07/15/2007

Record-Eagle/Tyler Sipe
Jane Thomas, of Northport, giggles after lightly touching the head of 6-week-old Irena Briggs, of Traverse City, at Tendercare Health Center in Suttons Bay.

Young and Young at Heart

Children's visits bring generations together in nursing homes

By
Record-Eagle staff writer

Record-Eagle/Tyler Sipe
8-year-old Grace Haynes of Suttons Bay hugs Jane Thomas, left, and Pert Thomas, both of Northport.

SUTTONS BAY — Jane Thomas chuckled as she watched a group of children volleying around a bag filled with red, white and blue balloons.

"I could watch it all day,” said Thomas, 88. She reached back to hit the bag back into the center of the lobby of Tendercare Health Center of Leelanau. She was one of about 25 "grandmas and grandpas” sitting around the center of the lobby as the children took part in a "creative movement” class, an activity that brings together children — mostly from infancy to 5 years — and those who live there.

More than the movement, the class is about lifting the spirits of the mostly senior citizens who live in the nursing home. Professionals here and at other programs say visits from children are effective tools in helping battle depression and raising the quality of life for such residents.

"They're just so young and full of fun and they all come and talk to me,” Thomas said. "It makes our day, I'll tell you.”

Alison Manning, a former preschool teacher, coordinates the class once a month in conjunction with the Parenting Communities program. The theme this month was patriotism. Kat Brown led the activities as the children jumped, somersaulted and played to recordings of "Stars and Stripes Forever” and other marches. The nursing home clients clapped, sang and watched.

Just about every "grandma and grandpa” had a big smile.

"Residents have said, 'I don't remember being this happy,'” Manning said. "It's so sweet. They just light up when those little ones come in and raise a ruckus and stir things up.”

Penny Maleski, activities director at the home, said she's also seen it lift the residents' spirits.

"There are some who seek out the children when they're in the building,” she said. "They ask me when the kids are going to be around.”

The program fits in with the organization's philosophy of care, which looks at loneliness, helplessness and boredom and how to combat them.

"We try to include children, pets and plants in their daily lives so they can give back rather than always receiving care,” Maleski said.

When high school students came to do a history project that involved interviewing clients, one woman talked about it for days with her family, Maleski said.

"The family was just delighted because mom was not normally that spontaneous with conversation,” she said.

Other nursing homes have programs that mix the generations for similar reasons.

Josie Rousseau, activities director for Bortz Health Care in Traverse City, said church youth groups and similar organizations stop by several times a year for crafts, singing or for the young visitors to ask questions about the lives of their older friends.

"When I can get kids' groups in here, I can get people out of their rooms that won't come out for anything else,” she said. "It works kind of the same with pets, but you get a longer interest I think with children.”

Volunteer groups come in to visit the people at Cherry Hill Haven on occasion, but registered nurse Keri Wangler wishes it was more regular. Some visitors are high school students who volunteer as part of a class.

"They love to have kids come in,” she said. "I think it spurs a happy memory for them.”

Nancy Schmidt, who manages child care services at Grand Traverse Pavilions in Traverse City, has seen the presence of children through an on-site day-care center as a benefit.

One man diagnosed with dementia was barely communicating with anyone until he was given a baby girl to hold and opened right up.

"He was singing her a lullaby,” Schmidt said.

It also helps the children learn social skills as they join the residents in crafts, games, outings and other activities.

"They learn to not be afraid of wheelchairs and walkers,” Schmidt said.

Manning started the Tendercare program after the nursing home opened in September. It started with holiday activities last year. Children visited to spruce up the digs for Halloween, and later came to decorate Christmas cookies with the residents.

The class has been going for about five months now.

"Creative movement just kind of came to me,” Manning said. "My mission was to bring the kids back as often as I could.”

That's a good thing for Priscilla "Pert” Thomas, 93.

"They're so cute,” she said. "And they can put up with us old people.”