Brigham Young University – Idaho course focuses on senior citizen advocacy

As the population as a whole grows older, the need for senior citizen services will increase. A new advocacy class at Brigham Young University – Idaho is focusing on that concern.

One of the big problems is lack of awareness of what resources are available for seniors.

Places like the Idaho Falls Senior Citizens Center offers services many may not know about.

“Services — we have a lot of them,” Jerry Colvin said. She’s the receptionist at the center. “We have our fit and fall-proof class that helps people with their balance. We have a lot of card games, the pool tables downstairs, and we have a fabulous library.”

Something else seniors may not know about is s free door to door bus service for those who qualify.

“They pick me up at my home on Wednesday mornings and bring me over, and then I ride the bus home also and they take me right to my house,” Evelyn Robinson said.

A new class on advocacy at BYU – Idaho saw the need for awareness, so they organized a county conversation on aging involving more than 20 groups.

“The idea is to bring together people out of different service sectors who are devoted to the aging population — who see their needs differently than someone outside their service sector might see it,” course instructor Andra Hansen said.

The goal is to increase understanding of what each group is doing and identify gaps in service. Everyone from doctors to social workers to lawyers will be there.

“And it’s not strictly health care questions that we’re asking either,” Hansen said. “A lot of people are interested in crimes like identity theft, or fraud or phone scams.”

It’s been an eye-opening experience for students in the class.

“It’s created an awareness in me that we need to do more,” Heather Crossley said. “More needs to be done to reach out and be friendly and involve the aging in the area to make them feel that they’re wanted and needed and welcome, because they are.”

The first county conversation will be tomorrow evening at 7 pm at the Rigby Public Library. It will focus mainly on Jefferson County. The class plans to do the same type of thing in other counties in the area.