The Barrington of Carmel

From August to December this year, I have been an intern at the Barrington of Carmel located in Carmel, IN. I mainly assisted the Activities Coordinator with daily activities for the mornings I was there. This included passing out mail, newspapers, and a daily article to many of the residents as well as helping and leading exercises, handing out snacks and drinks, reading articles to them while asking them questions about it, and more. I had wanted to learn about how a retirement community works and how the different departments function. I was able to learn about both of these things in some detail through talking with my supervisor and the other nurses and staff there. 

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While interning at The Barrington, I learned more about the stages of aging and what each person needs to thrive at a certain time in their life. I learned to be more patient and more outgoing with others as the environment there was very welcoming. Although I was able to practice these skills during my internship, I will continue to work towards strengthening them. 

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In my Chronic and Long-term Care course, I have been able to apply some of that knowledge to the retirement community and vice versa. For example, I learned why retirement communities and nursing homes use the colors and patterns that they do to decorate the facility and how important routines are with the residents. This class was very helpful and informative while I was interning at The Barrington and learning how things operate there.