Cultivating connections to help seniors and people with disabilities age and thrive at home.
The sixth annual Good Neighbor Award Event brought us together to celebrate the kindness and good work of some special neighbors. If you missed the event or just want to relive, you can view the video of Good Neighbor Summer activities , meet the first round of honorees and the second round of honorees. Or gosh, just sit back and view the event in it entirety.
Resiliency is buoyancy. It’s like those buoys you see off the coast, battered by powerful waves in storms, but they just don’t sink. They stay afloat. And they signal to others the line between safety and danger.
Resiliency is one of the qualities we’ve come to admire and appreciate so acutely in the last year. As May is Older Americans Month, we’re spotlighting a couple of Community Living Campaign staff members who have done a great job of demonstrating strength and resilience and what that means.
Nicky Trasvina, one of our Community Connectors, felt that some of the best examples of resiliency are the often unseen, underappreciated essential workers. They continued to step up and keep San Francisco running while most of us were able to shelter in place.
Another great example of resiliency are community leaders, like the handful in the Mission who provided food to about 3,000 families each week.
“This continues as an amazing, tremendous undertaking by local leaders in that community, including Roberto Hernandez, Valerie Tolier, Tracy Brown, Ray Ponce and others,” Nicky said. “They created the space and tapped all their resources to get hundreds of pounds of food donated each week. It was such an abundance of food that would have otherwise gone to waste.”
She’s grateful for the opportunity to play a part in the operation, picking up leftover food supplies from donors to be distributed by other volunteers.
Nicky also sought ways to help neighbors and friends in small ways, like bringing them things they needed.
Acting generously also relieved some of the feelings of helplessness so many of us felt. So she also gave financially to some organizations she cares about, following the old adage to “put your money where your mouth is!”
And through it all, one of her primary sources of strength has been prayer.
“Depending on prayer gives me a lot of strength,” Nicky said. “And I think this helps others. I think people appreciate it when they know someone is praying for them. So when I say I’m going to pray for you, I just stop and say the prayer right then.”
She’s also found more connection by reaching out to old friends, neighbors and former students since she was a college adviser. And not just by phone and text.
“It’s not unusual to find me standing out in my front yard talking to people who go by,” Nicky said. “I feel it’s part of my role in getting our neighbors connected. And it’s fun! I’m like the stereotypical old lady looking out through her blinds watching everything, but people like it!”
Read another profile of our Community Connector Laura Atkins.
It’s worth taking a moment to celebrate just how resilient we’ve been in the last year. This is a key quality at healthy aging and thriving in life, and we’ve all been tested by COVID-19.
As May is Older Americans Month, we’re spotlighting a couple of our staff members who have done a great job of demonstrating strength and resilience and what that means.
“For me, resilience means having inner confidence and a belief in myself,” said Laura Atkins, our METCC Community Connector. “It means being able to adapt to changing circumstances, knowing where to find resources and being willing to ask for help and offer help.”
There are plenty of ways we’ve seen that play out since the pandemic made us all shelter in place. The business community adapted by offering more take-out and delivery services, she noted. Some restaurants even offering drinks to go!
All the participants in Community Living Campaign’s activities on Zoom also deserve applause. They embraced the often awkward and unfamiliar experience of trying a new way to be part of exercise classes, musical performances and art programs.
Indeed, that exercise is part of what Laura says has helped her feel strong through this period.
“Keeping to a healthy lifestyle as much as possible — eating well, exercising and spending time with friends and family — is a big part of how I continue to feel strong and resilient,” she said.
“I’ve also been pushing myself physically by walking up the hills and stairs of Bernal Hill and meeting with friends outside to swim at Aquatic Park. That helps support my mental strength as well and keeping a positive mindset.”
Laura also helps others stay connected to each other by co-hosting an ongoing program we named — appropriately — Community Tales!
Beyond CLC, she helps support others to feel strong and resilient by calling and writing cards and then listening. We all need to feel heard.
A fun tradition she’s formed is having Zoom dinners with friends.
“One of my best friends and I turn on Zoom while cooking, talk and then sit down to share the same dinner we each made separately.”
