Merlene McCarty sits in bed on an early spring day when an Ohio University professor knocks on her door and asks to come in to outline the health plan his students will implement that morning.
McCarty, 61, is in the process of recovering from a string of strokes, the most recent and severe of which, suffered three or four years ago, led her to The Laurels of Athens, a nursing and rehabilitation center off Columbus Road, 70 Columbus Circle. She has lived and steadily recovered there for about two years.
McCarty rises to greet him as he steps into the room, which is relatively plain but outfitted to her liking. A framed cross hangs not far from an emergency pull cord on the wall parallel to her bed, and her nightstand is adorned with pictures of her grandchildren, a radio and a lamp. A large television sits atop her armoire, and a Bible and book of word puzzles occupy a round glass table.
Before long, her living space is transformed into an active area, where OU students — 18 this semester — from a variety of disciplines band together with the goal of providing McCarty with a plan to improve her health all while offering some encouraging smiles. Their course is designed by a group of university colleges with several main goals in mind: improving communication between aspiring health care professionals and teaching them interprofessional cornerstones such as ethics and teamwork, all while aiding those in need of a helping hand.
“What I really like about this experience is that it’s authentic,” said Jeff DiGiovanni, one of the course instructors and OU’s associate dean for Clinical Affairs. “We don’t have to manufacture issues that come up because we’re at the setting. … We can’t control the variables. This is how the medical system works.”
McCarty, originally from Connecticut, is one of many benefactors of the interprofessional course, which sends groups of students to visit The Laurels or Beacon School, 801 W. Union St., three times apiece. During the visits, students meet with residents, analyze their needs and implement a plan to address them.
The Laurels has been a part of the program since its inception in 2012, and Beacon School — which serves students ages 6 to 21 who have been diagnosed with developmental disabilities — signed on in advance of Fall Semester 2013. Student fees and recurring state Medicaid Technical Assistance and Policy Program funding finance the course, for which students receive academic credit.
This spring, students from disciplines across the College of Health Sciences and Professions, Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine and College of Fine Arts have gotten together in groups of five or more to assist the residents.
“I feel like working with patients is always far more gratifying than sitting in class and being lectured two to three hours a day,” said Christina Harris, a second-year graduate student studying physical therapy. “This is what we want to do. We want to be out in the clinic, we want to be working with people, we want to know that we’re making some kind of a difference or some kind of impact on their lives. That’s the reason we all got into what we’re doing.”
Each meeting varies depending on the resident, as the students mold their routine to fit the needs of those with whom they’re working. In McCarty’s case, the meeting included balance and mobility tests, comprehension and vocabulary exercises, and, of course, plenty of singing.
Bridget Sova, a senior studying music therapy, said she picks songs based on a resident’s age and his or her interests. In McCarty’s case, she sang a spin off of the Beach Boys’ “California Girls,” and a number of other tunes.
“You’ve got such a pretty voice,” McCarty told her, after one rendition.
Working with words is particularly important to McCarty, who, on her own account, could hardly talk after suffering her last stroke. She couldn’t remember her grandchildren’s names, nor could she read worth a lick.
That was especially painful for McCarty, a former English teacher and school administrator. Her daughter, Shade resident Amy Grueser, said it’s been more than two decades since McCarty has taught and that she was forced to retire because of health reasons.
Now, the woman who once helped kindergartners learn to read is teaching herself to do the same, using word puzzles and the Bible to do so. It’s not the words themselves that trip her up, Grueser said, but the comprehension.
That’s where the students come in. They combined song and comprehension in one activity by scrawling the spelling of some of her favorite things on a whiteboard — NCIS, word searches, coffee with the girls — singing about them and urging McCarty to trace them with her finger.
Little exercises like those make all the difference, her daughter said.
“A lot of times when someone has a diagnosis where there’s no ‘hope,’ they just give up,” Grueser said. “Her determination kind of trumps that. ‘I’m going to do it anyway.’ ”
Whether it takes the form of organizing activities or stopping by unannounced, the students’ presence goes a long way in brightening residents’ days, said Lisa Snyder, The Laurels’ activities director.
“It’s so much more than volunteering,” she said. “Anyone can come in to run an activity. But they take the time to get to know (residents.)
“(Students) provide a fresh outlook on the world today because (residents) really don’t get to see it.”
By the end of her third and final session with the students, McCarty was gushing about her company.
“The only thing I have to say is, ‘Do what you’re doing because every little bit that you try to improve somebody, even if they don’t want to hear it, is a help for them.’ ” McCarty said. “They might say, ‘No way, I’m not going to do that,’ and when you actually do with them, with your gentle personalities, you encourage them to proceed.”
Toward the end of their session, Matt Stallard a senior nursing major, checked her pulse — “Will you be my boyfriend?” McCarty joked — before the group concluded its activities by singing a soulful rendition of “Amazing Grace.” McCarty knew every word.
“I’m going to miss them a lot,” she said afterward. “The administrators picked a good group of people.”
jr992810@ohiou.edu
@Jimryan015
