There's No Aging in Vegas!

Unknown Speaker 0:00
This is a k u and v studios original program. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jazz and more the University of Nevada Las Vegas or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education

Unknown Speaker 0:22
you're listening to there's no aging in Vegas, a one stop shop for all things positive aging in the Vegas valley, and any place within IRS reach. This show features topics relevant to adults 50 And over that help them live their lives to the fullest. listeners will meet a variety of residents who have taken the reins of aging and are willing to share their tips and tools for creating a positive mindset and lifestyle. Or starting now.

Unknown Speaker 0:56
We're back. Hey, everybody, I cannot believe it's Episode Five, five, I've five times I've done this. This is so fabulous. And then to be able to add the camera in has been incredible. People are really enjoying that. I want to thank my cameraman Sean, he puts up with me and he does an amazing job of shooting this show in this little tiny space here. The radio station. Hey, I want to thank my guest last week join Russ oh my god, we got so many comments about her amazing art, her pictures of New Zealand that we showed. And so thank her a lot. And we've got another fabulous guest today. We've got Ali in the house. Ali is the Usher Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. And it is a treasure not just for the community but definitely for UNLV and older adults who want to continue their education. And so today we have representing all I've got Beth here, and we will be chatting with her in just a few minutes. But first we have our A RP five minute segment. And I'm so excited today we have with us. One of AARP is truly truly valued resources. And it's Riley Franco Riley Hey, how are you?

Unknown Speaker 2:25
I'm great, Pat, how are you? Thanks for having me. Oh,

Unknown Speaker 2:27
I'm doing good. No, it was my pleasure. You know, I've had so many other people on the show. And, and you you actually oversee a lot of the things that I'm really interested in in terms of what I would want to volunteer and do. And so I wanted to have you on the show so that we could actually talk about some of those things today. So Riley, tell me a little bit about yourself and how you came to be at AARP.

Unknown Speaker 2:56
Oh, sure. So I am actually born and raised here in Las Vegas. I have spent, you know, most of my career working for nonprofit organizations, and really kind of, I guess you could say stumbled into the, you know, quote, aging industry with a nonprofit before AARP, and I just really fell in love with it. And so, you know, a little bit of luck, a little bit of, you know, hard work, perfect balance. And I ended up at AARP, which has just been an amazing experience.

Unknown Speaker 3:30
Well, yeah, I mean, I now that I'm a part of a or P I had no idea. You know, the comment I get after every show is I had no idea that AARP did so many things and had so many resources. And you know, tell me a little bit about what's under. What do you oversee?

Unknown Speaker 3:54
Sure. So I am one of our directors of outreach for the state of Nevada, and I oversee our outreach, education and education work for brain health and healthy living for fraud prevention, family caregiving, and a couple of other smaller programs are focused work in Henderson, Nevada, as well as our speaker's bureau.

Unknown Speaker 4:19
Yeah, I didn't even realize that you oversaw Henderson, Justin kept saying no, that's you gotta call right. Riley for that. I know that they just what was it last month was fraud month or they had a fraud week and you guys were really out there doing your thing? What kinds of things were you doing for that?

Unknown Speaker 4:40
We get we were you know, we tried to highlight fraud prevention throughout the year obviously, but for fraud month, we do all kinds of things we, you know, have strike out fraud or bullying events. We have shredding events in the community for free. We have, you know, community fairs like health fairs or things like that, where we go and provide the information on the latest scans, how to protect yourself from fraud and scams? And then of course, we have our wonderful volunteers who go out through our speaker's bureau and present on any number of topics related to fraud.

Unknown Speaker 5:22
Yeah, it's just unbelievable. I mean, you know, I guess in the beginning, when I first got involved with ERP, I'd see a few pictures related to whatever I was doing. And then I started to see more and more, and I'm thinking, Where are all these pictures living? Cuz I had no idea there was so many people doing so many things. And then you have something like the what was the name of the brain event that you just had?

Unknown Speaker 5:48
Yeah, we were really fortunate to partner with Nomi, which is the Nevada Office of Minority Health and equity for Minority Health Month, and we did a family Field Day brain health day, at the YMCA, the bill and really Heinrich YMCA over the weekend. And, you know, we had a lot of really great partners out community organizations, the Cleveland Clinic was doing memory, memory, I'm sorry, memory

Unknown Speaker 6:21
carry, yeah.

