SENIORS: Social is special

I wanted bring to your attention the importance of being social. Yes, I know what you’re thinking: These days we all want to be TOO social. Yet I am referring to the face to face of having an impact on someone in person.

I am privileged to work daily in our senior community. Among the many daily duties required to run this business, the best day of my week is every Wednesday. It’s the day we serve by giving free blood pressure checks, or “heart to heart” social hour at the Lake City Center. During our over two years now of volunteering, it’s safe to say you get to know everyone and their situations pretty well. In particular we’d like to mention John, a cheerful, always grateful man with an appetite that only the chef could quench. He proudly wore his Navy cap and American flag suspenders at every visit. We became friends and soon found out it was time for some extra help for him and his family at home. Every visit was always cheerful, filled with reminiscing of his life. He remembered very little of his day to day, yet his time at the senior center was in his daily talk.

“I have to get down there again soon,” he’d say. He’d often speak of how good he felt being there. To his last few days with us he never missed the desire to be there among his friends.

The moral of my letter is that you never know what kind of impact you are making with the person next to you. Showing up to events or invites or even a senior lunch can have a dramatic effect on someone. It may create a memory that will last them a lifetime and maybe even be the happiest moments they hold onto, when they may be struggling daily to hold onto the moments they’ve lived.

As a professional in this field it wouldn’t be me if I didn’t encourage anyone with senior loved ones to help them stay engaged with their book clubs, walking clubs, Red Hat clubs, or a senior center. We have such a great community of people working really hard at our local senior centers who understand the value of truly being social.

LUISA JIMENEZ

Client Advocate

Coeur d’Alene