What is your role at Aging Wisdom?
Creative Engagement Specialist Lead
What made you want to work in the field of aging?
I transitioned from volunteering to working as a server in an assisted living setting in my youth and what continues to captivate me is the relational component. Getting to build a connection with someone while remembering the little details. How someone likes their cup of coffee or coming to know someone’s routine.
How has your job changed in the time you’ve worked at Aging Wisdom?
Our team recently developed a new program I have been a part of called “Art of Connection” which offers creative engagement services in Adult Family Homes. Having worked as a life enrichment director in long-term care settings previously, it is a fun melding of skills to once again spend time connecting in small groups with older adults.
What do you love about your job?
I’m grateful for the opportunity to connect with folks across a variety of communication styles. Individuals with late-stage dementia are still attuned to the emotions of others and can encourage others to slow down and focus on the present. I appreciate these moments of unhurried company throughout my week. Alternatively, with other individuals, we have lively times of sounds, rhymes, and shared creativity. Both represent equally powerful experiences of what it means to be present with someone.
Tell us about a professional success story that you’re proud of. 
I helped connect an individual who had been talking about wanting to bike again with the Adaptive Cycling Center so he could access an adaptive bike rental that worked well for his current needs. It was a moment of gratitude for what we can tap into in our community. We tried out a two-person sociable bike perfect for chit-chat, a three-wheeled bike, and rode along a beautiful route in Magnuson Park during blackberry season, picking berries off the bushes to snack on. The program is run through Outdoors for All and provides free bike rentals from May to September, seven days a week.
What motivates you?
One impact I want to highlight within the role of a creative engagement specialist is what it means to witness someone’s humanity. We work with older adults who are finding themselves socially isolated, experiencing grief or life transitions, and navigating the day-to-day following a dementia diagnosis. To show up at someone’s door and say O.K., what does purpose look like for you today? We know that having a sense of purpose lengthens both life span and health span. To be a consistent source of connection in someone’s life means allowing someone to feel seen, to share their grief, and to remind us that we are part of something bigger than ourselves.
