Training Medical Students in the Use of Creative Expression to Improve Elder Care

In partnership with the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project (APP) based in Brooklyn, New York and directed by Gary Glazner, a series of participatory arts training workshops is being offered to medical students to use with elder patients.  Designed to enhance the traditional medical school curriculum, this unique program draws in part on Glazner’s ten plus years’ experience in performing and creating poetry with people living with memory loss. The workshops will focus on educating students on techniques in poetry, dance, music, storytelling and visual arts that can be used to enhance the quality of life of elders and people living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia. The students will then use these skills to lead an on-site participatory arts workshop with elders and/or people living with memory loss in the spring semester. This program is made possible through the generous support of the BHHS Legacy Foundation.

Gary Glazner and second year medical students Arpan Patel, Monica Gomez-Lopez and Omar Hussain perform a poem the group created at the first workshop on July 21st, 2016.