Unknown Speaker 6:25
And we had blood pressure scans, and, you know, eye health and all these things. But also, in outside in the field, we had all these activities and adaptive exercise programs and all these things, it was a really fun day.

Unknown Speaker 6:39
Ya know, it looked really fun. I have some video I'm going to show of all the fun, they were having look like a lot of dancing and stuff, but healthy foods, you know, booths, tons of resources, I thought that was really awesome. And another thing that people just don't know, that AARP does. Now, what you do is what I would definitely be involved in? And I guess I'm kind of am. Is you do the speaker's bureau, so to speak. Tell me a little bit about that.

Unknown Speaker 7:09
Yeah, absolutely. So we've started it here in Southern Nevada, and we're looking to expand to Northern Nevada soon. But essentially, we have, I believe over a dozen AARP presentations on different subjects like, you know, identity theft, or family caregiving, or even like preparing for retirement. And we have a really talented pool of volunteers that really take those on as facilitators, and fulfill requests from the community to go out and present on these topics for, you know, educational purposes and for to distribute resources, and really have that, you know, connection for people to ask questions, and, you know, prepare themselves for the future, protect themselves from fraud and other things like that. So we actually, for the summer session of Ali will have a fraud 101, where we're bringing in lots of guest speakers from our national office, but also here locally, from, you know, the FTC and just different experts in the field to really give class participants a broader sense of what is happening in the world of fraud and scams.

Unknown Speaker 8:21
Yeah, I mean, it's really endless. And the thing I like about the class, you're going to be doing it all he is it's going to include disrupt aging, which is so an part and right now. I mean, if I could put that thing everywhere, and at first, it was like everybody was stepping lightly with it, because they didn't really know how to integrate it. And when Dr. Whitfield, president of UNLV was on here, we chatted a little bit about it. And I think he was really excited about it as well, he wasn't aware of it. But yeah, that's just another great opportunity that people can have with AARP. I'm sitting here looking at my cheat sheet. And I know that we do a lot of veterans and, and military, different, you know, events and things like that. We offer so many things in terms of understanding social security, your retirement planning, and things like that. I'm actually a certified senior advisor. So a lot of times I get asked by people about that, because that's part of besides a whole bunch of other stuff that we actually do, and that's really important for people to understand that and the resources that are out there for them. One of the things I do you oversee caregiving? I do, yes. That I'm really excited to hear about. I knew we were doing it, but I didn't know to what depth we were doing it. Tell me a little bit about that.

Unknown Speaker 9:45
Yeah, so you know, family caregiving is a really important issue for AARP across the country. And we're working. You know, my colleague in the Nevada office Jessica throne is heading up Our advocacy portion of that, obviously. But we're working to make sure family caregivers have the resources and the information they need. We know that family caregivers are a huge part of our care system. And we also know that most of them don't identify as family caregivers. So we see a lot of family members that say, Well, you know, this is just what we do, we take care of our parents, or we take care of our neighbors or something to that effect, which is true. But there's also a lot more involved in terms of finding support and knowing what's out there for you. So we really are working to bring awareness to you know, what is a family caregiver, because we're all either going to need one or be one or you know, it affects everyone, and what kind of resources how to be prepared. And we're just out there spreading that awareness.

Unknown Speaker 11:03
Ya know, that is so important. I've been a caregiver, five times one was my husband, it's really challenging, and you get you get burnt out. And that's why respite care is so important. And I don't know if we bring that up in the courses you do on caregiving, but it really needs to be mentioned, because caregivers have to make sure that they take care of themselves. Because of their it's like that whole airplane thing, you know, put your mask on first. Because if you ain't there yet, kids, yeah, no. So yeah, yeah, no, that's fantastic. And then I'm just gonna mention that, you know, we talked about the brain health, the disrupt aging, just you have a lot of programs that are just support healthy living, healthy aging. And in Riley, I know I have to wrap it up, I could talk to you the whole hour, but because your your baileywick is like what I love, you know, I'm not so much a walk in the town center with the dog person. The other stuff I really, really enjoy. And I'm gonna hope to have you back. But meantime, I know how busy you are. You're just always somewhere doing something all of you are. And we all really appreciate it. And I appreciate you taking the time today to come on and overview what you do.

