Teens in Public Service Intern Crystal shares her experience working with Adult Day Health at Beacon Hill

Hello! My name is Crystal, and I’m an incoming junior at Newport High School. This summer, I had the amazing opportunity to intern at Full Life Care through the Teens In Public Service (TIPS) program!

Full Life Care’s name couldn’t have been more accurate – Despite Adult Day Health being a program that lasts for only four hours every day, I’ve learned how everybody comes together to support and take care of our clients, fully and with every aspect of their lives. From the case managers, program assistants, nurses, occupational therapists, social workers, and many other behind-the-scenes employees, everyone’s united under one mission – to improve the lives of our clients.

Full Life Care is a nonprofit dedicated to serving elders, people with physical or developmental disabilities, and people with chronic illnesses. Although Full Life Care has various programs, the program I interned at was Adult Day Health. This program features cognitive and exercise activities to help improve our clients’ well-being. It also provides services to clients such as nursing, social services, and occupational therapies.

A typical day in my internship with Adult Day Health would be helping with facilitating the program’s various activities and building rapport with the clients. Some activities that I designed and led were rock painting, watercolor painting, and pool noodle fishing! One of the clients really loves music, such as the Jonas Brothers and Little Mix. Although I’m too young to recognize most of the artists that she likes to talk about, we still bonded over our shared love of music.

At first, I felt unsure on how to approach my internship. I had never worked with these populations of people before, so I was afraid of doing something wrong. However, we must realize that elders and people with disabilities or chronic illnesses are people just like us. Simply asking them how their day has been can truly make a difference in people’s lives.

One of my favorite moments during my internship was planning a concert for our clients. I reached out to a group of student musicians from my school called Project Andante and they performed some music for everybody! They played some 80s music, which the clients love because it’s nostalgic for many of them. All the clients enjoyed the music, with several of them clapping, dancing, or humming along. Afterwards, the musicians talked with the clients, where some clients shared that they used to/still do play an instrument. Facilitating and planning this event was so meaningful to me because I love seeing our clients happy. A simple thing such as music can be so powerful in connecting with others.

From my internship experience, I’ve learned more about the importance of giving back to my community, especially with vulnerable populations who are frequently overlooked by society. There’s an unfortunate lack of resources for certain groups such as elders and people with disabilities, especially those who are low income, and Full Life Care aims to address that by offering services to whoever needs it, regardless of income.