Students from the Communities program at Oshkosh North High School are collaborating with Missy Grundman, director of Park View Health Center, to fight senior isolation by building bonds and creating connections.

Students have prepared an activity with residents incorporating fine motor skills, creativity, and expanding their social circle by interacting with one another. On Tuesday, April 23, students will be visiting Park View with succulent plants and pots for residents to paint. Mid-Morning Kiwanis is donating succulent plants to the event for seniors to enjoy.

Seniors in healthcare facilities are facing loneliness and feeling isolated within their environment. According to the CDC, “social isolation significantly increases a person’s risk of premature death from all causes.”

With social isolation as a growing issue, Communities students from Oshkosh North High School have been visiting Park View Health Center once a week during their class period to interact with residents. In the process of hosting an event, Communities students are
partnering with Mid-Morning Kiwanis to make this activity possible. Kiwanis is willing to donate 50 succulents for residents housed at Park View.

This event is held to help seniors explore a unique engagement activity where they get to be hands-on while interacting with one another. The engagement activity will start a little after 1 pm to 2:30 pm, lasting close to an hour and a half.

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About Communities at Oshkosh North High School: Communities is an interdisciplinary, project-based program at Oshkosh North High School offering students a unique way to learn English, social studies, and leadership content and skills through community engagement. Communities students investigate and engage in community problems through collaboration with businesses, organizations, and members of the community in an effort to provide authentic learning experiences while improving the local, national, and global community. To learn more visit www.communitiesonhs.org.