, and the fact that i was just working on an email to her and Mr.Kretchman about the very same subject.
Overall things seem to be going well and i am looking forward to getting started, i have even started brainstorming for the action section of my project. I am hoping to pull off a 20 minute documentary of me interviewing families of people who have fallen victim to alzheimers, and possibly a doctor researching the subject. Along with that i plan to volunteer at an elderly facility that may aid people with the disease to better understand what life is like for them. However, i am worried that things may not go as planned and my ideas be impossible due to location or participation.
I think things will go well and i can not wait untill i can figure some new things out and learn more about this disease along with other diseases that cause memory loss.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Some things have come to mind
Since my entry into city high i was dreading the thought of a gradution project, and with that i have over heard that people have actually failed their grad projects and were obligated to return the next fall to redue them. This year out of all the rest, is when the most talk about grad projects is expected but it has mostly been positive seeing how most people are excited about their topics.
Being the younger sister of two brothers, i knew pretty early what i was going to have to do to graduate, and i watched my brother actually build a computer for his own grad project so i was quite ahead of the ball really early on. Nonetheless, this year i actually recieved some very helpful information and advice from friend that will be graduating this year. Though recieving alot of advice from my friend i really was kinda ackwardly thankful for her mistakes, because she warned me about how things could go if you dont follow through with intended plans.
She told me about her previous topics, how it was hard to finally arrive at a topic she enjoyed, and that it was important to make sure you are organized and actually take the project very seriously. Mainly because she knows of a few people who coast themselves through their grad projects and are facing extreme loads of rigorous work that needs to be completed in a short amount of time, and some that will possibly fail.
Like i stated before my main interest are in medicine and health care so i am hoping to find an important structured topic that will make a great grad project.
My grad project could possibly be based on:
- An incurable disease
- Health care/insurance issues in america
- Women that are signifacantly involved in medicine
- Educational facilities that prepare students for work in the medical profession
- Advancement in medical technology
Though i think these topics are great ideas i am worried about the action part of the project and i am not so sure about how i will plan the action portion to where i am actively involved. I am also concerned about my capability of creating and structuring a project on my own, i am very use to being given a rubric and a packet of requirements that guidelines to a reasonable completion so im not to confident on my own.
Key Terms
- 1. Warning Signs: There are 10 classic warning signs of Alzheimer's disease, which include: memory loss, Difficulty performing familiar tasks, problems with language, disorientation to time and place, poor or decreased judgment, problems with obstract thinking, misplacing things, changes in mood or behavior, changes in personality, and loss of initiative.
- 2. Targeted Victims: Most patients with Alzheimer's disease are over 65 years of age.
- 3. Research: Researchers have learned most of what they know about Alzheimer's disease in the past 15 years. Researchers are looking for new treatments to alter the course of the disease and improve the life of the people with dementia. Healh professionals divide symptoms in "Congative, Behavioral and mental" this will help detemine which treatment is best to use in the different cases.
- 4. Counseling: Caring for the caregiver is an essential element of managing the patient with Alzheimer's disease. Caregiving is a distressing expeirence. On the other hand, caregiver education delays nursing home placement of Alzheimer's disease patients. (The three(3) R's: "Repeat, Reassure, and Redirect.") These can help caregivers reduse troublesome behaviors and limit the use of medications.
- 5. Treatment: There is no cure for Alzheimer's disease but there are drug and non-drug treatments that can help with both "Cognitive" and behavioral symptoms.
- 6. Alzheimer’s Disease: Is a brain disease that destroys brain cells which causes problems with memory, thinking and behavior. It is sever enough to affect work, lifelong hobbies, or social life. It gets worst over time, and is fatal. It is the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States.
Helpful Links
- Alzheimer's Association
- Alzheimer's Disease Research
- Alzheimers association:AD Facts & Figures
- Class Blog Center
- HelpGuide: Caregivers Guide
- HelpGuide: What Care Givers Need
- Knowing The Stages of Alzheimers
- Making the Diagnosis
- Managing Alzheimer's with Combination Care
- MedicineNet: Symptoms,Diagnosis,& Treatment (AD)
- Namenda: AD and Its Effects on The Brain
- Namenda: Symptoms & Stages
- National Institute of Aging
- Stages of Alzheimers
- WebMD
- What is Alzheimers
- wikipedia: AD Caregiving and Dementia
- Wikipedia:AD