'Bridging the Gap' inter-generational program to be featured on CTV
Wednesday, December 6, 2006 -- Craig Anderson
An intergenerational story-telling and memoir-writing program that pairs up seniors and high school students is to be featured on a CTV news program in the London area.

The program, entitled “Bridging the Gap,” will be the focus of CTV’s health news, running between 6:30 – 6:45 pm this Tuesday, and again on Wednesday at 12 noon.

Interested viewers in the Guelph/Kitchener/
London/Collingwood region can watch the regular CTV program. Viewers in other areas should check with CTV affiliate stations. (see: http://www.ctv.ca/local)

Nora Savage, who has been running the program for more than six years out of Acton, Ontario, says that the show will highlight the benefits of intergenerational contact.

“It will look at the benefits for seniors and for students,” she says.

She expects the news program, produced by Leslie Gordon, to run anywhere from one-to-five minutes.

Savage, who runs “Story Lines,” a company that offers generalized memoir writing, storytelling and other writing services for seniors, has taught the “Bridging the Gap” program to more than 20 organizations in the past six years.

The program, which is largely conducted with seniors who have some form of dementia, is aimed at “foster[ing] cooperation, understanding and friendship between the generations through adult-centred activities. The programs affect youth's attitudes and understanding towards dementia and aging and promotes feelings of self-worth for seniors.” (see www.story-lines.ca)

Participating students meet over an eight-week period with a senior, and through a series of interviews and interactions generate enough material to constitute a memoir-like document.

In an earlier interview with the Morning Report, Savage says that she has received mostly positive comments about the program, which she has most recently extended to include seniors without dementia and students in junior high school.

A significant number of students, she told us, termed it “the best experience during their time in high school.”

Savage also explained that for some of the seniors the program caused a revolution in their thinking about aging. The program, she added, is particularly beneficial for those seniors who lack family support.

“It really breaks down stereotypes that younger people have about seniors, and the effect is often dramatic, too – they realize they are people too,” she said.

Savage has most recently developed a “train the trainer” program so that long term care homes and senior’s organizations can teach staff to run the program.

“It’s designed so that anyone can do it,” she says.

She has also piloted the junior intergenerational program at the Orangeville Senior’s Centre, pairing up grade 6-8 students with seniors who are cognitively well.