There's No Aging in Vegas!

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This is a Kun 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.

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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 ears 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've taken the reins of aging and are willing to share their tips and tools for creating a positive mindset and lifestyle we're starting now.

Unknown Speaker 0:57
Hello and welcome to there's no aging in Vegas. I'm your host, Pat landacre. Thank you for joining me in my world of positive aging. You know, I live, eat and breathe it in every aspect. If you would like more information about classes, programs, workshops and talks, please visit Pat landacre agency.com Hey, this is episode 10. I mean, wow, I can't believe I've done that many so far, and it's been an amazing experience. And I appreciate everybody's support. I definitely want to thank Allison Kasner for sharing her amazing giving circle. I have no doubt that many of my listeners have considered starting one of their own. It's such a shareable experience that touches so many people in so many ways. I mean, all of you retired and semi retired peeps out there Gather your friends and do some collective giving. With the holidays approaching, it's the perfect time to merge your giving efforts. So there's that. And my guest today is no exception. She holds the keys that unlocks the doors of knowledge. She oversees one of Henderson's greatest treasures. But first, let's see what's happening with AARP and our guest representative, Erin Neff. She's no stranger to this show. She's the communications director, and trust me, much, much more for AARP, Hey, Aaron, how are you?

Unknown Speaker 2:19
I am great. Pat. Thank you so much for having me back on well,

Unknown Speaker 2:24
you know, I love to bring you to your alma mater. Got a lot of UNLV people on this show. As a matter of fact, our guest is one as well today. But you know, I asked you to come on the show and talk about the upcoming election and the voter resources that are available to your members and anybody who wants to become a member. And so tell me exactly what a our AARP, what resources that they have to help a voter understand and then vote

Unknown Speaker 2:56
Absolutely. First of all, if you are listening to this, and for some reason, you are not registered to vote. You have until Election Day. On election day itself, November 5, you can register at any polling location and you can vote. And we encourage everyone listening to cast a vote. This year at AARP Nevada, we have a voter guide that has all kinds of information like I just shared, how to register, where to go, where the locations to turn in your mail ballots are, where the locations to early vote are, the dates, the deadlines, and the best way to Get this resource is by getting your phone out and sending a text to 22777, you're going to type in the votes, and that's going to get you right to our voting guide. And if you're old school and you'd rather look it up online, just go to local.aarp.org and no matter where you are, that local will give you an opportunity to get that information that's relevant right in your neighborhood.

Unknown Speaker 4:11
Hi, Aaron, let me ask you, because I remember I heard that before that local.aarp.org where information is available. Now, how does it I'm just curious. How does it know that it's Nevada? By just typing in local Well,

Unknown Speaker 4:24
once you get to that, it'll say, if it doesn't know you already, it'll ask for your zip code. You just pop that zip code in, and whether you're in Henderson or North Las Vegas, or right here in the heart of Vegas, it'll it'll know, and it'll offer you information relevant to you, so if there's one of our many events in your neighborhood that'll pop right up, and online events will pop up of the voter guide, all kinds of information, and that local.aarp.org will also get you to our website. If you're looking for actual candidate information, we are non partisan. We do not endorse candidates, but we do go right to them and say, We want to know where you stand on the most important issues. And they tell us in their own words. So we have a great interview right now on our website featuring Senator Jackie Rosen and Captain Sam Brown, the Democratic and the Republican nominees for Senate. So if you want to see where they stand on Social Security, Medicare prescription drugs, retirement savings, family caregiving, it's all right there.

Unknown Speaker 5:41
Oh, that's that I see every time I think I know everything, and then you bring me some more. Aaron, that's what I love about you. Okay, okay, so I know caregiving is a big issue, so tell me how that appears in the election and what we should know about it. Well,

Unknown Speaker 5:57
I think family caregivers are a very unrecognized group of voters. There are so many people that provide care at home, either for a child or a parent or a grandparent, and they do this out of love. They're not professionals. They're not professional caregivers. They are the people that help take grandma to the doctor, help pick up the kids from soccer practice, help cook meals and plan budgets, and in more advanced cases, provide medical care at home for those who are ill or aging with some Serious problems. So family caregivers spend 1000s of dollars. We know that $7,000 on average every year to take care of loved ones in the home. And, you know, they need some some breaks. And so we believe it's a strong election issue, and we always ask candidates what they're going to do to help family caregivers.