Throughout it all, she’s actually been able to reconnect with some old friends and has seen those friendships get stronger.
“I’ve also been able to build connections with new friends, particularly in the CLC neighborhood,” Laura said. “My walking area has grown as well. I now walk (masked) with a new friend in the METCC neighborhood. Big hills and walking friends are found all over San Francisco.”
Read another profile of our Community Connector Nicky Trasvina.
The development of the California Masterplan on Aging is an important step for California. As part of the development , the California Department of 
Aging is hosting a series of Webinars toward greater cultural awareness and humility. Sessions are free and available on regularly, with sessions recorded in case you miss one. Over the next several months, CDA will host an Ensuring Equity in Aging webinar every first Wednesday, from 10-11am. Presentations will cover a range of topics including the value of cultural traditions and harnessing community strengths and assets. They will also detail how historic and systemic discrimination and internal biases harm the wellbeing of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC), LGBTQ, disabled older adults, and in different ways, all Californians. Speakers address how we can work together to address the resulting inequities through culturally responsive policy, program, and service planning and delivery.
Upcoming Programs:
If you missed the first few, you can still join in with these recorded sessions.
This and other important information is posted on CDA’s Equity in Aging Resource Center.
The transition from hospital to home has always been fraught with peril. Now has become even more so in the era of COVID-19. The limits on caregivers and advocates visiting and supporting a patient 
in the hospital, the over stretched hospital staff, including social workers and discharge planners, and the significantly reduce options for transitional care are major barriers. But many of the problems existed before the pandemic. In fact, a Transitional Care Blueprint released in San Francisco in 2008 documented the issues and provide a wide range of improvements needed. A few were implemented and remain, others were implemented and then disappeared when funding was cut. The rest are still good ideas that could be implemented locally with strong advocacy.
As more and more of the neighbors we meet through the Community Connector networks and our other programs face increasing illness and disability, this issue has resurfaced as a critical one to address. One of our earliest neighborhood networks created a team that called itself the “Keep Helen Out of the Hospital” . A Community Connector enlisted neighbors and health professionals alike to support Helen in this goal. It included both a good discharge plan but a commitment to prevent re-admissions which are often result from an unsafe discharge. CLC is working with the California Alliance for Retired Americans (CARA) to expand its Safe Hospital Discharge workshops and provide thousands of wallet cards about who to call if you or your loved one is not getting a good discharge.
CLC will be presenting a workshop at the next OWL meeting on your patient rights in a Navigating Hospital and Beyond. It will be held Saturday, February 27 from 11:00 to 12:00 on Zoom. Participants will receive a packet of information via the mail from CLC as well as the Hospital Discharge Wallet Card shown here. In the meantime, if you would like us to mail you this card, send your address to info@sfcommunityliving.org.
To connect with CARA for. workshop near you or if your organization would like to sponsor one, contact jreid.cara@gmail.com. Or download some of the information that will be available to those who attend these workshops.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Neighbors and Always Active Instructors celebrate one year of Inner Sunset Community Connectors
Before we opened the doors last October 22nd at St. Anne of the Sunset, we had hoped 15 people might attend our our Monday and Thursday afternoon exercise/community building program. Instead 35 appeared, ready to enjoy the Always Active exercise program. Though most of us lived in the neighborhood, few of us knew one another. The number of participants, and our friendships have only grown from those early days.
MAKING FRIENDS: “I feel healthier which is great but I feel most excited about meeting my neighbors. I don’t feel like a stranger out here anymore.” (Note from a participant)
But we don’t only exercise when we come together. About a month into the program, Marina Lazarra, the community connector from the Community Living Campaign, began offering after-exercises activities. The first classes were on gardening and healthy herbs – Marina’s interests – an ongoing memoir writing class, classes on “finding your style,” earthquake safety, how to get most out of your cell phone, a three-session series on Stroke Awareness, and an evening meeting on Loneliness and Social Isolation engaged participants and brought in new members. More than 10 of us participated in a letter exchange with the fifth graders at the SF Friends School, and were thrilled to attend the children’s dramatization of our life stories.
