Service Learning Organizational Proposal

Submitted by: Spencer Jolley Information Technology/Management Training Program SlCC Communications 1010 May 23, 2013

Table of Contents

Section

Page

Overview ............................................................................................................................. 1 Project Description ............................................................................................................. 2 Group Assets ...................................................................................................................... 3 Group Limitations ............................................................................................................... 6 Recommendations .............................................................................................................. 7 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 9 Work Cited ........................................................................................................................ 11

Brinnlie helping with one of the craft projects.

Overview
The problem we addressed was that senior citizen homes across the nation are in need of volunteers. According to the Census Bureau, 21% of women and 11% of men over 80 years of age are in nursing homes. This new statistic explains the need that is exploding across the nation. People in the United States are living longer and the need for long term care is greater than our nation has ever seen before. The average senior citizen spends 903 days in long term care, and most of these patients die in their long term care facility. There is now an explosion of need to care for the elderly in this country, and many long term care facilities are not properly equipped or staffed to care for their patients needs and wants. The problem is worthwhile because this is a time in their lives where human interaction is deeply needed to calm their fears and validate their worth as they face the end of their life. Volunteering is needed now to help support the seniors in their time of need.
Natalie working with the Red Hat Ladies

Our proposal solved this problem by organizing a

group of people to volunteer at the Copper Ridge Healthcare facility. We decided after research and an interview with Ashley Hansen (event coordinator for Copper Ridge Healthcare), we would dedicate our time volunteering to lifting the spirits, encouraging and entertaining the patients at Copper Ridge Healthcare. We gathered a group that was just as interested as we are in doing our part to help our seniors in this troubling, scary and uncertain time in their lives. Our project was worthwhile because it added value to the lives of the senior citizens at the Copper Ridge Healthcare center by lifting the spirits and encouraging the patients.

Project Description
Our group's purpose was to do all that we could during the time that we volunteered to increase the morale and brighten the days of the patients there. We figured that the best way to accomplish this would be to organize and manage a number of activities each day that we visited. We knew that the centers would be in need of new and engaging activities to add change and excitement to the patients lives. Step one in accomplishing our goal was to decide on a service project. We thought about a number of project ideas; from working for the animal shelter to clearing snow around fire hydrants. We eventually decided to do a service project at a senior citizen center because they have such a
Shantel helping with a craft.

great need for service. We decided that we would dedicate our

time volunteering to lifting their spirits, encouraging and entertaining, the patients at Copper Ridge Healthcare. The second step in accomplishing our goal was to do a site visit. We interviewed Ashley Hanson. We discussed the possible hazards and rules that we were to follow. Ashley said that we were not to enter patients rooms and that we were to stay in the common areas. She also stated that she wanted us to make sure that no one had a cold or any other illness, to keep the patients healthy. Ashley said that the dates of January 29, 30, and 31 would work best for her. Lastly, she said that we should brainstorm ideas for projects and games to do with the patients. The third step was brainstorm and organize the activities. We proposed a number of activities that we could do with their patients and Ashley had a number of activities that she recommended. The activities Ashley suggested were: reading, crafts, mini bowling, and

noodle ball. She stated that they had an activity already planned for the 29th, and that they could use some volunteers to help them manage the Red Hat Ladies activity. She stated that the activity would be only for the female volunteers and that the guys in our group would need to do another activity. We proposed that the guys would go read to the patients individually and get to know them. On the 30th, we proposed our own activity in the Alzheimer's unit. We would bring markers, pens, paper, cards, stamps and envelopes. On the 31st we played mini bowling with the patients, we helped them roll the ball and set them back up. After this, we also played a game called: Name the Face, where we had pictures of actors and actresses from back in their day. We gave descriptions of the actors and actresses and they guessed who we were talking about. The fourth step in accomplishing our goal was to inform our peers of the importance of the project. We accomplished this by having our preservice meeting. Our group members were Brinnlie, Shantell, Yancy, Chase, Spencer and Natalie. We agreed to come together at Canyons
Hunter and Chase reading to the patients.