Unknown Speaker 12:24
Oh, it's my pleasure. I could talk to you forever as well. So hopefully we can make another segment.

Unknown Speaker 12:29
We absolutely look, I got a whole bunch. And you guys just kind of want to go another round with me. So I guess we'll be talking again. But again, Riley. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And, you know, I'll look forward to seeing you either in your area or in mine. But you take care. Absolutely. All right. Bye Bye. Wow. That's just you know, AARP, it's endless, all the stuff that they do. But they're not alone because you heard Riley mentioned Ali. Well, guess what? We've got Ali in the house. Right here. We've got Beth Davis from Ali. And again, that stands for the am I saying it right Asha or OSHA, OSHA. Oh, sure. Lifelong Learning Institute, you can find Oli and just about almost any major college campus across the United States. You know, if you if you went wherever you went to college, and you think you want to go hang out and do that, all these kind of, they kind of work with each other. So you could probably go to another it'll still cost you but you know, you're not restricted to just stay in your state or anything like that. But anyway, so I've got Beth Davis here. And she we're going to talk all about all this. She is the program manager over there. So if somebody's going to know what class they have, or don't have welcome Beth. Thanks, Pat.

Unknown Speaker 13:56
Great to be here.

Unknown Speaker 13:57
Tell me a little bit about your history with Olli. I know you've been there. I think almost two years now. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 14:04
almost two years, two years in August. Very exciting for me. Both my parents were educators. So I think somehow I came full circle. And get to be with Olli. I was an assistant director with a preschool so I'm kind of at the opposite end now. With retired and semi retired members with Molly. Enjoying it every day is an adventure. I think we've talked about this personally. Everybody has a story. And I learned something new every day. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 14:36
well, you know, what's the you have to be 50 and we

Unknown Speaker 14:40
don't have a set age we say retired and semi retired, but our average age is 74. Yeah, and most of our members are 50 Euro. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 14:49
yeah. Well, I tell you what, you know, you've got something for everybody over there. Tell me a little bit about your history with only

Unknown Speaker 14:58
so my straight with Ali is about two years, two years in August. My favorite is just talking to the members getting to know all the members, the students. I learned something every day. I do a professor's choice speaker class, I facilitate that. And it's been amazing. So professors choice is where I bring in UNLV professors every Friday, different topics. I was privileged as I know you had him to have President Whitfield, come in and speak which was amazing. I've had Bo Bernhard and I've had people from all different areas. We do a speaker series at Oli every day of the week. 9am said we do we bring in community, we bring in UNLV professors, we may bring it bring in professors from other areas. We have soapbox, we have you got to have faith. We have empower your health. We have the legislature and we have professors choice. Okay, so

Unknown Speaker 16:02
let's talk about all the the actual courses and everything like that. So tell me, how did Ali get started? When did it start this campus? Oh, that's

Unknown Speaker 16:12
a good question. Rob needs to be here. I don't remember the exact year because it was way before me. But I want to say it's been about 15 years since it started here. And it was part of OSHA, lifelong learning. And we became part of continuing education, which is perfect because it is continuing education, no tests, no homework, but a lot of learning. And a lot of really engaged learners.

Unknown Speaker 16:43
I got started in all the way through somebody who thought I should be teaching the courses I was teaching at retirement communities at the library's at all over the place, the senior centers, and they said, Have you ever thought about teaching at all and at first I was like, What the heck is all I had never heard of it. And then once I just one day I said Well, let me see what it is. And then I was like shocked to find out and that they had one at my you know, UCLA, my alma mater and, and so it was like, Okay, this is pretty cool. And I love the fact because I know in my classes and programs I'm always talking about you got to keep learning, you got to keep learning, you got to keep learning. And so all he really offers that opportunity. Just before we go on with Olli, where is it on the campus?

Unknown Speaker 17:33
Yes, it's right across the street. UNLV, as many of you may know, has decided to now expand across Maryland Parkway. So they started buying up some property. There we are right next to the end CI which is Nevada. Higher Education. And we are right by right by them. So we're in MA b two, which stands for Maryland auxilary, building two, and we are now part of the UNLV campus. Okay,

Unknown Speaker 18:01
well, that's fantastic. I know it was across the street. That's why I asked because I was like is that. So they're putting even more stuff over there outside.

