One woman wants to sing at a Bucs game. Another one wants a tattoo. With this group's help, these seniors' wishes can become reality.
By SHANNON TAN
Published March 8, 2004
DUNEDIN - She started singing when she was 3 years old.
Mary Lou Jahn performed with her father in nightclubs. She sang in Carmen and played the witch in Hansel and Gretel.
But it's been a decade since Jahn, 61, has had a chance to sing in front of a large audience.
Sure, she gets to put her soprano voice to use belting out You Are My Sunshine during a sing-a-long at Neighborly Care Network's Dunedin Adult Day Services. Or by singing in church.
But Jahn really wants to sing the national anthem at a Bucs game. It doesn't even have to be the Super Bowl.
"I'd leave a little early if they (weren't winning)," said Jahn, of Clearwater.
Jahn's dream could come true, with the help of Second Wind Dreams, a national nonprofit organization that helps grant seniors' wishes. A group of professionals has formed a Pinellas County chapter of Second Wind Dreams.
Each chapter visits senior centers to talk about becoming member facilities. To join, each center pays a $100 annual or $300 lifetime membership. The Georgia-based organization has fulfilled the dreams of seniors in more than 400 centers in 38 states, Canada and India, with the help of individual and corporate donations.
Jan Nelson, the group's chief operating officer, said the organization helps make an estimated two dreams come true for seniors every day.
A dream impact study of three elder care centers a year and a half ago showed the program helped lower depression rates among seniors, boost staff morale and reduce staff turnover.
"So much of the time, they've been told, "You can't do this, you're 85 and living in a nursing home,' " Nelson said. "If they can see something positive happening, they come back to life."
One 85-year-old Atlanta fire captain suffered from Alzheimer's disease. People with Alzheimer's often are known as "sleeping dreamers" because they can't verbalize what they want, Nelson said.
Firefighters brought in fire trucks and turned on the sirens.
"He said, "I remember this,' " Nelson said. "To get this brief window in their lives is just amazing."
Seventeen centers in Florida are members of the program. At each home, a "dream weaver," or Second Wind worker, asks residents what they wish for, and then works to fulfill them.
Donna Cutting, 37, of St Petersburg, started the Pinellas County chapter. She hopes to reach out to nursing homes and elder care centers in the area to show them the benefits of the program.
The program is not about granting last wishes, she said.
"It's more about changing the perception of aging," Cutting said. "Just because you've reached a certain age doesn't mean you're doomed to a life of bingo."
Pinellas County chapter board members plan on picking one or two wishes, and enlisting the help of local groups to make them come true.
"They're excited about the program," said Robin Dunlap, manager of the Dunedin center. Most of the seniors at the center stay with caregivers, and almost 80 percent of them suffer from dementia or Alzheimer's.
At Neighborly Care Network's Dunedin Adult Day Services, one woman dreams of walking again.
Madeline Miele, 71, wants to visit friends and family in New Jersey.
Christine Makryllos, 64, would like a trip to Greece to visit her sister in Athens. She went there 50 years ago and recalls swimming in the clear water.
Many people think dreams are only for young people, who want expensive trinkets and fabulous careers, said Kathy Humnel, 58, a former executive director of a Clearwater assisted living center.
But small things, such as a stroll in the park, can make the elderly happy, she said.
"Maybe nobody knows they have that dream," said Humnel, a board member of the Pinellas County chapter of Second Wind Dreams. "They feel no one cares, they feel at that age it's not important anymore or people will think they're crazy or more senile than they are."
Maybe a person wants to reunite with friends or family.
Others want to relive past experiences or fulfill lifelong dreams.
Mostly, seniors just want to have fun.
A blind, wheelchair-bound woman dreamed of riding all seven roller coasters at Six Flags Over Georgia. A 91-year-old Alabama woman dreamed of flying in a biplane again. One lady wanted to ride a Harley-Davidson motorcycle again and get a tattoo.
And then there are seniors like Ruther Lewis, 69, of Dunedin.
She says she doesn't have any unfulfilled dreams.
The mother of eight says she gets along with her kids. That's all she needs.
Others still have a wish or two.
Jahn, whose nails are painted silver with black stripes, recalls watching a Bucs game from her wheelchair, cheering herself hoarse. Her bedroom walls are plastered with Bucs flags and Super Bowl posters.
No longer in a wheelchair, Jahn knows she can get up in front of the crowd and belt out The Star-Spangled Banner.
