Community Corner

Fairy Dwellings Inspire the Imaginations of Alpine Residents

Alpine Nursing Home recently hosted a whimsical event for residents and their families.

 

Master Gardeners from the University of Rhode Island recently gave residents of Alpine Nursing Home on Weaver Hill Road in Coventry a magical opportunity to get creative and use their imaginations. On May 19, the grounds of Alpine were transformed into an enchanted garden that played host to a variety of wooden "designer fairy homes" created by the Gardeners, that were originally displayed earlier in the week at the Roger Williams Park Botanical Center's "Fairy Garden Day" exhibit.

Nurse Michele Carignan explained that Alpine residents were unable to attend the event at the zoo, but after speaking with Master Gardener Sally Shwartz, she was promised that the exhibit would come to the residents of Alpine instead. Shwartz and fellow Master Gardeners transported the collection of miniature wooden dwellings from the Park and displayed them on the grounds of the nursing home, complete with whimsical details such as pebble walkways, tree bark walls, beach shell roofs and other adornments like feathers, pearls and flowers.

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"We have been blessed with this opportunity," said Carignan. "We're so grateful that the Master Gardeners took the time to bring their exhibit here for our residents to enjoy."

To mimic the event at the Botanical Gardens, Alpine staff arranged a workshop to teach residents and their families how to create the tiny structures using small model bird houses and a variety of craft supplies. Deanna and Rachel, students from Alan Shawn Feinstein Middle School, volunteered to show guests how to make sugar body scrub and shells full of "fairy food", while staff members and volunteers ready stories, played music, and served up a colorful array of treats for guests to enjoy.

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Apart from the excitement of young family members who visited Alpine for the afternoon dressed in their "fairy best", Carignan, who also donned a pair of colorful fairy wings for the afternoon, acknowledged that the hands-on activities and imaginative displays brought out unexpected but very positive reactions from several of her residents with dementia.

She spoke of a male patient, a former woodworker who rarely remembers his trade, who seemed to recall long-forgotten memories of his creations when he smelled the wood glue on his hands while decorating a a fairy home.

"He kept smelling the wood glue on his hands and smiling because he remembered what it was and how he used to work with it," said Carignan.

A female resident who has long since preferred to spend the majority of her time, including meals, alone in her room, surprised Carignan and the rest of the Alpine staff when she asked be brought through the fairy house exhibit multiple times, and later requested to eat outside with her Alpine neighbors while they were designing their own fairy dwellings.

"There are so many special moments happening here today," said Carignan. "The projects help the residents with sensory stimulation. The Horticultural Therapy is exactly what the doctor ordered!


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