Advice needed- Is it safe to paint elderly?

I got a call for a gig at a family Easter party at a nursing home. There will be children there, but the woman who wants to hire me thinks it would be great fun for the residents to be painted as well. I try to keep my paints sanitary, but lets face it, there's still room to pass germs around, and if someone has a lower immune system they could be susceptible to things that usually would never harm my clients. I don't want anyone to get sick, period. Also, I don't want the liability.

I am still starting off, and I don't have any other Easter gigs booked so I'd like to take the job, any advise is really appreciated!

Have you told the woman that wants to hire you, or asked for her opinion? You could also see about having the nursing home sign some kind of waver saying that you won't be held responsible if anything happens. And if you do it, you can fill a spray bottle with rubbing alcohol to spray on your brushes/sponges to try to kill any possible germs. Just a few thoughts. Hope it works out for you!

They are just people... just older.

Nursing home doesn't mean they are attached to life support or anymore prone to catching things than the rest of us. It is just a place where they go when they can't keep up with things on their own.

You probably would be in the communal areas and those who are interested would come to you....

And... lots of "old" people love the idea! They've never had a face painting or want to feel young again. I've painted lots of grandparents at parties!

Just don't use a heavy hand applying colour, tap gently on older faces as the skin can be quite papery and wrinkled and avoid shimmery paint as it will accentuate the wrinkles.

Yeah, I wouldn't think anything of it... if they have an immune issue, they won't ask you to do it, they probably wouldn't even be out into the room that was that crowded.

I've painted some seniors. No problems so far. I've done small designs on them.

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the feed back. I'll go for it. I think it's a great idea, just new to FP and can't be to careful

Just did a Job at a nursing home.

It was actually soposed to be for the children family day but only 12 children showed up (it was a bit sad) I was soposed to be there for 6 hours.
Then there were two old guys waiting in line there sons were coming they wanted me to paint them as though they had been in a fight with each other they were hilarious. then a few old women wanted butterflys like the younger girls.

so having time i did a walk around to those who couldn't get to me (mobility problems) with enough to do butterflys, blossoms and black eyes.
after that with time to kill I went and sat with them and did some balloon animals and stuff. alot of them wanted that.

It turned out so well they have actually booked me again in November - but not for a family day just for the residents LOL.

Cheek art is the best and it takes a little longer on the linework I found on the wrinkled skin. and I took more time to sponge.

and didn't use shimmers but thanks for the tip will keep it in mind for November.

May I add they were a fun crowd with not complaining parents, to worry about. Happy to wait there turn. Were amazed at it all, and genuinly happy. I highly recomend the seniors.
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Thanks Elantaura, I love hearing that. I sure hope I can brighten up their day. Most of my painting is still pretty heavy with split cakes and sponges because it's fast and turns out looking so good on kids, I guess I'd better refresh myself on my cheek art. Other than butterflies and black eyes, do you have any suggestions?

I've done this one on elderly people several times... it works well I think because elephants are supposed to be wrinkly

When I did a senior home all of the seniors were getting hearts with their loved ones name on it

I seriously did cheek art butterflys. the blossom type flowers worked but I found due to wrinkled skin the one stoke rose type we initially tried just didn't look right.

Alot of them have glasses so cheek art really worked hearts worked too . but when I decided to move and go see them I took a minimal amount with me,
I wasn't expecting what actually happened, I was prepared for a pile of children as I had been told 3 times that they were expecting a large amount of children. So I brought a stationary large all day kit. so it was very make shift what I grabed to walk around with.
I did it as I don't like sitting around when I am being paid.
I had painted all the children and every limb they had to offer as well as twisted as many balloons as there parants woulld allow to go home - so I thought what can I do?

I have Ben Nye luminares and a few of the old ladys just wanted some eye shadow,and blossoms. I rarley use the luminares in all honesty, and they have some intense colour - they seemed to like it, but to me it was a bit öut there. I think just a regular eye shadow pallete would have been suficent but you go with what you've got.