Unknown Speaker 7:00
Wow, that is fantastic. You know, it's just all this nuanced stuff that people don't realize that those resources are available. It's not easy to find somebody to have a conversation about caregiving, whether it's self gear, self care for the caregiver, or just the engagement. You know, what kind of engagement has to happen for everything to work out and everybody to be happy and comfortable with that experience. So I'm happy to hear that that's a big is there, are there any other talk topics we should mention that will be up this year?

Unknown Speaker 7:33
Obviously, yeah, obviously, we are extremely concerned about drug prices. We know inflation has hit everyone very hard, particularly older residents, and we are grateful that for the first time, we are now seeing 10 major drugs that Medicare can negotiate lower prices for, and we are seeing that cap on insulin. These are very good, great policies, but big pharmaceutical companies are trying to undermine these changes, and we need the full support of every candidate to stand behind the changes that were recently made, because they're going to save everyone a lot of money. And look, if you can't pay for your medicine, it does you no good. So drug prices are still going to be a big issue for us, and protecting and preserving Social Security in less than 10 years, there will be cuts to everyone's Social Security benefits if Congress doesn't start acting now to shore up the program. Wow.

Unknown Speaker 8:44
Wow. Look at AARP, Nevada and AARP, you know, everywhere, just all up in it, providing things, I mean, because, seriously, I don't I vote, but I'm not particularly into the issues and the little nuance stuff. But boy, you know, just having worked with you all, I've learned so much. You know, forgive my own ignorance. I should know, but you know, we always run out of time too soon, Aaron, but the time that you're here, you always deliver such valuable information, and I really appreciate it. So let's just shout out that envy. What is it again? Sure.

Unknown Speaker 9:21
So you're gonna get your your message open on your phone, and you're gonna text the number is 22777, and you're gonna text N, V, votes, V, O, T, E, S, Oh,

Unknown Speaker 9:35
perfect. Well, hey, I'm gonna make sure, and I'll put it up on the website too when the show is up. But anyway, Erin, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I know you got to get back to your very busy life, so I appreciate you stopping by.

Unknown Speaker 9:46
I always have time for you. Pat, thank you so much. All right, thank

Unknown Speaker 9:49
you. I'll talk to you later. Bye, bye. Hi.

Unknown Speaker 9:52
I'm Keith McMillan with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNLV Holly offers more than just classes. There are special interest groups like the online book club, a non fiction book club at meets on campus and even a leather working group off campus. Olli shows feature films and sponsors special events to bring members together. These activities are part of the socialization pillar of Olli. More information@olli.unlv.edu

Unknown Speaker 10:24
Okay, now it's time to meet my guest. Marcy Smedley, Alright, I got it right, folks. She is the executive director of the Henderson libraries. She has worked in a variety of positions with the library district since 2003 she is passionate about literacy and advocating for libraries in our community. She holds a Bachelor's of Arts degree in Communication Studies from UNLV. I'll tell you, I think what 80% of the people on this show have graduated from UNLV, and she has a master's in library science from Texas Woman's University. Marcy is a member of various professional organizations in the all in in library American Library Association, Public Library Association, united for libraries, Mountain Plains Library Association and the Nevada Library Association for which she previously served as president. Marcy is currently the vice chair of the Henderson Chamber of Commerce foundation. Oh, well, look at you. I know some folks over there. Marcy was born and raised in Henderson, where she continues to enjoy, continues to enjoy living with her husband and daughter. Sure they appreciate that too. Yes, in her spare time, she enjoys reading, of course, cooking and traveling. Now, just let me say this real quick. Marcy, being able to support the libraries with this show means a lot to me. I am very fond of libraries. It was my first place to visit as a kid, I loved going home with a stack of books, and still do although they're all on my Kindle. I still love reading. I think libraries for older adults are a place of peace and a place of experience. Like to experience lifelong learning and continuously expand one mind, one's mind in 1000 ways, and they're filled with like minded people who have a universal love of books. But anyway, enough about that. Marcy, what up?

Unknown Speaker 12:22
Hello. Thank you so much for having me today. Pat and thank you for sharing that I think everyone it's always interesting to me, because I hear from many people those early library stories and how important they are, and just that nod to how important they should continue to be throughout life and to be a place of connection for people no matter where, where they're at in life, yeah,

Unknown Speaker 12:42
and you just have that kind of library, and, you know, joy about you. I just love it. But the one thing I want to know is, how old were you when you realized your love of books?

