FOSTERING INTERGENERATIONAL CONNECTIONS AT YOUR COMMUNITY
environment, if you do this at an early age, they might get interested in this as a career fi eld. You are creating a pipeline of future workers,” said Henkin. Finally, it’s worth noting that the kids
themselves benefi t from time spent with old- er adults. University of Florida researchers found that intergenerational experiences can: • Help to alleviate fears children may have of seniors;
• Help children to understand and later accept their own aging; and
• Fill a void for children who do not have grandparents available to them.
Around the nation, senior living providers have in recent years begun to experiment with social and educational opportuni- ties that span a wide demographic range. There are of course the traditional multi- generational eff orts: The kids come in to sing a song; veterans tell their stories. But some communities have dug deeper, seeking out creative new ways to go beyond one-off events and to encourage seniors and kids to build long-lasting relationships.
Classroom bonds Mather LifeWays teamed with Loyola Uni- versity Chicago School of Social Work pro- fessor Marcia Spira to develop Aged to Per- fection, a course on aging with older adults serving as instructors. Nine residents took part in the spring 2018 program, talking about stereotypes, life transitions, spiritual- ity, and other topics.
Loyola University Chicago School of Social Work student Genna Power working with Peggy Cusick, a resident of The Mather in Evanston, during the Aged to Perfection program. Photo credit: Mather LifeWays.
of contact, a very diff erent interaction, outside of the usual family dynamics.” To make the experience successful, Spira
worked with students in advance to tailor their expectations and help shape the en- counters. “She played a really instrumental role in facilitating these discussions. Given the sensitive nature of these topics, the per- sonal nature of the stories that were shared,
“It’s the ultimate community integration opportunity. It’s a chance to get people in the community to really understand what your operation is all about, a chance to tell your story to a wider audience,” said James Fuccione, senior director of the Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative.
“We wanted to capitalize on the residents’
own life experience,” Nicholson said. “With the residents being actively involved in the de- sign and content of the course, it honors the expertise that comes from lived life experience. And it’s an opportunity for the older adults to connect to a diff erent population. The resi- dents told us that most of their contact with younger people was through family members, and so this course off ered a very diff erent type
18 SENIOR LIVING EXECUTIVE JULY/AUGUST 2018
it’s important to have someone lay the groundwork around respect and consider- ation, that what is said in the classroom stays in the classroom. When you are beginning a program like this, it’s important to establish the ground rules in order to create the right sort of environment,” Nicholson said. Watermark Retirement Communities
has followed a similar course, albeit with a younger crowd, pairing residents from
its Rosewood Gardens community with teams of students from nearby Livermore High School in a program known as Seniors Helping Seniors. “We’ve had church groups and other ac- tivities with younger kids, but there is not a lot of real interaction. We wanted to do something where they would have a deeper chance to interact with one another,” said Stephanie Goodyear, community life director and associate executive director. “We wanted them to learn from the seniors, specifi cally in answer to one question: What gets more diffi cult as you get older? Then the students would get together to come up with an inven- tion that would make life a little better.” Students met multiple times with their se-
niors and developed some ingenious ideas. Residents kept losing the iPod Shuffl e devices used in their music and memory program, so the students used a 3D printer to create attractive wearable cases. “One resident wanted to wash her own second-story win- dow and the group invented a device with a squeegee on the outside and a magnet, so that person can now wash their window from the inside,” Goodyear said. Another team de- veloped a portable arm rest to help residents get up off of comfy couches. Residents get more than clever new tools: They get a chance to be heard. “These are
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