How to Remember an Elderly Parent's Life History
Phil Gibson didn't set out to revolutionize how seniors record their life stories. He was just having a dinnertime conversation.
In the summer of 2006, Gibson's mother-in-law mentioned that she had visited a friend in a rest home. She was disappointed that the woman had faded so much. "People didn't recognize how vibrant the woman had been," Gibson recalls. "She told me how she wished there was a bulletin board attached to her bed that was filled with her poems stories, and artwork so people could realize the zest she had when she was younger."
Shortly after his dinner with the in-laws, Gibson, 48, made another unexpected discovery.
"I was at dinner with a group of business friends. I was startled by the fact that every one of us had experienced a major life changing event with one of our parents or in-laws in the last three months," Gibson said. "In conversations, it was clear that none of us had prepared for losing that valuable connection to our histories and these very important people in our lives."
So Gibson, an expert Web technologist, began to create a new, easy-to-use site to collect senior and family stories. After nearly a year of development and testing, he launched a free online service called GreatLifeStories.com. The site guides anyone—caregivers, seniors, or family members—through the process of capturing, sharing and preserving the life stories of previous or current generations before they are lost forever.
These new technologies are the latest developments to give seniors, family members, and caregivers tools to help improve the mental, emotional, and physical health of older adults. As tools, they offer seniors a structured way of telling their life stories and passing their legacies along to children and grandchildren. And they often enable caregivers to be more compassionate, informed and effective.