9/12/2015 Session 1 Notes

Faculty: Joan Jeffri, Patricia Miller, Nancy Giunta

After some technical difficulties wherein we were waiting to try to connect with DC, we started our session with introductions.

Brief history of Art Cart. In 2010, at Teachers College of Columbia University, the pilot Art Cart program included 6 artists. In 2011 the RCAC moved to the National Center for Creative Aging in DC. From 2012-2013, the Art Cart program ran in, both in NYC and DC. In NYC, students from Columbia and other universities were involved and 10 artists participated. There were also 10 artists participating in DC. There is a difference between the art scene in DC and NYC. In NYC it is more international, but also more competitive while in DC it is more community based.

Since this is an interdisciplinary collaborative program, we all have to be open to learning from each other. In some cases, we have to agree to disagree. We are encouraged to share our differing points of view with one another.

Though our involvement in this project counts for some kind of credit in our degree programs it’s really not about the grades – it’s experiential learning. We should meet with our advisor at school regularly, so we can bring up any concerns with them.

Syllabus review: There are two evaluations we fill out – one after Session 9 and another after Session 15. We’ll be working with older adults who are high functioning, but may have some challenges. The disciplines are here for different reasons, but it is synergistic. Social workers embrace the positive aging model. Occupational therapists sometimes have an art background. Education students are into the lifelong learning. Finally the art admins are very organized. Some of the older adults might have closets or hallways full of undocumented artworks. Some may have started to document their works, but stopped. That is why during this project we will work on a continuity plan for the artists and their working partners. Three quarters of the alumni artists are still documenting work.

As far as the software goes, it’s kind of like a Ferrari when all you need is a Chevy, but it does allow importing and exporting, so people can use other programs if they want. Joan recalled one artist who documented a certain piece of art as “On the left wall of the studio above the shoe rack” in order to highlight that each work should be labeled to correspond with its entry in the software. The software we’ll be using even generates a barcode for each artwork, though multiple piece installations can get a little complicated since you have to label each piece.

We should read the assigned readings before each session so that we can ask questions and enrich the discussions that we have in class.

Part of the project does involve health promotion. Artists are generally healthier and happier than the general population. We take a public health perspective with primary and secondary preventions. Part of this is the GEM environmental assessment which we’ll learn more about later. Part of the reason for this is that statistically 1 out of 3 people aged 65 or over experience a fall and a majority of those who do fall will fall again. In the spring we will help the artist make changes they are willing to make to their environment based on recommendations from the GEM.

Fellow objectives on pages 3-4 of the syllabus: In addition to working with our own artist and artist’s working partner we’ll also be hearing from each other.
There are no textbooks – all the required readings are available on the classweb. The journaling assignment, due four times in the fall and three times in the spring, is a private way for faculty to evaluate how the program is going and to provide advisement for us in the program.

Review of the schedule of what is expected during each class session. Artists and working partners are coming to next week’s session since it’s better for the fellows to meet them and start to get to know them sooner rather than later. We should make notes of safety concerns as we notice them to prepare for the GEM and to gauge how the artists react to suggestions.

The artist is not to treat us as an intern who’s there to do all the work. We’re all part of a team effort and tasks should rotate between each person. The personal relationship of the team is one of the most valuable aspects of this project. We will let the artists know about GEM ahead of time so they know what to expect and let them know that they should start thinking about what works they want to document.

Some other tips about this process: If the artist works in multiple mediums, document some works of each medium, so they will have a reference point for the future. Have the artist write down their login and password for the software so they don’t get locked out of it. The documentation is not public, but it should be sent to the Tech Coordinator as a backup after each documenting session. The artist always owns the copyright to his work. If ART CART wants to feature their work, their image, or words we will ask get their permission and have them sign a release.

Brief overview of the two movies we have a choice of watching. “Andrew Jenks Room 335” is about a 19 year old film student who lost his grandfather to Alzheimer’s and he moves into an assisted living facility for 5 weeks and documents his experience. This film is totally about aging and there are some disturbing things in it. “Alive Inside” follows a social worker who goes to assisted living and nursing home facilities where there are residents with dementia who are in a near vegetative state, but when he puts headphones on them connected to iPods with music they know they come to life, sometimes singing and dancing. One of the challenges he faced Bill Thomas put words to: “It’s easier to get a drug prescription than an iPod.” Bill Thomas’ angle was trying to bring animal therapy to the same population. He blundered and ordered 150 birds, but no cages. In the end, each person was responsible for taking care of a pet and it gave them new vitality. Joan also recommends the book “Being Mortal” by Atul Gawande.

We have a session on elder abuse so that we can be able to recognize it so we can report any suspicions we may have. Carmen will be doing a training session on EmbARK in person with us fellows, the artists, and working partners. There will also be some kind of online tutorial and Carmen is very accessible online and responsive to messages.

