According to the 2011 U.S. Census Bureau, over 40 million baby boomers reached the age of 65 in 2010. Within Orange County, approximately 360,000 individuals were 65 years or older in 2010, and it is predicted that Orange County’s senior population will increase by 94% by 2030. Seniors tend to have less control over their lives due to physical and mental degeneration such as impaired vision, hearing loss, and reduced judgment, which can result in negative emotions such as anxiety, lowered self-esteem, sadness, and loneliness. Chronic depression is a recurring and persistent illness that disproportionately targets seniors, especially seniors not living with family members.

In my experience with senior patients at Joshua Medical Group, a medical clinic located in Buena Park and Cerritos, I am constantly faced with seniors who suffer from many chronic diseases. However, a discomfort acknowledged on a daily basis by the senior patients is their mental and social health. In a research study in 2009, psychologists observed a significant relationship between depression and sociability. “Sociability plays an important role in protecting people from the experience of psychological distress and in enhancing well-being. Social isolation is a major risk factor for functional difficulties in older persons. Loss of important relationships can lead to feelings of emptiness and depression.”⁵ From my interactions with my senior patients and the research I have conducted, my solution to this growing epidemic is The Pay It Forward Program.

The Pay It Forward Program aims to enhance the lives of the elderly and bring generations together through three major goals:

1. Companionship: A schedule of activities will allow seniors to interact and connect with the younger generation (reduce feelings of despondence and lowered self-esteem).
2. Preventative Health: Health talks by trained medical professionals will provide seniors with a clear understanding of their health and actions that they can actively partake in, which will allow them to comprehend their medical conditions (reduce anxiety and misunderstanding).
3. Active Learning: We will introduce seniors to activities that will improve their health, such as participating in non-strenuous exercises and learning how to browse the world wide web to keep in contact with family members and student participants (improve mental health and sustainability).

Thus far, I have appointed coordinators for the three senior homes that will partake in the project sponsored by the Donald A. Strauss Foundation Public Service Scholarship. I have been able to set senior activities with each senior home for the next three months. Over the summer, I was able to schedule health talks at each senior home with providers at Joshua Medical Group to meet the seniors and educate them on various topics such as depression, diabetes, antioxidants, etc. The senior facilities are requesting more health talks than I initially planned to provide to them. However, I have been very fortunate to have the support of Joshua Medical, a family practice located in Buena Park and Cerritos. My interns have all been very accommodating and enthusiastic about this project. The physicians at this clinic have also volunteered a lot of their time to shape and allow the intentions of this program to be met.

During the health talks, the seniors are a very inquisitive bunch, which makes the whole educational purpose even more worthwhile for my interns, physicians, and myself. The last 15 minutes of each health talk seminar is left to answer all the questions the seniors have relating to the topic (e.g. Stroke Prevention, Diabetes, etc.) or simply questions relevant to the senior’s personal health.

All of the activities have been very enjoyable for the seniors since it is the holiday season with many festive arts and crafts to do. It has been a delightful journey for my interns and myself to get to know all of these seniors during the past three months. We were recently able to purchase the laptops and computers to begin the technological aspect of this program. Last Friday was my first test run at one of the senior homes. I must admit I was a bit too ambitious with the agenda I had planned for my first computer’s activity. I did not know that my “first computer class” with the seniors literally meant FIRST computer class for the seniors.

After surveying the seniors to briefly understand their computer knowledge of laptops and Internet, I realize my agenda for that class should have been an introduction lecture. Usually, my events with the seniors last about an hour to 90 minutes, but for this computer activity, I ended up staying with the seniors for almost four hours. It was quite the challenge guiding each senior to use the mouse to navigate on the computer screen and answering all the curious questions that seniors had. Nonetheless, this was easily the favorite activity with the seniors. Their curiosity and lack of knowledge of how to use computers and its purposes further emphasize the need for this program.

During the last 30 minutes of this computer class, I introduced the seniors to Spotify, an online music application that is filled with all the songs that you can imagine. Each of the seniors took turns to call out an artist or song for me to look for them. This was the first time my interns and I have ever heard of musicians such as Chuck Berry or Bobby Day. Once the song went on, there were always one or two people shouting out, “I know this song!” or “Oh, I haven’t heard this song in ages!” Some would close their eyes, smile, and hum to the tune. It was such a precious moment for everyone. I look forward to making more memories like these with the seniors at these homes and growing this program to its highest potential.