UTRGV will partner with other entities to host its second annual event to raise awareness about aging healthy from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday at the Brownsville Event Center.
The Aging Healthy RGV Summit will include workshops, vendors and a variety of presentations, such as Alzheimer’s, fraud, mental health and recreation therapy.
Dr. Nelly Garcia Blow, an osteopath specializing in geriatric medicine, will be the keynote speaker.
“It’s important to all of us because all of us have parents that are aging and [are or will be] faced with challenges of health,” said Jack White, a UTRGV lecturer and organizer of the event. “That will, at some point, involve students and their children. So, the Thursday event is a fair for companies that provide services to the elderly and there, people will be able to identify resources that may be important to their families and to their personal health.”
On Friday, there will be a series of presentations from people who are involved in the health and welfare of the aging population. One of the presentations will be from the Leslie Bingham, CEO of Valley Baptist Medical Center-Brownsville, and oncologists from Corpus Christi, according to White.
“There will be workshops that allow further inquiry into each of those presentations, so, Friday will be an all-day event,” he said. “Our aim is to help Brownsville and Cameron County focus on how to help [improve] the environment, especially for seniors.”
White said he encourages students to attend the event so they can get a better understanding of the aging population and how they will be able to help them.
“There are fewer and fewer children being born and, so, pressure of caregiving is going to fall on the smaller and smaller population of family members, so, I’ll be recommending approaches to be responsive to that,” he said. “We can see in the future that all this is going to be a continuing increasing health issue.”
Virginia Pina, a social work senior who is helping with the event, said the summit is a good opportunity for students so they can become more aware of aging issues.
“It’s a good opportunity for them to go and learn more about some services the community provides for the elderly and, so, it’s not just for that population but it’s for everyone to learn,” she said.
Sponsors for the free event include the City of Brownsville, Cameron County Health Department, Healthy Communities of Brownsville and Palms Behavioral Health.
