This past week on Wednesday the Life Course Scholars were able to meet and tour the Gary and Mary West Senior Wellness Center located at 1525 Fourth Avenue, San Diego. Students were also given an overview of the center by Paul Downey, the president and CEO of Serving Seniors. In comparison to the other site visits we have had on affordable senior housing, this visit was focused on the services that it provided for the senior community. Some notable features that the center provides is breakfast and lunch every weekday, a media room, a computer lounge, game room, and a variety of legal and health services. These services included social workers, check ups with RNs, psychiatry nurses, and dental work. Mr.Downey noted how important it was for the center that it provided dental care to its seniors because of how quickly and dangerously mouth infections can lead to overall health complications quite easily. This made me realize how fortunate I am to even complain about having to go to the dentist when there are many out there who do not have and/or have lack of access to dental services that may lead to very harmful illnesses if not treated quickly and properly. After, the tour of the center students were able to mingle with the seniors waiting to be served lunch. After conversing with a few seniors, it was a common theme that many of them come to the center to socialize and for its sense of security. In fact, to all three of the seniors I spoke with they said that the table we were at were the table they sat at everyday! Additionally, one gentleman not only held the table for his friends, but also set out a cup of water for each person when they come. It was just warming to see how these seniors have found a small home away from home with the West Center. After, the students gowned up in some aprons and gloves and served the seniors their lunch trays. Personally, I loved the idea of serving the seniors and not having them line up to receive their meals. I feel like this makes the experience much more personable, and lessens the fear of what if I won’t be able to get a meal? This entire experience has made me even more excited for the senior prom, and I can not wait to have it all finalized!
This past Saturday the Life Course Scholars were able to go on a very informative tour throughout San Diego at four different senior affordable homes. For a sense of location, many of these homes were located around or in downtown San Diego.
At the first stop, students visited the Potiker Family Senior Residence. Here, students were able to meet both Melinda Forstey and Jennifer Sinnott who are apart of the Serving Seniors program. They were able to inform students of the alarming rate of how many seniors are becoming and/or already homeless. It is inspiring to see and hear about all the great programs Serving Seniors have provided to this elder population with services such as free breakfast and lunch on weekdays as well as transitional housing for those looking for permanent housing. Fortunately, students were able to meet one of the residents, Pablo, and visit his home on his birthday! It was truly such a memorable moment to just see how Pablo was so incredibly happy to be sung happy birthday. In addition, it was wonderful to hear how grateful Pablo was for his current living situation due to his less fortunate past experiences with housing. Next, students went to go visit the San Francis Hometel. This was a little more rundown, stuffy, and dark. Also, the additional information that these residents must share a shared bathroom is extremely alarming. A bathroom typically provides a sense of privacy and to share one with the whole floor must be so hard for those who need more assistance, getting ready for work, or etc. However of the residents we got to speak with, she said she was just grateful for a place to stay at. My favorite location was our third stop at Talmadge Gateway. Personally, I believe this was the best housing not only due to the home’s design, but also due to its affordability because residents only pay a third of their income towards rent. Additionally, we were able to meet a wonderful resident who welcomed us into his beautiful home. It was inspiring to here about all his challenges while witnessing his still positive personality and outlook in life. Lastly, students stopped at North Park Seniors which is a LGBTQ affirming senior housing. Unfortunately, this was the only location that the students were not able to look inside one of the homes, and was on the more expensive side of being around $900 to $1,000. However, it was incredibly nice with a beautiful patio and wonderful artwork throughout the building that subtled their LGBTQ friendly environment. In addition to that, I was able to tell how close-knit the community must be at this location due to most doors being personalized and the library hub where there magazines, books, and resources for those to share. Overall this tour was a truly humbling experience because it really reminded me how fortunate I am to be living in the space that I am right now. Despite such amazing housing and services we were able to see today there is an extensive need for more! Due to a reschedule on a site visit to the Bayside Community Center, students of the Life Course Scholars program were able to reutilize the time to plan for the Senior Prom occurring late February. The class had decided upon the theme of “Fairytale,” and it was exciting to split into groups to hear all these great ideas for decorations, activities, and food. I am a bit concerned about the budgeting due to the fact that my group is in charge of decor and goody bags. An accumulation of little things tend to always add up, but I believe we will make it work!
After wrapping up on our discussion on the Senior Prom, students then began to share potential Healthy Aging Project (HAPs) ideas. Personally, some ideas I had were a Jubilee/Cut type of interview video, a cook off, or a lullaby memory book. Some other interesting ideas I heard from peers were a crocheting session and a comedy skit on sexual education. I am excited to not only start my own HAPs, but also see all the other HAPs that my peers partake in. Lastly, at the end of class students split up into their respective book presentation groups so that they could better coordinate who does what. Specifically, my group’s presentation will be on the book by Arlene Weintraub called, “Selling the Fountain of Youth: How the Anti-Aging Industry Made a Disease Out of Getting Old- and Made Billions.” I am glad that we were able to have some time to work on this in class because it was reassuring to have a more concrete idea on everyone’s specific part in the assignment. On January 5, 2020 the new cohort of Life Course Scholars had a retreat at the Martin Johnson House down by Scripps. To provide an overview of the retreat there were lecturettes on a variety of topics about aging, a game on Life Course, reflections, mindful coastal walk and an overview of the upcoming project on our “extraordinary person.” From the lecturettes, a topic that stuck out the most to me was the outrageous costs of living in San Diego, and how when we consider the median income of the county it means that finding a comfortable means of living is very difficult. This topic, also, is alarming due to the fact that of the three major financial supports for the elderly population one of them is social security. And, social security gives less than $1000 for rent to seniors. Other topics that considerably stuck out to me were the importance of how the built environment around us truly affect those in the community for all ages. For example, the necessity of a park with benches and/or more green space that has seats disbursed about which will be crucial in providing more opportunities for seniors to take walks outside without fear of not having a place to rest. Additionally, both these spaces provide more motivation to exercise as well go outside. It is important for not only seniors, but those of all ages to increase lack of physical activity for both mental and physical health.
In just this one day of retreat, so much information and different ideas on improving our surroundings were shown via a life course perspective. I am so excited to see what I can give and take out of this program after a deep-dive into the life course perspective, and can not wait to get started on my Healthy Aging Project! |
Katie HuynhArchives
June 2020
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