PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release Contact: Maryann Maslan (510) 444.4755

April 14, 2006 E-mail: maryann@stagebridge.org

NEXT WORKSHOP:

WHEN: 12:30 – 2:30 p.m., Thursday, April 20, 2006

WHERE: Fontaine Room

Samuel Merritt College School of Nursing

370 Hawthorne Ave.

Oakland, CA 94609

Senior Theater Company to be Honored at International Competition for Innovative Healthy Aging Programs

OAKLAND, CA – Acting, singing and storytelling are not the usual techniques taught to nursing students, unless they are part of Stagebridge Senior Theatre’s Healthy Aging Program at Samuel Merritt College.

The innovative program called “See Me!” uses improvisation, storytelling and musical skits in a classroom setting to help nurses gain more understanding and compassion for older adults. It was created at Stagebridge Theatre Company; the nation’s the oldest senior theater company, based in Oakland since 1978.

“See Me!” will be honored by the 2006 Blair L. Sadler International Healing Arts Competition at the Society for the Arts in Healthcare conference in Chicago later this month. The competition’s panel called it "one of the most innovative integrations of arts into healthcare that improves the quality of the health care experience for patients, their families and caregivers.”  

The Healthy Aging Program for nursing students is in its second year at Samuel Merritt College, School of Nursing in Oakland.

“This is an experience that students cannot get from a lecture or reading assignments – how to confront their own bias, attitude and view on the aging process,” said Jennifer Winters, Assistant Professor at Samuel Merritt.

“Witnessing older adults performing and improvising in a humorous way, breaks down the stereotypes regarding aging,” added Winters.

At the end of the first year of the program, the staff at Samuel Merritt conducted a written survey amongst the students to evaluate the experience.

The results are in and “fantastic,” said Dr. Stuart Kandell, director and founder of Stagebridge.

The mostly anonymous comments from third year students included: “I am a more compassionate person and have a great deal more respect for the aging and their illnesses and what they go through.”

Classmate Cassie Childers, 22, confirmed what many other future nurses said, “We learned a lot from this class that we can put into action.”

The nationally acclaimed theater company of older adults based in Oakland is celebrating its 27th season as the nation's oldest senior theatre company. Since its beginning, the company’s mission has been to make theater an opportunity for older people and to use theater to bridge the generations. The actors range in age from 50–90 years. The company has performed over 30 original plays for more than 250,000 people in clubs, senior centers, hospitals, schools and theaters throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Stagebridge has been featured on ABC-TV, CNN, National Public Radio, and in Modern Maturity.

The Healthy Aging Program is expanding to other health care training programs in Northern California. The program will debut at the University of San Francisco in May, and in the fall San Francisco State University will add components of “See Me!” to the curriculum.

Stagebridge’s Healthy Aging Programs are sponsored in part by grants from Alameda County Art Commission, Bernard Osher Foundation, City of Berkeley Artsfund, City of Oakland Cultural Arts, Crescent Porter Hale Foundation, Nelson Fun, San Francisco Foundation, The Thoresen Foundation and Van Loben Sels/Rembe Rock Foundation.

For more information about Stagebridge, visit www.stagebridge.org or call 510.444.4755. Stagebridge is a non-profit organization.