Bonnie Carroll's Life Bites

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HEALTH MINDED . . .

10th Heroes of Hospice of Santa Barbara Honors Local Heroes Live

By Bonnie Carroll

David Selberg, CEO, Hospice of Santa Barbara Welcomes Guests

After two years of virtual events, Hospice of Santa Barbara’s (HSB) Heroes of Hospice (HOH) came back big with their in person awards luncheon, and silent auction honoring local heroes at Hilton Santa Barbara Beachfront Resort's Plaza del Sol.

Treasure Trove of Gifts in the Silent Auction

HSB’s Heroes of Hospice Luncheon honored the people and organizations that bring compassion and care, at all levels, to those in need in and near the Santa Barbara community. Throughout these past two years, the demand for HSB’s services has been growing. Fundraisers like HOH allow the organization to continue to reach our community members struggling with grief or life-threatening illness, free of charge.

Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse

This year, Heroes of Hospice What Matters Most honored Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics with the MEDICAL HERO AWARD, Santa Barbara High School with the PARTNERSHIP HERO AWARD and Hospice of Santa Barbara Bereavement Staff with the STAFF HERO AWARD.

“It is very exciting for us to be back in person this year for this event as the past two years were “virtual”, said David Selberg, CEO of Hospice of Santa Barbara. “Heroes of Hospice is important for us to come together because it lets us give those who help our community the recognition they deserve.”

Hospice of Santa Barbara

Hospice of Santa Barbara provides professional counseling, support groups, and patient care services free of charge to individuals and families who are grieving the death of a loved one or experiencing the impact of a life-threatening illness. Hospice of Santa Barbara also provides counseling in our offices and on fifteen local junior and high school campuses to children and teens who are grieving the loss of a loved one. For more information about Hospice of Santa Barbara, including volunteer opportunities, call (805) 563-8820 or visit www.hospiceofsantabarbara.org.

2022 HEROES

Dr. Charles Fenzi, CEO of SB Neighborhood Clinics

Yessenia Marroquin, Dir of Clinic Operations, SB Neighborhood Clinics

Dr. Elise Simmons, Principal, Santa Barbara High School

Michael Cruse, Bereavement Service Manager, Hospice of SB

Special Guest Speakers included William Peters, Mari Hernandez, and Rolf Geyling.

William Peters is recognized by many as a leading authority on the shared death experience (SDE). William conducts workshops and presents internationally. His innovative work has been featured on CNN, among other media outlets around the world, and he is the author of At Heaven’s Door, published by Simon & Schuster.

Rolf Geyling has dedicated his life to serving organizations that lift people out of poverty and addiction and currently heads Santa Barbara Rescue Mission. He is regularly engaged as a pulpit preacher, conference speaker, workshop facilitator and organizational consultant. He was awarded the Westmont Medal in 2015 for Santa Barbara leadership.

Mari Hernandez is a licensed Clinical Social Worker and has a private counseling practice. Her life’s mission is to build a social enterprise that supports and inspires Conscious Living and Conscious Parenting. After the death of her son, Mari created Vida Center, a nonprofit organization formed to help youth, families and communities build and develop the skills and resources needed to live, succeed and thrive.

“We are very excited to be back in person this year and to focus on What Matters Most to us,” said David Selberg, CEO of Hospice of Santa Barbara. “This will be a very special event honoring amazing heroes in our community with great special guest speakers.”

It was an amazing and loving coming together of so many who were unable to gather until now. So many medical professionals, organization leaders joined together with sponsors, staff, volunteers and supporters and invited guests to celebrate the fine work being done, and special programing presented to assist and inspire those in need during such a difficult time of separation. The auction was filled with beautiful items, the speaker lunch in the Rotunda was beautiful and delicious.

Beth Farnsworth Ward & C.J. Ward KEYT TV 3

Beth Farnsworth Ward and C.J. Ward, KEYT 3 TV News Anchors, once again did a delightful job as Emcees, and the award recipients, as well as special guest speakers took everyone into their hearts with gratitude and inspiring stories on life changing experiences. The What Matters Most speakers gave everyone, including me a moment to pause and ponder what does matters most. Kudos to the wonderful HSB board, volunteers and supporters who made this yet another memorable Hospice of Santa Barbara gathering.

Hospice of Santa Barbara

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Learn More About Ageism

Ageism refers to the stereotypes (how we think), prejudices (how we feel) and discrimination (how we act) towards others or oneself based on age (World Health Organization).

There are many forms of ageism, including:

Internalized: how we feel about ourselves as aging people; and ageism in which older adults marginalize and discriminate against other older people (Tracey Gendron, gerontologist).
Implicit: The unconscious bias that includes attitudes, feelings and behaviors toward people of other age groups that operates without conscious awareness or intention (Becca Levy, PhD).
Cultural: The everyday, invisible, profoundly ingrained and normalized negative messages about aging and old people embedded in movies, TV, songs, jokes, etc. (Tracey Gendron).
Benevolent: Patronizing, paternalistic beliefs that older people need to be protected and taken care of by younger people, because they are no longer able to make decisions for themselves.

Here are some more facts about ageism:

Ageism intersects and exacerbates all the other “isms,” including racism, sexism and ableism. Multiple intersecting forms of bias compound, disadvantage and worsen the effects of ageism on individuals’ health and well-being (WHO Ageism Report).
Ageism and age stereotypes are often internalized at a young age — long before they are relevant. Even by age 3, children are familiar with age stereotypes, which are reinforced over their lifetimes (Flamion et al., 2020).
Ageism affects our health. Older individuals with more positive self-perceptions of aging live 7.5 years longer than those with less positive self-perceptions of aging (Levy, 2002).
Ageism harms our financial well-being. Older workers face longer periods of unemployment, discrimination during the hiring process, and fewer professional development opportunities (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2018).
Ageism harms our economy. The AARP estimated $850 billion in lost gains to the Gross Domestic Product as a result of involuntary retirement, underemployment and unemployment among older workers (AARP, 2020). Levy and colleagues (2020) estimated that $63 billion in healthcare costs, or $1 out of every $7 spent on the 8 most expensive health conditions among people ages 60 and older, are due to ageism (Levy et al., 2020).
Ageism in American medicine and society is a matter of life and death, as dangerous as any incorrectly prescribed medicine or slipped scalpel. These negative stereotypes often result in less effective care, such as denial of treatment options, under-diagnosis of depression, and mismanaged pain (AARP Bulletin, 2010).
Ageism in media remains pervasive. A study found that only 1.5% of characters on television in the United States were older people, and most of them had minor roles and were often portrayed for comic effect, drawing on stereotypes of physical, cognitive and sexual ineffectiveness (WHO Global Report on Ageism, p. 27).

Together, we can spread awareness about ageism and its ill effects on our society and the lives of older adults. Help us spread the word and stand up to ageism we see in our own lives and in our society.