Freshman starts nonprofit for nursing home patients

<p>Freshman speech pathology major Ashleigh Kramer has started a nonprofit organization called “Keep Me In Mind.” So far, she has made scarves and valentines for a local nursing home. PHOTO PROVIDED BY ASHLEIGH KRAMER</p>

Freshman speech pathology major Ashleigh Kramer has started a nonprofit organization called “Keep Me In Mind.” So far, she has made scarves and valentines for a local nursing home. PHOTO PROVIDED BY ASHLEIGH KRAMER

Website: www.keepmeinmindnpo.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/keepmeinmindnpo

Twitter: @KeepMeinMindNPO

Instagram: @keepmeinmindnpo




An interaction with a woman in a nursing home inspired Ashleigh Kramer to start her nonprofit organization called “Keep Me In Mind.”

Kramer, a freshman speech pathology major, visited Golden LivingCenters in early January with the National Student Speech-Language and Hearing Association when she met a patient there. The organization is focused on finding ways to provide activities and interactions for patients in nursing homes. 

“[She] was amazing, she was just so cute and wonderful, and so nice and just happy, and it was just sad because I noticed that all her clothes were all covered in food stains or vomit stains, her walker had been duct-taped,” Kramer said. “The facilities there, it just didn’t seem like they had a lot of funding for some reason or another.”

Kramer said she decided to run a scarf drive because of her experience with the patient, and that one day while sitting in church she realized she wanted to take her plan further.

“I work with activities directors in nursing homes and we come up with activities [the patients] can participate in,” Kramer said. “We have little drives where we fundraise to give them something… this winter we did a scarf drive so we got people to donate to pay for homemade scarves.”

Besides organizing drives, Kramer is also working to make groups of people to regularly volunteer each month. She already has a group of about eight people who go with her when she visits her hometown of Greensburg, Ind., every other weekend, and is trying to get the word out to Ball State students about forming groups for local nursing homes.

Kramer has worked with Westminster and Golden Living in Muncie, and three nursing homes in and around Greensburg. She is planning on working with more nursing homes in the area in the future, and is currently planning events for later dates.

“We’re probably going to do some sort of program for Easter, we’re still coming up with ideas, maybe just a craft where all the ones who are able can come together and work on something, just so they have something to do," Kramer said. "Eventually I want to have this really big event where all members of the community come up, maybe a 5K walk or something. I'm still working that out." 

Kramer said there was a lot of paperwork involved in setting up her organization, but her cousin, who has a master's degree in business, helped her with the forms. She said she's filling out all the forms to assure people that her business is legitimate, and so the people who donate can receive tax deductions.

Kramer said her favorite thing she’s experienced as a result of her organization is the interactions with the patients. She said she makes a special effort to visit the patients in the Alzheimer’s wings.

“I love the conversation with the people when I’m going around visiting them,” Kramer said. “[The Alzheimer’s patients] were just a joy, they were just so ecstatic … to see them in such high spirits, just to have some company, and be smiling, like you feed off of it, so I really, really love that.”

According to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, more than 1.4 million people lived in nursing homes in 2012. This accounted for 2.8 percent of the 65 and older population, and 10.2 percent of the 85 and older population.

The inspiration for the organization’s name came from a realization Kramer had about how people in nursing homes are regarded by their communities. 

“A lot of people may not even see them as members of the community anymore, they’re just kind of tossed aside,” Kramer said. “I really want people to be aware that they are wonderful people and that they still have a lot to offer everybody, just to remember them and keep them in mind.”

Comments

More from The Daily






This Week's Digital Issue


Loading Recent Classifieds...