Source: Gayle Doll, 785-532-5945, gdoll@k-state.edu
Pronouncer: Doll sounds like dole
News release prepared by: Jane Marshall, 785-532-1519, jpm2@k-state.edu
Monday, Oct. 10, 2011
Celebrating partnerships: Center on Aging, Meadowlark Hills showcase partnership at Oct. 28 open house
MANHATTAN -- An aging simulation, a keynote from the secretary of the Kansas Department on Aging and a peek at the future of retirement communities will be part of an open house Friday, Oct. 28, sponsored by Kansas State University's Center on Aging.
The open house will celebrate the partnership between the center and Meadowlark Hills Retirement Community in Meadowlark's community room, 2121 Meadowlark Road, Manhattan. The event is open to the public.
"The partnership has provided staff members and students with access to innovative experiential learning opportunities. Our students learn from older mentors living at Meadowlark and from the things that this long-term organization does well" said Gayle Doll, director of the center. "Meadowlark gains from student-completed service projects, student volunteers, a lecture series for residents and Center on Aging continuing education offerings."
The afternoon includes:
* 1:30 p.m., The center staff will help participants "Fast Forward" through an aging simulation, giving each the opportunity to experience some common physical health changes often attributed to aging.
* 1:55 p.m., Virginia Moxley, dean of the College of Human Ecology, will open the program.
* 2 p.m., Shawn Sullivan, who studied gerontology at K-State and is secretary of the Kansas Department on Aging, will provide the keynote address with "Transforming the State of Aging Services," a look at the future of aging services in Kansas.
* 2:30 p.m., In Partnerships with Industry: A Key to the Future, Doll and Willie Novotny, CEO of Meadowlark Hills, will discuss how the partnership has created opportunities for students, faculty, elders and their caregivers.
* 2:45 to 3:30 p.m., The afternoon closes with a tour of Meadowlark Hills and the classroom used for K-State classes. A display of posters students made to illustrate community service projects they have done as part of their gerontology education with Meadowlark and other groups will be available.
Special guests will be gerontology students, alumni of the K-State program, faculty and staff members at the retirement community.
For more information on the event, contact the Center on Aging at gerontology@k-state.edu or 785-532-5945.