As I have a family member in Aged Care and visiting each week I have seen how important social activities play an enormous part in the daily life of the residents, you can see, eyes light up, movement and willingness to have a go. It is a long day if you have nothing to do.
I retired two years ago, I taught Folk Art and Decorative painting to students for fifteen years before retiring. Some students as young as nine up to the age of eighty years young. These days I enjoy mixed media projects and the freedom to express myself on new projects.
Summit Care, Liverpool already had a healthy activity plan, so I thought about asking if I may help with the painting, I had so many resources and ideas to offer but was unsure how to approach the two very capable workers that run the programmes.
After getting to know the staff I decided to let them know I was willing to volunteer my help with painting idea's.
I was welcomed with open arms and I love the challenge, love the group and watching them progress through each project.
The challenge was knowing that the structured painting of folk art was not suitable for residents of aged care, and going back to basics finding user friendly projects to enjoy was not easy. Many residents have limited movement due to medical problems, so special care is needed when developing a programme. Dementia residents especially benefit from a painting group.
I try to make the projects as colourful as possible, with simple patterns and some of the ground work already marked out onto the canvas or watercolour paper as needed, the residents do the rest and we have good results too.
The class is now called Painting and craft with Lyn, how lovely, we meet once a month as this is my limit too, as I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome / ME.
I may be able to show some work that the residents have made, so I will add photographs to this post as and when I can. I am not allowed to take photo's of residents, let alone place them onto this post, but I will try to take some photo's of the work they do, it is encouraging to see so many delighted with the results students achieve.