The Living History interview – part of our Aging with Purpose initiative – helped Mrs. E reconnect with her past and re-imagine her future! For more information on the Living History interview and how Senior Services is using it to connect with people we serve check out this article appearing in the summer 2016 edition of the Triad Resource Retirement Guide.

In Forsyth County, the number of people over the age of 60 will double in the next 25 years and approximately 25% of them will need assistance with activities of daily living such as dressing, bathing, preparing meals and the like – activities that are crucial to remaining at home in the later years.  Fortunately, Forsyth County has a recognized leader in Senior Services, a private nonprofit organization that has operated for more than 50 years in the community.  Senior Services’ mission is to help Forsyth County’s elderly live at home with dignity, the organization has a variety of programs, services, and special initiatives aimed at accomplishing that goal.

As the community prepares for the aging boom, Senior Services has embarked on an initiative aimed at helping seniors age with purpose. The new initiative, “Aging with Purpose,” looks at the missing piece in care for elders – the basic human need to have meaning as we age.   Taking what The Eden Alternative^© calls the “three plagues of the human spirit” – loneliness, helplessness and boredom very seriously, the project is coming up with creative ways to combat these plagues and re-connect seniors with the community around them.  Senior Services’ staff understands that creativity in caring for a growing population is critical to keeping elders safe at home and living with dignity.  As they pilot this new initiative, 150 of the agency’s program participants will be interviewed using the Living History Program© in the first year.  This open-ended interview tells the agency who these elders really are, far beyond their self-reported “deficiencies,” and gives staff  the opportunity to discover the elder’s abilities, skills, and desires. Senior Services plans to roll this out agency-wide in the coming year.

The Living History Program© is a national story gathering model founded in 2000 by Sheila Brune, a registered nurse with a Master’s in Healthcare Administration and a background in quality improvement. Shelia wanted to know more about her patients outside of their medical problems or diagnoses, and believing in the value of using personal stories to enhance person-centered care, she piloted the program in the Iowa hospital where she worked,   Currently, the Living History Program© is in place in 40 hospitals nationwide and has been shown to improve patient satisfaction.

Senior Services is the first community-based organization to use the Living History Program© and since it started using the interview technique in September of 2015, it has already brought great joy to many of the elders served. Historically, seniors enrolled in community-based programs are asked a litany of questions about their deficits, what they need assistance with, and what they are no longer able to do – necessary information to qualify for and enroll in programs to help them remain at home. In incorporating the Living History Program© , Senior Services is making an effort to find out not only, “What is the matter with you?” but also, “What matters most to you?”

The interview opens up a new line of communication for the staff and volunteers as they learn things about the elders that they otherwise may not have known. As a result, the elders become something more than a “client” or someone who needs assistance.  In turn, staff uses this new knowledge to create opportunities for the elders to form new connections, become more deeply known, and re-engage with their communities.   For example, after interviewing a retired Baptist minister who receives Meals-on-Wheels, staff learned that he was terribly lonely and feeling disconnected.  He is now a Telephone Reassurance Program volunteer and enjoys making phone calls on a weekly basis to other homebound seniors.  Instead of him always thanking Senior Services for their services, they now get to thank him for his service.

Another example involves a family matriarch (pictured left), who the staff learned, through the Living History, loves to sew and used to make her own clothes.  They discovered a friend had given her a sewing machine, and set to work helping her acquire supplies to resume one of her favorite pastimes. Now she volunteers to make shirt protectors and fidget blankets for people living with memory loss who attend the agency’s Williams Adult Day Health Center.  She recently told us, “I used to sit home and become anxious.  Now, I feel like I have a purpose again.”   The Living History Program is helping Senior Services discover that they serve participants who are decorated veterans, inventors, ribbon winners in national rose shows, and former gardeners.  Through their new Aging with Purpose initiative, it is the goal of Senior Services to bring these talents, skills, and stories back to the forefront of the lives of isolated elders. Anyone in the Forsyth County interested in volunteering with the Living History program may visit www.seniorservicesinc.org or call Melissa Smith at 336-721-6954.

Written by Senior Services Staffers, Melissa Smith and Kristen Perry