Category: Intergenerational Initiatives

Intergenerational Concert a Delight!

Contributed by Julia Freeman

Musicians-in-residence from the University of Maryland, Natalie Groom and Ieseul Yoen, organized a “Resident Collaboration Concert” in the Collington Auditorium performing to a full house. The work put in by both the residents and students showed in the performances for which the audience gave enthusiastic approval.

 

Performances are pictured:

  • Mary McCutchan, flute, Ieseul Yoen, piano;
  • H.D. Kim, Voice, Iseul Yoen, piano (Korean songs);
  • Mary McCutchan and Ieseul Yoen, piano;
  • Ieseul Yoen, piano, Natalie Groom, clarinet, Sheri Feldman, soprano, (University of Maryland) performing songs written by Ann Bauer, resident;
  • Ann Bauer explaining the context of her compositions;
  • Don Zelman and Natalie Groom, clarinet (Mozart Basset Horn Duets);
  • Micky Noble, piano, Natalie Groom, clarinet, Polkas – with Helen Swensen and then Helen and Ed Robbins dancing.

What fun!  Thank you Ieseul and Natalie!

Moving Modern Geriatrics to Take Advantage of Nurse, Family and Patient Intuitions

As our strategic plan moves forward in the health area, we are given a useful reminder in the New York Times of the value of instinct in alerting people to potential medical crises.  The Times article focus on the instincts of nurses, and is fascinating.  I have done a blog that asks if we can also take value from the intuitions of the family and the patient themselves

I suspect that we could “train” patients and families to be much more mindful about patient monitoring, including how to trust their instincts and how to communicate their feelings to the medical personal.  This, of course, should be accompanied by training of medical staff on how to take the most advantage of, and how to solicit such communications.  It is not hard to construct model ways of doing so.

I suspect that when things work, that is very much happening in our long term care facility already.  Nurses and care staff know the patients, and communicate with them regularly.  It makes such sense to empower them to raise their concerns, to train and encourage family and resident to do so too, and finally to ensure that all medical personnel not only listen to, but affirmatively seek such help as part of an inclusive team.

I am sure that this will fit in well with our general themes of community cultural change and inter-generational initiatives, as well as the specifics of modern geriatric medicine.

 

 

Our Intergenerational Music Program Featured as National Cutting Edge. Newspaper and TV

Collington is now the Poster Child for Intergenerational programs!

Samantha Flores and Collington are the featured story (with photo of our auditorium) in The New York Times reporing on a newly issued report on inter generation initiatives for seniors.  The story begins.

When Samantha Flores wasn’t taking classes at the University of Maryland for her master’s degree in cello performance this past academic year, she could often be found hanging out with a bunch of 80-somethings. Ms. Flores, 28, along with another music student, was participating in a new artists-in-residence program at Collington, a nonprofit retirement community in Mitchellville, Md.

As the article reported:

Marilyn Haskel, a 72-year-old resident of Collington involved in selecting the students, said the young people often invited fellow music students to practice on the grounds, resulting in pop-up concerts. With no family nearby, Ms. Haskel said, “it was delightful for me to sit down and have conversations about their careers and what they’re planning.”

When residents learned that Ms. Flores didn’t have a car, they often drove her to campus. Ms. Flores struck up close friendships with many of the residents, including one she met in September who had recently been given a brain cancer diagnosis.

“We bonded over Bach,” she said, engaging in lengthy conversations about him. When the man died in February, Ms. Flores played a piece he had requested at his funeral: Bach’s “Sarabande: Suite for Solo Cello No. 5 in C Minor.”

“I promised I wouldn’t cry, but you can’t help that,” she said. “It was a very emotional moment.”

The trigger for the article is a new report from Generations United and the Eisner Foundation survey of 180 intergenerational programs.

That report itself cites a Harris Poll that found:

[P]lenty of support for programs that bring diverse age groups together to fend off loneliness. Ninety-two percent of Americans believe intergenerational activities can help reduce loneliness across all ages.

Moreover,

A strong majority of Americans (94 percent) agree that older people have skills or talents that can help address a child’s/youth’s needs and 89 percent believe the same about children and youth addressing the needs of elders. More than four in ve Americans also say if they (85 percent) or a loved one (86 percent) needed care services, they would prefer a care setting with opportunities for intergenerational contact rather than one with a single age group. Americans were also clear that age segregation is harmful, finding that almost three quarters (74 percent) agree that “programs and facilities that separately serve different age groups prevent children/youth and older adults from benefitting from each other’s skills and talents.

Given all that is now happening in this field, way beyond music, we will need to keep innovatintg to stay in the lead — another major task for our strategic planning process.  Indeed, onsite child care was an idea that came up frequently in the process.

P.S.  One little thing I would like the photo committee to do is take on making a set of before and after photos of our residents, showing the huge impact grandchildren visits have on us.

P.P.S.  The TV version is on WJLA, here.