The average age difference between the Barrhead Continuing Care Centre (W.R. Keir) residents and the students in Dale Erickson’s and Brent Wierenga’s Barrhead Elementary School’s (BES) Grade 6 classes is about 70 years, but when the participants of the Intergenerational Program get together, the gap doesn’t seem as large.
The Intergenerational Program is an initiative, which was started back in 2003, by Bill Knudsen, recreational therapist and recreation director for the Continuing Care Centre.
It is based on a similar program Knudsen was involved in as a young student in Regina, Sask.
He said his school would go to extended and acute care homes and visit residents during special occasions, such as Christmas, Easter or Halloween.
“We’d sing a few songs, shake a few hands and leave,” Knudsen said, adding while the experience was good, he knew it wasn’t as rewarding as it could be.
“By just going for an hour or two, two or three times a year, you really don’t have a chance to build any meaningful relationships.”
That is why he decided to see if there was a way the program he remembered in his youth could be expanded.
The Intergenerational Program is run by Continuing Care Centre’s recreational therapy department with the help of BES and the Grade 6 teachers.
“You really have to have the right teachers to be able to make this work. It is a real process and the teachers and staff at the care centre have to work well together,” Knudsen said, adding the five or six teachers involved have been wonderful, making a special point to single out Margie Smith (who now teaches Grade 3). “She was really instrumental in making sure the program got off to the right start.
Currently Erickson and Wierenga’s Grade 6 students are the two classes participating in the Intergenerational Program.
Each Grade 6 student in the program is paired with a a buddy from the Care Centre, but before that happens Knudsen visits the school and talks to the class. The participating classes then visit the Continuing Care Centre and are given an orientation tour of the facility.
The teachers and Care Centre staff then meet to decide which students and residents would be the best buddy pairings. Those pairings will last throughout the year.
“There really are a lot of things you have to consider when pairing buddies. Not only are there personality issues of both the student and resident, but their physical limitations as well,” Knudsen said, giving the examples of residents with hearing, sight and mobility issues. “Often they are easy to overcome, often we might have to make sure a resident’s buddy always sits on a certain side, but it is something that you have to consider.”
Erickson agreed, saying the teachers have to make the same considerations with their students.
“Each student has their strong and weak points and you have to consider them when you are matching the buddies,” he said, adding he has often found the students who present more of a challenge behaviorally often make the best buddies and benefit the most from the program.
Wierenga said often students enter the program a little apprehensive, but it doesn’t take long before they are comfortable.
Each of the classes takes turns visiting the care centre with each class going on average twice a month, depending on the school schedule.
Most sessions are about an hour long and activities range from crafts, which the students usually bring with them to physical activities.
“Mrs. Sloat (a program assistant in both Erickson and Wierenga’s classes) is really good at coming up with crafts everyone can do together,” both Erickson and Wierenga said.
The staff at the centre also come up with activities that the students and residents can do together, such as volleyball and floor hockey adapted for people with physical limitations. For example, for volleyball they might use a balloon instead of a ball. Or in floor hockey everyone has to be seated.
Sloat said the students quickly learn to adapt so that everyone is able to have a good time.
“They become very sensitive and aware of the needs of the residents and adapt their behaviours and are quite gentle with the residents, hitting them the ball (balloon) very lightly,” she said, agreeing it is often the students who have extreme behaviors who are the best at interacting with the residents.
However, because it is a care home and its residents have an assortment of medical problems, there are challenges that the student buddies have to adapt that are not as easy as just sitting on a certain side.
One of the most difficult is dealing with patients who are suffering from various forms of dementia.
“We talk to the students a lot about dementia before and during the program and it is wonderful to see how empathetic they are and how they are able to positively interact with the residents.” Knudsen said.
Wierenga agreed. “There are times when the resident gets confused and thinks the student is their granddaughter or someone from their childhood and they just want to hold the kid’s hand. And they do it, without panicking. They are able to realize how important that moment is to the resident and they just do it.”
The other issue students may encounter, is that due to the age of the residents, they may have to deal with the death of their buddy.
“Death is a hard thing to deal with at any age.” Sloat said, adding when it happens the staff talks to the student. “We have a discussion about what happened and just let them react, whatever reaction that might be.”
Knudsen added from his observation, the students are wonderful at supporting each other during these types of events.
Erickson agreed. “It is a life experience. One that they are able to learn from in a supportive place, where they have their friends and teachers to help them though.”
He added he is honoured that his class is able to take part in a program such as this.
“It’s such a unique program, there’s just not another opportunity for students at this age to be in interact with other community members like this on a one to one basis,” Erickson said. “The social and communication skills that the students learn in a real life situation are just huge,” Erickson said.
