Greenfield Community College
Resiliency During COVID-19 Pandemic Oral History Project
Detail from:
Denise Schwartz interviewing Judy Raper
In 2021, Franklin Medical Reserve Corps (FMRC) launched a program funded by a COVID resiliency grant to build a team of volunteers to bolster senior citizen resilience. They would offer a variety of opportunities for creative engagement to seniors in our primarily rural area of Western MA, where 1 in 3 residents will soon be 65 years old or older.
The form of creative engagement that emerged most prominently in the program is storytelling. Volunteers interviewed seniors and guided them through telling/recording their own personal stories--aka, oral histories--of COVID and resilience. Research has found that telling one's oral history shows promise as an effective approach for supporting well-being in older adults, with health benefits that include mental stimulation, improved memory, positive social connections, and a sense of being recognized as having something important to contribute. Furthermore, because of the link between creativity and well-being, FMRC volunteers simultaneously experience enhanced resilience by helping others, so everyone involved benefits.
FMRC volunteers were trained by the Foundation for Art and Healing on the positive impact of Creativity on Health and the Housatonic Heritage Center For Oral History at Berkshire Community College on Storytelling.
FMRC then learned about the OASIS Program at Greenfield Community College. OASIS (Older Adults Seeking, Inspiring, and Serving) seeks to engage and connect the region's older adults. FMRC had volunteers with interviewing skills and OASIS members had stories to tell, so a natural collaboration was established.
Due to COVID, FMRC conducted the interviews online using the audio-only function of the Zoom platform. Greenfield Community College serves as the official archive of the oral histories. This way, the data can be preserved with the goal of helping others in the future, should there be another pandemic. Helping others is a big motivator for the individuals being interviewed. One interviewee said this: "I'm a little nervous but feeling good about contributing my voice to whoever in the future wants to learn about our experiences."
The form of creative engagement that emerged most prominently in the program is storytelling. Volunteers interviewed seniors and guided them through telling/recording their own personal stories--aka, oral histories--of COVID and resilience. Research has found that telling one's oral history shows promise as an effective approach for supporting well-being in older adults, with health benefits that include mental stimulation, improved memory, positive social connections, and a sense of being recognized as having something important to contribute. Furthermore, because of the link between creativity and well-being, FMRC volunteers simultaneously experience enhanced resilience by helping others, so everyone involved benefits.
FMRC volunteers were trained by the Foundation for Art and Healing on the positive impact of Creativity on Health and the Housatonic Heritage Center For Oral History at Berkshire Community College on Storytelling.
FMRC then learned about the OASIS Program at Greenfield Community College. OASIS (Older Adults Seeking, Inspiring, and Serving) seeks to engage and connect the region's older adults. FMRC had volunteers with interviewing skills and OASIS members had stories to tell, so a natural collaboration was established.
Due to COVID, FMRC conducted the interviews online using the audio-only function of the Zoom platform. Greenfield Community College serves as the official archive of the oral histories. This way, the data can be preserved with the goal of helping others in the future, should there be another pandemic. Helping others is a big motivator for the individuals being interviewed. One interviewee said this: "I'm a little nervous but feeling good about contributing my voice to whoever in the future wants to learn about our experiences."