By Mary Stadnyk | Associate Editor

Laurel Peters-Acceus and Scott Silagy are learning skills to help them deal with grandparents who have memory loss issues. The two seventh graders in Incarnation-St. James School, Ewing, understand the need for patience, especially when their respective grandparents ask the same questions or repeat statements. They also realize, as difficult as it may be, that there may be occasions when their grandparents just might not remember a conversation from a few minutes earlier or even their names.

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But the skills that Peters-Acceus and Silagy have learned at home are ones they are more than happy to apply and perhaps share with their peers in a unique intergenerational initiative that’s been developed between their class and residents of Grace Garden in Morris Hall, Lawrenceville, – an activity-based memory care unit that provides stimulating activities for seniors with varying forms of dementia.

 The Grace Garden-Incarnation-St. James School collaboration brings the students and residents together for periodic visits and gives the students an opportunity to interact with folks who are affected by dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

 “We thought they could learn a lot from each other and it would give the kids a broader outlook on the community and the world at-large,” said seventh grade teacher, Casey Daly, who noted that the idea to form a partnership evolved from a conversation she had with Holly Alarcon, a good friend and activity coordinator for Grace Garden.

 “The program is designed to teach my students about respecting their elders and how they have something to offer,” Daly said, adding that she initially prepared her class by holding discussions on dementia and possible behaviors resulting from it.

 Daly and Alarcon developed a program in which Grace Garden residents visit Incarnation-St. James School every other month.  The students and seniors are paired up and together they participate in an activity, enjoy a snack and, most importantly, share conversation. To date, Alarcon and Daly have hosted two gatherings. with the first being held in December before Christmas and the second held in February right before Valentine’s Day. The Christmas gathering had students and seniors making a religious Christmas ornament, singing carols and playing bingo. For Valentine’s Day, the students and seniors glued crosses onto hearts, munched on heart-shaped cookies and played a game in which the seniors had to guess the number of sweetheart candies in a jar.

 “It’s pretty cool,” Peters-Acceus said of her interaction with Grace Garden residents, then added how happy she is that the skills that have helped her deal with her grandfather’s slow progressing Alzheimer’s are ones “that I can use to try and help other people.”

 “I enjoy talking with the residents about their past,” Peters-Acceus said, noting common interests that she and her Grace Garden friend share are a love of music and receiving a Catholic education.

 Silagy, who deals with his grandmother’s forgetfulness by not getting upset if he has to repeat his name or respond to a question several times, said, “I think it’s important not to make a fuss” when seniors with memory loss issues “ask you to repeat something.”

Similar to Peters-Acceus, Silagy spoke of how he also enjoys talking with the residents and learning about their life experiences.

 As Alarcon reflected on how Grace Garden is designed to respect the dignity of the residents and their value to society, she said, “They have so much to give. They are all special and even though they are suffering from dementia, they have a lot to share.”

 By bringing the residents together with young people, Alarcon said she believed that with the right activities offered an intergenerational program would be successful.

 “And it was!” said Alarcon. “It’s wonderful. It’s a program that bridges the generations of our youth with our elderly population…Here we have connected the Catholic communities of our youth and our elderly and brought them together in Christ.”