For a few minutes Tuesday, 12-year-old Diego Gordon suffered from cataracts, hearing distortion, painful neuropathy in his feet and arthritis in his hands.
In other words, Diego got old.
“I think it was kind of hard,” Diego said. “I couldn’t see too well, and when I tried to button a shirt, I couldn’t feel the fabric. And when I tried to pour water, I couldn’t see where the water was.”
The Golden Years didn’t treat Kia Kamm, 12, much better.
“The sounds were blasting in my ears and it was hard to concentrate,” Kia said. “It was a lot harder than I thought it would be.”
That was the whole point of a unique demonstration at an Anthem Memory Care community in Littleton. Diego and Kia were among a group of students from School who experienced the woes of age-related ailments through a program sponsored by SYNERGY HomeCare.
“What do seniors go through?” Kim Paul asked the eight students, who are starting as volunteers at Highline Place. To become good helpers, they should understand that normal, everyday activities they take for granted become much harder as they get older, said Paul, director of community outreach for SYNERGY.
“What happens when you can’t hear as well, and when you won’t walk as well?” Paul said. “Maybe when you see someone moving more slowly, maybe you will become more sensitive to what they are going through?”
The students were fitted with bulky gloves that modeled neuropathy, arthritis and other movement-related ailments. They put on glasses to mimic blurred eyesight and a limited field of vision caused by cataracts, glaucoma and degeneration. And they put on thick headphones that created hearing impairment and sound distortion.
Then they were told to button a shirt, put pills in a pill dispenser, make a bed, pour water in a glass, write a letter and arrange dishes on a table.
“For a lot of the students, this will give them a little insight into what their grandparents and other older loved ones might be experiencing,” Paul said.
The students went through the same training as new staff members at Highline Place, where residents suffer some form of dementia, said Jodi Cornman, Highline’s community relations director.
Ages of the residents range from 60 to 105, Cornman said.
“I think this will help them understand a little better about some people are going through,” she said. “And they are enthusiastic and ready to learn.”
Volunteering at Highline Place is part of a community service venture the students at Options began late last year, said Options school psychologist Therese Hustis.
“They are very excited about this and committed to helping,” she said.
As far as growing old, it’s not something Diego is looking forward to but not necessarily dreading.
“It’s just something you deal with,” he said.
