I was very excited to visit this space because my roommate volunteers for their immigration services wing and finds this place full of culture and always in need of help. I wanted to explore what other services they offer and how their various extensions help out and support diverse populations in San Diego. I found Aviva, the individual who gave us a tour, full of energy and welcoming. She shared with us the background of the development of this establishment and explained how it was started by Jewish women who needed support when they came to San Diego but it isn’t just for individuals who identify as Jewish, and in fact most of their patients are not. She also told us how she takes care of patients with Alzheimer’s and dementia, emphasizing that it needs more support through the people. She said it’s good that the patients do not know they have dementia but the weight falls heavily on the families. She also added that people are mean to individuals in this particular population because they get annoyed and frustrated with them, which I find too true, too often. We were then followed by a tour of services they provide such as their food mobiles, excursion planning, and diaper services. They even had a mini market where their doctors will assign the, points per month and they can shop there. All produce and healthy foods are 0 points. The worst for your health, the more points it costs. I was surprised to see they even have vegan options! It was truly incredible how above and beyond their facilities will go, as well as the amount of volunteers than allow this organization to flourish. We then played bingo which was a lot of fun in itself, I loved the people I sat with, very funny and nice individuals.
After we left, I decided to look into how to reconnect with them to volunteer and do an internship with them in the future. I found two that I will for sure come back for. One was the Alzheimer’s Assistant Internship and another was the Out and About volunteer. The internship, I hope, works with Aviva. I think she does amazing work and as someone who’s career goal is to cure Alzheimer’s, I believe this is a step in the right direction. Career-wise, I was unsure of exactly what I’d do to get there, but seeing the incredible work Aviva does just pulled me in. I really want that interaction and people engagement that Aviva is able to do through her work and I want to do her job one day. She cares for them and maybe I’d be able to get into research one day by becoming familiar with her work. The volunteer job is to build a blog, similar to this one, that highlights the life and adventures of those with Alzheimer’s and dementia in this facility. Their goal is to remind others that they are still people and we need to better support them. I also hope this blog post may support others to look into how they can advance their career by volunteering at wellness centers because it seems like so much fun.
After we left, I decided to look into how to reconnect with them to volunteer and do an internship with them in the future. I found two that I will for sure come back for. One was the Alzheimer’s Assistant Internship and another was the Out and About volunteer. The internship, I hope, works with Aviva. I think she does amazing work and as someone who’s career goal is to cure Alzheimer’s, I believe this is a step in the right direction. Career-wise, I was unsure of exactly what I’d do to get there, but seeing the incredible work Aviva does just pulled me in. I really want that interaction and people engagement that Aviva is able to do through her work and I want to do her job one day. She cares for them and maybe I’d be able to get into research one day by becoming familiar with her work. The volunteer job is to build a blog, similar to this one, that highlights the life and adventures of those with Alzheimer’s and dementia in this facility. Their goal is to remind others that they are still people and we need to better support them. I also hope this blog post may support others to look into how they can advance their career by volunteering at wellness centers because it seems like so much fun.