Student in Residence: Natalie's Blog Entry 7
Posted on November 23, 2018 in In The News, Student in Residence
The month of November has gone so quickly! I can’t believe Thanksgiving is quickly approaching. As this holiday comes, the madness of Christmas shopping, decorating, an abundance of food, various projects, and family time (that is often accompanied with drama) is not far behind. With this, cliche as it is, it is important for all of us to slow down and relay the things we are thankful for. I know for me, I have a plethora of things in my life to be thankful for, including wonderful friends, family, education, and mostly, all of you! This semester has been one of the most exciting, stressful, wonderful, fantastic times of my life because I am living in a community that has taught me so much. It is a joy to meet and come to know each of you. One way I have been celebrating and educating others on my living situation, is decorating the bulletin board in Healthcare for the month of November! Thanks to a collaboration of people, we decided to decorate the board based on the agency I am interning at: Age-Friendly Columbus and Franklin County. This is the agency who has collaborated with OLWT to make my living here possible!
The concept of Age-Friendly cities was started by the World Health Organization who assigns an affiliate to every country. In the United States, the affiliate is AARP Livable Communities. Age-Friendly cities work within a five-year cycle consisting of four phases and under 8 domains. Those are pictured below!
These are the 8 domains of livability. Under these 8 domains are 54 strategies Age-Friendly Columbus must complete in the next 3 years.
The five-year cycle Age-Friendly Columbus operates under. We are currently in Phase 3.
Age-Friendly Columbus and Franklin County has also championed a positive aging campaign to combat ageist attitudes towards older adults. One way they are doing this is through the use of buttons! The buttons have different sayings including “Old is Gold” “Aging So Cool Everybody’s Doing It!”, “Rockin’ the Gray”, “Getting Better with Age”, “Old People are Awesome”, and many more! There are buttons provided on the bulletin board. Please take one and wear it with pride! I will also be hosting an event on December 3rd at 2:00 pm where all of you are welcome to come and make your own buttons! More information to come on that.
To find out more about what Age-Friendly is, be sure to check out the bulletin board. You can also visit the Age-Friendly page to learn more about the program. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!
holidays, happiness, thanksgiving