ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Alyce Hanson can barely see. Her ears don't work so great either. And she's a little slow on her feet.So?The year she was born, the first Model T rolled off the assembly line at Ford Motor Co. It only stands to reason that a body part here and there has seen some wear and tear. That doesn't mean it's time to park it.Hanson, who turns 100 in a few days, still has a lot to give. And she gives it every Tuesday at the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at Providence hospital, where she holds and rocks tiny babies as a Kuddle Korps volunteer.Nurse Mary Stackhouse explains the program this way:"Every baby needs to be held -- if stable enough. There's something about being in a person's arms, feeling a heartbeat, feeling the warmth. It's very calming."In a perfect world, these babies would be held a lot. But the nurses in the newborn ICU are busy, busy, busy. So they really appreciate the help.Hanson has been helping just about every Tuesday for four years. Only this Tuesday, on her way to gown up and scrub down, she got intercepted. Those she works with and around sent her on a detour into a conference room where a lot of people were waiting."SURPRISE!"There, tables covered with clean white sheets were loaded with flowers, a big sheet cake, potluck offerings of all shapes and sizes and a personal birthday note from the governor.Hanson, who has been in Alaska since the late 1970s, lives with her daughter now. At the time she started rocking babies she was in an assisted-living home, and it just wasn't working for her.But then, this is a woman who does the Heart Run every year, and has for nearly 20. She walks it, but she does it. "She felt like everybody was just sitting around waiting to die," her daughter Sylve Montalbo said of her previous living quarters. "And she felt like she still had something to give."She only has one kidney, but other than that ... She has no cancer, no heart problems. She takes no medications. None."She can't see very well; she's got hearing aids. But her brain is totally sharp. And she feels as long as she can move, she wants to keep moving."CUDDLED BABIESBefore busting out of assisted living, Hanson started asking around about ways to volunteer. Someone at the Alaska Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired suggested Kuddle Korps. She applied and got the gig."The interesting thing is, she initiated this without being able to see," her daughter said. "It's macular degeneration, so she can't see faces. But she initiated the whole process by herself, went to all the orientations. And then told me. She said, 'I'm going to go volunteer at the hospital.' And I said, 'Good for you.'"They keep saying it does good things for them, but I'll tell you ... It has kept her alive. This is something she can do, a way she can give back. And she looks forward to it every week. I mean, look at all the friends she's made."When Alyce rocks, she smiles and talks quietly to her babies. Sometimes she sings to them, sometimes she hums. The scene seems so right. She's been wearing her skin awhile, and the baby's is so new. To think there's a century between them."They don't cry when I hold them, huh-uh," Hanson says. "The nurses tell me they've been waiting for me because they've been crying. As soon as I take them they stop and go to sleep. I think it's the grandmother, no, great-grandmother touch."This does a lot for me. It makes me feel worthwhile in my old age when I'm blind and can't hear. It lifts me up. I kind of go on that high all day."Reach Debra McKinney at dmckinney(at)adn.com. For more stories visit scrippsnews.com
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