GEM again mentioned as a main organizing tool. A best practice is to set an agenda whenever you go to the artist studio. They will set the agenda with you as part of the team process, so everyone has a sense of understanding of what will occur. The faculty are working on an emergency strategy on what protocols to follow in case something happens to the artist or working partner while we are at the studio. This will be finalized before we do any studio visits.

Online on the classweb there is a list of environmental modifications to give us an idea of what to look for on the GEM. There is also, under “background”, a list of art terms and a list of OT terms, so that we can all speak the same language. There is a video that will help us do the journaling assignment. There is also a learning style inventory so you can figure out the best way you learn and the artist too.

After visiting the artist’s studio 1-3 times in November, we will prepare a final presentation that details how we think it will go in the spring, the artist’s cognitive level, psychosocial, person in environment, frailty, etc. It will be shared in class so that we can all advise each other.

In the spring, we will work out our schedule with our assigned artist. Regularity of meeting once per week is important, so is knowing if they can work the 4 hours continuously or if they need breaks. There will be 3 classes in the spring – a review of using EmbARK, doing the oral history, and coming up with the continuity plan with the artist and working partner.

In May, all the records are transferred to the Academic Commons and the artists submit works for exhibition. Additionally there are 4 public forums about creative life in NYC and a session at the Whitney on estate planning for artists. Most artists hated for the program to end and unlike a typical social worker-client relationship, we do not have to terminate our relationships at the end of this project.

Faculty are working on a couple things to expand the program outside of the school year project – creating an alumni network and writing a grant to compensate alumni artists to teach other older adult artists.

Overview of Aging Presentation (These figures are outdated as they are from 2012 – they will either be updated in an online recording of comments by Sandra Crewe within a few weeks, or by NYC faculty)

Aging in America
-Average life expectancy Men: 75 Women: 80
-19% of the population is women 60+ and 15% of the population is men 60+
-19% of men 60+ and 39% of women 60+ live alone
–50% of our artists live alone
-10% of seniors live below Federal poverty level
-Most common causes of death:
Heart diseases
Malignant neoplasms
Cerebrovascular disease
Influenze/pneumonia
Chronic lower respiratory disease
Diabetes mellitus
Alzheimer’s disease
-12% of people 65+ have limitations on ADLs
–18% 1-2 ADLs
–4% live in assisted living
-6% of people 65+ have depression
-Prevalence of dementia in persons 70+ is 13.9%
-Artists have less depression, less loneliness, more volunteering, but some difficulty in ADLs, like transportation and traveling alone
–May self-report as better than they are due to ageism
–May also experience racism, sexism, and even discrimination due to being an artist

Dispelling myths of ageism
-Most older adults are healthy and able
-Those 65+ lead productive and happy lives
-Though people 65+ are more likely to have chronic health problems, they are not disabled
-Older adults are sexual beings
-Older adults want to give back to the community

Developmental Tasks of older adulthood
-Meaningful activity
-Intimacy
-Family
-Self-respect
-Pride in the past
-Coping with losses
-Retaining independence
-Facing death

Measuring health and well-being
-SF36: 36 item short form health survey
-Can have many physical and emotional problems and still be happy

Exercise: to bring awareness to ageism. We were to close our eyes and picture ourselves at 80 years old.
-Some shared envisioning themselves as their mom or grandma.
-Someone mentioned being alone, lonely, not understood by others.
-One fellow shared that she has suffered a spinal injury and anticipates having more trouble with it in old age.
-Another girl mentioned that she comes from a small family so to her it is comforting to think that one day she might live in a facility with lots of peers.
-Someone mentioned teaching.
-Our parents or grandparents are our role models for negative or positive aging.
-One fellow pictured herself as a widow like her grandma and mom, but like them, still happy and living her own life.
-There are some scary aspects to growing old, the unknowns, the fact that we are growing up in an ageist society, and the changes we go through in terms of aging.
-An unanticipated, but beneficial side effect of ART CART has been that the artist regained confidence in their artwork and themselves through working with and being appreciated by people in a different field from a different generation.
-Older people themselves often have ageist feelings. The fact that this program causes them to value themselves and their work so much more is an amazing side effect to the practical goal of documentation.

We then discussed how we can prepare for aging:
-Social activities/maintaining social circle
-Being actively involved
-Pursuing hobbies full-time
-Courage/resilience
-Teaching others
-Keeping up healthy routines
-Voluntary retirement is more positive

People have different cultural experiences and expectations. The ART CART experience is transformational for everyone involved. LGBT older adults have had a very different experience than the current LGBT generation and that the historical context in which they grew up is very important. They may have lost friends or loved ones to the AIDS epidemic, it may not have been safe for them to be “out”, etc. (Side note, maybe in the future a SAGE training could be part of the ART CART curriculum?)

Then we broke out into pairs with our partners to ask them a few questions to start to get to know them. As with the earlier comment about the artists, it was best to do this sooner rather than later. After 10-15 minutes with our partners, we all introduced each other. It seemed like even though we are all from different disciplines, we still have many things in common and everyone seemed very happy with their pairing.