An event panel made up of healthcare professionals and experts in the older adult space to reflect and best plan for the future

San Diego CA— With each passing day, vaccinations are being distributed and California is slowly opening back up. Older adults, who so often were categorized as a high risk population to contract the COVID-19 virus, are receiving their vaccinations and are now able to venture out, with some doing so for the first time since the pandemic began a year ago. The community is once again facing another new normal, which can bring about many questions and fears. To help overcome this new challenge, local nonprofit San Diego Oasis will host a free online community conversation in collaboration with Sharp Healthcare and West PACE on Friday, March 26 from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. PST.
“As the pandemic becomes less dominant many people, especially our older adults have many questions that have yet to be answered,” says Simona Valanciute, president and CEO, San Diego Oasis. “We want to ensure our members and other older adults in our region and around the country feel safe and prepared to journey back out into the community, and meet with friends and family. We’re excited to team up with like-minded individuals and local organizations that also work hard to support and empower our older adult community.”

Who are our panelists and what to expect

Valanciute will moderate the virtual panel discussion. The panelists include the following professionals and field experts who will provide insights, perspectives, and answers to the question “What Now?”:

• Dr. Ken Druck, Bestselling Author for Courageous Aging and expert on resilience
• Dr. Daniel Hoefer, Family Physician, Sharp Healthcare
• April Hall, RN Care Coordinator, Gary & Mary West PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care)

The webinar will reflect on and review the past year, and how it challenged our older adult community, as well as discuss what we face now as the pandemic becomes less dominant. Attendees will have an opportunity to talk about their fears, experiences, and mourn their losses during this challenging year. The panelists will also discuss the best approaches and plans to prepare for reopenings, and what it will look like for older adults even once vaccinated.

Why is this topic important

We all have a parent, grandparent, neighbor, friend or family member who has been isolated and alone during the pandemic. But when other senior recreation programs closed their doors, San Diego Oasis never slowed down. The nonprofit moved all of its classes online successfully, quickly becoming a “senior center without walls,” offering hundreds of workshops to combat social isolation among older adults and to encourage community, connection, and conversation. San Diego Oasis knew how critical it was to keep our older adults moving and stimulated during such an uncertain time, and by shifting its classes online, San Diego Oasis has attracted an audience from all over the U.S., not just San Diego, and are also hosting instructors from world-class institutions.
The nonprofit works year-round to change the way people experience aging and encourages older adults to pursue meaningful lives through education and service, as well as strives to provide engagement, learning and peer communication to the older adult population to keep them active, healthy and involved in the world.
For nearly 40 years, San Diego Oasis has been the pioneers of senior engagement and are the best at it. Through its upcoming online community conversation, the organization hopes to provide relief to older adults that are curious, nervous or excited to explore the community once again.
“Many more people need to be vaccinated and it may take awhile longer to reduce the threat that the COVID-19 virus has posed for a year, but we will continue to progress and encourage our older adults to remain hopeful and confident as we transition into the next phase of the pandemic,” says Valanciute. “We want older adults throughout our region to know they’ve never been alone and that San Diego Oasis is here to help keep them connected, engaged and independent.”
Details
San Diego Oasis presents “You Have Your Shots….What Now?”
An online community conversation to reflect as we explore our new normal.

• Friday, March 26, 2021
• 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.

This is a free event, but registration is required.
Register now at san-diego.oasiseverywhere.org

About San Diego Oasis

San Diego Oasis, an award-winning nonprofit organization, is on a mission to change the way people experience aging and pursue vibrant, healthy, productive and meaningful lives through education and community service. The community-based organization hosts over 3,000 workshops annually at over 40 locations to 5,600 active participants throughout San Diego County, and is now delivering programs and workshops with their virtual senior center in response to the COVID-19 shelter-in-place health order. The nonprofit’s Intergenerational Literacy Tutoring Program matches an older adult in the life of an at-risk, low-income student in grades K-4. Their flagship center, located in La Mesa’s Grossmont Center, is an exemplary model of engagement for people age 50 and better. Learn more at www.SanDiegoOasis.org, connect on Facebook or call 619-881-6262.