A new club at Bradley is striving to give students the chance to make connections and form relationships with the elderly community in Peoria.
Best Years allows students to communicate with elderly people from local nursing homes, such as Fondulac Rehabilitation and Health Care Center and Liberty Village.
Nursing faculty and Best Years advisors Laura Wallenfang and Renee Pierce said they think the club benefits both students and the elderly people they care for.
“I think the purpose of [Best Years] is [students] want to try and be able to connect with the older generation because a lot of times when they get put in nursing homes and things like that, they give up their independence to a point,” Pierce said. “And I hate to say it, but they just kind of get thrown away.”
Wallenfang also believes there was not enough consideration for the elderly at Bradley before the creation of Best Years.
“There are similar clubs [like Best Years] with, I think, younger children, and there’s [Mags for Wags],” Wallenfang said. “But there was nothing with the elderly, so [the students who started Best Years] saw a need for it.”
Sophomore community wellness major Megan McLain established Best Years after working as a certified nursing assistant in her hometown, which helped her connect with the local elderly community. After a friend urged her to create a club at Bradley to aide the elderly community, McLain followed through and created Best Years.
Being a member of Best Years includes caring for and interacting with the elderly as well as doing activities with them, according to McLain.
“We’re going to just go in and do activities like bingo, play cards with them and just hang out with the residents,” McLain said.
The club is open for all students, who can earn volunteer credits by participating in Best Years. McLain said she thinks everyone should give the organization a chance.
“If you gave somebody the option of working with a kid or an old person, nine times out of 10, they’re going to pick the kid,” McLain said. “I just think that it’s such an awesome opportunity to just realize … [The elderly] are people, too, even though cognitively they’re not always there. They still need [love].”
Both Wallenfang and Pierce said they believe the effect Best Years will have on campus will be incredibly beneficial over time.
“I think this club couldn’t go wrong,” Pierce said. “I think that it will, like we said, help not only the people in the nursing home, but also help the people in the club to help [raise] awareness that there are older folks out there that are alone.”
The first informational meeting for Best Years is at 8:30 p.m. Jan. 25 in Michel Student Center.
