Dial 9 for the sublime A lifetime of life experience only a phone call away By: Jen Zoratti Posted: 6:04 PM CDT Wednesday, Sep. 3, 2025

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/09/2025 (385 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Combined, the residents of Misericordia Place Personal Care Home have hundreds of years of life experience.

And now, you can benefit from that wisdom directly via the newly launched Misericordia Place Life Advice Line.

Dial 204-788-8060, select a number from the menu of options and listen to recorded insights from the care home’s residents and patients on all of life’s quandaries.

Press “5” for advice from Nina, a 97-year-old (“Brush your teeth and listen to your mother”). Press “9” for advice from Bill’s dad (“Try to get a smile out of everybody”). Press “2” for dating advice from Susan (“Most guys out there are hopeless”).

The Life Advice Line is a project by artists-in-residence Francesca Carella Arfinengo, Natalie Baird and Toby Gillies, who have been running the program for the past 14 years with support from Misericordia Health Centre Foundation, Manitoba Arts Council, the Winnipeg Foundation and Artists in Healthcare.

They hold drawing and painting workshops with the aim of fostering creativity, connection and community among residents.

“Then every couple of years, we have a special project where we try to share all that artwork and all the connections we’ve made with the public,” Gillies says.

This year, that project is the Life Advice Line.

“We meet so many fantastic people and art really is a way to get to know each other and hear those lived experiences and they say the most fantastic things,” Baird says.

“We meet so many fantastic people and art really is a way to get to know each other and hear those lived experiences and they say the most fantastic things.”

An advice line was a way to share snippets of those stories with the public in a fun, accessible and low-tech way. They struck a lot of gold in their life-advice chats with residents, but the menu only has 10 options, so they might rotate different advice in the future.

“We picked a selection that ranged from sincere to funny, shorter to longer and included different kinds of voices,” Baird says.

Randy Jestin, 74, is one of those voices.

Jestin worked backstage at the Winnipeg Folk Festival for 20 years.

“The Winnipeg Folk Festival was the best thing I ever did with my life, other than raising my three daughters,” he tells the Free Press.

Randy’s advice — press “3” — is about how to grow in new ways. (“When you interact with people, you can learn a lot.”)

Jestin knew exactly what advice he wanted to dispense. He believes people have to give themselves a chance and put themselves out there.

“People have to learn how to open up. Everybody’s all closed off these days. They think about what’s in it for me? Well, it’s not about what’s in it for you. What do you give to people?” he tells the Free Press.

“People have to stop and say, ‘Is this what I want?’ Remember, we, the people, make the world. If we don’t like the world, then we need to stop what we’re doing. You can’t ever be afraid to speak up. Ask the nurses here: I’m not afraid to speak up.”

Baird believes every health care centre should have an artist-in-residence, whether they’re working in audio or visual art or performance.

“It’s a kind of health care, really. It’s life enrichment. One of the reasons we’ve been doing more audio work and long-form interviews is because people so enjoy being listened to,” she says.

“Medical staff are very busy and people, I think, don’t often get the opportunity to really be listened to, so it’s nice to be responsive in that way as well,” Gillies adds.

The walls of Cheryl Towers’ room at Misericordia Place are filled with art.

“I just know the art programming here has been a lifesaver. I would be staring at the wall, not knowing what to do,” she says.

Cheryl’s advice — press “0” — is about being true to yourself. (“I think it’s very important to live according to what you believe.”)

“If you don’t, you’re working for every other person’s ideas and goals,” the 58-year-old tells the Free Press. “Then 40 years have gone by and you think, ‘What did I waste my life on? Somebody else’s dreams.’”

It’s very good advice, and there’s plenty more where that came from. Call 204-788-8060 today.

jen.zoratti@freepress.mb.ca