Unknown Speaker 12:53
So I don't remember. I only ever remember loving books and loving stories. You know, I grew up going to the library and just feeling that kind of feeling of awe when you walk in, because you know that, you know this door has opened up and you have access to any number of stories, and you know any of them can lead you down a, you know, a path and into an adventure that you didn't even know was there before you got started with it. So I don't remember when I started loving books. Just always have. Well,

Unknown Speaker 13:23
were your was your family like, were they readers as well? My

Unknown Speaker 13:27
mom was a big reader. She is still. She loves, loves to read novels. My dad read a lot of magazines. You know? I think it's interesting, and I think it's true of a lot of you know grown ups, that sometimes it's hard to make time to read. But yeah, he always had magazines or something, so there was still reading material. And then those visits to the library so that me and my sisters could get books and, you know, and check check out materials that were interesting to us to read too. Wow,

Unknown Speaker 13:55
that's just, I mean, that's kind of what I imagine. Most librarians I've met, that's kind of their story as well. But I wanted to know, did you always want to be a librarian?

Unknown Speaker 14:05
No, I didn't, you know. I remember when I was little, I told my mom, I want to carry a briefcase and wear high heels. Yeah, so some kind of business woman maybe I thought I wanted to be, you know, and I've done a few different things. My undergraduate degree, as you mentioned, is in communications, and I dabbled a little bit in public relations, you know, I fell into the job at the library, you know, 21 years ago as a young adult specialist. So I was doing programming for teens and working with the teens that would come into the library, and I loved it, and I decided that was my calling, and I finished the schooling that I needed in order to progress, and have just worked my way through various positions with the library district since then. That's

Unknown Speaker 14:54
very I mean, the fact that you kind of evolved through this system. So you're, you have the Institute. Professional knowledge behind the Henderson libraries, which is always good when it probably has helped you in how you know, the creating of programs and the direction the library grows in, so to speak, what was the most like impactful thing when you were working before you became the executive director that said, I'm going to stay here and make this happen.

Unknown Speaker 15:23
Yeah, you know, what's interesting is, when I first started, I loved that interaction, right? So being able to connect with families that came into the library, and I thought this is something I could do forever. I didn't think administration was the path for me at that time. I thought, I want to do story times. I want to engage with the people that are walking through the doors. And then I dipped my toes a little bit in some different activities around advocating for libraries. So we have, every time there's a legislative session, we have a day where the Nevada Library Association coordinates for librarians to go and speak to our elected officials up in Carson City and talk about the importance of libraries. And the more I experienced things like that, the more I realized the impact that we have to have as administrators of the library to be able to create the, you know, the support for and the relevance of our libraries, so that our teams can continue to offer those experiences to families and community members. So that's when I kind of started to grow more toward a management and administration track, yeah,

Unknown Speaker 16:28
no. I mean, you know, I've seen it evolve. Let's see. When I was doing programs at Green Valley that had to be 767, years ago, I think. And you know, just the changes I've seen, because I always go on and look at what programs are available. So if there's anything that deals in my my the area, my specialty, I can push that out to seniors, but it's ever changing. But let me get to oh, let me ask you real quick, have you ever wanted to write a

Unknown Speaker 16:59
book? Fleetingly, never, never with any serious seriousness behind it. I mean, you work in a building with all these books, it would be cool to see your name on one of them, but I've never really had a passion for writing like I have a passion for just sharing those stories. Have you ever picked

Unknown Speaker 17:17
up a book and went,

Unknown Speaker 17:20
Yes, I have, but it's, yeah, it's probably being a little too confident in my abilities.

Unknown Speaker 17:27
I hear that and you'd say, No more. Well, let's talk about the libraries a little bit, because you sent me some amazing pictures. I mean the black and white ones, the historic I mean the value of those pictures, I just was like, Wow. I bet people don't even know, and I don't know if these pictures are somewhere in a library that people could see them. They're

Unknown Speaker 17:49
actually online. We have a local history collection that's all digitized on our website. So, and I'm really proud of that, actually, not a lot of public libraries keep archives digitally like that. You know, a lot of the kind of local history is done more by academic institutions. We're one of the few public libraries that do it, and we think that, you know, we grew right up with Henderson, so we really are proud of being able to document the change to the city and the growth and development that we've seen over the past 80 years. You

Unknown Speaker 18:22
know, I think that to own that yourself is amazing. I think the fact that you have it there, and it's accessible to people, and they don't have to go somewhere, and I guess most stuff is online, but you've made it really convenient, and I think that's awesome. So thank you. I want to know what was the first library and when was it established? Where is it located? Where was it located? Okay,

Unknown Speaker 18:44
so Henderson libraries was established in 1944 so we're 80 years old this year. I always like to tell my little kind of proud fact that the the Henderson libraries are older than the City of Henderson itself. They actually the city incorporated later. When we first were established, we were established as a public library to support the railroad pass school district. So at that time, we had a board of trustees that was actually appointed by the railroad pass school district. And, you know, we were still a public library, but the the intention was to serve that school district in the 1950s there was an overhaul to education laws during a special session, special session of the Nevada legislature. And then things changed up at that point, we became what's known as a County Library District, but we serve the City of Henderson.

