Old Friends Club going strong nearly a year after Island launch

Nearly a year has elapsed since the Old Friends Club’s Mercer Island inception and program coordinator Tanya Su said that everyone involved can feel a sense of community happening in the gathering room each week.

The club is designed for people with mid-stage dementia to experience laughter, learning and belonging and gives their caregivers a respite during that time. Presently, 12 attendees between the ages of 70 to 96 come together from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. each Thursday at the Mercer Island Presbyterian Church (MIPC).

Mercer Island’s club is part of a statewide initiative to provide social engagement for the attendees through coffee, conversation, art, exercises, music and more. It has grown by leaps and bounds since it began last October.

“People who started off kind of quiet and reserved have really opened up and there is such a sense of it truly being an old friends club where people are just much more willing to share. Some of the memories that would loop and the repeated stories are shifting to new stories and new retrieved memories,” said Su, whose parents had dementia and have passed away.

Most of the participants are from Mercer Island with some from Bellevue and one from Redmond. For now, 12 attendees is the max capacity and people can sign up to be placed on the wait list.

MI’s Old Friends Club started to materialize after Carin Mack — a retired 40-year geriatric social worker — introduced Su to one of the club’s founders, and Su then discussed the need for the club with a church pastor. It was soon go time for participants and their caregivers.

“It’s really wonderful to see the caregivers form community as well because they are often quite isolated,” said Su, adding that Mack also runs an Island support group for caregivers of people with dementia. “There are so many caregivers in need of respite, but this is just a tiny part of their week — but it’s a very fulfilling part.”

When the Old Friends Club is in session, the participants get involved in armchair travel via slideshows, discussions about sports and other historical and current events and they play games like bowling, cornhole, flyswatter, balloon toss, volleyball and ladder ball. Another activity is Victorious Water Bottle Weight Training that involves basic stretching or chair yoga.

In the armchair travel realm, Su said that they virtually tracked one of the participants’ family road trips from Atlanta, Georgia, to Yakima. Sports-wise, one baseball-loving attendee brings in the sports page and gives updates regarding the action on the diamond. There was also a trip back in time to when people attended Seafair and witnessed the hydro races. Memories come flooding back to everyone and they all share their experiences, according to Su.

“It is quite a full, lively room,” said Su, adding that eight to 10 volunteers are present each week and there’s plenty of cheering during games. “It’s all in the spirit of fun and community. We really try to make that a part of every single session, making people feel loved and valued and that they matter.”

Participant Bob Ellis said the club is a place of warmth and smiles, and attendee Marlyse Cato added that she loves everybody there and her fellow club members are just perfect people.

MIPC senior pastor Kristy Farber discussed the importance of hosting the club: “Old Friends Club at MIPC is one of the clearest examples of how MIPC, as a community, puts the values of our faith into action, sharing joy, peace, hope and love with our neighbors and the world. We believe we need to share these values with a particular attention to vulnerable or marginalized people and groups.”

Caregiver Linda Tipps shared her thoughts about Old Friends Club: “I can honestly say that my husband comes home energized and happy. He is conversant and animated, rather than confused and/or quiet. I am so glad my daughter was persistent in getting me to look into this program.”

In the volunteer sphere, Ben McConaughy has enjoyed being a part of the club: “It truly is a space where friendships are formed; where people can be their best selves; where care and respite are offered to those who desperately need it.”

For monthly fees information and more, visit www.mipc.org/old-friends-club.