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seniors care about seniors

Story and photos by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

Pleased, excited and anxious to begin. Those were some of the comments made, not by Gibault Catholic High School seniors in Waterloo, but by Wilma Saunders Schmitz, chief operating officer of the Illinois Area Agency on Aging of Southwestern Illinois.

What do high school seniors have in common with senior citizens? At Gibault, for the last almost six months, quite a bit, according to a presentation six seniors made May 19 at a regularly scheduled meeting of the Waterloo City Council.

Six seniors in Jim Corti’s history class decided to take on a project being sponsored across the state of Illinois by the Illinois Agency on Aging.

Waterloo’s mayor, Tom Smith, brought the idea to Gibault to see if students would conduct research into “the challenges of the growing elderly population,” the seniors said in a final paper they wrote.

Their research resulted in the paper and policy recommendations they presented to the entire city council, complete with handouts and a power point presentation.

On hand at the meeting were Corti, principal Russ Hart and Schmitz who nodded approvingly as these seniors described the needs of the community’s elder population.

What they have done, Schmitz said, “is incredible.” For one of the recommendations, Schmitz asked: “Why didn’t we think of that?”

That idea — communicate important information about a program or service on water bills — “is so easy,” she said.
They began in January, and agreed May 19, they knew the project would be “a lot of work,” but they were ready for it. However, they didn’t quite realize, they said, it would entail as many hours as it eventually did.

Time was scheduled for meetings and focus groups. The seniors met, divided the work, and “went right to their grandparents,” Corsi said, for some substantive conversations about their elders’ needs as part of Waterloo’s and Monroe County’s senior population.

It was the first time some of them talked to their grandparents about needs, services available and ways to improve situations in several areas.

The Gibault seniors also spoke with government officials and emergency response personnel in the area, Corsi said.
“They worked really hard,” Corsi said. “I loved the way they approached it.”

Part of Corsi’s excitement and enthusiasm came from the way, he said, they approached their elders.
“They were so sensitive to people’s needs,” he said, “and they did all of the work themselves.”

As the six seniors practiced before their presentation to the city council, they said the biggest problem they found was one of awareness.

The older population is “not aware of the services available,” Anna Mannino said.

With a lack of awareness identified as the overall problem, the young adults made several recommendations: one, to use the water bills as a way to communicate important messages, and two, to appoint an “elderly service officer” to track needs and services to the target population.

The seniors also learned their “seniors” wanted computer classes, and after some questions from Councilman Steve Notheisen, the Gibault seniors devised a plan to provide those classes.

Not only did everyone “win” at the council meeting, but sen-iors — young and elderly — will continue to win in the future.

For information about the project, contact Waterloo City Hall or the Illinois Area Agency on Aging at www.answersonaging.com.