LEWISTON — SeniorsPlus, Western Maine’s designated Area Agency on Aging, is launching Opening Minds through Art, a free new program that strives to bring joy, art, and pride to people living with dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Through a series of classes, OMA engages students with dementia in creating free-wheeling art. Classes are scheduled for 1-2 p.m. Fridays, Feb. 3 through March 10 at the Education Center of SeniorsPlus, 8 Falcon Road.
During the six-week program, people with dementia (the artists) are paired one on one with volunteers who help them create art using imagination instead of memory, according to a news release from Corey LaFlamme, marketing and development assistant with SeniorsPlus.
The agency seeks students for the program, as well as volunteers to work one on one with participants in these art classes; no art background is required.
Opening Minds through Art is an award-winning, evidence-based, intergenerational art-making program for people with dementia. Developed in 2007 at Miami University’s Scripps Gerontology Center, the program is grounded in person-centered care principles. It is designed to provide creative expression and social engagement opportunities for people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.
OMA at SeniorsPlus is funded in part through a grant from the U.S. Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services.
Future 1 p.m. Friday sessions are as follows:
• March 24-April 28, SeniorsPlus Wilton office, 284 Main St., Suite 210.
• May 19-June 23, SeniorsPlus Norway office at 9 Marston St.
• July 14-Aug. 18, SeniorsPlus Education Center, 8 Falcon Road.
To volunteer, or to enroll a loved one as an artist, contact SeniorsPlus at 207-795-4010 or edcenter@seniorsplus.org.
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