I live in Winlock. I was so thrilled to find a place to socialize at the Winlock Senior Center when I first moved here. I am very involved with the fundraisers and the networking for seniors in need.
Non-medical or counseling or just lending an ear for any elderly person wanting someone to hear how their day went.
We do this around tables drinking coffee. The Winlock Senior Center became a place known as “the family” gathering. Sometimes we entertain, eat, decorate for occasions, exercise or put on plays. We also educate and update on tips on how not to be scammed. Young people came in regularly to help serve food and help clean up. Then they sit down listening to stories told by the elders. We became a close-knit family.
Now the senior centers are still not open and I’ve heard these same seniors say that they are depressed and lost their will to get up and come out of their homes because there’s nowhere to meet up.
We have lost some of them already. They cry out for company. They cry out for us to advocate for them. So I am. There are plans in the works to picket and fight for their rights to socialize at the center. After all we are the most vaccinated population.
I fight for them because I am one of them. Who else will advocate for us that can make that decision now and listen to the senior voices? Hear us!
No one is representing us to give us the answer of opening up the senior centers.
Like Medicare and Medicaid, the Older Americans Act was passed in 1965 as part of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society reforms. The act seeks to ensure retirement income, physical and mental health, suitable housing, employment, protection from age-based discrimination and efficient community services for older individuals.
Jeannette Allen
Winlock
