Lock Up The Medicine Cabinets
By Marie Fricker

Weymouth - When Julie Berenz, a student at Hanover High School, ended her 10 weeks of telephone conversations with Louise Hamilton, a senior citizen in her community, she wrote an essay about her new friend’s life and background. “Like me, Ms. Hamilton is an avid movie fan, but when she was young, she could see two movies, cartoons, and buy all the food and drink she wanted for only a quarter,” wrote Berenz. “We talked a lot about entertainment, because that was an interest we had in common, but we also talked about more serious issues like smoking. Mrs. Hamilton said there is nothing good about smoking, and it doesn’t make you look cool. I could always count on her for a piece of good advice every time I called her.”

Berenz and Hamilton are just two of the many pairs of seniors and teens who have participated in a program called “Ten Weeks Between Generations,” co-founded by Valerie Sullivan, Weymouth Community Health Program Coordinator. “We work with public schools and the elder services groups in various towns to create telephone relationships between elders and youths over the winter months, when seniors tend to be more isolated,” said Sullivan, who developed the program under the direction of the Hanover Alliance for the Prevention of Substance Abuse. “Each student is required to talk with their elder match once a week for at least half an hour, and at the end of the period, they write up a story on their senior’s life history. It’s a wonderful experience for everyone involved.”

“Ten Weeks Between Generations” has been implemented in numerous South Shore towns, including Hanover, Hingham, Weymouth, Whitman, Hanson, Norwell, Randolph, and Marshfield. The model is available to any senior center and high school that wishes to participate. “We end the program with a luncheon at which the elders and their youth partners get to meet one another for the first time,” said Sullivan. “We pin all the student essays on a bulletin board along with photos of the youth/ senior matches, and the police chief usually emcees the event. It really brings the whole community together.”

Barbara Rugg, former director of the Hanover Council on Aging, believes the telephone alliance between seniors and students helps erase preconceptions held by both generations. “The negative beliefs some seniors may have had about today’s youths completely disappear after the 10-week match,” said Rugg. “And the kids, who thought telephoning an elder for a couple of months might be a real drag, found they had made some fascinating new friends. Seniors may be in the later years of their journey, but that doesn‘t make that journey any less exciting. They are true role models for our kids.”

Programs such as the “Ten Weeks Between Generations” grew out of a community-wide effort to marshal the efforts of all age groups to prevent substance abuse among teens. Lyn Frano is the coordinator of the Drug Free Community Support Program Grant for the Weymouth Youth Coalition. The five-year federal grant was awarded to the town after a 2002 health survey indicated a higher than average problem with alcohol and drugs among youths and adults in the community.

“The government looks at drug and alcohol abuse as a community- wide issue,” said Frano. “Our goal is to work collaboratively with clergy, police, schools, health departments, teen groups and senior citizens to implement programs and services to keep our kids on the safe and healthy track to success.”

Frano’s group conducts its own surveys at the middle school level to gauge the level of substance abuse among adolescents. A recent questionnaire, entitled “Communities that Care Youth Survey” asked such questions as “Have you consumed alcohol in the last 30 days?” According to Frano, the children’s’ answers indicated that a higher percentage of youths in the 11th and 12th grades were abusing pain killers, such as Oxycodin and Oxycontin.

“When seniors ask us how they can get involved in helping with the substance abuse problem, we tell them that the first step is to lock up their medicine cabinets,” said Frano. “When grandchildren visit them, it’s important that all narcotics and alcohol be kept out of sight or secured. Elders can also talk to their adult sons or daughters about the dangers they face when they allow their teenage children to have liquor at graduation parties or sporting events. It’s up to the grandparent to speak out against these behaviors. It’s time for society to realize that drinking is not a rite of passage and taking the car keys away is not enough.”

Nancy Owens, 70, of Weymouth, volunteers for Frano’s grant program every Friday at the Weymouth Health Center, hoping to further the cause of preventing substance abuse among youths in her town. “I’ve been helping Lyn out with her project for three years and I love it,” said Owens. “I work 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. copying the minutes of meetings, preparing packets for door-to-door distribution and getting surveys to students in grades 7-12. What I do may not seem so important, but I believe every little bit helps when we’re trying to address such an important problem as drug abuse among our kids. When I was young, we heard about drug addicts in high school, but we never knew anyone personally. Now it’s everywhere.”

Seniors at the Whipple Senior Center in Weymouth added their “little bit” to the Youth Coalition’s efforts last year by knitting red scarves to promote Frano’s Red Ribbon Campaign. The scarves were sold to raise funds and were given away as gifts at a “Strengthening Families” program held at the local teen center.

“A book called ‘The Red Ribbon, a Story of Hope’ was the inspiration for our Red Ribbon campaign,” said Frano. “It’s the story of a troubled kingdom where the answer to their problems lies in the collective abilities and efforts of a community working together. Our goal to prevent substance abuse among today’s youths cannot be met without the involvement of people of all ages and all walks of life.”

Like Frano’s group, the South Shore Hospital’s Youth Health Connection is a collaborative network of community leaders, parents, youths, educators, law enforcement officials and health care providers who are working to raise awareness of physical and emotional issues facing today’s young people. Kim Noble, RN, directs the program, which offers a wide range of resources, including speakers addressing such issues as adolescent depression, grief response in children, the impact of cancer on families, pediatric obesity and diabetes, drug and alcohol abuse, emergency procedures for schools, cardiac health and pediatric asthma.

“I speak to senior organizations about ways that we can ‘connect the generations’ for the benefit of our kids,” said Noble. “In this computer age, it’s a fact that many teenagers barely learn cursive writing today. We encourage grandparents to write to their grandchildren and send them self-addressed stamped postcards so the child or teenager will write back to them. It’s a simple thing for them to do, but so important for their children’s academic development.”

Noble also urges seniors to talk with young people about things they are interested in, such as sports, or music. “Find out what your grandchildren are into and ask them questions about it,” said Noble. “It’s amazing how kids will open up to you when you take the time to listen.”

The idea of grandparents, parents, and children opening the lines of communication is on Frano’s list of most important things to do. “Video games, computers and cell phones are wonderful devices, but they have taken a toll on good, old fashioned family interaction,” said Frano. “Reports show that sitting down to dinner as a family more than three nights a week makes kids 70 percent less likely to use alcohol or drugs. That’s a pretty good reason to set the table and turn off the TV.”

For more information about these programs to help set one up in your community, including the Drug Free Community Support program, contact Lyn Frano at (781) 340-5008. For details on the South Shore Hospital’s Youth Health Connection, contact Kim Noble at (781) 624- 8000. To learn more about a Ten Weeks Between Generations program, contact Valerie Sullivan at (781) 340-5008.