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Hello and welcome to Focus on OLLI. What is OLLI? OLLI is a program at UNLV dedicated to active retired or semi-retired individuals who understand the importance of keeping themselves engaged. OLLI is the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNLV. Every month this program will dig into favorite classes, interesting teachers and members as well as special events offered through OLLI.
Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a KU NV studios original program. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.
Keith McMillen 0:16
Hello and welcome to focus on Olli. Olli is a program at UNLV, dedicated to retired or semi retired individuals who remain engaged and active in civic activities and lifelong learning. Olli is the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNLV. Olli is made possible by support from the Bernard Osher Foundation, established by philanthropists Bernard and Barbara Osher with a mission to support lifelong learning, higher education and the arts. This series is designed to give you an in depth look at the Olli program and encourage you to join in the fun. And thank you. I'm Keith Macmillan, and today we're doing something a little different. We're reaching out beside our internal programs at Olli that you've heard a lot about over the last several months, we also have arrangements with other parts of the university and even other schools. So today, we're going to talk about health, and we're going to talk to Brenda Delgado, who is in the nursing department at UNLV, and nita akovin, who is in Nutrition Sciences at UNLV, they both interact, or their students interact with our Olli students, and we want to find out more about that. So Brenda, we'll start with you, because we've seen your nursing students out here attending some of our classes. What are they looking for?
Brenda Delgado 1:46
They're looking for you. Keith, so very excited to be here. Ollie has been a part of the clinical rotation for the School of Nursing at UNLV for quite some time, at least for the last five years. And so when we have our students come into Olli, what we're hoping that they take away is what that older adult that is healthy, active living in the community looks like. I think that we do a disservice to our nursing students when we only expose them to the acute care adult, to the older adult that's in the hospital, that's ill. And so I always try to remind them that when we are quote, unquote, saving a life, it's the outside life that we're saving, right and it's the individuals that go to Olli and still socialize and have friends that we're looking forward to helping.
Keith McMillen 2:34
Thank you. I think we appreciate that. I know I enjoy seeing younger folks around once in a while. Now, one of the goals is to keep them healthy and active and Ida, I think that's part of your job. Yeah.
Netta Akhavan 2:49
So I don't have any students involved yet, but actually, my involvement initially with Olli started when I was a graduate student at Florida State University. They had an Olli program there, and I had the opportunity to present some of our research, which really focused on functional foods, which includes Whole Foods Supplements and nutraceuticals, and how they can prevent and manage chronic diseases associated with aging, specifically things such as musculoskeletal disorders and Cardiometabolic disorders. So couple years later, or two years I've been here, excuse me, at UNLV, and I saw that there was an Olli program. So last year I did a presentation, a little bit about the research that we have going on, some of the ongoing studies, or the one that we have going on, looking at the Mediterranean diet with and without baked potatoes and its effect on cardio metabolic health and individuals with pre diabetes. So we're still recruiting for that study. And it was really exciting to give that presentation that I did. I believe it was last semester, and yeah, I wonderful people there, wonderful people here. I learned just as much from them as I hope that they may learn a little bit from from us.
Keith McMillen 4:02
You are really looking at the Olli student group as potential recipients of your knowledge. Have you actually taught a full blown course on this yet? I have
Netta Akhavan 4:13
yet to teach an Olli course back at Florida State, some of my colleagues, some of my lab mates, they taught a couple of courses on nutrition, or specifically functional foods. But that's that hasn't happened yet.
Keith McMillen 4:28
Okay, we have had, among other things, on our volunteer faculty. We have a an award winning chef, Ken Moser, who has taught a class on making healthy, nutritional meals inexpensively, maybe we ought to get the two of you together and come up with a new menu. Yeah. But yeah, he likes the Mediterranean diet stuff too, also. So what are your students looking for? Brenda when they come in? Or what are you hoping they find? I.
Brenda Delgado 5:00
Think that what I hope they find is that they change or change the preconceived notions of what they think aging is right. So a lot of the times when they come into my geriatrics, course, they think that you're going to be ill, you're going to have arthritis, you can't move around. And so when I when they get to ollie, they see individuals like yourself, Keith, that are traveling the world, that still have, you know, friends, and so what we're trying to do is shift their mindset that getting older doesn't mean that life is over, right? And one of the biggest things I tell them, I'm like, I hope that when you see an older adult, you don't see frailty, you see resilience, because these individuals have lived through so much, and yet they are still here, and they are still thriving, especially in environments like
Keith McMillen 5:49
Holly. Excellent. So how has the reception been for your work with nutrition? Have we had decent attendance at your presentations? I hope?
