January 18th, 2012
The vast majority of seniors live independently in their own housing. They may live with their spouse, partner or friend, but are still on their own. It is not uncommon for their families to be living in a different city or even country. Sometimes circumstances are such that seniors can end up quite isolated from others in their community. Even communication with neighbours can be rare.
Seniors are living longer in most parts of the developed world. As they age, many are left without a network of friends and neighbours. Isolation can lead to depression, malnutrition, elder abuse or even suicide. If you are aware of the signs and symptoms suggesting a senior may be at risk then you can seek out assistance for them. Here are a few of the warning signs that a senior may be in need of help.
- They start showing signs of decreased mobility. Have trouble getting around.
- Changes in personality. For example, a normally friendly neighbour starts shouting or swearing a lot or shows a great deal of suspicion around regular neighbourhood events.
- The appearance of the home changes. There could be excessive garbage around, the snow is not shovelled or the grass not cut or repairs are not done.
- They start expressing fears, have frequent injuries, bruises or untreated wounds.
- They start speaking about having no hope or wanting to die.
Larry
drlarrymcconnell@gmail.com
Kindergarten in a retirement home proves a hit with young and old
Kate Hammer......Education Reporter
Globe and Mail Published
The sun-drenched common room at the south end of Columbia Garden Village retirement home in Invermere, B.C., is quiet most days. The shuffle of slippers on linoleum, the clink of a coffee mug in the sink, or the click of knitting needles are often the only sounds.
But every Tuesday and Friday, 18 kindergartners from Eileen Madson Primary School arrive in a yellow school bus and take over, turning the home’s common room into a classroom, and the home's residents into active participants. The kindergartners go about their lessons, crafts and play time surrounded by the seniors who live there. Some elders watch from the sidelines, others roll up their sleeves and build block towers or indulge in a reading of a Scooby-Doo storybook.
It's enough to draw Kay Maras out of her room every week. She makes the 50-metre trip down the carpeted hallway and parks her walker by the door, then watches as the children pour in with their rainbow-coloured ski jackets and Tinkerbell lunch boxes.
It took months of physical therapy for her to build up enough strength in her 84-year-old legs for the walk. She sometimes helps the kids with reading, writing and art projects, and being needed is good motivation.
"You wouldn’t think the children would want to spend the time with us, but they do,” Ms. Maras said one recent morning, after reviewing the letter ‘i’ with five-year-old Kayla Wolfenden.
With fewer children growing up with a grandparent in the home, emerging research suggests they are missing out on rich learning opportunities. The Invermere collaboration is the brainchild of Rocky Mountain School District’s superintendent, Paul Carriere, and his wife, Barbara, a kindergarten teacher.
The Carrieres were sitting on the dock at their family cottage on the Sunshine Coast in the summer of 2010, when Barbara read about a kindergarten classroom located in a seniors home in Oklahoma. The program had seen the children’s reading improve while medication rates among the seniors had declined.
Bobbing together on the waters of Powell Lake, the Carrieres decided this was something they should bring to Invermere. In their small mountain community of 4,000, Columbia Gardens was one of just two retirement homes, and it serves a relatively independent population of seniors. Administrators there embraced the idea, and after two conference calls to the ministries of health and education, the Carrieres had the go-ahead.
They had an open house for parents and seniors that December, and the program has been up and running since January of 2011.
Even on their first day in the home, the children seemed naturally drawn to the elders. There’s a symmetry between them, each in life stages that leave them a little vulnerable.
As learning partners they’re a good match. Reading, for instance, is a skill often preserved long after age has eroded other mental faculties. And Barbara Carriere says the seniors make for patient teachers, and the children are at ease around them. “They’re just completely accepting of each other,” she said. “It makes for a million magic moments.”
The concept of intergenerational learning is winning a small following. In Toronto, at the Baycrest retirement home, seniors act as consultants for a high-school philosophy class by talking about death and aging. In Cleveland, a charter elementary school has seen benefits for inner-city students who collaborate with adults of different ages. And in Jenks, Okla. – the Carrieres’ inspiration – a kindergarten classroom relocated full-time to a retirement home has boosted students’ standardized test scores in reading, lowered medication rates and improved reported quality of life among its residents.
The Invermere initiative is believed to be the only one of its kind in Canada.
Globe and Mail Published
The sun-drenched common room at the south end of Columbia Garden Village retirement home in Invermere, B.C., is quiet most days. The shuffle of slippers on linoleum, the clink of a coffee mug in the sink, or the click of knitting needles are often the only sounds.
But every Tuesday and Friday, 18 kindergartners from Eileen Madson Primary School arrive in a yellow school bus and take over, turning the home’s common room into a classroom, and the home's residents into active participants. The kindergartners go about their lessons, crafts and play time surrounded by the seniors who live there. Some elders watch from the sidelines, others roll up their sleeves and build block towers or indulge in a reading of a Scooby-Doo storybook.
It's enough to draw Kay Maras out of her room every week. She makes the 50-metre trip down the carpeted hallway and parks her walker by the door, then watches as the children pour in with their rainbow-coloured ski jackets and Tinkerbell lunch boxes.
It took months of physical therapy for her to build up enough strength in her 84-year-old legs for the walk. She sometimes helps the kids with reading, writing and art projects, and being needed is good motivation.
"You wouldn’t think the children would want to spend the time with us, but they do,” Ms. Maras said one recent morning, after reviewing the letter ‘i’ with five-year-old Kayla Wolfenden.
With fewer children growing up with a grandparent in the home, emerging research suggests they are missing out on rich learning opportunities. The Invermere collaboration is the brainchild of Rocky Mountain School District’s superintendent, Paul Carriere, and his wife, Barbara, a kindergarten teacher.
The Carrieres were sitting on the dock at their family cottage on the Sunshine Coast in the summer of 2010, when Barbara read about a kindergarten classroom located in a seniors home in Oklahoma. The program had seen the children’s reading improve while medication rates among the seniors had declined.
Bobbing together on the waters of Powell Lake, the Carrieres decided this was something they should bring to Invermere. In their small mountain community of 4,000, Columbia Gardens was one of just two retirement homes, and it serves a relatively independent population of seniors. Administrators there embraced the idea, and after two conference calls to the ministries of health and education, the Carrieres had the go-ahead.
They had an open house for parents and seniors that December, and the program has been up and running since January of 2011.
Even on their first day in the home, the children seemed naturally drawn to the elders. There’s a symmetry between them, each in life stages that leave them a little vulnerable.
As learning partners they’re a good match. Reading, for instance, is a skill often preserved long after age has eroded other mental faculties. And Barbara Carriere says the seniors make for patient teachers, and the children are at ease around them. “They’re just completely accepting of each other,” she said. “It makes for a million magic moments.”
The concept of intergenerational learning is winning a small following. In Toronto, at the Baycrest retirement home, seniors act as consultants for a high-school philosophy class by talking about death and aging. In Cleveland, a charter elementary school has seen benefits for inner-city students who collaborate with adults of different ages. And in Jenks, Okla. – the Carrieres’ inspiration – a kindergarten classroom relocated full-time to a retirement home has boosted students’ standardized test scores in reading, lowered medication rates and improved reported quality of life among its residents.
The Invermere initiative is believed to be the only one of its kind in Canada.
No comments:
Post a Comment