A group of students from Unaka High School visited a local nursing home on Monday to visit with residents and present them with some special handmade gifts.

Members of the Family Career Community Leaders of America, Future Business Leaders of America, Health Occupations Students of America, and the UHS Key Club have been working in recent weeks to make “fidget aprons” for those who need them.

Fidget aprons can be worn by patients with Alzheimer’s or dementia and feature a variety of items such as zippers, small toys, buttons, snaps, and other things that the patient can “fidget” with.

“They increase sensory stimulation and provide comfort,” said Kayla Clawson, who teaches the Health Occupations program at Unaka High School. “It provides a distraction, but it is a good distraction. If they are agitated, it allows them to refocus their mind and decrease the agitation.”

The students taking part in the project sewed the fidget aprons and attached different things for the patients. The aprons also included bright colors and a variety of textures. And, no two aprons were alike.

“We tried to encourage everybody in our clubs to make at least one apron,” Clawson said. “Some made more than one.”

The students wrapped the aprons in gift bags, and on Monday, the students delivered a batch of the aprons to several residents at Ivy Hall Nursing Home. Aprons have also been delivered to Signature Healthcare of Elizabethton, Clawson said.

“We’re currently in the process of connecting with another nursing home for the others,” Clawson said.

The students also made some special fidget aprons for veterans, and Clawson said they are trying to arrange for the students to deliver those to patients at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center at Mountain Home.

As the students made their way through Ivy Hall handing out the aprons on Monday, many of the residents thanked them for their gift and for visiting them. More than one shed a tear as students presented them with their gift.

Judy DeLoach, the Administrator and owner of Ivy Hall Nursing Home, praised the students for their thoughtfulness and thanked them for visiting her facility.

“I’m so pleased to see the young people get involved,” Deloach said, adding the visits are always enjoyed by the residents. “They love it when the young people come to visit them. It just means so much to them.”