Unknown Speaker 19:36
Let me. Let me jump in real quick. So is there still a railroad pass district today. Okay,

Unknown Speaker 19:41
I was like, it was before, yep, the more Clark County School District was what it is, yes. And that's,

Unknown Speaker 19:46
that's amazing to think that the library was around before the city was incorporated. So that just shows you the value of knowledge and learning and all of that. That's, that's crazy. Now, where was that library?

Unknown Speaker 19:58
Very first building was 10. Tiny, tiny. And it was on Pacific in Henderson. When you look at the photos I sent, though there's a photo of a woman, and it looks like her daughter walking into a building, and that was our first building that was more like like. If you look at pictures of the first building, it looks like a closet. This one people actually came into. And that one was on Water Street in Pacific. It was actually at 55 South Water Street. The building is still there, but it hasn't been a library for quite some time. So

Unknown Speaker 20:26
there was the pictures which we're going to be putting all these pictures up. The picture of the lady and the young woman going into the library. That's when it was on specific

Unknown Speaker 20:35
that one is actually 55 water. That was our that is the

Unknown Speaker 20:37
55 water. Okay, all right. Yeah, yeah.

Unknown Speaker 20:40
So the first one was tiny, tiny, like it looks Yeah. I mean, it looks like an outhouse.

Unknown Speaker 20:48
I was just so amazed and fascinated at the same time to see that picture. And so obviously, no longer there. What is in its spot? Now, do you know it's

Unknown Speaker 20:58
a photography studio in that spot now it's across from the gas station right there on Pacific and Water Street.

Unknown Speaker 21:05
Oh, okay, yeah, okay, wow, yeah. Look, you can imagine how different things look so

Unknown Speaker 21:10
different. Yes, yeah. So can I take you on a journey with that library? So it was there until the 1980s and then that's when we actually moved up the street to water and basic and that. And then it was established as our James I Gibson library at that time. Before it, it was just the Henderson library, but, yeah, but now, then it turned into the Gibson library, and we remained there from the late 80s until 2010 when we moved to where the current Gibson library is now, which is on water and Lake Mead. So we've moved up and down Water Street, basically,

Unknown Speaker 21:43
yeah, oh, I love Water Street. I mean, I used to be president of the Henderson Rotary Club, and we met in the Wells Fargo building there. And I loved walking up and down the street and back then. I mean, there's none of the stuff that's there now. I mean, there was no arena, and, oh my goodness, it just looks so different. But yeah, that's just, I'm visualizing taking this walk with you. So let me see here. We know that that opened, and I want to find out, like, what was the next? So James Gibson, I guess, was actually the first real library. Can I say that

Unknown Speaker 22:20
it would be the first library that we still have, like, named as one of our libraries today. Because that one, I mean, the one down on water, 55 Water Street. I grew up going to that library, you know, it had a little children's section in the back. It had a rug with the alphabet. You know, me and my sisters would say, our ABCs around the around the rug, and an aquarium, a fish aquarium. I remember that too. So, yeah, so, I mean, it was a real library, but it was very small. Yeah, you're

Unknown Speaker 22:49
just taking people on, you know, Memory Lane down memory lane. Well, let's just keep it moving here. So tell me, when did Green Valley open and Paseo verde. Who am I missing? West

Unknown Speaker 23:04
Henderson? Yeah, so our Paseo verde library opened in 2002 so it's been there for 22 years now. And then our Green Valley Library. Interesting story there is that it was initially part of the Las Vegas Clark County Library District, and then through legislation and an agreement with the City of Henderson. We allowed we aligned our library boundaries with the City of Henderson boundaries, and made arrangements to take that library in as a Henderson library. So we took it in in 2009 It was built in the 1980s but we've had it since 2009 and then our West Henderson library just opened two years ago. Yeah, and we have a small little outlet, the Heritage Park Library in the Heritage Park Senior Center. Yeah, no,

Unknown Speaker 23:44
I used to go in there all the time and talk to Linda when I'd go. I used to be in the City of Henderson, Senior Citizens Advisory Commission, and I'd always go in there and talk to Linda, and it's just such a cute little library nestled in there. I mean, you guys really have a presence throughout Henderson. There's just no excuse for not finding a libraries.

