I missed the first half of our class meeting, so I didn’t get to hear the LCS alumni share about their Healthy Aging projects. We spent the second half of class discussing our book presentation and Neighborhood Assessment (NAP) projects as well as the senior prom that will take place in March. The NAP is one of our major projects in Winter quarter. For this project, we will evaluate the age-friendliness of a San Diego neighborhood of choice as we walk through the neighborhood ourselves and conduct literature search on the community’s demographics and policies. The three neighborhoods our cohort has chosen are Golden Hill/North Park, Barrio Logan, and La Jolla. Through exploring the community’s demographics, public policies and social services, and physical construction of the neighborhood, we will assess whether the community provides adequate support and an inclusive environment for our aging population. As individuals are subject to local policies and social norms, our aging experiences are strongly influenced by the communities we live in. The goal of the project is to expose us to the challenges that our seniors face in certain communities and inspire us to consider ways to improve our communities’ age friendliness in preparation for the fast-approaching demographic transition to older populations.
“Living is more than just surviving,” said Paul, the president of Serving Seniors, a nonprofit organization that provides a broad range of services to low-income seniors. The organization aims to help seniors live fulfilling and meaningful lives beyond surviving. Paul greeted us in front of Serving Seniors’ Gary and Mary West Wellness Center and took us on a tour of the center that was full of vibrant activities.
The Gary and Mary West Center, located in downtown San Diego, lives up to the standards of Serving Seniors in every aspect. The modern-looking building was brightened with natural sunlight that shone through the big windows and open spaces under the high ceiling, creating a warm and energizing environment for visitors to the center. According to Paul, the building was intentionally designed to not look like a nursing home but rather a bright and welcoming place that seniors want to spend time at. I was amazed by the amount of care and consideration put into the physical construction of the center to ensure that the building itself reflects the mission of the organization. This building is home to a variety of services for seniors, including health services and meals, social services, and computer use. We first learned about the health services offered at the center. There was an exercise class in session, in which an instruction led a group of seniors through light exercises. Also in session was a dental clinic that reflects the organization’s effort to address the lack of dental providers willing to take Denti-Cal, Medi-Cal dental coverage for low-income people including seniors, in San Diego. The dental staff collaborate with other members of the center to ensure that dental patients have a safe place to stay. In addition, the dentistry at the center has a machine that makes tooth crowns in one day, sparing seniors from wearing a temporary crown before revisiting the dentist for a permanent crown. Because a number of seniors do not make a second visit to the dentist after having a temporary crown installed, this one-day crown-making machine was acquired to provide seniors in poverty with the best possible quality of dental care. We also stopped by the game room and the Cyber Café in the center. The game room is where seniors play board games and socialize. The Cyber Café gives seniors access to computers, and young students often visit the café to teach seniors computer skills and in return engage in meaningful conversations with the seniors. At the end of the tour, we got to hear about the diverse population of seniors that the center serves, the challenges that the center faces, and the influence of current political events on the funds and growth of the center. This discussion allowed me to better understand how public policies transform or define our aging experience and have a significant impact on our elders’ physical and psychological well-being. On the other hand, although public policies define our lives, we do, to a certain extent, have the power to influence or shape these policies to accommodate our aging population. Our site visit concluded with us serving lunch for the seniors. Before serving lunch, we were encouraged to talk with the seniors because engaging in conversations would mean a lot more than just handing seniors their food. Although it was my first time meeting the seniors at the center, they were very welcoming and warm to me. The experience of talking with the seniors and serving them lunch was delightful, and I am excited to attend the senior prom at the Gary and Mary West Center in the near future. As you get older, you have crystallized intelligence or accumulated wisdom. You have time to reflect. You care less about what others think about you.
These are some advantages of aging that we learned about in our retreat on Saturday. Contrary to what I thought, aging does not seem very frightening. I used to be afraid of getting old – of losing my quickness, sharpness, and control over my body. I used to associate aging with losses and the negative age stereotypes often portrayed in the media. However, after Professor Lewis’s lecture on aging, I realized that I should connect aging to gains rather than losses. If the process of aging is inevitable, why not learn to enjoy it? Instead of talking about forgetfulness in old age, why not talk about the wisdom that you will have accumulated through experiences? After the mini-lecture about aging demographics, we played the Life board game that illustrated how socioeconomic disadvantages at birth can increase exposure to adverse events or exacerbate the detrimental impact of these events on a person’s physical and mental health as he or she ages. An example from the game was that polluting factories are more likely to concentrate in low-income or minority neighborhoods whose residents lack political power to oppose construction of these factories. Moreover, while these groups are exposed to hazardous particles in polluted air, their socioeconomic disadvantages limit their access to appropriate healthcare. Although many adverse events in the game resulted from individual decisions (such as personal choice to do drugs), many others, including the polluted neighborhoods, were products of the societal environment and hierarchy that individuals have little control over. Although the media like attribute engagement in unhealthy behavior to individual decisions and put the individual at fault, these decisions oftentimes reflect the socioeconomic structure that we are chained to. On our first site visit, we chatted with a senior – a veteran – sitting in front of the Sara Frances Hometel and inquiring about services for low-income seniors. “I should stop drinking, but it helps with the pain,” he said as he held up his can of beer and disfigured hand. Should we blame people like him for heavy drinking? Definitely not. Do we do it? Probably yes. The challenge for our society is to stop blaming the individuals so fast and reform our system to promote healthy aging for everyone. We then had the honor of meeting Dr. Benesh, the author of the book 7 Memories: Partnering to Write a Memoir that we will use to write a memoir of our extraordinary person. Not only did we learn about different approaches to interviewing our extraordinary person, collecting sensory information and objects to tell stories, and drafting a memoir; but we also learned the significance of a memoir and how it connects different generations in a family while preserving memories of our loved ones. This allowed me to understand the purpose of the oral history project and appreciate it more. In our first class meeting, we discussed the logistics of the course, including the projects and site visits outside the classroom, and introduced our extraordinary persons (EP) with whom we will partner for the Oral History project. In this project, each student will interview and create a memoir of their EP who is at least 55 years old. All students, including me, chose to partner with a family member, mostly our grandparent or parent, who plays a significant role in our lives and motivates us to become who we are today. As we shared the reasons for choosing our EP, I knew this project is going to be very meaningful for both ourselves and our extraordinary persons. I personally hope that this project will help me to develop a stronger relationship with my EP/family member, understand the struggles my EP faces during aging, and be able to view certain issues from a different perspective. Likewise, my EP is already excited about this project – he is happy that someone from a younger generation is eager to hear his stories and that his experiences, when captured in a memoir, will not be forgotten.
Professors Bussell and Lewis also went over the Neighborhood Assessment and the Healthy Aging projects. For the Neighborhood Assessment project, each group will walk in a neighborhood in San Diego and evaluate the age-friendliness of that neighborhood based on physical construction (such as sidewalks, benches, and street lights) and public policies. Prior to this class meeting, I did not realize that something as seemingly simple as walking to a grocery store could be stressful for seniors with physical and/or cognitive impairment. Through this project, I hope to become more mindful of how our environment and society promote or hinder healthy aging. Finally, we discussed some logistics and plans for the Healthy Aging projects/events that will take place in Spring quarter. We also had a chance to learn about different Healthy Aging projects executed by previous Life Course Scholars cohorts, and these intergenerational projects were very inspiring! I look forward to attending all events hosted by this year’s cohort and contributing to the effort of promoting healthy aging in my community. |
Nhi NguyenArchives
June 2018
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