Rebecca Mixtacki, a UW-Milwaukee graduate, passes around a black-and-white photo showing a downtown street scene from the mid-20th century to nine older women. Mixtacki sits next to Gloria Ristow, who is blind, and describes the photo.<\/p>\n
One by one, the women offer their thoughts about what might be happening in the photo as Helena Enderle, a German exchange student studying sociology at UWM, writes the ideas down on a flip chart. As the students encourage the women to share their ideas, a story takes shape.<\/p>\n
The scene shows downtown Milwaukee and it must be the summer because of the way people are dressed. \u201cIs that Third Street?\u201d \u201cIs that a trolley wire?\u201d<\/p>\n
The afternoon storytelling collaboration is part of TimeSlips, an award-winning program that brings UWM student volunteers together with older adults with memory loss in assisted-living\u00a0facilities to share and create stories.<\/p>\n
Developed by Theatre Professor Anne Basting, the program recruits and trains students to work with resident\u00a0with varying degrees of cognitive disabilities such as Alzheimer\u2019s disease or dementia in the story-telling sessions.<\/p>\n
Generations United honored TimeSlips earlier this year as one of three \u201cprograms of distinction\u201d nationally that bring students together with older people.\u00a0UWM\u2019s Center for Community-Based Learning, Leadership and Research coordinates the program.<\/p>\n
Students facilitate the storytelling by bringing in pictures and writing down what the group members come up with, but the residents create the final story. One may come up with a title, while others contribute a joke. \u201cEvery member feels involved by the story, and many of them start to smile when their story is re-read,\u201d Enderle said.<\/p>\n
Students commit to a semester of storytelling, but some stay for a full year and some, such as Mixtacki, come back after graduation. During the fall semester, 13 students were involved, volunteering at St. John\u2019s on the Lake, Eastcastle Place, Jewish Home and Care Center and Milwaukee Catholic Home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe center has done an amazing job creating joyful experiences for students and people with memory loss in Milwaukee,\u201d said Basting, founder and president of TimeSlips Creative Storytelling. \u201cOur hope is that this program is replicated on campuses across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
TimeSlips has benefits for students and residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the students develop wonderful relationships with our residents,\u201d said Angela Crimmings, LifeStreams coordinator at Saint John\u2019s on the Lake. \u201cThe program helps alleviate the isolation of many older adults, and our residents have a wealth of knowledge they can offer, which the students might not learn in a classroom setting.\u201d<\/p>\n
The stories may stir memories, but the joy of creativity and socializing are just as important to the process, Crimmings said.<\/p>\n
The residents in the Saint John\u2019s on the Lake program have early- to mid-stage memory loss, but become engaged with the storytelling.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a lot of folks who wrote and read for leisure as well as professionally,\u201d Crimmings said. \u201cIt\u2019s always interesting to see the stories they come up with.\u201d<\/p>\n
The students volunteer for different reasons, but all those interviewed said enjoyed their experiences.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love interacting with the residents,\u201d said Carly Lubner, a freshman who plans to major in nursing. \u201cI love to listen to all their stories from when they were growing up in Milwaukee \u2013 they teach me new things every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joyce Whitaker, a junior social work major, became interested when she was looking for service learning opportunities. She likes the process of helping develop stories. \u201cWe ask open-ended questions. We don\u2019t correct their answers \u2013 we go with whatever they think is going on in the pictures. Once they get going, the stories just flow.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first week, the residents were pretty quiet, but gradually they really got into it,\u201d said Baylee Votava, a sophomore in the College of Health Sciences who works with residents at Eastcastle Place. \u201cLast week was really cool. They made up a story, and then put themselves into it (the picture was of the Pfister Hotel in the 1940s). One was a receptionist; one was a doorman. I don\u2019t know if any of that was true, but it\u2019s awesome to see them build the story.\u201d<\/p>\n
The TimeSlips project has inspired students taking part to continue working in the field. Samantha Goodrich, a UWM theater graduate, still involved in TimeSlips, won a Student Start Up Challenge to start a theater company that works with people with memory loss.<\/p>\n
Her group has held three workshops, using the TimeSlips method. On the final day, residents will give a performance of a musical play they have developed.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of them are interested in the acting; others are more interested in the brainstorming. But people of all abilities get a chance to be part of the final production. Some are main characters; some are like a Greek chorus,\u201d Goodrich said.<\/p>\n
Goodrich hopes to affiliate with UWM\u2019s TimeSlips program as she develops her ideas and expands the workshops into the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is my passion and I\u2019m hoping to grow it, slowly but surely.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her late father had Alzheimer\u2019s disease, but elective courses in community and participatory theater also developed Goodrich\u2019s interest. \u201cThose courses really opened my eyes to the power of creativity beyond entertainment. Entertainment is great, but that capability to engage the audience can bring to life a lot of incredible things.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UWM students talk with residents in nursing homes, share old photographs, and the remarkable result is brand-new stories of the past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":839,"featured_media":28008,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[174],"tags":[249,250],"section":[122,124],"display_categories":[115,116],"related-coverage":[],"uwmnews-feed":[344,164],"class_list":["post-27821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-community-engagement","tag-student-success","section-campus-community","section-students","display_categories-top-story-secondary","display_categories-top-story-section","uwmnews-feed-arts-architecture","uwmnews-feed-arts"],"yoast_head":"\n