Nearly 1.8 million people in Illinois are aged sixty-five or older. Twelve percent of those seniors live with Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia. As these numbers grow, museums, libraries and other cultural organizations can play a significant role in improving the quality of life of seniors.
The McLean County Museum of History’s Senior Reminiscence Program provides seniors suffering memory loss with an opportunity to recover fragments of their past lives. The program is designed to intellectually, imaginatively, emotionally, and socially engage those who are often lonely because of their cognitive deficits. Using this program as a model, members of the museum’s education staff will present a workshop in which they’ll discuss the benefits and challenges of creating senior programming for a community. Professionals from cultural and senior care organizations in Illinois are invited to join in the discussion on Tues., March 22, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. This free workshop, in partnership with the Illinois Heritage Association, will be hosted at the McLean County Museum of History, 200 N. Main St., Bloomington, Ill.
Registration is open until March 15. For more information go to www.mchistory.org or contact the Education Department at education@mchistory.org, or call 309-827-0428.
This program is made possible in part by a grant from Illinois Humanities, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Illinois General Assembly.
