Students from Artists in Healthcare create Communities of Care during the pandemic

“A tiny pocket of people in Durham who were relative strangers were actively seizing the same research problem: how to combat the widespread social isolation under COVID19 distancing regulations through creative gathering and exchange. Several student teams continued with weekly calls and partnerships beyond the bounded space of the course. The opportunity to continue to learn from the deep wisdom of persons living with Dementia was compelling and mutually felt." - Sarah Wilbur, designed and taught Artists in Healthcare

Professor Sarah Wilbur and her students found fun ways to create digital intimacy through Zoom dance parties.

During the best of times, it can be difficult for individuals with dementia to find welcoming communities where they can socialize without the fear of judgement, but a global pandemic has made engagement for this population especially challenging. Students from Artists in Healthcare: Collaborations and Complexities (DANCE 371) taught by Sarah Wilbur, designed creative programming to battle loneliness and isolation and collaborated on a citywide initiative with Dementia Inclusive Durham to create Communities of Care while learning about the historical context, economic conditions, and wide range of approaches to project design that underlie the growing subfield of arts in health.

  • Students received training to build and facilitate "Communities of Care"--a context that values inclusivity, creative exploration, process over products, and an awareness that everyone is unique and therefore has a unique contribution.
  • Duke students and community partners from all over the country joined a student-led webinar with TimeSlips to learn how these collaborations contribute to laying a foundation for sustainable and inclusive community engagement and intergenerational programming.

  • Students applied what they learned by working with six community partners in Durham including Mt. Sylvan UMC, West End Community Foundation, Inc., Durham Center for Senior Life, Croasdaile Village Retirement Community, Dementia Inclusive Durham, and Reflections: The Nasher Museum Alzheimer’s Program .

Reflections: The Nasher Museum Alzheimer’s Program offers interactive museum tours, musical performances, and hands-on art experiences, to visitors with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia, their families, and their care partners. The tours offer people who live with memory loss and their families the opportunity to enjoy art in the moment and to engage with the current exhibitions using multiple senses. Jessica Ruhle, Director of Education at the Nasher offers her insights on how art can be an effective catalyst for connection for elders who struggle with memory loss:

“Looking at works of art together is an opportunity for people to be in the moment—connecting, talking, reminiscing—around the details we see in the artwork. As facilitators, it’s hard for us to plan how someone will respond to a piece of artwork, but where it gets really magical is when the colors, the imagery, the feeling within a work of art, lead to larger opportunities for connection,” she says.

Autumn Blamoville, a service-learning assistant for course says:

Working with Dementia Inclusive Durham and all the sites through the community of Durham was so fruitful, and I’m so glad I got to create great relationships with organizations in Durham. I also saw firsthand how important it is for students at Duke to take part in service-learning during their time because it has such a great impact on the organizations and their work. I can’t wait to see where this project goes and I’m excited to be the service-learning assistant for the extension course in the fall.