Netta Akhavan 5:56
Oh, it's been. It's been wonderful. I think it was a gut and brain health presentation that was in the spring, I believe I remember that semester, but kind of a little longer than last semester. And the Olli students, their curiosity, their life experience and enthusiasm, has been very wonderful for me to actually learn from them. They always ask wonderful questions, and their openness to really create a dynamic and rewarding environment. It's really been such a privilege to have them in our studies and just to kind of engage in even conversations at the Olli event. So it's been wonderful. Everyone's always, I think, interested in, I guess, nutrition to some degree. So I get a lot of questions, and I try my best to help answer them and have them involved in our studies, if they're interested.
Keith McMillen 6:47
Good. Thank you. Has there been any surprises in our group? Have any of the students come up to you and asked you something that blew your mind? I think the
Brenda Delgado 6:59
biggest surprise for them was how competitive you can get with the games. I believe that there's a class where they play different games, and they were like, they are a lively bunch, and they definitely sometimes are like, maybe we shouldn't participate because they know what they're doing, and we don't, and we don't want to get caught up in what's going on. But no, all the feedback that I've received from Molly has been overwhelmingly positive, and a lot of the times they've been I tell them, this is a resource that you can use and give to older adults as you get exposed to them, whether that be in the hospital setting, in the outpatient setting, be like, Hey, you want to socialize. You want to learn more. Here is a setting. Here's Ollie. They have satellite locations. They have you can come, you know, to class in person. So I think the biggest takeaway for them would be how lively you all are. Still, despite being, quote, unquote,
Keith McMillen 7:52
have you ever visited one of our more physical classes? I'm thinking of the why. It escapes me now. My brain isn't working. Paddle not paddle ball. Pickle ball, pickle ball. That's the one. Thank you very much.
Netta Akhavan 8:09
No, I have not had the like, the opportunity to see that, yeah,
Keith McMillen 8:14
well, if you want to see a bunch of active seniors, there you go. Yeah, I don't participate anymore. I can't move that fast. So what about you, Nina?
Netta Akhavan 8:24
I think just one thing that I was really surprised, I mean, very happily surprised, is that a lot of the participants that we've had from Ollie, some of them really look into clinical research studies and talk about it. And I just think the interest that the individuals have within this group and the enthusiasm to continue to learn is wonderful. And I always like to say about myself, the day I stop learning is the day that I die. And you really see that within this community and just, I mean, the life experiences that we hear from the Olli participants and the students is just, I mean, I could just sit with them all day. I'm so, you know, interested in their their lives and what they've done, and their contributions and their, you know, a lot of them do volunteer work. It's, it's wonderful.
Brenda Delgado 9:14
I share the same sentiment as well, and we were talking about this, I am in awe of these individuals. And the same way, the day I stop learning is the day I die, right? And there's not a single encounter that I have where I'm not like, oh, I took this away from that. That was great. So, yeah,
Keith McMillen 9:32
yeah, I understand that. And I think you'll find that is an underlying theme for Ollie everywhere. When I wake up in the morning, my goal is to learn something new. It may not be a lot, but something and this is always helping. So what do you have coming up? Are there anything new? New plans? Are you doing anything this semester with
Netta Akhavan 9:55
Ollie? Not, not yet, but the semester isn't over, right?
Keith McMillen 9:59
But. True. That's true. We're only not quite halfway through. It got you so and I think nursing students show up next week.
Brenda Delgado 10:08
Yes, we start next week. And one of the things that we have implemented this semester is that they have to identify an older adult at Olli. They have a set of questions that they have to ask them, and then in their post conference, and they're debrief with their clinical instructor. They have to present their older adult and answer the questions, and what their biggest takeaway was from that. So I'm really hoping that we encourage more engagement between the participants and the nursing students.
Keith McMillen 10:33
That should be very interesting, because I know at times I have seen them walk into some of the classes that I've been teaching, and they're very polite, and, you know, try not to interfere. But I would more engagement. Would be good. I like that idea.
