SOCIETY

The Open Care Centers for the Elderly (OCCE) are State structures since
1979 and provide primary social and nursing care by specialized
personnel to the elderly, at a Community level. Intending to maintain
physical, psychological and mental health, they implement actions,
programs, practices aiming at healthy and active aging. An action of the
B’ Open Care Center for the Elderly (OCCE) of Agioi Anargyroi which
promotes these specific goals, is that of Dramatic play. Dramatic play is
an experiential, innovative, groundbreaking action for the elderly. It was
designed and developed in 2015 and is implemented to this day. The
Dramatic play is "...a playful and experiential process ...that encourages
spontaneous and free expression and the real, active involvement of
participants in the game of imagination in the group..., where all
participate as actors in immediate, creative events and shows full of
surprise". (Papadopoulos, S. 2010, Theater Pedagogy). And yet, "it is the
initiation into the existential event and the meaning of life and relationships through theater, where individuals do not strike and do
not score, but have the opportunity to feel, see themselves and the
world, to represent it, to recreate it, to compose it, to classify it and to
interpret it anew...". (Kouretzis, L. 2008, Dramatic Play and its
Dimensions).
Responding to the challenges of the pandemic, live dramatic play is
converted, transformed, and turned into an online experiential dramatic
play. It aims to address social exclusion, maintain social relations
between the members of the B’ Open Care Center for the Elderly
(OCCE), reduce the psychosocial impact due to the pandemic, remove
apathy and reduced functionality, maintain and strengthen cognitive,
motor, and mental functions, maintain self-confidence and self-esteem,
highlight new skills of the members. Dramatic play focuses on human
relationships. Allows members to express their psycho-emotional world
within the group freely and spontaneously, to reveal what concerns
them and thus to come closer. During live dramatic play, the members
enter a properly formed environment with a variety of stimuli. These
stimuli are the precursor of action. Objects, colors, smells, images,
words, expressions, movements, postures, dreams, desires, needs, are
all mobilized and expressed through various techniques, associations,
and symbols. The use of various modes of expression (theatrical, visual,
verbal, sensuous, musical, dancing) encourages individual intelligence,
offering immediate satisfaction to the participants. It works outside the
established framework and allows members to "capture" the world
through their senses and be moved by recognizing the beauty of
simplicity.
The era of the pandemic brought a "pause" of all groups in the B’ Open
Care Center for the Elderly (OCCE), hence the “pause” of this particular
group. With clear lack of contact of the members with the familiar space
of the B’ Open Care Center for the Elderly (OCCE), as well as the lack of
everything the members in the group experienced psychosomatically
(physical contact, physical and verbal expression of emotions,
movement, free and improvised theatrical expression – individual or
group -) the action of the live dramatic play, transformed and turned
into an online form. To accomplish this action, the members come into
contact with digital technology and acquire or improve their skills in it.
They invest their time in learning about new forms of technology while
practicing Lifelong Learning. This innovative initiative of dramatic play, offers the opportunity to members, to maintain communication and
contact with each other. To interact, to express themselves verbally,
physically, to unfold their imagination playing rols, to cooperate, to
create the environment in which they will move using various objects
(fabrics, candls, hats, pebbles, etc) in their home. Thus, as part of the
tasks assigned to them, members create texts and stories, using a
variety of vocabulary, create poetic speech and drawings. Bring, present
and share with the team, music and videos, seek inspiration. In this way
they achieve physical, psychological, and mental well-being.