Grants at Work - Barnstable Senior Center

Program A Beacon of Light for Cape Seniors AFCC Grants at Work

n an overcast day in the middle of July, a dozen Barnstable residents diligently painted six-inch by sixinch tiles, putting their own individual stamp on each one O Barnstable Senior Center program assistant Mariann Mosher, art therapist Barbara Greenspan, program assistant Cindy McCann, program coordinator Stacey Cullen, and assistant director Donna-Marie Burns. inside the quiet confines of the town’s senior center.

When complete, the separate tiles – 24 in total – will be glazed, fired, framed, and hung as a permanent fixture in the center. The pieces will come together to create a typical Cape scene, featuring a lighthouse on a beach with a sailboat in the background.

But the mural will represent much more than a piece of art; it will serve as a beacon of light for what seniors, some suffering from memory loss, can accomplish when given the chance.

It’s an accomplishment that the AFCC has played a small role in, by providing a grant to the Barnstable Adult Day Program to help fund opportunities like this.

In some cases, these opportunities can initially be overwhelming for participants. This is where art therapist Barbara Greenspan comes in, showing them that the impossible is possible.

“When I told them we’d be working on this project, they said, ‘No way we can do that.’ I told them, ‘I have a feeling you can,’” she said. “It gives them the sense they can do something and it increases their self-esteem. And it shows them they can actually produce something that they feel proud of.”

These benefits occur in what Donna-Marie Burns, assistant director at the senior center, described as “a safe place and dignified environment” for a segment of the Cape community’s elderly population who often are unable to stay at home during the day.

Exposing them to activities that incorporate music, painting and crafts, Burns said, is important, serving as a means to both relax and stimulate them. “No matter what your age or your physical ability or memory capacity, art can have a powerful influence on someone’s quality of life,” she said, something that is particularly true for those diagnosed with dementia or Alzheimer’s. “We find incorporating things like music or art or any of the creative avenues gives people the opportunity to express things which they can no longer do cognitively.”