'Caleb' is Kathi George's newest dolls for sale through her Until Forever Nursery. Next to Caleb's head is a blank doll head that will become a completed baby doll.
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Two new residents have moved into Williamstown Commons Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.
Jenna is only 3 months old and Angie is only a newborn. But they are fitting right in at the Adams Road facility.
"The residents really enjoy nurturing, holding, cooing and talking to them," said Janice Paquette, the center's activity director.
You see, Jenna and Angie are dolls, the extremely realistic hand-crafted creations of Kathi George and Julie Crosier. George and Crosier are sisters who create lifelike dolls for their company, Until Forever Nursery. The two donated the dolls to Williamstown Commons.
"When we can afford to donate, we do," George said at her home in Williamstown, where she creates her half of the dolls painstakingly and intricately by hand. Each doll is made of soft vinyl and cloth and has realistic features like eyelashes and toenails. They come with birth certificates and are weighted so they feel more like a real baby, too.
George said she originally brought only Jenna to the nursing home earlier in August for a welcome celebration that Paquette dubbed an "adoption party." But when she saw the reaction of the residents to the little dark-haired infant, she immediately knew she wanted to do more.
"Some of them were reaching out and waving," she said. "I said, 'I'm going to run home and get the other one.' "
The tiny feet of Angie, one of the dolls adopted by Williamstown Commons, show the realistic details like toenails that make them so lifelike.
So Angie joined Jenna, and they have been greeted with open arms by the residents, Paquette said. Right now, the dolls are living in her office to be enjoyed by everyone taking turns, but they can be seen through the windows by the home's residents.
"They see them in my office and want to hold them," she said, adding that she has particularly seen the joy the dolls have brought to the residents of the Alzheimer's wing. "It definitely gives them comfort and pleasure. They were talking to them, which was really nice to see."
Some studies have said the use of so-called "therapy dolls" can indeed help with elderly patients, particularly those with dementia, offering a chance for a "calming and nurturing interaction," Paquette said.
And that's the goal for anyone who receives one of her dolls, said George, who names each one she creates (mostly drawing from the names of the 450 students at Williamstown Elementary School, where she is a physical education teacher). The sisters use their Facebook page to introduce their creations to the world, as well as renting a display window on Main Street in Bennington, Vt.
George recalled a recent instance when a woman stopped by the storefront in Bennington and fell in love with one of the babies. She left without purchasing it but returned later because she couldn't stop thinking about the doll and how she could use it in her psychology practice. She ended up buying the doll and walking away thrilled.
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