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By Faye Lessans, Justice and Legal Thought Scholar
The Adopt-a-Grandfriend program will provide residents with companionship in order to reduce social isolation through pairing up residents with young adults who will visit them on a weekly basis throughout the semester.
My service-learning project is very important to addressing ageism in our society, as well as the feelings of isolation that nursing home residents might face as a result of psychological issues, socio-economic issues, and technological issues. On a psychological level, many residents feel isolated because they do not have energy left in them to go through the effort of making new friends in nursing homes when so many of their old friends have passed away. Nursing home residents might therefore operate under the fixed mindset of, ‘why go through the effort of making new friends when they will just die anyway?’ This mindset can be extremely isolating. Additionally, society’s stigmatization of old age as a result of ageism is often internalized by elderly nursing home residents. This internalized stigmatization of old age often leads residents to distance themselves from other residents because they do not want to accept the fact that they are elderly. This causes many nursing home residents to turn inward. During the Covid-19 pandemic, these feelings of social isolation have only been amplified as many residents have not been able to see their loved ones for a year. This is why the Adopt-a-Grandfriend program that I have created, which will be up and running in the Fall, is essential to the psychological wellbeing of residents at the Hebrew Home.
Hi Faye! While the pandemic has affected all of us, I was drawn to your project due to the profound effect it has had on the elderly community. It is eye-opening to read about how ageism has affected nursing homes and the mindset that they may have. Will you continue to volunteer at this nursing home after the pandemic as well?
Hi Faye,
I absolutely love how different your topic is from everyone else. I definitely agree that ageism is a topic that needs to be addressed more and i’m happy you got your experience because it seems amazing. What did you think about the overall experience?
Hi Faye. Both of my parents are nurses who work in nursing homes. Growing up, they would usually come home with stories of how they had been the only one that an elderly person has confided in and trusted up until their death. So many older people end up spending the last of their years alone and in pain. What do you see as a benefit to the amazing service you're providing? Personally, I think something like this would add a couple years to someone's life. This really means a lot to me, thanks!
Hi Faye,
Your work stood out to me because it is so different from the rest of the service-learning projects! I agree with you when you say that ageism is not talked about enough and it is largely left untouched. I think that your work is so important especially right now in the middle of a pandemic. I think it's amazing that you were able to spend time with some of these people especially when it's so hard for them to be with family members right now! What were some of the activities that you most enjoyed?
Hi Faye! I was drawn to. your project because ageism is a topic we brought up in class and in the first semester we took an bias test that talked about ageism. I learned that you were able to work with the Adopt-a-Grandfriend program to talk and connect with elders to lessen the feelings of isolation. I also learned that this people experience isolation due to social-economic, psychological, and technological issues. I was wondering how this deals with ageism in a larger sense? I was also wondering how ageism impacts the elderly?