INUVIK
Staff at the school and hospital are using food to build bridges between young and old, to the benefit of both.

Bilal Alther, left, and Danny Jellema break down Arctic char to make soup for elders at the long-term care facility last October. - NNSL file photo

"It gives the kids a chance to see the value of passing on food and traditions," said East Three Secondary School foods teacher Danny Jellema.

Each week, her classes prepare a meal for the elders staying in long-term care at the Inuvik Regional Hospital, and try to pass along whatever country food they can. Sparked by the efforts of PhD student Tiff-Annie Kenny to share resources - particularly food - among various agencies, Jellema said the program is an easy one to incorporate into regular class time.

"Several classes help me maintain that pot of soup throughout the day," she said. "One class could be cutting vegetables and onions and then the next might taking care of the meat, and at the end, it goes off to long-term care."

Susan Keats works with the elders in long-term care as an activity aid, focused on therapeutic recreation. She said the food partnership with the high school is just one aspect of keeping the elders in her care active and involved in the community.

"When I first came up, the elders were telling me they hated the food," Keats told the Drum. "They were missing country food, and that fit right in with intergenerational programs."

Long-term care houses 23 residents full-time, and two more on a more casual basis, many of them from around the region. Many use wheelchairs and have mobility issues, but Keats said she does her best to provide as many opportunities to be active as possible.

"Long-term care is residential, it shouldn't be a hospital setting," she said. "They shouldn't be cut off from the community."

Typically, she said, the food provided by Jellema's classes lasts one much-appreciated meal. There is also an ongoing food program with Grade 6 students in which they come into the facility and make bannock with the elders.

Keats said the bannock is really just the vehicle for greater contact between the generations. Now they have started playing games together and she hopes to introduce some live music in the future.

"It's important to me that everyone is touched by programming in a positive way," she said. "And it's important that the community realizes what we're doing here, why we're doing it and that there are good reasons for it."

As the snow melts and it becomes easier for elders to move around, Jellema said she would like to have them come to the school as well to interact with the students.

She mentioned the now-defunct practice of Elders' Tea which used to be held monthly, noting that she would like to see it become a regular occurrence once again.

"In a community like this, the kids know the people in long-term care," she said. "I'm hoping that this is the beginning of more."