Nursing home, preschool combine for beautiful friendships
SEATTLE -- How many senior citizens can say they have friends that are preschool age? At a nursing home in West Seattle, visits from young friends are a part of everyday life.
Within the Providence Mount St. Vincent nursing home is the Intergenerational Learning Center, a school for young children. There, the 400 elderly residents spend their days laughing and learning together with the kids.
Evan Briggs, who is creating a film about the center, told ABC News that parents of the students send their kids there because of the teachers' reputation, and because of the mutually beneficial relationship between young and old.
"One father told me that he especially sees it now that his own parents are aging," she said.
Briggs' film, called Present Perfect, explores the experience of aging, specifically at this nursing home, and captures the way the students and residents interact. She said a good example of how patient they can be with each other was when a little boy named Max had to repeat his name to a man who was hard of hearing.
"That scene actually went on far longer than what you see in the trailer," she explained. "But Max was just so patient, he just kept repeating his name over and over."
A Kickstarter to fund the editing of Briggs' project is nearly done. She said if and when the film comes to fruition, she hopes it will start a conversation about aging in America.
One of the most profound ways to see the benefit of the center, Briggs said, is to watch the seniors light up when their young friends file in the room.
"Moments before the kids came in, sometimes the people seemed half alive, sometimes asleep. It was a depressing scene," she described. "As soon as the kids walked in for art or music or making sandwiches for the homeless or whatever the project that day was, the residents came alive."
