On Wednesday, we headed to the Gary and Mary West Senior Wellness Center in downtown San Diego. We first met up with Paul Downey who talked to us about the origins of Serving Seniors, an organization that aims to help seniors in poverty live healthy and fulfilling lives, and the different programs and services they provide. One of the things he said that struck me the most was how the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) guidelines have not been modified since 1955 and nor does FPL take into account cost of living locally. As a result, there are so many seniors out there who are struggling with severe economic insecurity because they don’t qualify for public assistance as according to FPL, they have enough income to make ends meet. In reality, they really don’t! It is very frustrating to know these things. There are so many things that can be done to improve our seniors’ lives.
I was really impressed by the services provided by Serving Seniors. We learned that the Gary and Mary West Senior Wellness Center is the only senior center that provides dental care along with a bunch of services like nutrition, case management and other wellness services. The cool thing was that all the services were located next to each other on a single floor for convenience. The wellness center was overall very well planned. The interior was colorful and bright with natural light coming in through the windows.
Another amazing thing is that the senior center also provides breakfast and lunch to seniors all year. We got the chance to interact with some of the seniors in the cafeteria, which looked so bright and happy with wonderful decorations. I really connected with Deborah, who had just started coming to the center that week. She moved to San Diego two years ago from Philadelphia because her daughter wanted her to stay with her. Deborah’s husband had passed away and she had incurred a serious injury. She told me a lot about her cousins and their children. They are settled all over the country from Ohio to Georgia. She was really interested in knowing about my life too. She looked disappointed when she learned that we won’t be coming back to visit until after a few weeks and that made me sad. I look forward to coming back to the center for senior prom.
I was really impressed by the services provided by Serving Seniors. We learned that the Gary and Mary West Senior Wellness Center is the only senior center that provides dental care along with a bunch of services like nutrition, case management and other wellness services. The cool thing was that all the services were located next to each other on a single floor for convenience. The wellness center was overall very well planned. The interior was colorful and bright with natural light coming in through the windows.
Another amazing thing is that the senior center also provides breakfast and lunch to seniors all year. We got the chance to interact with some of the seniors in the cafeteria, which looked so bright and happy with wonderful decorations. I really connected with Deborah, who had just started coming to the center that week. She moved to San Diego two years ago from Philadelphia because her daughter wanted her to stay with her. Deborah’s husband had passed away and she had incurred a serious injury. She told me a lot about her cousins and their children. They are settled all over the country from Ohio to Georgia. She was really interested in knowing about my life too. She looked disappointed when she learned that we won’t be coming back to visit until after a few weeks and that made me sad. I look forward to coming back to the center for senior prom.