Unknown Speaker 18:09
That's where they're going to eventually expand since there's not a lot of other places to really go and expand. They've bought up some property there. There's the gateway building, our building is going to be more. Okay. Yeah, that sounds fantastic. Well, I

Unknown Speaker 18:23
know a lot of people that are over there, and they like the new campus. And it looks so modern. I have not personally been there. I'm gonna be going over there. But you know, it just looks unbelievable, because we were in that old paradise with pear tree building. And, you know, it was just what like 1950s was built or something.

Unknown Speaker 18:42
Liza Minnelli went to elementary school.

Unknown Speaker 18:46
Well, there you go. It is. But yeah, and so it was although it was really spacious. And the parking was amazing. But still, you know to be have something new and for people that are going back to college, so to speak, to be able to go and have all that nice newness around them. I know you're still working on a lot of things. But how many students are members are there of our Ollie,

Unknown Speaker 19:09
we have about 1200 Now we look to expand where we can a lot of expansions gonna come to satellite locations and hybrid classes that we'll be bringing out but you know, we have a good number. Yeah, I

Unknown Speaker 19:24
think that's great, too, that you have all the satellite classes. So people there might be a class closer to your home and the local library or community center. I know like at it Las Vegas Meadows. That's just a senior community. And they've had classes there a long long time. I was opposed to go do some classes out there. Oh my God before pandemic and pandemic and changed everything. But I was just surprised at the mix use out there and everything and the woman who runs I don't know if she's still there, but she was just amazed. He always willing to bring new things in. And so all he is a great fit for those communities, especially one way out like Las Vegas meadows, you know, for people to be able to experience that. How would you describe the typical Ollie student?

Unknown Speaker 20:16
Typical Ollie student, somebody who really, really is active, involved, wants to remain healthy, wants to remain learning, and just really open and engaged and open to learning.

Unknown Speaker 20:32
Yeah, I think what happens is a lot of older adults, just figure why bother. And I think that when they go to Olli, I mean, it definitely changed my life, I was so happy to discover a way to to express some of my knowledge to get some of my knowledge out there through all the and to have an audience that I know what I was speaking about. I think I mentioned I had started the positive aging programming series there. And I've taught under that for, you know, it's like been more than four years. And, you know, I knew for me, being a widow, and just a lot of the things I was going through and trying to reengage in a social life. Other people have to be going through this. And sure enough, as I met people in my online classes, especially, that's exactly what I discovered. So yeah, I think it really offers and it offers a community, especially in the new building. I mean, who doesn't want to go sit around in there? They're really nice. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 21:31
And that's what I was gonna say the social aspect in the community is big, as well. Yeah, yeah.

Unknown Speaker 21:38
So the new campus, like, what are you still waiting? And I know, we're showing pictures and things of it. But what are you still waiting for? What do you hope to get that's not currently there,

Unknown Speaker 21:54
we need to get our computer labs up. Some of it with the shooting that happened on campus. And with our move, it kind of slowed everything down a little bit. So we didn't have everything ready. And in for our hybrid classes, we're waiting on a camera, we're waiting on some technology for our photography room that has a beautiful green screen, and a little audio studio kind of like this. So we're just making sure that those final touches are ready to go, it'll probably take us about a year.

Unknown Speaker 22:23
But, you know, I think that the resources that you've told me about that are there. It really just takes everything into the 21st century. Because I think a lot of times, like I've had some conversations recently with people after I discovered AI, oh, my God, I had to stop using it. I was just doing everything, you know, I could make my shows and the clips, I can do this and that and the other. And it's just been unbelievable. And I think that's the kind of stuff that you're you're going to start bringing into all these that new technology. Because everybody thinks that older adults don't want to know that they're too afraid to learn stuff like that. That is just not the case at all, you know, they want to know, they're more savvy, a lot of times, you know, I mean, I'm bad. I'll say we'll give me your number, or somebody will say, give me your number. And I'll you know, go to write it on a card, and they'll just put it in my phone. I never think about it. I'm not a big phone person or picture taker. So that's probably why. But anyway, okay, so let me get back to it. So in terms of just in terms of just resources, what do you think people would be surprised to discover over there?

