SAN­DRA L BLOOD

Founder and co-di­rec­tor of Bridges to the Heart, Dr Sasha Bernard, DrPH, MPH, BSc, is still very much in the youth realm, yet car­ries an un­end­ing pas­sion and deep re­spect for se­niors—mind­ful that one day, God may grant her the priv­i­lege of reach­ing that sea­son of life her­self.

Recog­nis­ing that far more can and should be done for se­niors lo­cal­ly and in­ter­na­tion­al­ly, Dr Bernard com­mit­ted her­self to study­ing age­ing, so­cial­i­sa­tion, and in­ter­gen­er­a­tional con­nec­tion, leav­ing every aca­d­e­m­ic space—in­clud­ing uni­ver­si­ty—high­ly qual­i­fied and cer­ti­fied.

Bridges to the Heart is a non-prof­it or­gan­i­sa­tion (NPO) ded­i­cat­ed to bridg­ing re­la­tion­al gaps in so­ci­ety, with a strong fo­cus on strength­en­ing con­nec­tions be­tween the el­der­ly and the youth.

“Since our in­cep­tion in 2013, we’ve cre­at­ed spaces where love, heal­ing, com­pas­sion, and shared val­ues flow across gen­er­a­tions,” Dr Bernard ex­plained. “Our pro­grammes—Adopt a Grand­par­ent, Adopt a Grand­pal, Love Bridge Se­ries, and Shar­ing Sto­ries—aim to re­duce ageism, re­vive mean­ing­ful tra­di­tions, and fos­ter a more age­ing-friend­ly na­tion.

“Re­search and lived ex­pe­ri­ence show that so­cial in­ter­ac­tion plays a vi­tal role in main­tain­ing men­tal, emo­tion­al, and even phys­i­cal health in old­er age. For many old­er adults in res­i­den­tial homes, the hol­i­days can be a qui­et time. Fam­i­lies get busy, vis­i­tors slow down—if they ever ex­ist­ed at all—and the sea­son that’s sup­posed to be full of joy is of­ten not.”

Dr Bernard said she re­mains com­mit­ted to en­sur­ing that peo­ple in gen­er­al—but es­pe­cial­ly se­niors, on whose shoul­ders younger gen­er­a­tions stand—are hap­py, seen, and cared for.

This Christ­mas, res­i­dents of five res­i­den­tial homes will be treat­ed to a one-of-a-kind love ex­pe­ri­ence.

On De­cem­ber 28, from 1–5 pm, at the Arou­ca Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­tre, Bridges to the Heart will host a Christ­mas soirée for se­niors and care­givers— Sor­rel, So­ca and Se­niors.

Dr Bernard not­ed that such so­cial gath­er­ings help re­duce the risk of de­pres­sion and cog­ni­tive de­cline by keep­ing se­niors con­nect­ed, en­gaged, and re­mind­ed that they are val­ued and loved.

“Usu­al­ly, we vis­it homes to de­liv­er cards from our Adopt a Grand­pal ini­tia­tive and bring the Christ­mas joy to them, but this year, we want them to get dressed up and come to us for an af­ter­noon of age-ap­pro­pri­ate, fes­tive fun!”

Cov­er­ing 80 res­i­dents and 40 care­givers from the five homes, the NPO is seek­ing $52,000, 80 vol­un­teers, spon­sors at Plat­inum, Gold, Sil­ver, Bronze, and Topaz lev­els, and in-kind con­tri­bu­tions.

Spon­sor­ship will sup­port venue and dé­cor, food and fes­tive treats, bev­er­ages, en­ter­tain­ment (games, per­for­mances, and ac­tiv­i­ties), sound sys­tem, trans­porta­tion and ac­ces­si­bil­i­ty needs, a host and pho­tog­ra­ph­er, 80 gift bags, and 80 to­kens of ap­pre­ci­a­tion.

Bridges to the Heart con­tin­ues to thrive un­der its guid­ing mot­to:

Join­ing Hands, Reach­ing Hearts, Restor­ing Re­la­tion­ship Gaps One Bridge at a Time.