Kids and Seniors Interact in Age to Age Program

Fifth graders and older adults are paired together as "buddies" in an innovative program coordinated by Mennonite College of Nursing at Illinois State University (MCN), McLean County Unit District 5, and Evergreen Village Supportive Living. The Age to Age program gives school-age children and older adults a chance to interact and gives nursing students a unique perspective on caring for aging adults.

Mary Cranston, a nursing instructor at MCN, and Deb Foster, a fifth grade teacher at Prairieland Elementary School in Normal, plan bi-weekly activities for 22 pairs of "buddies", each consisting of a fifth grader and a resident from Evergreen Village Supportive Living.  Janette Jones, Activity Director at Evergreen Village, began recruiting interested residents when the program began last September.

Cranston's undergraduate nursing students from MCN promote the intergenerational interactions. The final farewells will be said, some tearfully, after the last visit at the Evergreen Village Supportive Living Community, 1701 Evergreen Blvd in Normal on Monday, April 27 at 2:00 p.m.  A number of the students, however, say they plan to visit or write to their buddies, even after moving on to junior high.

Age to Age was created to increase interest in caring for aging adults. "I see fifth graders intently listening to stories of the past. There is a sense of energy in the room as buddies both young and old share.  Faces are animated and leaving always comes too soon," Foster said.

The program was coordinated through the Partners in Nursing of Central Illinois (PIN). PIN is funded through a grant to the Illinois Prairie Community Foundation by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Northwest Health Foundation, and is administered by Kelli Hill at Mennonite College of Nursing at Illinois State University. "It is difficult to tell which generation enjoys the visits the most," Hill said.