You could tell something special was going on by the way people moved through the halls of Meadowview Nursing Home on Feb. 23, staff members hurrying along, arms filled with an odd assortment of items not normally associated with their duties: gowns and decorations, even camera equipment.
Even the faces of the residents seemed to bloom under the mood, some hobbling toward the community room, others being pushed along in wheelchairs, their eyes as bright as the sunlight streaming through the windows.
The community room itself had a whole different feeling. While patients sometime gather here for a variety of games or to watch their morning television programs, today someone had set up chairs and – strangely – a fashion show runway.
Signs posted near the door advertised a special fashion show in which residents could take part. Streamers of crepe paper hung from the ceiling. Marisol Rivas, a social worker, said that while Meadowview tries to have a special recreation program every Friday, this was more special, an event brought to the nursing home by students from Hudson County Schools of Technology.
Millie Pou, the recreation director, credited the kids with setting up the show.
“They did everything. We supplied the room and, of course, the audience,” Pou said.
Yolanda Dobbins 74, a resident of Meadowview for more than 10 years, said she doesn’t come to all the entertainment events that are offered.
“Sometimes I like to sleep in the afternoons,” she said. “But since I never saw a fashion show before, I thought I would come.”
Elania Teresa, 69, formerly of Hoboken, said she was curious about the fashion show as well.
Students formed a non-profit
Although as many as a dozen students were involved with the final production, three students were key to the program – Ambika Tharesa, Jenna Cilento, and Tarika Tharesa. They said they got the idea from their senior prom and visits to other nursing homes elsewhere in Hudson County.
“Last year [2001] we were involved with the Liberty House Nursing Home,” Ambika Tharesa said.
Students began getting involved with senior citizens through various school clubs, and started to find out how large a need there was in such places for company and entertainment.
“We got close to a lot of senior citizens there,” she said.
The students came to realize just how isolated many senior citizens are, and how much they need someone to come in, if only to talk.
“Some of the seniors were very depressed, and they felt better when we – just ordinary teenagers – came in to talk to them. It made us all feel connected,” Ambika said.
She said she and the others wanted the seniors to feel special, and to realize that someone cares.
At school, she and her friends have visited nursing homes as part of community service project, but never on a regular enough basis to get to know the seniors extremely well.
“We went once or twice and that was it,” she said. “When we got to know someone well, we couldn’t even say if we were coming back. This is more permanent. We can keep on going even after we stop being members of the clubs at school.”
This gave the students the idea that they might visit other places and do a number of activities.
“We started looking into how to start our own not-for-profit organization,” she said.
For a while, after calling the state, she and two fellow students grew discouraged when they found out how difficult a process it was.
“We were told it was almost impossible for us to do it ourselves,” she said.
But they persisted.
“We got the paperwork from Trenton, and we needed to go to a lawyer,” she said. “It didn’t seem possible for us to do it as students.”
But she talked to a teacher and knew people in City Hall in Jersey City, and managed to work their way through the complicated process.
The Garden State Senior Citizen Organization was born.
“We’re an official not-for-profit organization,” she said.
Ambika said by establishing the organization, the students were making a long-term commitment to the county’s senior citizen population.
“We wanted to tell them we cared, and we wanted to get something started that we could continue for a long time,” she said.
She said by going through the trouble of establishing the Garden State Senior Citizen Organization, the students are sending out a message that they intend to be involved for a long time. In organizing the fashion show, the students recalled the stories some of the senior citizens had conveyed during conversations.
“Some told us they couldn’t make their senior proms,” she said. “Some had no dates.” So they decided to have a show that would allow senior citizens to take part, letting them dress up for the occasion.
Approximately 11 senior citizens – five men and six women – paraded down the runway in gowns and suits donated by the Union City Salvation Army, before approximately 30 of their colleagues.
Ambika said that about five people were key to organizing the Meadowview event. Cilento said the students got donations from numerous businesses, such as Joseph’s Flowers on Kennedy Boulevard in Jersey City Heights, and the 99 Cent Store on Central Avenue. Dunkin’ Donuts in Union City, Family Medical in Jersey City and Hudson County Schools of Technology also provided aid.
“We just walked into the stores and asked,” Cilento said. “They were glad to help.”