An innovative program in Sudbury is connecting older adults with children through intergenerational storytelling. Public Health Sudbury and Districts partnered with The Older Adult Centre to host GrandPals, an idea developed in Canada, at the local public library. The aim is to tackle the issue of isolation. “It’s neat to find a program like this established in Ontario,” said public health RN Larysa Vares. “We had three GrandPals (older participants) and each week we had eight to 12 children attend. Each GrandPal was paired with three to four young people every week,” Vares explained. The goal is to keep the children with the same senior every week so they can form a bond over the span of the seven weeks. “At public health, we have a role to play in healthy aging for older adults. We look at ageism and social isolation particularly. Those are two big societal issues,” Vares said. (Sudbury Star, May 15)