Thanks to Creston Rotary Club community service co-ordinator Brenda Silke for making the Christmas card project with the Therapeutic Activation Program for Seniors and students from the special education program a success. On the weekend, the card packages were sold at the Krafty Kronys sale, and you might have seen Mayor Ron Toyota buying the first one. Watch for them around town at Creston Card and Stationery, the Cresteramics gift shop on Canyon Street and at the Creston Valley Farmer’s Market. The proceeds are a fundraiser for both TAPS and Rotary projects.
There’s no doubt that a project involving a creative pursuit was popular amongst TAPS folks, as each time the original group met to work on them, more and more people wanted to join in around the already crowded table. Thanks to Eileen Gidman, who has a gift of bringing her professional arts abilities with a sensitivity to individual needs and abilities. Thanks also to volunteer Claudette Watt for her weekly assistance.
Continuing the arts side of things, we’re excited to be planning an arts program for TAPS to start in January, with 16 weeks of classes with local artists, and extending the fun to community arts events over the spring and summer. More details to follow as funding becomes available.
“By the time you’re eighty years old you’ve learned everything. You only have to remember it,” said comedian George Burns.
In his humour, George got it right. According to the growing body of brain research there is evidence that we can both prevent loss and retrain those links. When many seniors expressed their concern over changes or fear of changes in their memory abilities, TAPS co-ordinator Bridget Currie responded by creating a twice-weekly program called Mind, Memory and Motion. Exercising our mental faculties and learning new strategies are the basis of the program that she offers twice a week at the centre. She reports that participants are appreciating and using the techniques. One of the strategies involves finding out if you are primarily a visual or auditory learner, and utilizing this to put up visual memory cues or repeat information verbally.
Monday to Friday, the TAPS program moves from centre-focused activities, including a lunch program, to out in the community participating in events, going out together for meals or being assisted with errands and appointments. Since the Meals on Wheels have been discontinued, TAPS staff have stepped in to help a couple of our seniors who are unable to access the new program on their own.
“Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength,” said Betty Friedan (1921-2006).
And again, we can’t say it often enough to the dedicated volunteers: Thank you for everything you do. You make a difference.
Maureen Cameron is the community liaison development co-ordinator for the Therapeutic Activation Program for Seniors.