Members of Brooke Grove Retirement Village chatted recently with residents of a nursing home in England using Skype, marveling at the technology.
“This was so fun,” said Brooke Grove resident Peggy Thank of the computer video chat session. “I can hardly wait to tell my daughter about it.”
“I was so overwhelmed,” said resident Ruby “Pooh” Noyes. “It was just like talking to someone in the same room.”
While the British residents were in the middle of high tea, they showed the Americans the chocolate eclairs and coconut madeleines they were eating. Residents from both countries showed off their pet dogs.
“It’s not your grandma’s nursing home anymore, especially as the baby boomers start aging,” said Deb Gibson, Brooke Grove’s assisted-living life enrichment coordinator.
The Brooke Grove residents spent about 30 minutes via Skype with residents of the 31-bed Thornbank facility in Ipswich, Suffolk, on the east coast of England.
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Several residents of Brooke Grove sat around a table, recalling telephone conversations on “party lines” of the past. Thank said that among her parents’ generation, they would have been lucky to have a telephone. “They wouldn’t believe this,” she said.
Gibson said the idea of the chat is to open more of the world through the technology.
The residents shared what life was like in their respective assisted-living facilities. When the Thornbank residents brought their whippet, Willow, to the screen, there was a collective “aww” from the Brooke Grove residents. They reciprocated by showing off their yellow Labrador retriever, Max.
The seniors chatted about the 2011 royal wedding in Britain. Noyes enthusiastically expressed interest in Prince Harry.
They talked about where they were located. Thank told them tales of growing up in the District, running down the steps of the Washington Monument and ice skating at the Lincoln Memorial.
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The U.K. residents were interested in the Amish communities of Pennsylvania and what California is like. They especially wanted to discuss Hollywood stars, including Jake Gyllenhaal and Richard Gere.
After the Skype session ended, the conversation continued between residents and staff members at Brooke Grove.
“They were a lot like us, and very friendly,” Thank said. “It was a good exchange of English.”
Gibson said the Skype idea came through connections she made on the U.K.-based GeriActive Web site.
The event was so successful that she plans to incorporate it into the regular activity schedule. She hopes to expand the program to other countries in which she has made contacts, such as Wales, Ireland and Scotland.
She also plans to use Skype to let residents keep in touch with out-of-town relatives.
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"Here at Brooke Grove, we are always looking for new ways to enrich our residents' lives and find creative ways to keep them connected to the community," she said. "This time we have the opportunity to connect them with another assisted-living home ... in a different part of the world, and give them the opportunity to make some long-distance friends, inspire conversation between them, and open new doors of communication."
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