Preschools and nursing homes have began using combined spaces for both their practices. It may seem like this program was introduced to save space, though it was not for that reason at all. Preschools have been moving their classes to the halls of nursing homes in an attempt to provide a ‘younger’ environment for the elders while allowing the children to interact with older influences.

This program was started at the Providence Mount St. Vincent retirement home in west Seattle 25 years ago. They began by moving preschool classrooms with about 125 children ages 6 weeks to 5 years old into the facility. They then created activities throughout the day in which the children and elders would interact through. Intergenerational programs similar to this one exist at about 500 locations across the county, although this one is the most well known.

This nursing home in Seattle is well known because of the documentary made about it by Evan Briggs. Briggs filmed the interaction between the children and the elders at the nursing home throughout the 2012-13 school year. He made a trailer for his documentary and it is being used to promote programs similar to this in other places.

The residents at the nursing home benefit from these programs because it brings joy into their lives. The people at the St. Vincent retirement home are all around the age of 92 and are in need of assistance. Having younger children there diminishes the sense of boredom and loneliness they may experience living there. According to Charlene Boyd, they wanted to create a place where their residents came to live, not die.

Having preschoolers in the facility not only benefits the residents of the retirement home, but the children as well. Programs like this teach children to respect and value their elders from a young age. The children also learn to become more accepting of people with disabilities, and they get the chance to interact and form bonds with people they otherwise might not have.  

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There are some possible negative affects to these programs, one of them being the lack of separate space for children and elders. The preschools don’t have as much room for their classes and open space for the children to run around in. Some residents of the retirement home may not be as enthusiastic about it and the noise added by the children could cause some discomfort for them.

In the places it has been integrated, this combination has overall experienced a lot of success. Since Briggs released his trailer promoting the location in Seattle, many local families have shown interest in enrolling their children at the school. People from both around the country and the world also responded to this trailer, and asked how they could create a program similar to this in their own community.

Integrating preschoolers into retirement communities has many benefits for both the elders and the children. They both experience more joy in their lives and get the feeling of an added sense of community.