At Park Place Seniors Living, fostering connection, purpose, and joy is at the heart of resident-centered care and service. This vision came to life through Imagination Alive!—an innovative intergenerational storytelling project hosted at River Ridge Seniors Village in Medicine Hat.
This project was launched by LEARN (Lifelong Education and Resource Network) and was led by Dr. Deborah Forbes, a local artist, post-secondary instructor, and published writer. With over 30 years of experience teaching at Medicine Hat College and a deep commitment to community education, Forbes brought a wealth of knowledge, creativity, and compassion to the program. Her research focuses on creative confidence, decolonizing art history, and Indigenous Ways of Knowing—areas that deeply informed the design of Imagination Alive!.
Inspired by the work of American gerontologist Anne Basting and her TimeSlips storytelling model, Forbes sought to adapt a similar creative care approach for Canadian seniors living with dementia. The idea: pair high school students with residents for one-on-one or two-on-one sessions, where they would co-create imaginative stories using random photographs—not to recall the past, but to invent the present together.
At River Ridge Seniors Village, the results were remarkable. Over ten sessions, students were bussed in from Cresent Heights High School and paired with the same resident each week. What began as nervous introductions quickly transformed into genuine connection. By the second session, residents were eagerly waiting for their student partners, and students couldn’t wait to return. When the final session arrived, many were reluctant to say goodbye—friendships had formed, confidence had grown, and imaginations had soared.
Some students continued to visit their senior partners after the program ended. Others chose to volunteer in long-term care or even pursue careers in health care, inspired by the relationships they had formed. One former participant is now a registered nurse working in gerontology, crediting Imagination Alive! as the spark that led him there.
Since its launch, the program has been run in three seniors’ communities and three high schools, and it has resulted in the publication of four (soon to be five) books filled with the vibrant, collaborative stories created during the sessions.
As one resident wisely said,
“Just ’cuz I can’t remember doesn’t mean I can’t imagine.”
River Ridge Seniors Village is proud to have been a part of this meaningful initiative. Imagination Alive! stands as a testament to the creative potential that exists at every stage of life—and the power of community to bring it to the surface.