CU's GlamourGals helps show beauty of some elderly residents

By Linda Myers

Rachel Doyle was a sophomore in high school in Commack, N.Y., when her grandmother died in a Nevada nursing home. Devastated by the loss, Doyle wanted to do something to alleviate the isolation and tedium she often had observed in the daily lives of elderly women in care facilities.

Undergraduate Lindsey Giserman '04 gives a cleansing facial to Kendal at Ithaca resident Margaret Ferris, foreground, while Emily Gordon '04, in the background, provides the same service for resident Corinne Melkin, March 2, at Kendal. Nicola Kountoupes/University Photography

"I wanted to do something that would make a difference," said Doyle. "Nursing homes can be scary places. What residents lack most is companionship and reinforcement from others that they are still human, still loved and valued, still part of the community."

Doyle had given beauty makeovers to friends for fun. Why not bring that skill to elderly nursing home residents in the area where she lived, recruit friends to help and get beauty product manufacturers to donate some of their wares?

That germ of an idea became GlamourGals, a not-for-profit organization with 10 chapters in New York state that has been featured on the "Oprah" television show and in Glamour magazine. Last semester, Doyle, now a sophomore in the College of Human Ecology majoring in policy analysis and management, launched the first Cornell chapter. And this past Sunday, she was one of six members to offer cleansing facials, light makeup and manicures to a dozen Kendal at Ithaca residents in the life-care facility's adult home and skilled nursing wing.

At the beginning of the session, the second one at Kendal this semester, the Cornell students introduced themselves to the residents, and the chapter president, Elisabeth Becker '06, College of Arts and Sciences, explained what they would be doing.

"I just finished the moisturizer and now I'm putting on anti-wrinkle cream," Emily Gordon, a junior in human development, told Kendal resident Corinne Melkin, once the session got going.

"That's what I need. Could you put some on my mirror, too?" Melkin replied saucily.

During Melkin's makeover session, she told Gordon that she had been a teacher of chemistry and biology in her working days and had taught children who were blind. Gordon was impressed and wanted to know more. By the time she was finished applying blusher, powder and lipstick and painting Melkin's nails a new color, she had learned that her favorite music was from the Big Band era and that her son was a physician.

"Every mother's dream," said Gordon.

Afterward, looking at herself in a mirror, Melkin quipped: "I'm not going to wash my face for a week." Later, holding a one-on-one photo of herself with Gordon taken at the end of her session, she said, "I enjoyed the personalities of the girls, and being made up made me feel alive again. If they want to come back every day, I'll be here."

Estelle Burnette, who got a makeover from Becker, said the experience was "a lot of fun, the best time I've had in a long time. And don't I look nice?"

"I was really touched when Estelle told me she was going to put our picture in her memory book," said Becker. "I've enjoyed connecting with women of a different generation."

Irene Orchard, who got a manicure from Jessica Brandt '04, a psychology major in the College of Arts and Sciences, said: "It was nice having my nails done, and I liked the color she put on."

Brandt also enjoyed the experience. "It made me feel really good to be doing it. It's more about just spending time with them," she said. When she goes home (Leeds, Mass.) on spring break, she plans to team up with her sister, Alexis, to give a makeover to her own grandmother, Ida Brandt, a resident of a nearby assisted-living facility.

Such comments fit in with the GlamourGals mission statement, which notes that the experience is intended to enrich the life of the volunteers as well as boost the self-esteem of the women receiving the makeovers.

The statement is in a booklet Doyle developed for GlamourGals chapters that offers simple instructions on giving a makeover as well as on interacting with older people. Volunteers are encouraged to ask the women to talk a little about themselves but to be aware that they may have health problems that prevent them from doing so, or simply may choose not to. Volunteers also are counseled to be responsive to the women's needs throughout the sessions, stopping immediately if they express discomfort. One rule: no makeup or creams around the women's eyes, a sensitive area especially for some older women.

Doyle, who believes that policymakers are often insensitive to the needs of older people, cited a case study she reviewed in a Cornell policy class, in which the residents of a senior living complex were denied a needed bridge that would have made their facility more accessible. "They were told, in effect, you're old, you're going to die soon, so why should we bother." She hopes that her studies will lead to a career in which she is able to turn around those kinds of attitudes. The efforts of Glamour Gals volunteers is a strong start in that direction.

For information about GlamourGals, visit this Web site: http://www.glamourgals.org. For information on the Cornell chapter, contact Becker at ejb39@cornell.edu.