KSHB 41 reporter Isabella Ledonne reports on stories in Overland Park, Johnson County and topics about government accountability. She learned about this story while out in the field covering Overland Park, Kan. Share your story idea with Isabella.
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Overland Park students aren't just using small parts of their brains, they're re-imagining what it means to take care of the entire brain.
Every Friday, students from Blue Valley Unified School District help take care of residents at Prairie Elder Care, a facility that cares for patients with Alzheimer's, dementia and memory illness.
But care comes in many different forms, from medical services to playing classic card games like UNO. Students are part of the PEC-CAPS partnership program and get hands-on experience in a real health care setting.
"It creates sympathy, it creates compassion," Program Director Chad Ralston said. "It only makes [the students] better healthcare workers in their future."
CAPS' partnership with Prairie Elder Care is the only program in the country that brings together senior year students with senior citizens diagnosed with dementia or other memory illness.
"Sharing those moments [with seniors] brings a lot of joy out of me," Ian Guzman, a senior at Blue Valley Northwest High School, said. "I've never had a brother, so it's kind of like a brother moment."
For students like Guzman, making lasting connections is just as valuable as the real world experience.
"They live their whole lives raising their kids and taking care of others," Blue Valley West High School senior Ellee Caldwell said. "Just being able to give that back and give them that care that they've been giving to everyone else their whole life just means a lot."
It's not just fun and games on Fridays. Students learn the science behind taking care of brain health during a simulation lab at the care facility.
"That opportunity allows our students the ability to hopefully become healthier themselves, and then allow them to help others that are challenged in those areas," Ralston said.
More than 50,000 Kansans are living with memory illness, dementia or Alzheimer's, according to the Alzheimer's Association.
Betty Copeland's husband of 61 years is one of them.
"I'm just waiting for a cure," Copeland said.
Anyone who has handled a loved one's diagnosis understands the tough transition into full-time memory care.
That's why seeing joy across generations during PEC-CAPS fun Friday's can mean so much to families, too.
"Their whole thing is about trying to make my husband's life as sweet as he is and has been for years," Copeland said. "They all deserve this kind of treatment."
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