Bakersfield College held their first Gadfly Cafe of the semester at the Levan Center on Sept. 11. BC Professor Reggie Williams holds three Gadfly Café events in a semester, which will occur on the first Wednesday of the month.
These are educational discussions that can influence and encourage all students to share their opinions with one another. Williams does encourage all students to share as it is a discussion and not a lecture.
In this instance, they had a roundtable discussion about the non-golden, golden years: reduced ability, dementia, and elder care. Williams opens the discussion with lots of questions about the topic to break the ice and get the ball rolling.
While it might be a profoundly serious topic about loved ones being sick and what to do in that situation, he makes jokes to keep it comfortable for all in attendance.
Williams starts off by sharing a fact, in which “50% of US women older than 80 get Alzheimer’s” which helped students get an idea how common it is. This led to a discussion of many effects of early Alzheimer’s and dementia.
It can be hard to take care of someone who needs care around the clock. They can get violent, agitated, and lost. This shifts the discussion to what level of care these patients might need. While a “lock in” facility might be helpful, it can cost between four to nine thousand dollars a month.
While a facility might be the best option, it is not affordable to everyone, which means the responsibility to care for these patients is the next generation after them.
There was a lot of talk about stereotypes in some cultures and who is expected to take care of these patients. There is a divide between being selfish by not taking care of sick loved ones and being noble enough to step up and do so.
A big takeaway is that we need to be ready and have conversations with loved ones to know what they want done if they were ever in that situation.
The next Gadfly Cafe will be held on Oct. 2 at 12:30pm, and they will be discussing cosmetic surgery, complications, and corrective surgery. (Jacqueline Villatoro)