Job Corps helping hands benefit Mat-Su seniors

PALMER — Usually it takes months or years to make a difference in another person’s life. But for Alaska Job Corps Center students, the connection was nearly instant and the distinction was clear.

Stella Mark and Kameri Shark are both health occupation students at Job Corps. Recently, their nursing assistant class went to the Mat-Su Senior Center to offer hand massages to the seniors there.

At first it was awkward. It seemed the 10 students and 63 elders were hesitant. But the moment when the students began to individually hold and stroke the seniors’ hands was exactly the same moment one could visibly see a profound calming effect and difference in demeanor.

Such is the power of touch. Healing hands eliminate boundaries and make a connection. Communication allows understanding.

All of the Job Corps students studied hand physiology and understood the clinical procedure of the therapy, and the psychological results were stunning.

The students leaned in and the elders leaned in closer. The elders relaxed and closed their eyes, immersing themselves in the comfort and warmth of the students’ careful hands. As the seniors watched and waited their turn, a sweet stillness took over the room. As Mark and Shark massaged old hands, they heard a rich, but simple, story.

“These hands had seen 83 long, cold winters and 82 short and frantic summers. These hands had held babies, braided hair and picked baskets of berries,” one senior said. “These weathered working hands cut fish, butchered a moose, loaded the steam house, plucked birds and sliced roots. The ordinary hands had nursed the ill, dressed wounds, splinted bones and cared for the dead. These hands were old and tired. These hands begged for care and attention.”

Mark and Shark were intent in their work, but still receptive enough to hear the collective story as they gently massaged each finger, tendon and muscle.

And this was the tipping point where both female students realized that they had chosen the correct career decision. This confirmation, and the comfort and joy in the elders’ faces, had made a definite difference.

Alaska Job Corps Center health occupation students are Brandy Braithwaite, Lisa Bruffet, Nicole Bruner, Wendi Castellon, Judge Chapman, William Edwards, Stella Mark, Elia Munson, Kameri Shark and Mark Cabrera.