Unknown Speaker 24:04
And we have an outreach truck to go out and get those people who can't make it into the library too.

Unknown Speaker 24:08
I saw that I'm gonna love putting all these pictures up. Okay, let me keep it moving here. So when it comes to children's programs, are most of them done at a particular library? Or they're spread out. They

Unknown Speaker 24:20
are spread out. Yeah, we have a programming team that works on putting together all of the content for the programs, and then spreads that throughout the district so that people from all around the Henderson community can enjoy and participate in those programs.

Unknown Speaker 24:34
Oh, wow, that's just great. And I know the adult programs because I participated in some of those. But how do you curate those programs? I mean, what do you look for? How do you gage what the need is in terms of those programs? So

Unknown Speaker 24:47
we try to be very responsive to our community and really listen as they're in the library, as they're engaging in other programs, to learn what it is that that is of interest or of need to them, to be able to. Identify, then how we can fill those needs and interests, whether it's something that our team internally puts together, whether it's partnering with other people in the community to be able to provide those programs, really listening to what others need in the community. Well,

Unknown Speaker 25:13
it seems like it, because as I go through the programs, looking for what I can push out to other people, I see a lot of diverse, interesting, you know, age, diversity, interest, diversity, and some of them just truly unique, like some of the presentations that you have, tell me a little more about that.

Unknown Speaker 25:32
Okay, so, you know, we like to be able to offer a wide variety of programs. One of our priorities that came out of our recent strategic planning is to create a culture of belonging, and part of that is around our programming. How do we have programming that reflects the diversity in our community and speaks to what our community wants and needs? So we're really, again, trying to listen and hear what the community wants and needs so that we can respond to that a recent example is we offer a one book one Henderson program annually, where we are inviting the community to all read the same book and then come together, whether it's with a small book club in the community, whether it's another program that is related to the book that we read. So we read the henna artist by Alka Joshi this year. And so we had a lot of different programs that supported learning about Indian culture, one of which was henna tattoos. So we had a woman who came in and provided henna tattoos and some information about just the cultural significance of that. We had programs where we made they're called Dias, which are like lamps in India, and just different programs, again, you know, to highlight culture and really bring an experience right into our community that you might not have somewhere else. Well,

Unknown Speaker 26:50
that's, I mean, that one really blew me away. I've seen a lot of the programs you've had big, you know, authors come in and everything. But that one was so unique, and the person that you brought in, I mean, just write. I mean, talk about a cultural experience. And I couldn't make it, but I thought that's amazing, and that's pretty typical of the things. You go out and find really unique authors that are tailored to a subject with adults or a subject with children, and you've had the house on those things,

Unknown Speaker 27:19
yes, yes. I think it shows what a need it is in our community, right? People want to come together as community, and my opinion, what better way to do that than over a good book? Right? I mean, we can all find whether it's something that you relate to in the book or something that sparks a memory of one of your own experiences after you've read the book. I just think there's so many opportunities to bring people together when you're reading, yeah? No,

Unknown Speaker 27:45
now that One Book, One Henderson did that. When did that start? And did that come up? Like, a group of library people said, Hey, let's do something really cool.

Unknown Speaker 27:54
Yeah. So it actually, its very first inception was years and years ago, and we it was a program that was cut during the recession time, so way back, and then never really came back until after the pandemic. So it was something that was kind of like, you know, this was a really great opportunity again, to bring somebody into the community, an author, for people to listen to and to have that conversation around. So it started back up right around, you know, we were supposed to have an author the year of the pandemic, and we had to change that one to virtual, and then have just been growing it since then. The past couple years have been really big years for it. Though,

Unknown Speaker 28:28
I just wanted to find out, like, what has been your personal most meaningful or impactful, you know, experience since you've been there?

Unknown Speaker 28:40
That's really it's hard for me to think of one most impactful, because I think that just feeling of the good that the team that I work with does in the community, and the impact that we make every day on people's lives like that feels impactful overall. So I think that that is something that I carry with me all the time. I think since I've been there, you know, there have been impactful times, if I had to pick what's impactful or meaningful to me, it just is that that ability to offer a service in the community that is so needed and so appreciated and it brings people together, and that's, that's probably what I carry with me the most Marcy,

Unknown Speaker 29:21
thank you so much for coming over today, and I hope you'll come back. Thank you for joining me. I will see you on the Knicks. There's no aging in Vegas.

Unknown Speaker 29:31
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 Nevada offers training and support to help individuals help AARP Nevada. More information is available at states.aarp.org/nevada

Transcribed by https://otter.ai