Netta Akhavan 10:46
Yeah. So we're hoping to see that this semester. Good,
Keith McMillen 10:49
good. So nutrition, are there any quick takeaways that we can give to seniors about what you should and should not put in your diet? I
Netta Akhavan 11:00
mean, I feel like I'm hitting the nail on a coffin, but it's just all kind of very similar, I would say, for other populations. But really make sure we get fiber, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, variety. Having a colorful plate is what we talk about a lot. But hydration is also very important as well, to kind of help with, I mean, all throughout lifespan, but also particularly within the older adults. And just one, one study that I you previously worked on at my institution at Florida State. My major advisor, he was, kind of the Pioneer that saw prunes, also known as dried plums, in post menopausal women, helps reverse bone loss after one year, really, yeah. And he saw that. He saw that in a randomized, controlled trial for for Yeah, for 12 months, which was pretty significant. So I mean, I'm not going to say eat only one food or another food, but once again, I say eat a variety. And you know intuitively, but you know, when you have that colorful plate, it really
Keith McMillen 12:03
helps, excellent. What more can we say? Eat healthy and talk to our chef, Ken Mosher, about how to prepare things. Yes, and he does his cooking without a kitchen. He does it with an air fryer, a hot plate and a slop sink, because we don't have a kitchen at the Olli program, so yeah, he brings all of his utensils with him. It's quite a circus, but it's a lot of fun. So what takeaways should Ollie people think about with when you're involved with nurses? Do the nurses want to engage more with us.
Brenda Delgado 12:42
Absolutely want to engage more. And again, it goes back to the old saying, if you don't move it, you lose it. And I think that goes physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. And as nurses, we're very holistic in our approach. So yes, nurses do want to continue to engage with older adults. And again, I'm just so grateful for the opportunity of having nursing students at Olli so that we're able to expose them to active, healthy older
Keith McMillen 13:08
adults. Well, good. I hope we continue to impress because the one disadvantage we have is that our class organization, whatever. As people age, they age out of our program, sometimes just with physical infirmities, sometimes with the ultimate you know, but so we have to keep looking for new people. We're going to take a quick break because we're going to change things around a little bit. I've got two more students coming in that are going to talk about their projects that are related. So stand by now. I am joined by Christopher chin and Richard Green. These are both students at Toro University in Nevada. They are occupational therapy, both doctoral students, correct, and they're going to be involved in Ollie in the spring semester, and we're going to find out how So Chris, let's start with you what your field is.
Christopher Chin 14:07
So perfect you. So my field is going to be lifestyle medicine. And I we, I talked about it earlier before this before I'm into group fitness, so I really enjoy exercising with others. I'm a coach on my spare time. I'm a coach at body fit training, and I look forward to exercising with with the members, and also introducing them to lifestyle medicine. So lifestyle medicine incorporates six different pillars, and that includes the nutrition that was previously talked about here, physical activity, it talks about. Also sleep is the third pillar, and that's something that a lot of members struggle with, and including, including myself and my mom, also she's she's. Of the age talks about connectedness, substance abuse and also stress, that's the very one, so mindfulness. So we're going to be incorporating these six pillars into a program at Olli, and it will have educational component as well as physical component and a workbook associated with with these habits,
Keith McMillen 15:25
I may have to look into that myself. I just spent 10 days traveling and walking a lot, and I realized that I didn't train well enough for this. Okay, so, yeah, I may need to do a little more. So, Richard, what's happening in on your side? Yes,
Richard Green 15:43
sir. So I'm going to be working on digital literacy for adults and older adults with an occupational therapy approach. So my project is all about digital literacy. That's going to be aiming to boost the cop confidence with everyday tech, things like smartphones, accessing patient portals, securing passwords, avoiding scams and phishing awareness online, and then tools for also like social connection with family members and friends. I think that's really important, especially from an occupational therapy standpoint, giving adults and older adults this independence to where they don't feel restricted in any way, I think, is really important and opens up a lot of opportunities and doors for them. From an OT perspective, technology is a means to meaningful occupations that can be managing their health, communicating with family, handling finances, accessing community services. But right now I'm still just in the pre planning phase. We're doing a needs assessment to see what's most important to the members at Olli. I'm finalizing a step by step workshop series, so I'm going to do five separate workshops at Olli, each of them having a different topic and focus area. So if someone feels more comfortable in a certain area, they might not attend one class, but they can attend another one that maybe they want to learn more about avoiding scams or preventing their data and and securing their privacy online, they could attend that class if they feel maybe more comfortable with basic accessibility stuff with phones, they could skip that one, just kind of giving them some choice there and then. I'm also working towards some carryover stuff like reducing tech related stress, seeing what other areas they might be interested in with surveys. So we can do some open ended stuff and see if we can add some more things to the workshops. The end goal, though, is to really just make a sustainable, easy to run program that narrows down the digital divide and supports independence for the adults and older adults at Olli, I
Keith McMillen 18:08
think that can be very useful. I know we have a few members that are very, very computer phobic. They have usually it's their spouse that answers emails right. On the other hand, I am teaching a course right now that is based on TED talks, and we do you know different topic every week, and the biggest question that comes up is, AI, Oh,
Richard Green 18:33
most definitely. And that's something that I actually did include in my survey, and I noticed that it was an interest among a lot of the members, so I'll definitely be covering some of the basics of AI, why, while I'm not licensed in any way to tell you the exact ins and outs of it, I am pretty familiar with it, and I think, you know, it would be a dishonor to others as a occupational therapist if I wasn't holistic and tried to cover all areas that I can. And I think that's something I'm definitely able to so I'll try to teach the, you know, basic fundamentals of what kind of questions you can ask to AI, some of the things in resources you can use it for, maybe some things to avoid, ways to fact check it and just ensure you're being diligent things like that.
