More than kid stuff.

Intergenerational activities provide vitality for young and old

They don't stop at Scout troop songfests, "Adopt-A-Grandparent" programs, and preschooler visits. Some long term care facilities successfully integrate generations through onsite programs including daycare, afterschool programs, and high school classes. Others encourage older volunteers (young professionals and families), expanding the "intergenerational" concept to include all generations, not just the extremes.

It takes more than child's play to implement successful programs, but the benefits are substantial.

For elders, interacting with young children, or observing them, offers a lost pleasure, entertaining diversion, and excuse to participate in activities that might seem otherwise childish. Teenagers' vitality--and the presence of young men--can energize activities from public service projects to Senior Proms. Guiding and nurturing younger generations also reaffirms elders' sense of self-worth, purpose, and ability to influence the community and the future.

Benefits may go further, children not only blossom with individual attention; they learn about aging, illness, and long term care. That can pay off personally and publicly.

"We need their votes," says Robyn McBroom, intergenerational coordinator for Lifelink, a Bensenville, Ill., health and human services organization including multilevel housing and a nursing facility. "Most children today are isolated from aging and the need for care."

Fort Collins, Colo-based freelancer Wendy L. Bonifazi is a regular contributor to CLTC.

Lifelink, founded as an "orphanage and old folks' home" in 1895, officially formed its intergenerational program in 1990. The 115 residents in "Generations Growing Together" participate in on-campus Head Start classes for preschoolers, and three foster-care programs for children 6 to 20. The latter options: meeting twice monthly for homework, crafts, and activities; "Spirit of Generations," exploring African-American heritage; and mentoring young or troubled parents.

"Residents feel part of their life's mission is helping children and communities," say McBroom. "They really believe it takes a village to raise a child."

Doing daycare

Berthoud (colo.) Living center's onsite child daycare helps provide more consistent resident care. "We have one of the lowest turnover rates in the company [Mariner Post-Acute Network], and unlike other area facilities, we don't need pool staff," says Grankids Director Aimee Wakefield. Employees get priority, paying $12 daily (half to one-third of local fees). Free childcare is provided for inservices and employees called in on days off.

To avoid disrupting residents, children's meals are served between two resident seatings, slightly overlapping both groups. Staff noticed that residents with dementia who normally resist meals and medications willingly consume both when eating with children.

The two groups mix for several daily activities. Residents also visit the daycare center; a 104-year-old former teacher led classes. And staff members sometimes bring residents with behavioral problems to the daycare center for its calming effect.

Children learn other lessons. After a resident's leg amputation, staff brought a doll with a prosthesis and explained differences in appearance and abilities. During circle time, one child told playmates about visiting her grandmother (a resident), and her subsequent illness and death. (Nearly a dozen grandparents moved to BLC after their grandchildren entered its daycare.) Chase Memorial Nursing Home, New Berlin, N.Y., is celebrating the tenth anniversary of its daycare and afterschool programs, implemented before it originated the Eden Alternative.

"Residents who don't respond to families, activities, and other stimuli often come alive from children's excitement and exuberance," says administrator Roger Halbert. "Residents often can't identify what they're missing or longing for, and facilities forget that if you rarely get out, you don't come into contact with children."

Even cognitively impaired residents usually remember how to hold and rock a baby, and they have frequent opportunities. No parents refuse consent. Chase accepts babies as young as five weeks old.

Chase's intergenerational focus group plans themes and activities. "It's a challenge to plan activities that are age-appropriate for children but not degrading or inappropriate for adults," says Halbert. "Spontaneity is important, but you need direction and planning to be successful."

Joint activities often include indoor and outdoor gardening. A local second grade adopts a pumpkin patch, tending it over the summer, then harvesting, carving, and cooking pumpkins in autumn.

Each local fifth-grader spends two or three full days at Chase, providing assistance and care to residents, plants, and pets. "Animals break the ice between 1 0-year-olds and residents," says Halbert. Some return as volunteers. One year, the entire class volunteered to spend spring break at Chase.

Thursdays at 3

Although many facilities rely on their volunteer programs, community organizations can fill gaps, particularly for religious and cultural needs.

Jewish Family and Children's Services (JFCS) of San Francisco, Peninsula, Mann, and Sonoma counties brings volunteers into long term care facilities through several intergenerational Jewish and non-sectarian programs.

Through its Mitzvah Care program, attorney Ben Douglas, 30, has visited two women in their late 90s weekly for more than three years. The three public radio fans love to discuss politics and current events. To help them overcome hearing problems, Ben often assists with phone calls. And he provides a crucial connection for one woman, who doesn't want friends and family to see her debilitated condition.

"Her entire life is now confined to her room, but I can stimulate her memories, and she can live vicariously through me," says Douglas. "I've married, moved to a new home, and I'm expecting a child. She really likes seeing my wife pregnant. We're young, but we can relate to her as full adults. And I'm safe. She can tell me about 50-year-old family matters without changing family memories."

A shared religion or interest offers a starting point and excuse to visit, says Douglas. "They're over 60 years older," he points out. "We needed something in common."

JFCS' Teens Take Action seventh- and eighth-graders are often preparing for their bar and bat mitzvahs. Through Shabbat Visitors, teens visit Jewish long term care residents to celebrate the Sabbath and holidays. To ease relationships, JFCS links volunteer pairs to elder pairs.

"At first, my husband and I were scared of these two high school boys because we wondered if we could talk that small talk again," says resident Mary Spiro, Coventry Park ALF, San Francisco. "But there was never a gap in our conversation because someone could always pick it up."

Spiro was active in her children's schools and synagogue before her stroke. "I miss that, oh, yes," she says. "These nice boys gave me a way to have that again. My children aren't nearby, and I can't go on outings in my wheelchair. Their visits filled a gap."

Teenagers also enjoy participation. "It's really fun to talk to seniors, especially since often they feel no one else will really listen," says program volunteer Hannah Dreier, 13. "Sometimes we do most of the talking, about ourselves and current stuff. I told one woman about computers and the Internet. Sometimes we act as their connection to the outside."

In Orlando, McCoy Elementary School teacher Meribeth McKean launched an online "Voyagers" program to connect fourth-graders with residents. "It's a great opportunity to expand children's horizons and find common ground with adults," she says. "Seniors can share their wisdom, experience, and living skills. Students can improve communication skills, gain confidence, and establish new friendships."

Pilot participants Ruthie and Sam Boone used their personal computer at The Mayflower Retirement Community to exchange messages with their pen pal, Brad. "It's exciting to see You've Got Mail,"' says Ruthie. "Brad became part of our lives. The Internet made that possible. It opened up a whole new world."

More than magic

Denver-based Rainbow Bridge places more than 80 intergenerational groups from schools, Scouts, churches, and synagogues into more than 80 nursing facilities annually for weekly visits.

"We want communities to look at people in nursing homes," says co-founder and Executive Director Linda Holloway. "They have so much to offer, yet nationally, 67 percent of residents receive just one visit a year."

Holloway is willing to change that, but nursing facilities have to do their share to meet the needs of intergenerational visitors. If they don't, visitors refuse to return--and Holloway sometimes removes them.

Rainbow Bridge trains participants and leaders, and expects facilities to orient and train their staff members, from administrators on down.

"Volunteers who aren't appreciated won't go back," she says. "One disgruntled employee, whether a CNA or DON, can squelch them. Volunteers won't put up with being treated rudely, kept waiting, or sent away because staff members aren't prepared."

Unexpected, unexplained dismissals are a common cause of intergenerational program failure--or, more accurately, facility failure. One Scout troop, turned away at the facility door because of a reported flu epidemic, was stunned and confused when members spotted residents they planned to visit sitting outside. Others are aggravated when they arrive at a facility at a specified time and learn that since the activities staff is unavailable, nobody can transport residents and the scheduled event is canceled.

When visitors arrive seeking specific residents, they may be devastated by news that the resident has moved, been hospitalized, or died. "That discounts the volunteer, and it's a cruel personal affront," says Holloway.

Before visiting, Rainbow Bridge prepares volunteers for sights and conditions they may encounter ("We make it as graphic as possible," says Holloway), and teaches them how to introduce themselves and start conversations with compliments.

Their facility inservices stress four points: a visit's impact on quality of life, the responsibility that all staff members have to transport residents, the necessity of calling ahead to announce schedule or participant changes, and the importance of recognition, from receptionists to administrators.

"Impacts on residents often aren't evident," she says. "You need to tell visitors about residents' responses, and what a difference they make."

Good facilities sponsor closing celebrations, provide tangible recognition letters or certificates, and invite volunteers, not just leaders, to recognition events. "It's pure magic," says Holloway. "Get kids started right, and they keep coming back."