Technical Education Center at on Tuesday the

20th at 1:45 to discuss our project. We began the meeting by first describing the scale and the importance of the work that we would do. Next we talked about the rules and hazards of the project. After that we discussed the proposed dates and times. The group agreed, and said that they looked forward to going to serve with us. The fifth step in accomplishing our goal was to serve. We drove to Copper Ridge Healthcare each day after Company. Each day we followed our plan for activities and had success. We read, socialized and managed the Red Hat Ladies Club activity, which was

their monthly ice cream social. We helped them make Valentines and delivered them to the staff and friends in the facility. And we played mini bowling and the Name the Face game. We could tell that after each visit the patients were happier and more lively. The last step was the post service meeting. Everyone brought the necessary forms that had been filled out and an evaluation sheet. We all shared what we had learned and what we had enjoyed about the project. When our post service meeting was finished we handed in the papers and then project was done. Our end product resulted in a more fun and happy environment. We left each day not only with a smile on the faces of the patients, but also with a smile on our own faces. All of the patients were in a better mood, and they enjoyed the activities of each day.

Group Assets:
Our group had many strengths. The first asset was that we all shared a collective goal and the second asset that we had was our unified commitment. The book Communication at Work says, these concepts are critical the to the success of a group. Sharing a common goal is critical to the success of a group. The book Communicating at Work said that interaction alone doesn't create a working group. Guests at a reception might talk with one another, but unless they share a collective goal they wont be able to collectively accomplish anything. (Communicating at Work, 2005, Page 248). This concept is vital to teams. They need to work together toward a goal that they all are
Brinnlie talking to Jill.

devoted to, or they may as well work on their own. To prove that we understand this concept, we will relate this concept to our project. From the

beginning of the project, we, Spencer and Natalie had different goals for the service opportunity. We each thought that our project idea would have better benefits for the community. We each bombarded each other with reasons why one idea was better than the other. We did not make any progress until we compromised and came up with a common goal that worked for the both of us. Unified commitment can make or break a group. Communicating at Work says, People in successful groups share a commitment to the job and to one another. They put the groups goals above their personal interests. (Communicating at Work, 2005, page 250). This concept is crucial to effective teams. Teams need to do things for the greater good and not just for personal interest. To demonstrate that we understood this concept, we will relate this concept to our project. We completed our project over three days. There were a number of people who were unable to make it to the service project each day. For instance Brinnlie had a track team pre-season party on the 29th, at the same time as our service project. She talked it over with the project managers and discovered that we would not have enough hours to finish the project if she did not show up that day. Brinnlie decided to come to the service project and later said that she was glad she did because it was great to see the benefits of serving. She was a great example of our groups unif ied commitment. When Brinnlie decided to put the teams need over her own wants, the team and she benefited.
Two of the finished craft projects

Group Limitations
Our group also had some weaknesses. The two that were the most prominent were our interdependence and regular interaction and communication. We struggled with these two concepts. Interdependence is how group members rely on each other. Communications at Work says, Group members don't just interact, they depend on one another. (Communicating at Work, 2005, page 248). An in-depth description of this is that in a group, each member needs to do their part. Each member has responsibilities, and each member needs to fulfill these responsibilities, or else the whole project could crumble. This means that when one person does not pull their weight, everyone else has to compensate, and that is not fair. An example of how interdependence affected us was when Spencer lost the pink packet that had the signatures in it. We needed that packet to complete our project. Spencer frantically looked all over to find his packet and was unable to find it on the date of the post service meeting. The meeting was later rescheduled to a later date after Spencer had found the packet. This was a great example of our interdependence. We needed the pink
One of the CNAs helping with the craft project

packet, and when it was lost we were unable to finish the

project until it was found. Our group also struggled with regular interaction and communication. Communication at Work says, A group that interacts over a period of time develops particular characteristics... They tend to know what time a meeting will begin or who is in charge of particular tasks. (Communicating at Work, 2005, page 248) An in-depth

description of this would be that as a team spends more time together, they tend to become more in sync with each other. They get into a habit of doing their individual tasks and jobs. This means that regular interaction can benefit a team by allowing them to easily transfer information. Our group did not demonstrate this concept. As project managers, we did not take the time to regularly communicate to our group members about the project. For instance, we did not remember to remind our group about the project. We reminded a few
Copper Ridge HealthCares Logo

of the members but we forgot to remind everyone. On the first day of the project, we gathered our group to get ready

to go and Yancy had forgotten and was unable to go. He said that he could have gone if we had reminded him the day before. We suffered the consequences of not using regular communication. We had forgotten to remind each of them and we had one less volunteer than we had planned. This could have been avoided with regular communication and interaction.

