What an idea: Preschool and Nursing Home a Perfect Combination

2016, March, 28

What an idea: Preschool and Nursing Home a Perfect Combination

This is a great story, both in content and in illustrating the principle Slingshot concepts in action – to drive social change. It involves bringing together the very young and the very old – so they can give each other what they need the most.

In my book ‘Slingshot’, I make mention of a school that one day started to take its students across the street to a nursing home to have its residents tutor the children. Within weeks the elderly’s morale and the student’s reading skills were much improved. Now we see a new manifestation of this seemingly strange combination, as a nursing home in Seattle is also serving as a preschool. The results for both the very young and the very old have been remarkable.

The experiment is also a great example of the Slingshot concepts in action: Turning Pain Points into Points of Infatuation (transforming isolated and marginalized elderly into valued companions and sources of wisdom for the very young), stretching the definition of a nursery home (from a place of sad isolation to that of vibrant interaction), and making use of the innovation shortcut by combining two seemingly incompatible components (the very old and the very young).

For the story and a touching video of the project entitled ‘Present Perfect’, click here:
http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/seattle-preschool-nursing-home-transforms-elderly-residents/story?id=31803817

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What an idea: Preschool and Nursing Home a Perfect Combination

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