After plans for pre-schoolers to visit a HammondCare aged care home were shelved because of Covid, the children and the residents living with dementia have finally met for the first time.
A contingent of 12 children from Macquarie Hills Community Preschool in the Hunter region of New South Wales made the inaugural visit to HammondCare Cardiff along with educators and a parent helper on Thursday 30 March.
Residents and youngsters enjoyed a morning of singalongs, a handover of paintings, and some morning tea. The children also brought along their tapping sticks and showed their new older friends the MHCPS Acknowledgement of Awabakal Country.
MHCPS director Sue Collinson said she hoped the intergenerational experience between the pre-schoolers and the residents would provide opportunities for meaningful relationships to develop between the two demographics.
“The pleasure and excitement that occurs with communicating one generation to another will create wonderful encounters,” Ms Collinson said. “It’s about the children developing understanding of community. It’s a wonderful opportunity to venture out into our local area in a meaningful way.”
The school hopes to take groups of children to meet HammondCare Cardiff residents twice each term.
The visits by the children will help boost residents’ wellbeing and their overall quality of life, said HammondCare Cardiff residential manager Laiju Benny.
“The residents do enjoy having children around and it lifts their feeling of happiness,” said Ms Benny. “They see the innocence, happiness and laughter and it brings joy into their lives.”
Under normal circumstances, children are not often seen around the village – which opened in 2019 and is home to up to 99 residents living with dementia – as the family visits tend to involve residents’ adult children.
When it was time for the children to go, resident Roslyn Quinlan thanked the children for coming. “You have brought so much happiness to us all,” she said.
Professor Susan Kurrle, HammondCare senior principal research fellow, practising geriatrician, and expert advisor for the ABC documentary series Old People’s Home for 4-Year-Olds, said both the pre-schoolers and the Cardiff residents would experience benefit.
“It’s just so wonderful to see intergenerational programs like this being put into practice,” said Professor Kurrle. “It’s exactly what we need to see more of.”
Main image: HammondCare Cardiff residents with Macquarie Hills Community Preschool children and staff
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