2019 CIIP Program Book CIIP Booklet 2019 | Page 31

Community Partner: Keswick Multi-Care Center
Intern: Sophia Lou
Site Supervisor: Maria Darby
What is Keswick?
Keswick’s mission is to provide compassionate, quality care to the resi-
dents and individuals served, along with sensitivity and understanding to
family members. Our goal is to provide a complete continuum of long-
term care that encompasses the community/home, adult day care, and nursing care. Keswick
is committed to providing quality care through innovative and futuristic approaches to older
adults of all races and creeds.
• Created regular social media con-
tent and marketing materials to
inform members and the Baltimore
community about issues relevant
to older adults and the center’s
activities
• Assisted with facilitating programs
for older adults including evi-
dence-based brain health classes,
falls risk screenings, technology
support, and the Keswick Garden
Club
• Used two different client resource
management applications to input
and manage data for members and
non-members, register members
for classes and programs at the
center, and send weekly update
emails to members
• Created comprehensive feedback
and evaluation tool for the Wise &
Well Center to see which benefits
of membership were being utilized
and how membership has impact-
ed their health journeys
30
I came to Keswick’s Wise & Well Center at a time of transition for the organization; I had
assumed that I would be working within the infrastructure of a healthcare organization. Howev-
er, I discovered that at the Wise & Well Center, I along with the rest of the staff had to adapt to
constant change and wear many different hats and roles, such as taking over daily posts on so-
cial media when my first supervisor moved to New York. The wide range of courses available at
the center-including brain health, cooking, and fitness classes- reflects the diversity of experienc-
es I have had this summer. I was a sous chef for Cooking with the Doc, provided tech support,
and learned how to take care of a vegetable garden.
One of the greatest privileges of my time at Keswick has been getting to know the staff and
members who make up the center. I am so grateful to our members for welcoming me into
their community; my first week I was nervous meeting members who had been there much
longer than I had, but over time I grew comfortable with the members who seemed to be at the
Center almost every day, making conversation with them as they hung out in the lobby waiting
area and before and after classes. It has also been so inspiring getting to work with the staff at
the Center; I have never before met such an amazing team that has so much vision, passion, and
talent for helping older adults to feel empowered to pursue their health and well-being goals.
I have also been exposed to how disparities over the lifetime can manifest in a wide range of
health conditions and abilities in older age. Those who had access to greater educational op-
portunities, less labor-intensive occupations, and higher incomes aged slower than peers who
had fewer educational opportunities, more physically-demanding occupations, lower incomes,
and family history of chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. However, one of my
biggest takeaways from this summer is that what we can aim to do now is empower people with
health information and peer support to now strive to live their ideal lives, in spite of how their
past may have shaped their present.