Easter Seals: DayBreak Adult Care Services Beatriz Mármol marmol.beatriz@knights.ucf.edu June 20, 2012 EEX 4070

DayBreak Adult Care Services This DayBreak is located on Winter Park on 2010 Mizel Ave. DayBreak is an adult health care program that offers its services to adults over the age of 18 with disabilities and special needs assistance. DayBreak is licensed by the State of Florida Agency of Health Care Administration. People who can attend DayBreak are adults with Alzheimer’s or other dementia related disorders, adults who are experiencing a decrease in physical, mental, or social abilities, developmental disabilities, emotional problems, or behavioral problems.

Engagement Activities I addressed the community need of caring for the sick and elderly. Because of their disabilities, the people at DayBreak need a lot of attention and help doing everyday tasks. At DayBreak, I helped execute activities, set up and clean up snack time, call out Bingo, as well as talking and keeping company with the elders with disabilities. I went to DayBreak on three days for 15 hours each time.

Participant Demographics Most of the service recipients are over 60 years old. The majority of recipients are white Americans, but there were African Americans and Hispanics as well. Almost everyone spoke English, but there were a few people that only spoke Spanish. The main illness of the recipients was Alzheimer’s and other dementia related illnesses. The participants at DayBreak are considered persons with disabilities because some participants have “a speech or language impairment”, autism, and “other health impairments”. DayBreak at Winter Park serves about 40 people.

Service in Action

Perceptions of Differences When I first stepped into DayBreak I felt very apprehensive and nervous. I had never dealt with people with Alzheimer’s. I gradually became more comfortable talking to the people and helping them do the activities. It shocked me to see just how difficult some everyday things can be for a person with Alzheimer’s.

Connections to Your Course I am enrolled in the course EEX 4070 Teaching Exceptional Students. One topic I better understand is the importance of having constant communication between teachers and parents. Another topic I better understand is the importance of the IDEA. This whole experience helped me to better understand people with disabilities and what they go through. Working with people with Alzheimer's has certainly been a different experience and has better prepared me to be a classroom teacher.

Civic Engagement I think civic engagement and volunteering are extremely important. Helping others and doing good for the community can only be a positive thing. Service learning is a great effective way to learn by being out and actually doing. I would encourage students and teachers to embrace service learning in the future because not only is it fun, but it really does good for the community.

Final Thoughts & Reflections In order to better understand people with disabilities, others can think about how disabled people’s lives are. Teachers play an important role in educating students about more than academic topics. They should also be teaching about life lessons, including tolerance and acceptance. This service learning project has opened my mind and has given me insight by letting me experience new things and different people.