Issuu

June 2024

the active age

Page 21

Sharing life stories with Shockers a rewarding experience By Al Higdon Many senior residents of southcentral Kansas have the opportunity to be in the lives of their grandchildren, but many others do not. And this is also true of many 20-somethings, some of whom don’t have a chance to interact much with older adults. Three years ago, Jacie Green sought a way to change that. Green is director of graduate programs and associate educator in the department of public health sciences at Wichita State’s college of health professions. Working with senior living communities Catholic Care Center and Larksfield Place, she created a freshman course at WSU called Connecting Generations: Sharing Life Stories with Shockers. The third interaction of these two divergent age groups was completed in May at Larksfield, and I was fortunate to be one among 10 residents to participate, along with more than 20 WSU students. With Jacie as our constant “den mother,” two or three WSU freshmen were paired with one Larksfield resident, meeting one or two times each week, generally on the Larksfield campus, over a two-month period. At these one-hour sessions, students — always meeting with the same resident — asked an extensive series of

questions about the resident’s parents, early childhood, schooling, career path, family life, travel experiences, observations and thoughts on life and more. Ours responses were recorded on tablets using technology known as the Life Bio Memory App (quite a new experience for most Larksfieldians), then converted digitally to hard copy printouts of what had been each resident’s responses. Ultimately, the response went into soft cover books telling each resident’s life story as well as large illustrated banners that Jacie created and had printed for residents. WSU and Larksfield are the first university and senior resident community to collaborate using the Life Bio Memory App for such a program. To a person, my fellow residents and I found these sessions with our new young friends to be highly rewarding. And apparently this feeling was reciprocated by the students. One told Jacie: “I am so happy with how this project went. I never thought a Connecting Generations class would have such an impact on my life.” Another said: “This experience highlights the significance of intergenerational interaction, showing

Al Higdon, center, enjoyed getting to know Wichita States students Rashad West, left, and Jaden Jenkins. a potential for mutual enrichment and “Having grown up close to my grandparents, it’s a personal passion of understanding.” WSU will seek to expand this mine to connect younger generations intergenerational experience with other with older generations, so we can break area independent living senior centers. down barriers that stereotypes have built,” Jacie said. Additionally, Jacie and her colleagues As a recent “graduate,” I can attest are looking into expanding the project this program does just that. beyond freshmen seminar, taking the Al Higdon is a member of The program to assisted living and heath Active Age’s board of directors. He can be care centers with clinical students reached at akhigdon@yahoo.com. collecting life stories.

Steve Conway Realtor, ePro, C2 X

sconway@weigand.com 316-641-1166

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