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For The Birds
New aviary at Brown Center helps seniors
with memory impairment.
Esther Allweiss Ingber | Contributing Writer
tion. Both locations also host caregiver
support groups.
Working with the open house’s bird
theme, art therapist Lorraine Feber led
participants in painting watercolor pictures
of birds. A story about birds that the group
wrote together was propped on an easel.
For refreshments, pink lemonade accom-
panied delicious chocolate bird’s-nest
cookies, a participant-staff production.
Living Design — praised for its work in
avian research, genetics and disease con-
trol — installed the straw- and greenery-
filled aviary. The South Dakota-based
company also set up the aviaries at other
JSL properties in Oak Park and West
Bloomfield. It’s a stress-free life for the
finches, who have string at one side of the
cage for making their nests, and separate
stations offering perpetual food and water.
“A gentleman from Living Design will
come in quarterly to do a thorough clean-
ing and see how the birds are doing,”
Yamstein said. In the meantime, she appre-
ciates that Linda Shewach, whose mother
Louise Kaufman attends the program, vol-
unteered to clean the cage and change the
water and the food each week.
The lifespan of finches is usually five to
six years. With luck, “we hope to have little
birds,” said Yamstein, noting that the group
includes three mated pairs, zebra finches
among them. Once the two bachelor birds
get acclimated, Living Design will facilitate
their “dating” prospective matches. Like
people, finches can be picky.
The benefit of having birds at the Brown
Center is already apparent.
“A participant who was very anxious, we
directed to the aviary,” Yamstein said. “She
was able to calm down and focus on the
birds. That was really stunning to me.
“Another man talked a lot about how the
birds had ‘dive-bombed,’” she continued.
“They are helping with his memory.”
At the open house, participant Audrey
Morris of Southfield said she’s never
owned a bird but is happy with these
finches.
“I love watching them,” Morris said.
“They’re so unusual.”
Chuckling as the birds flitted about, she
exclaimed, “Look at them! It’s amazing
what they can do.”
Photos by Esther Allweiss Ingber
S
wooping and darting, a hand-
ful of tiny finches native to either
Australia or Africa recently became
part of the family at the Dorothy & Peter
Brown Jewish Community Adult Day
Program in Southfield. The program, with
its new aviary, is housed in the JVS build-
ing on Southfield Road.
“It’s absolutely fascinating,” said long-
time Brown program participant Edna
Shanfield of Oak Park, following the antics
of a free-wheeling African Red Bishop, also
known as an Orange Weaver.
On Aug. 25, Shanfield was among the
visitors at an open house officially intro-
ducing the exotic finches. Their tall aviary
on the second floor stands in one corner
of a long, light-streaming “porch” with a
piano and plenty of chairs.
Families and friends of the Brown
Center donated funds for the aviary proj-
ect, says program director Debra Yamstein.
Under auspices of Jewish Senior Life (JSL),
the Brown program in Southfield and West
Bloomfield provides a safe environment
for older adults with memory impairment
to enjoy daytime activities and socializa-
Three exotic finches in the new Brown
Center aviary
Adele Strager paints a colorful finch.
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22 September 8 • 2016
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