Given a 70-year age gap, high school student Taylah Petrusma and aged care resident Ivy Conole are unlikely friends. However, the pair say they have forged a strong connection through Mercy Health’s innovative iGEN program.
Ivy Canole and Taylah Petrusma at the ABC
“It is lovely to talk to the young ones about what they’re doing and what they want to do. We talk and we laugh about different things and stories about when I was young and what it was like,” Ivy says.
Taylah explains that having a 94-year-old mate is pretty special.
“Every time Ivy and I catch up, there is never a dull moment. We always have amazing chats — it’s as if we’ve known each other for years,” she says.
“Each week is an opportunity to get insight from Ivy into what things were like in ‘the olden days’, and how it was so different from now.”
Ivy and Taylah formed their special friendship through the iGEN program, a groundbreaking intergenerational program that brings together Catherine McAuley College students and Mercy Health Bethlehem Home for the Aged residents.
The program encourages relationships and respect between secondary students and aged care residents. Taylah is one of 350 students taking part in the program since it began in 2020.
Ivy says exchanging stories with Taylah during their visits is invigorating.
“The age gap doesn’t seem to matter — you feel as if you’re young again. So many things happen in your life and you never think you’ll have the opportunity to pass the stories on,” Ivy says.
Mercy Health Chief Executive Residential Aged Care, Home Care and Seniors Living Adjunct Associate Professor Felix Pintado says “a highlight of the two-year program has been the connection and warmth forged between students and residents”.
CMC students at Mercy Place
“Some of the first CMC students who took part in the program still maintain regular contact with residents, while others are offering to return to the home to undertake some work or as part of their work experience,” says Felix.
“There is evidence that the initiative is encouraging some students to consider a career in aged care and we welcome that aspect of the program.”
Thanks to the generosity of Mercy Health Foundation donors, Australian Catholic University researchers are analysing the intergenerational program using participants’ feedback, with results to be published later this year.
Last reviewed December 6, 2022.