Bruce Devereux has brought a breath of fresh air to activities at Christenson Village Care Home in Gibsons and he, along with a dedicated team, has encouraged many seniors to greater connections with others through imaginative programs.
Last Monday he was given the 2017 Innovation of the Year Award by the BC Care Providers Association – a group that represents 300 different organizations – during a ceremony in Victoria. MLA Nicholas Simons acknowledged Devereux’s award in the legislature that day and Devereux and the other award winners were toured around to meet with politicians, including the Minister of Education and the Speaker of the House, to have further dialogue about aging.
Devereux’s job title is recreation and volunteer manager for Good Samaritan Society Christenson Village, a 140-bed care facility in Gibsons. He has been involved in the social services profession for years, winning outstanding student of the year award when he graduated from Douglas College’s Therapeutic Recreation program in 1987. His list of achievements is notable, including past provincial sport director for the BC Wheelchair Sport Association.
But it is his work with collaborators in the Sunshine Coast community to stimulate the lives of seniors that has earned his current kudos.
In 2012, Devereux worked with local musician Steve Wright on Across the Lines, a project that helped residents create sound using iPads and iPhones. Those sounds were turned into a professionally produced CD, which featured improvisation by local musicians, poetry reading and storytelling by Christenson residents.
“Bruce is great to work with in the sense that he really lives by what he believes in,” Wright said. “He feels strongly about connecting artists and community together, and then he supports engagement on both sides to come together where magic happens.”
Through a second partnership with the Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives, the residents produced and narrated three short video documentaries that became part of a smartphone app for walking tours.
A third collaboration with Gibsons’ Deer Crossing the Art Farm makes use of the story creation process called TimeSlips to help Christenson residents create original stories by viewing interesting photos and allowing their imaginations to flow. Over the past four years, residents have written over 100 stories.
This activity with the Art Farm was dubbed The Imagination Network. “It’s more of a collective title of all the projects we’re all involved in,” Devereux said. “It’s amazing when you get all the organizations together and it works. That’s what the Innovation Award is all about.”
The arts are a big component of the projects. “That’s what I love,” Devereux said. “The creative arts are the most powerful tool.”
Christenson Village was the first care community ever to participate in the annual Sunshine Coast Art Crawl, a tour that encourages people to visit up to 130 artistic venues. In the 2015 Art Crawl, one of the biggest hits with the public was the theatrical production written and performed by residents. Christenson Village and the Art Farm have now added Douglas College Therapeutic Recreation and UBC theatre departments as partners and collaborators. They are hard at work on a three-year project called Raising the Curtain, a theatrical production by people with dementia in collaboration with a community of artists and caregivers.
