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What is Hands & Health at Home?
What is Hands & Health at Home?
In collaboration with Michigan Medicine's Ann Arbor Meals on Wheels, we run an intergenerational program in which pre-health undergraduate students deliver hand exercises to homebound older adults. Students receive training from an interprofessional team prior to meeting their clients. Two students work together to provide their client guidance in hand exercises twice a week to target hand strength and dexterity. Clients are encouraged to exercise between visits by following the specially created client exercise guidebook. This fosters an environment that facilitates socialization, improvement of client hand function, and student exposure to clinical setting work.
Meet Our Previous Cohorts
Meet Our Previous Cohorts
In the Press:
In the Press:
[In Review] An intergenerational hand training program for older adults: the study protocol for Hands and Health at Home. Schwartz A, Logue Cook, RN, Vanderlaan C, Brown SH. (2025).
Home training-related improvement of force perception in older adults. Logue Cook, RN, Kern, KL, Brown, SH. (2024).
An intergenerational service-learning approach to improve hand function in older adults. Logue-Cook, RN, Gatward, M., Vanderlaan, C, Brown, SH. (2023).
Why Participate in Hands & Health at Home?
Why Participate in Hands & Health at Home?
In a post-program survey students indicated:
The top skills they gained were open-mindedness, communication skills, and creativity.
They were "very likely" to recommend the program to their friends
They were overall "very satisfied" with their experience with Hands & Health at Home
They felt "much more" comfortable in taking on a leadership role as a student trainer.
They felt "much more" confident in the ability to work with an older adult.
Enriching Student Academic Experience
“I think it was very beneficial to get the hands-on clinical experience. It allowed me to practice techniques that I learned in class. It also gave me a better understanding of how to interact with older members of the community.”
“One of the things I enjoyed the most about this class was the freedom to feel like I was in charge of my client training sessions, and the responsibility of thinking on my feet any time an unexpected situation came up.”
Why Students Enjoyed the Program
“[Our client] was always energetic and laughing, even when it was dreary out or they felt tired. It was great to work with someone so determined and light-hearted, which are two traits we should all strive to have."
“I enjoyed being able to spend time hearing about some of the stories my client shared while doing our sessions because I could see we were impacting her mentally and physically.”
Impact on Student Career Paths
“I wasn’t completely sure I wanted to work in health until I had the opportunity. I got valuable experiences in communicating and working with clients that a class setting would not have taught me.”
“This experience definitely influenced my choice in having a more open option to work with older patients instead of younger population exclusively.”
Students training with the snap boards prior to their client visits.
Previous Clients Have Said:
“The kids [students] were the best part!”
“Well, one thing about this program is I didn't expect to laugh so much, laughing makes everything better."
“We did all this fun stuff and I actually tried everything. I was terrible at some of it, but got better!”
“The students were a joy to be with and very professional. Overall, a great experience for me."
"Without using the assessments as a measure of improvement, I was able to do more things around the house and also more self-care such as giving myself a manicure, which I hadn’t been able to do in months."
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