Our Partners in Health hosts free Grand Finale & Performance

(SHARON, MA) – A six-month-long community education series for people living with and caring for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and related illnesses will near its close on Thursday, April 21, when Our Partners in Health (OPH) hosts its Grand Finale and Performance in the Sharon Community Center Ballroom. The program will begin at 6:00 pm.

Attending the event will be all of the OPH speakers, including physicians, a memory care specialist, a gerontological nurse practitioner, an occupational therapist, a social worker, an attorney, a family caregiver specialist, and other professionals. In addition, guests will receive information packets and handouts from past OPH workshops and enjoy a live performance of the dramatic musical play, iloveyouiloveyouiloveyou,too and a post-show discussion with writer and director Alan O’Hare, M.Ed., and performers Barbara Bourgeois and Mark Lipman.

O’Hare, who is the founder and artistic director of Life Story Theatre and a professor of expressive therapy at Lesley College, describes the play as “sweet and moving,” and “very filled with love.”

“The play is about a husband who is visiting his wife who has Alzheimer’s disease and what their journey is like,” he explains. “It really takes the audience inside their relationship and the loss.” Highlighting the show is a scene in which the husband speaks directly to the audience to share his story and the couple dance together to re-enact the love of dancing they share.

The play, Iloveyouiloveyouiloveyou,too, has been presented numerous times at nursing homes and conferences and is well received by audiences. O’Hare, who formerly lived in Sharon, has also received numerous citations for the quality of his programs and artistry. The live performance on April 21 will be followed by a post-show discussion with O’Hare and performers Bourgeois and Lipman. Guests will be invited to share their thoughts and feelings and connect with others affected by memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease. “This is a way to talk with each other and create a community of support with each other,” O’Hare says. Admission is free. Light refreshments will be served.

The April 21st program will be followed on April 25 by a presentation about Brain Fitness for the Aging Adult at the Sharon Council on Aging. Karen Lee Dick, PhD, an expert in caring for older adults with cognitive impairment and a gerontological nurse practitioner at Orchard Cove in Canton will be the speaker.

Our Partners in Health is a collaborative comprising the Sharon Public Library in partnership with the Sharon Council on Aging, Epoch Senior Healthcare of Sharon, Hebrew Senior Life, Health & Social Services Consortium, Inc. (HESSCO), Jewish Family and Children’s Services, Orchard Cove, White Oak Cottages, and Your Elder Experts. For more information about Our Partners in Health and upcoming OPH programs, contact SPL Library Director Lee Ann Amend at 781.784.1578, ext. 1425, lamend@ocln.org, or visit www.sharonpubliclibrary.org.

This project has been funded in whole or in part with Federal funds from the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. #HHS-N-276-2011-0001C with the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

ABOUT THE SHARON PUBLIC LIBRARY

A member of the Old Colony Library Network (OCLN) with a collection in a wide range of traditional and digital formats, the Sharon Public Library (SPL) is committed to serving the informational, educational, cultural and recreational needs of all members of the Sharon community by providing access to a professional staff, a state-of-the-art facility and quality materials, programs and services.

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