This past Wednesday morning, we visited the Gary and Mary West Senior Wellness Center. When I first walked into the double doors, I saw rows of seniors in the rightmost room sitting in chairs all watching The Price is Right. Another group of seniors were in another room sitting on chairs doing their morning exercise. It was a busy center! We all checked in and congregated in a large classroom where Paul talked about the mission of Serving Seniors. Serving Seniors is a charity that provides healthcare and programs to those who receive an income below the poverty line. He talked about how the government does very little to provide enough income for seniors to live comfortably because many seniors live paycheck to paycheck, and have very little wiggle room every month.
After the tour of the center, I felt very fortunate that this place exists. It provides free dental care, social workers, nurses, psychiatrists, nutritionists, and other healthcare professionals all in one building. They do full assessments of every senior who comes to this center. They are dedicated to providing the best care so that they keep them healthy and off the streets. Paul explained it as economically beneficial because the cost of healthcare is tremendous, as a week in the ICU can surpass hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I was also very fortunate to talk to many seniors at the dining commons when they were all waiting for the first lunch to be served. I was surprised at how open many of them were talking to me and my peers, and how polite they were to each other. I was also informed that they were very traditional as they always let the ladies be served food first or else the servers would be badly reprimanded. An interesting woman I talked to, Olivia, talked about how she loved to learn new languages when she was a young adult. She learned how to speak Tagalog while living in the Philippines for multiple years and was eager to learn more languages. She also revealed about how she was going to get married to her fiance soon and was working out logistics on where and when they were going to get married. She loves that when she walks in the door to this center, everyone says hi to her because everyone knows her. She gets taken to her psychiatry appointments regularly to keep her mental state in check, as she has unfortunately had been sexually assaulted many times in her life. While she is quite old and has been through a lot, she still has an incredible drive to learn and accomplish more things. It makes me happy that she feels at home at the center.
All in all, I am so glad that they have all these resources to protect these seniors and I would definitely love to come back to volunteer more.
After the tour of the center, I felt very fortunate that this place exists. It provides free dental care, social workers, nurses, psychiatrists, nutritionists, and other healthcare professionals all in one building. They do full assessments of every senior who comes to this center. They are dedicated to providing the best care so that they keep them healthy and off the streets. Paul explained it as economically beneficial because the cost of healthcare is tremendous, as a week in the ICU can surpass hundreds of thousands of dollars.
I was also very fortunate to talk to many seniors at the dining commons when they were all waiting for the first lunch to be served. I was surprised at how open many of them were talking to me and my peers, and how polite they were to each other. I was also informed that they were very traditional as they always let the ladies be served food first or else the servers would be badly reprimanded. An interesting woman I talked to, Olivia, talked about how she loved to learn new languages when she was a young adult. She learned how to speak Tagalog while living in the Philippines for multiple years and was eager to learn more languages. She also revealed about how she was going to get married to her fiance soon and was working out logistics on where and when they were going to get married. She loves that when she walks in the door to this center, everyone says hi to her because everyone knows her. She gets taken to her psychiatry appointments regularly to keep her mental state in check, as she has unfortunately had been sexually assaulted many times in her life. While she is quite old and has been through a lot, she still has an incredible drive to learn and accomplish more things. It makes me happy that she feels at home at the center.
All in all, I am so glad that they have all these resources to protect these seniors and I would definitely love to come back to volunteer more.