Recommendations:
Our proposal to improve our teams work, if we could do it again, would be to work on our interdependence. Communicating at Work says, A roomful of telemarketers who are working on commission have little effect on one another, and thus they can hardly be called a group, let alone a team. By contrast consider the workers in a restaurant: If the kitchen crew fails to prepare orders promptly or correctly, the servers tips will decline. (Communicating at Work, 2005, page 248) We would also work on our regular communication and interaction, to further help our teams work. Communicating at Work says, For example, a group will tend to develop

shared standards of appropriate behavior that members are expected to meet. Typical expectations involve how promptly a meeting begins, what contribution each member is expected to make to certain routine tasks. (Communicating at Work, 2005, page 248) One specific remedy would be to work together like the waiter and the kitchen crew mentioned above. We could stress the importance of each persons task, and we would describe how they impact other people and the group. Another remedy would be to stay organized. We could keep the paperwork and other important documents in a predetermined location, so we would not have to scramble to find them when we needed them. Another thing that we would do differently, would be to work to develop regular communication and interaction. We would do all that we could to keep each other up to date on our project. One potential remedy
Doris and some of the nurses

would be to strive for regular communication through email. We could have created a group email to send

updates on our project. One problem that we could have avoided was that Natalie was hit in the face by one of the seniors. The lady called everyone names and wasnt very nice. Natalie handled it very well. She didnt blame her or take it personally. It was very shocking to her. One potential remedy to prevent this situation in a future project could be to have better communication with Copper Ridge Healthcares staff members about their patients. We knew very little about the personalities of the people there. A recommendation would have been to go before and talk to some of the staff members about how to act around their patients and how not to act.

If we could do it over again, we would definitely communicate better with the Healthcare Center, the patients, and the group members. We would have planned out who does what because at some points, we ran out of things to do. In the future, when we are doing service learning, we will better our group communication by having a meeting each time before we go in to do our actual service. It would help to have a meeting on who does what, where to go, how to be respectful, and what not to say and do.

Conclusion
Our project was a success. We left Copper Ridge Healthcare each day not only with a smile on each of the patients faces, but also with a smile on our own. Our group was a great help. Everyone was on board with what we were doing and we accomplished a lot. We delegated tasks effectively. Each person knew what their task was, and they tackled each task without a complaint. We had a number of assets including our collective goal and our unified commitment. We each did our part to finish the project and we were all willing to do our assigned tasks and responsibilities. We understood the ultimate goal of the project and we took each step up to fulfill our role. We all were willing to work for the group goals over our own personal interests. Our group also had a number of limitations. They were interdependence and regular communication and interaction. These were issues because relying on others made our goals harder to achieve when one of us did not fulfill their responsibilities. We also did not take the time to remind our whole group about our project. The limitations were a challenge but we overcame them with our team s assets.
Our recommendations are to strive for regular communication and to improve our interdependence. We could have done this by setting up a group email. We could have sent out reminder emails to ensure that each of our members was informed about our project. We also could have ensured that each person knew what their tasks were and how they affect the other members in the group.

The importance of this proposal is that you as the reader now know what it takes to organize and manage a project. We hope that regardless of our limitations, we achieved a lot. We learned that simple interaction and communication means a lot to people in care centers. I knew that the people in these facilities needed service but I had no idea how needed and appreciated it would be.

Works Cited
Fakler, M. A. (2012, 11 4). Volunteer Now. Retrieved 1 8, 2013, from Utah Volunteers: http://volunteer.truist.com/utah/volunteer/