Serving Our Senior Community With Bird Tales

On May 21, 2014, members of Rio Brazos Audubon and Texas Master Naturalists from the Brazos Valley and El Camino Real chapters met at the Museum of Natural History in Bryan to hear about an Audubon program called Bird Tales. Mary Anne Webber from Houston Audubon led the training which has been described on Audubon's website as Bird Tales: A Program for Engaging People with Dementia through the Natural World of Birds. (Learn more about Bird Tales at http://bentoftheriver.audubon.org/bird-tales.)

Subsequent to this training, Marian Cothran from Rio Brazos Audubon contacted local Brazos Valley nursing homes and was successful in initiating a program at the Hudson Creek Alzheimer's Special Care Center in Bryan. Unfortunately, after two sessions the program was unable to continue at this facility.

First B/CS Bird Tales Session

Second B/CS Bird Tales Session

Cindy Bolch, the Project Lead for Bird Tales in the Texas Master Naturalist El Camino Real Chapter, then initiated the  program in Milam County concentrating on non-Alzheimer residents in nursing homes. On September 18, 2014, the first Milam County Bird Tales session was held at the Winnie L Nursing Center in Cameron, Texas. Joyce Conner, a Texas Master Naturalist in the Brazos Valley Chapter, joined the Milam County volunteers, Cindy Bolch and Lucy Coward, in this endeavor.

Cindy designed and manages the Milam County program. It consists of a short slideshow component - containing still shots, vocalizations, and videos - along with a commentary telling residents "cool facts" about the particular bird(s) of the month - along with nature activities including setting up bird feeders and a bird bath. Currently, all birds in this program are ones that might be seen at backyard feeders (however, the volunteers might expand the program to include butterflies, dragonflies, and other wildlife of interest in the future). (Because of the cold weather the installation of bird feeders and a bird bath have been delayed to April 2nd. After their installation residents and staff will be responsible for the ongoing maintenance of them.)

Cindy presents a slideshow presentation.

The sessions also include additional visual aids to draw upon the residents' attention and memory. Among other things, Audubon plush demo birds and a hand puppet have been used. Lucy Coward has been most inventive in providing energy and humor to the sessions. 

Lucy uses a hand puppet to illustrate the American Crow.

Winnie L Nursing Home residents enjoy the presentation.

Standing next to the Director of Winnie L, Lucy imitates the Red-Headed Woodpecker at a later session.

 
Slideshow sessions are held twice a month on Thursday afternoons. Originally, the slideshow sessions were limited to 10 residents, but have now been expanded to all interested residents.

Along with the "instructional" slideshow component, volunteers include nature activities to reinforce the specific bird of study. There has been a concerted effort to include activities that are at the residents' levels, stretching and exercising their physical and mental abilities, while at the same time being enjoyable and of some use to them. Examples are: coloring bird pages, writing in nature notebooks, making cookie cutter birds, and constructing nature lap blankets. Nature activities are currently limited to 10 residents in order to best and most efficiently utilize volunteer and material resources while also ensuring quality time with residents. 

After a special presentation about the extinct Passenger Pigeon, Katherine Bedrich of El Camino Real Chapter looks on while residents color bird pictures.

Originally, residents were encouraged to write their own entries in nature notebooks but experience with residents has now led to the recording of residents' nature and life stories (with later transcription) for inclusion in their nature notebooks. (Volunteers have found that nature stories often expand into stories about the residents' lives, making the project even more memorable for the residents and their families.)

Suzy, a volunteer, works with Iona capturing stories on a kindle.

The nature lap blanket project ("bringing nature to laps") component is a cooperative effort of several volunteer groups that was conceived and designed by crafter Joyce Conner. Rio Brazos Audubon, Texas Master Naturalist, and Brazos Valley Stitcher Group members have joined together to bring this project into realization. Brazos Valley Stitchers are constructing ten lap blankets and ten embroidered name patches which are planned to be delivered in late February; Joyce and other volunteers are creating and semi-constructing felt birds, butterflies, dragonflies, and other insects for the residents to finalize and then sew onto their blankets; and Audubon and Master Naturalists are donating funds and materials. 

Joyce prepares bird figures for residents' lap blankets. Residents stuff and finalize stitching on each figure.

Separate alternate Thursday one-on-one sessions are now being conducted during which residents work on their "critters" while their nature stories are being recorded for later transcription. The detailed stitching activity reinforces the participants' knowledge of the size, colorization, and shape of each bird or insect. The finished blanket will serve as a reference during future observation activities, truly "bringing nature to laps." All participants look forward to the arrival of the blankets from the Brazos Valley Stitchers for completion.

Ninety-three year old Agnes sews her Bluejay.

Joyce gives Rosie some extra help.

In early February volunteers met at Joyce’s house to learn how to make sample nature lap blankets in order to better help with that component of the program and/or to use as instructional aids in other nursing homes, hospital settings, and children’s groups.

Cindy constructs a sample lap blanket.

Cindy and Suzy semi-construct felt birds.

Some of the "critters" available to residents.

Special thanks to Cindy Bolch, who took the program to and manages the program in Milam County, and the members and support of the El Camino Real Chapter of Texas Master Naturalists, especially Lucy Coward; to the Brazos Valley Stitchers, a chapter of the Embroiderer's Guild of America (EGA), of whom Terri Berka and LeAnna Kroll are embroidering the names on labels for the "quilts" and Pat Carney, Olivia Burnside, Emily Reiter, Ronda Ogden, Marilyn Milton, and Marian Cothran are making "quilts"; to the staff of Winnie L Nursing Home in Cameron, Texas, especially the Activities Director Nancy Darden, who welcomes us with hugs and thanks us every time we see her; to Suzy Coose, who traveled from Wisconsin to Texas and volunteers her Thursdays with Joyce at the nursing home; and finally, thanks to the Audubon and Master Naturalist programs, without whom this program would not have been conceived.   

Brazos Valley Stitchers volunteers and lap blankets

 

Please address any corrections and/or updates and questions about the program to Joyce Conner, Texas Master Naturalist, Brazos Valley Chapter, joycemconner@gmail.com.