Intergenerational care programme explores growing up and growing old

An American filmmaker has created a documentary on an innovative approach to providing care for Seattle's ageing population.

Present Perfect is a film, produced by American filmmaker Evan Briggs, focusing on Providence Mount St. Vincent. The care home is home to nearly 400 adults in the West Seattle area with an Intergenerational Learning Centre (ILC) for children aged six weeks to five years old.

Ms Briggs documented the facility during the 2012–2013 school year, capturing the children’s interactions with home residents.

Speaking about America's approach to ageing and providing care for the elderly in a dysfunctional way, Ms Briggs said: “What is it about our value system that makes it so these people don’t really have a place here anymore after a certain age? Why are we OK with that?

“There is so much wisdom and life experience that our elderly members of society have that we’re just not availing ourselves of, and that just seems like a huge loss.”

Present Perfect explores the very real experience of ageing in America

Ms Briggs hopes reaction to the film will encourage discussion about replicating the model and describes ‘Present Perfect’ as exploring “the very real experience of ageing in America - both growing up, and growing old.”

A five minute trailer for the film was released on the crowd funding platform, Kickstarter and shows the interactions between the residents and children at Providence Mount St. Vincent.

The clip shows a young boy called Max, repeating his name over and over to a resident who keeps pronouncing it wrong.

The film’s title, ‘Present Perfect’, refers to the time when the lives of children and older people overlap, both living in the present.

The intergenerational programme was established at Providence Mount St. Vincent 25 years ago and is one of 500 long term care facilities across America.

Ms Briggs said: “They’ve arrived at that place from either having an abundance of life experience, or no life experience. It’s so amazing and beautiful. That’s something I was hoping to capture.”

The Kickstarter campaign was launched to raise money for post-production costs and exceeded its $50,000 (£32,000) goal within two weeks and surpassed more than $104,000 (£66,000) allowing the film to be completed without requiring extra funding.

'There's not reason this can't be replicated everywhere'

She added: “It’s so exciting to me that the idea is resonating. It’s just the most amazing surprise. Look at this simple thing that’s being done, and there’s no reason this can’t be replicated everywhere.”

The facility found that intergenerational programmes can benefit children and older people, giving them joy from interacting with the toddlers and children.

The ILC supports structured and spontaneous activity with programmes taking place five days a week, allowing children and residents to participate in music, dance, art, storytelling and lunch together.

Children at the centre learn about people with disabilities, those who need extra help and the ageing process.

Administrator at Providence Mount St. Vincent, Charlene Boyd described how the Centre (ILC) was created to improve the centre’s work in developing communities and making residents last years of life “meaningful, life-affirming and engaging”.

She said: “We wanted this to be a place where people come to live, not come to die, it’s not rocket science, it’s about normalcy.”

The programme encourages children and their families to engage with the realities of ageing. Ms Boyd continued: “It’s normal for someone to use a wheelchair or a walker, and that’s just part of life, it’s not out of sight, out of mind, its right here. These kids see that every day, and they’re not afraid.”

The film contains difficult and awkward situations between both adults and children. Speaking about these moments, Ms Briggs described how she wants viewers to witness these moments.

She said: “I’m not trying to paint this rosy, utopian picture. It is wonderful, but it’s real at the same time, and we all need to understand what that looks like and really face it head on.”

“They’ve arrived at that place from either having an abundance of life experience or no life experience. It’s so amazing and beautiful. That’s something I was hoping to capture.”

For more information on the film, visit: http://www.presentperfectfilm.com/