The Annual Good Neighborhood Event brought together an even bigger group of leaders on Saturday, June 8 as we gather at the ARC. Each year, staff and participants in each of the CLC programs picks a community member who has gone above and beyond to help their neighbors and provide leadership to the community. We are pleased to present this year’s list of honorees. They include:
See these and other “good neighbors” in the photo album below.
Breast Cancer Groups Celebrate
On Oct. 11, the Breast Cancer Group of the Lutheran Church of Our Savior, and the Bayview Imani Breast Cancer Support Group held their annual celebration luncheon.
Though African-American and white women are diagnosed with breast cancer at roughly the same rate, African-American women are 42 percent more likely to die from the disease. There seem to be several reasons for this: African-American women are more likely to be diagnosed at later stages of the disease, and experience delays in treatment. They are also more likely to be diagnosed with a triple negative breast cancer, an aggressive subtype that is linked to poorer survival.
The OMI breast cancer group meets the third Thursday of the month, from 11 a.m.– noon. The group takes on different projects – murals, paintings and placemats – some of which were on display at the church. Their primary task, explained Barbara Tate, program director at the LCOS, is supporting one another and the newly diagnosed. “When we hear of someone who’s been newly diagnosed, we try to visit and talk with them. We go with them to the doctor if they want us to do that. We listen to their story and tell our own. Whatever the person wants, we’re available.”
October 11, however, was a day to greet old friends, enjoy good food, celebrate and listen to inspirational speeches from Pastor Evered Cohen of the Lutheran Church and the Rev. Dr. Carolyn Ransom-Scott
If you are looking for support or want more information, call Barbara Tate, 415-586-7890.
CLC and the SF Tech Council are rolling out the Passport to the Digital World – a way to increase digital literacy among seniors and people with disabilities . The project gathers links and tips from experienced technology trainers into guides for both learners and teachers. With these guides, participants can learn some of the many ways they can connect and find valuable information online. Read our earlier blog post for more detail on this initiative.
We officially launched this project with a Digital Passport Party during the library’s Connect with Tech Week. The Launch Party drew an overflow crowd (as we scrambled to get more chairs, more chairs)! Participants, some of whom came by bus from Visitacion Valley, enjoyed lunch and picked up their passports (available in English, Spanish and Chinese). They got an overview of how the Passport can guide their learning, and even played Passport Bingo for tech-related prizes.
To learn more about the Digital Passport project, contact us at passport@sftechcouncil.org or go to www.sftechcouncil.org/passport/. There are digital literacy partners throughout the San Francisco who are helping seniors and people with disabilities embark on their digital journeys. And if you’d like to use the passport to teach folks in your community, please let us know!
Urgency came through in the voices of those who spoke at the May 9 Board of Supervisors hearing on employment. Seniors and adults with disabilities both spoke of the economic need in this increasingly expensive City. But more than that, they shared how they were seeking respect, purpose, and the ability to contribute their lifetime of experience to improve their communities.
Rebecca Shotwell, pictured left, shared that finding a job “saved her life.” A graphic artist in the days before Photoshop, Rebecca retired two years before the 2008 financial crisis. Two years ago, after she and her husband had almost depleted their savings, Rebecca started looking for a job, “but who was going to hire an old lady?” Through CLC’s SF ReServe program. Rebecca began working at Aquatic Park Senior Center. They were so thrilled with her skills and contribution, that when a position opened up, they hired her directly.
Supervisor Norman Yee, who called for the hearing following CLC’s recent Work Matters! event, recruited Supervisor Sheehy, Rohan, Fewer and Kim as co-sponsors.
A presentation by SF City Departments introduced the set the stage for the testimony that followed, with data, program overviews and recommendations – linked here.
The hearing was broadcast on SFGov TV – if you missed, you can view the Employment Hearing there (the Employment Opportunities for Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities section starts at 1:23). Thanks to everyone who came and who spoke. We are hopeful that this will lead to more scrutiny and more funding to address this pressing issue.
Stay tuned!!