Keith McMillen 19:23
Yeah, the biggest question that I have heard is, how do I know if it is AI? And obviously, what we're seeing now in the news makes it very difficult, especially if we don't have technical background
Richard Green 19:36
for sure, for sure, I guess it can vary a little bit depending on if it's text or if it is video. So video makes it a lot more tricky. Just comparing it against as many resources as you can, as far as text goes, that can also be tricky, but a little bit easier to identify. There is programs nowadays that can you can. Insert the text into and it can tell you the likelihood of it being AI and in some ways, I believe, developing your own text and having it work almost like some other programs that currently exist, like Grammarly and other things that help you ensure that you're using proper grammar, correct spelling. In terms of that, I think it can be really useful to use, but you have to know when and when not to
Keith McMillen 20:27
right. Okay. Now, one of the questions that has come up, and we haven't really talked about it, is, lot of our members don't know what a capstone project is. Would this be the equivalent of a thesis for you.
Christopher Chin 20:43
So because it's our program is a clinical doctorate, we're not a research based doctorate. So this is, this would be something that helps us as a clinician, improve, improve our own, our own program development, so that we can go out and we're more competent when we graduate, when we graduate, and also pass our board exams.
Keith McMillen 21:06
Okay, so in the case of a research thing, a thesis would be appropriate, but because you are clinicians correct, the capstone is the way out,
Richard Green 21:14
right? They want us to develop something that is transferable, and that kind of leaves an impact while we're in school, that we can have to build our resume to leave an impact, a positive impact in the community, and really just kind of advocate for our occupational therapy profession as a whole. That's really the whole point of the capstone project
Christopher Chin 21:38
there, right? And it allows us to specialize, which I think is the most important part, whereas research, you're kind of diving into, diving into a niche project. And for us, our population will be older adults, and that allows us to really help, help out that community.
Keith McMillen 21:54
So the ollie student body is your perfect target, obviously, for sure, absolutely. Okay, great, fantastic. We're going to look forward to it and see what you folks come up with. Perfect just a quick aside, you say occupational therapy, but this isn't really about jobs. How does occupational fit in here? Or what does that include?
Richard Green 22:18
For sure? Well, occupation, funny enough as occupational therapy might sound like, we only help you get jobs. We actually can help people advocate and work in indirect ways to getting their job and getting them back to being independent. But an occupational an occupation for us looks like many things that can look like sleep, that can look like the task you do when you wake up in the morning to get ready, transferring between different surfaces, personal hygiene, showering, bathing, using the bathroom. The list goes on. It can, can be a lot of different things. Whenever we use the word occupation, they're not just a job, not just a job. You like that.
Christopher Chin 23:02
So we're looking at things that people need to do, want to do, and are expected to do, and the most important parts for occupational therapy, as opposed to physical therapy, we look at activities of daily living. So brushing your teeth, combing your hair, clothing, we look at improving those aspects, that's what specializes us, and we are more holistic in that manner, because we look at different different types of ways of doing things.
Keith McMillen 23:29
Excellent. I probably need to talk to you folks. I probably need to talk to everybody that's been on this program. But we thank you for that. Anything more you want to add for Holly, how you want to encourage students to sign up for your programs in the spring.
Christopher Chin 23:46
I definitely enjoy the membership based component of this, and I like that the members are also involved in also teaching other members. So I think it's, it's a opportunity, and for for the cost, for the cost as well, the cost of per semester, annually, this, it's better than it's like a gym membership. It's, it's, it's your counseling, it's your It's basically your third home. So it's, it's a way to just really engage. So I appreciate what Ali and the Bernard Osher Foundation are doing, and I'm looking forward to helping out with that. Fantastic.
Keith McMillen 24:23
We're looking forward to having you on campus. Sure, the past projects, I'm told, have been pretty successful and very interesting, sir. So all in all, thank you very much, and we look forward to it. Thanks for listening to focus on Ollie, there are several ways to get more information. Our web address is Ali o l l i dot, u n L v.edu, you may also email us at Ali at U N L V, that's Ollie o l l i, a T u n L V, at sign U N L V, dot. Edu, you can also just give us a call at 702-895-3394, Monday through Friday, between the hours of eight and five, except, of course, on university holidays, you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai