IGNITE Leadership Academy LeadingAge New York 2014-15 2014-15 | Page 27

Toni Sexton
Director of Intergenerational Programs
Jewish Home Lifecare

Stories Become Living History
1

How would you describe your Action Learning Project and the difference you hope it will make to
advance your organization’s mission (or the field) and benefit the individuals you serve?

Youth volunteers at Jewish Home Lifecare (JHL) will spend time over the course of one to three years visiting with residents employing
both a prescribed curriculum and organic conversations to capture the stories of elders living at JHL. The youth will profile individuals
to include as much or as little information as they are willing to share. Elders will be provided opportunities to share life lessons, joys,
sorrows, accomplishments and wisdom during ongoing visits with youth volunteers. The youth will provide elders with meaningful
interactions that will result in an annual publication encompassing the rich histories that are shared as part of this project. The ongoing
visits from youth volunteers will combat isolation and provide elders with an opportunity to mentor a young person at a critical point in
their lives. The product, the annual publication, will act as a living history of the amazing people who reside at JHL. The publication can
then be adopted as a tool for orienting the workforce to humanize the care provided to elders, as well as a tool for development and
fundraising purposes because it will paint a vivid picture of the unique individuals served throughout the facility.

2

How have the relationships you’ve developed as part of your project (with mentors, partners,
stakeholders, etc.) influenced this direction and you as a leader?

I have the pleasure of working with the Research Institute on Aging as part of this project. They are always informative and provide
great insight and guidance. In addition, I will be working with social work, admissions and nursing in new capacities. I have not yet made
headway on these aspects of the project, but look forward to navigating this as the project progresses.

3

What have been important turning points for you, in your own learning, as you’ve engaged with
the action learning process (you might consider a surprise, insight, setback, or challenge?

This question is a bit premature. I wouldn’t say that I’ve experienced turning points. Being part of a large organization is a constant
lesson of scoping appropriately for time. There are multiple layers of approval and input that must be scheduled around very compacted
calendars. The goal is to implement the process by July for a May 2016 output. Building in time to coordinate this effort is the greatest
challenge. I anticipate having a great deal to describe towards the end of the calendar year.

4

How do you hope your project might unfold in the months and years ahead and what impact do
you hope it will have on the field at large?

The publication is a very attractive product to long term care organizations. It is a great selling point. However, the true benefit is the
time that youth are spending with the elders. The intergenerational relationships are truly the prize of this project. Having a tangible
product at the end is simply a bonus that helps attract people to the project. It is a concrete takeaway that provides family members
peace of mind because their loved one has meaningful companionships, and elders feel valued and have purposeful interactions with
high need young people. The publication symbolizes the quality of care and sensitivity to living life fully. It heightens the quality of
services provided to elders.

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IGNITE Leadership Academy Action Learning Project 2014-15

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