Going to the Gray and Mary West center was an amazing opportunity to get to interact with the elder community who are low income. We first started our day by learning more of the population that goes to the Gray and Mary west center. When we walked in they were having an exercise class which I thought was great to keep older people active. I was surprised how busy the cyber café was. I think at times we have a misconception that seniors don't know anything about technology but they really seemed to enjoy it. What I found the most interesting about the center was that the upstairs was the clinic and dentist. I never realized how important every aspect of health tries in together. He mentioned how their dentist not only worries about the dental issues such as oral surgery but they also worry about where they are going to sleep that night or if they have anybody who can help with the recovery. After we learned more about the center we got to help serve the first round of lunches. The population was very diverse who spoke all different languages. The seniors seemed to really happy when someone in the group spoke their native language. Before serving lunch, we got a chance to walk around and socialize. At first, I was a little shy because there were so many seniors but they were actually very social and really wanted to talk to all of us. It gave us an opportunity to get to know about their lives and how they ended up living in San Diego. After we got to chat with some seniors we got to serve them lunch. It was great to see the system they have in place to make serving more efficient.
The retreat was such a great experience. The location was incredible with a nice view and a perfect way to spend the day. I enjoyed being able to interact with professor Bussell and Lewis on a personal level that I usually don't get in a normal class setting. At the beginning of the day, we played a game to get to know each other better. This was a great way to get to know other students in the program that I hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to yet. One of the things I enjoyed the most was playing the board game as a class. It was interesting to see how even when some people are born privileged it can all come back to luck. Things in life happen that we can’t control but some people at times have an advantage. It was amazing to be able to meet the author of the book we are using to write the memoirs. She had great advice and it was very informative on how to make our projects the best we can. At the end of the day we had a meditation walk that was so peaceful. After our walk, we had time to reflect on how accessible it was for elders. I feel at times we take for granted our ability to walk that we don't realize we should make places accessible for everybody. We did an activity that definitely got me thinking of my life in the future. I never had thought about what my life would be after 40 but when we had to write down how we see our lives at 80 it was interesting. Many people, including myself, had many things in common. We all wanted to be able to still be physically independent, living by ourselves, and to be financially stable. Overall, I had an excellent day spending time with my peers and learning more about the community and how aging isn’t always a negative thing.
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Jacklyn Sanchez-AlvarezArchives
June 2018
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