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A retirement home is the last place you’d expect to find 20-something-year-old students. But for music students living at Judson Manor — a vintage luxury retirement home in Cleveland — it’s the best arrangement they could hope for.
25-year-old Daniel Parvin, who is pursuing his PhD at the Cleveland Institute of Music, is the retirement home’s resident pianist. He’s one of a few music students there who, in exchange for monthly performances, receives rent-free accommodation.
Having the young people around has lifted the spirits of residents. “You see a young person coming toward you and want to look alive,” said resident Paul Ingalls. “You want to look like you’re still part of it.”
Studies have shown that social contact with younger people has huge health benefits to the elderly — from fighting dementia to regulating blood pressure.
But the programme has had unexpected benefits for the students, too: “I inherit 100 surrogate grandparents here,” Daniel said. “And they’re really dear friends of mine.”
As 23-year-old violin player Tiffany Tieu has discovered, the programme proves that age really is just a number and some interests transcend perceived age barriers: “We found a lot of things that we like to do together. Cooking, sharing a meal, talking about art.”