I painted a swan on a gent cheak art as he wanted that. and some tribal tattoos but not many. I did paint more ladys than gents.
The balloons the older men were really facinated with watching, but the women wanted them to put in there draws in case the grandchildren came to visit so they could give it to them.

But I think it basically came down to the women wanted to look beautiful and the men wanted to have a laugh. That is why there were a pile of black eyes, scrapes and brusing etc they kept making comments to anyones relatives and staff that came in what a rough place it was.
or Do you like my new tattoo to there children (bear in mind there children were generally 40+ themselves) They were quite amusing.
In hindsight I think mabye some dauber designs might work. but I don't think they are the type of group you could walk into with a set list.

Love the idea of the hearts!

I do flags (it's the one thing I can convince my grandfather to get and once he does others go for it) and some others go for flowers, swirls etc

I mostly do things on arms - they like to look at it - and for some reason want to keep it on for days (to the point that some avoided swimming for several days to keep it).

I think I need to go in more often painting.... I haven't done it since the summer (although I do visit several times a week).

The standard in the residences I visit is to use hand sanitizer regularly, don't go if you have a cold or even sniffles etc, and those that are not well are quarantined. I don't know if they'd want a more stringent hygiene - I use airbrush for the most part and when I do brushwork am on single use for tools (not going back to the paint if it has been on a person) as my constant.

I've painted senior's at my mom's home. It should be fine. The big issue is doing designs that are simpler to do. The loose skin & wrinkles can make linework difficult. I do lots of flower clusters, dots instead of tear drops & swirls. I do avoid using some of my stronger pigment paints since the thinner skin stains easily. I never use glitter tattoos because the stencils can tear thinner skin.

I think that the children would probably be the ones spreading the most germs and not you. I agree with the others, do the job.

I work in a nursing home - planning, implementing & evaluating all the leisure activities, and can tell you that the residents where I work absolutely love anything that's different. Facepainting is something that's different for this age group! I haven't painted residents yet as I'm on maternity leave still (and only new to face painting) but many a time I've given them all temporary Aussie flag tattoos on their foreheads/cheeks/arms etc. The only issue is the nurses are always pushed for time so they want to know that it's quick and simple to remove when it's time to wash it off!

A few others have already commented that those residents who are not well may be 'quarantined' anyway, but you can always ask the Nurse in Charge on that day if there was anyone in particular who should not be painted. Remember also that confidentiality should prohibit them from telling you what the reasons are (mostly just colds etc but there may always be someone with behaviour issues, or something like shingles for eg - in which case they will probably be in there room anyway!!). Be sure to tell the nurses how to remove the paint, and just remember to wash your brushes between residents and use one sponge per person. Aged care facilities are big on breaking the chain of cross-contamination & cross-infection. Use hand sanitizer between each person. As someone already said, it's really no different than painting anyone else - except be mindful that aged skin is usually paper thin and can tear as easily as tissue paper. If in doubt, you could always paint on their arms maybe?

I'm sure you will brighten their day more than you realise, and it's been my experience that they will talk about something like this long after the event has been and gone!!

Actually, I just had another thought. It would probably be best to ring up the nursing home and speak to whoever it is that organises the residents activities (called Diversional Therapists/Recreational Officers in Aus) re: day and time you are attending (if it is your intention, and the lady who is hiring you, to paint the residents). This is because you want to make sure that you will not be clashing with any pre-organised activities that they may have going at the same time. You don't want to start off on the wrong foot with the staff!!

In my experience, it wouldn't be an issue if you were only doing that one family, like their own private party, but if the intention is to paint other residents, maybe just check that there's no concert or other entertainer/activity planned for the same time. Good luck.

Having RA my immune system is compromised and I've been painting young and old for many years. I try not to paint anyone that is visibly ill and hand sanitizer is my friend. I even carry clorex wipes to sanitize surfaces. On older people try to stay away from designs with a lot of black. This last summer at the end of a festival we did 2 young ladies helped the elderly lady from the Pentecostal church booth next to us and she wanted her cheek painted. She wanted to see if her husband (the preacher) would notice. I matched the flowers and butterfly on her blouse and she was tickled with it.