The scene is a nursing home where elderly residents--some of whom are occasionally confused, depressed and difficult--interact with a caring, but overworked, staff. While resisting her medication and scratching a nurse's face during a confrontation, one of the residents fractures her wrist. The incident is viewed from the points of view of the patient, her family, the nurse, other staff members, administrators and an investigator.

The centerpiece of a program to educate workers in health-care centers nationwide, At the End of the Day is the creation of a trio of independent film producers--Sally Bartoshesky Rusk, AS '79, Laura Raybourn, AS '83, and Laura Papanicholas, AS '93.

The film won a prestigious CINE Golden Eagle Award, presented for excellence in the craft of video/film production, during a ceremony held recently at the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C.

Made for the Center for Advocacy for the Rights and Interests of the Elderly (CARIE), the film demonstrates that there are no cut-and-dried answers to what constitutes elder abuse. The resident, who was depressed and angry, did not complain of pain until the next morning; the nurse, a compassionate woman, who would never knowingly injure anyone, was highly thought of by her peers; the next shift of workers was not formally informed, as the accident was not documented in writing; the family was upset and irate and blamed the nursing home.

At the End of the Day is used as a springboard for discussion as to what went wrong and how things could have been handled differently.

Producing a video is a multifaceted project--working with the client, writing the script, auditioning actors from teens to seniors from the Temple University Center for Intergenerational Learning, finding the right background locations, hiring camera operators, directing the film and later, editing it. Rusk and Raybourn did it all.

Needing assistance with the production, they hired Papanicholas, who had majored in English with a film concentration while at UD. After working with Chelsea Television Studios on the Maury Povich Show and the Jon Stewart Show, Papanicholas relocated to Philadelphia and founded her own company, Deleria Productions, named after her father's hometown in Greece.

"The three of us worked well together--maybe it was our University of Delaware tie. We were on a budget, and time is money, so when we disagreed on something, we would adjourn to the ladies' room and iron out our differences quickly," Raybourn recalls.

The result of their hard work is a film that is "making a difference to improve the life of elderly persons in nursing homes," Rusk says.

Rusk and Raybourn both learned about filmmaking during UD's Winter Session television program class. Run by students under the tutelage of the late Walter Rykiel, the program gave the students hands-on experience in television--producing quality shows, broadcasting the news, scheduling, meeting deadlines, negotiating, writing and acquiring a technical background.

After graduation, Rusk, a communication major who had interned with the DuPont Co., worked there for 12 years as a writer/producer and director of training and marketing programs. Recently, she returned to UD to become certified in education, and she now teaches communication arts at Cab Calloway School of the Arts, while continuing to produce films.

Raybourn, who also majored in communication, became a stringer for ABC-TV's Channel 6 news in Philadelphia. "I learned about TV from the bottom up, lugging equipment and watching the cameramen and commentators in action. When I married my husband, Bill, and moved to rural Pennsylvania, I thought my days in filmmaking were over, but I then became involved in a fund-raiser film for a domestic violence shelter," she says.

At that time, Rusk was producing a film for mammography technicians for DuPont, and she turned to Raybourn for assistance. This was the duo's first collaboration, and they later formed Raybourn Rusk independent filmmakers.

"The films we have produced make a difference and address issues in society that are important to us," Rusk says. In addition to the mammography film, the domestic violence film and At the End of the Day, the duo has produced another film, titled Recognizing Emotions in Persons with Dementia for the Polisher Institute and the Alzheimer's Association.

"At the End of the Day and other films we have made are designed to deliver a message to viewers," Rusk and Raybourn say. "Persons working in institutions or health-care centers sometimes feel unappreciated. We want people to understand the importance of their work in caring for others and the importance of doing it well and with compassion."