Seniors at care home connect with kids

Local care home residents ‘just love’ receiving the letters, emails

Watching the residents in the Qu’appelle House Seniors Care Home struggle with loneliness during the pandemic, Jillyan Clark wanted a way to keep the seniors connected to the outside world.

As the care home’s recreation co-ordinator, she was looking for a program that would lift residents’ spirits and put a smile on their faces. It was while talking with her sister — who has young children stuck at home right now — that she had an idea.

Why not get children who are also struggling with social isolation to write letters to the seniors?

She put out a call on the care home’s Facebook page, asking people to send in letters or artwork via snail mail or email.

The idea took off. Clark had been hoping for around 20 letters she could read out to the home’s 30some residents. As of Thursday, she had received 80 letters and around 50 pieces of art.

“It’s grown exponentially,” Clark said in a recent phone interview. “Our residents just love hearing the letters.”

Clark reads through the letters first and then selects a resident she thinks will connect with the writer based on common interests, like art or baking or gardening. She prints off any emails and takes pictures of any physical letters to show to the seniors, eliminating the small chance of the seniors coming in contact with the virus through anything mailed in.

Reading out the letters received and then having the seniors write back has become a weekly program. Many of the seniors are brushing up on their letter-writing skills.

“It’s been nice to kind of revive that skill for them. You know, it’s been a long time since they wrote a letter to someone or had someone to write to, and it’s nice for them to kind of show that skill to new generations coming up,” said Clark.

“They’ve found a lot of pride in that.”

Through that initial call for letters, many of the seniors have developed pen pal relationships with some of the children, writing back and forth each week. Every time one of the residents gets a new letter, Clark said they are filled with excitement. “They weren’t really sure if anyone would send a second letter back, but there’s been quite a few,” she said.

The program has done so well that other seniors’ facilities in the area are taking notice. Clark said Eden Care Communities and the Santa Maria Senior Citizens Home in Regina, along with the Cupar and District Nursing Home have now all started similar programs.

Any artwork sent in gets hung on what Clark calls her “joy wall,” which has expanded from the initial wall to cover three walls. She hopes every time the residents walk past the area, they smile and know that children out in the community are thinking of them.

A few adults have been jumping in on the fun too, sending in their own artwork to go up on the wall.

One person even sent in a number of historical photos of Regina.

“I actually was able to create an entire wall with pictures of Regina from the 1950s,” said Clark. “They love that because they can point out what building that is.”

The seniors are enjoying writing and receiving letters so much Clark hopes to see the pen pal program continue even after the COVID -19 pandemic has ended.

JILLYAN CLARK Jillyan Clark, recreation co-ordinator at the Qu’appelle House Seniors Care Home in Regina, stands in front of the ‘joy wall’ covered in art that children — and some adults — in the community have sent to cheer up the home’s residents as part of a new pen pal program.