Unknown Speaker 23:41
Well, I think they'd be surprised that we offer over 100 classes and fall over 100 classes in spring and about 60 in summer. And there's a wide range of topics. We have a belly dancing class, we have a bunch of art classes with some amazing artists. We're not talking, you know, you're just sitting down and maybe drawing a picture. We have people doing pastels and watercolors that are amazing. We also have the classes in science we had somebody doing well, actually, he worked for NASA, and he came in and talked about Apollo. And he was actually involved with that he wasn't on the mission, but he was on the ground in doing it. So I think that that's the surprising thing is people don't realize, and your classes and some of the other aging classes, but really important information. Yeah. No,

Unknown Speaker 24:31
I think that people, you almost have to really dive into it because you can't just look, let me get that from there. Here's the latest volley catalog. And it is just all of the classes and information and an application and things like that. And this comes out in the mail. Yes, as well as you can pick one up at libraries. Most of the times I've seen them all at the libraries and everything like that. But you know, you and also they give you an opportunity. You can take a class at all Lee and just check it out. You don't have to do the big formal stuff. Right, right. Yes, there

Unknown Speaker 25:09
are two classes, two classes one session each as a guest to try it out. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I

Unknown Speaker 25:17
wanted to show you, because Beth loves putting me in things. So here's the picture that actually came from Sean's real. The president when he was on this show, and she put it in the catalog. Thank you for that. You know, I told you ever been going to have a target on my back? Loving me the way you do. But yeah, this is a great resource. And you can just pick this up, and then check it out. This is for the summer, you can check it out and see what they have. How many your classes are like in the fall? In Fall? We'll have over 100. And how many is in here? 55. On top of that number. Yeah. Driving is driving your pay raise. I better know how many.

Unknown Speaker 26:04
I'm responsible for the program. So I gotta know.

Unknown Speaker 26:08
Well, you've been like I said, doing yeoman's work over there. And so if nothing else, pick this up and check it out and see if there's something in there that tweaks your interest. Like I said, we do virtual, I say we because I'm so you're a part of it. And the only thing they do virtual, they have satellite locations. And then you're going to start to or your rehab hybrid. We

Unknown Speaker 26:31
have two hybrids for the summer. Yeah, okay. Yeah,

Unknown Speaker 26:35
I think that's great. Because I remember when I first started, I was like that, I just thought, oh, yeah, I can do hybrid, because I was teaching in person. And they were like, now we don't get that yet. So I'm really excited. And that's going to be ongoing, right? Yes. Okay. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 26:49
This is the start. Well, Beth,

Unknown Speaker 26:51
I am so thrilled that you came by. Just give me the general cost there the flat fee for all? Sure. For

Unknown Speaker 27:01
the year, it's 219. That includes your fall spring, summer, unlimited classes, and includes a parking parking permit. So it's great 105 semester, if you want to do it that way for fall and spring 49 for the summer, because it's a little shorter.

Unknown Speaker 27:18
Yeah, that's really reasonable. You're gonna get some great education. These people have taught me for run businesses, the teachers, and it's been amazing. But Beth, thank you so much for joining me. I really appreciate it. Sorry, a little crazy, but we got her done. And, you know, I want to just take a second and get on my soapbox. Look, the word senior I know people look, I was part of a whole deal to try to fight against people getting rid of the word senior and came up with this older adult, which really doesn't define anything. I mean, your older brother could be the older adults. So it's not like it really defines being a senior. But we got to take that word back because that word is good. In every instance, you want to be a senior in college, Senior Vice President, senior senior senior, but until it comes to the aging, then it becomes a dirty word. And I don't understand it. But it comes with all the loftiness we've earned that title. So please think about using senior. And I just want to say to those of you who are not out there and embracing aging, why not? I mean, in all honesty, if you can't love aging, how the heck are you going to love living? I mean, I don't get it. Right. So think about that. But I appreciate everybody tuning in everybody watching this show all of your support your emails and everything. I really appreciate it. We're only getting better. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. And again, thank you, Beth, I really appreciate you. Thank you, Shawn. Thank you, Wes. Thank you everybody. Okay, we're out.

Unknown Speaker 28:46
This program is underwritten by AARP Nevada, currently seeking volunteers for a variety of roles, including speakers for meetings, tech support for member events and people who just want to meet and greet others. AARP in Nevada offers training and support to help individuals help AARP Nevada. More information is available at state's dot aarp.org/nevada

Transcribed by https://otter.ai