IC News

On September 10, students in Jessica Valdez Taves’ gerontics course joined residents of the Longview Senior Living Community to take part in the Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s. This year, the students — many of whom have a personal connection to the cause — raised money, worked on community education, and walked alongside Longview residents. Together, they raised more than $18,000, which made them the top fundraising team for an event that brought in more than $56,000

Ithaca College has had a longstanding partnership with Longview. Since 2008, Valdez Taves, who is an assistant professor of Occupational Therapy, and the students in her courses, have been involved with the walk in various capacities.

In addition to the money raised, a critical part of the work is what Valdez Taves called an “edu-raise,” where students find creative and effective ways to educate the community on Alzheimer’s. This year, the group is creating social media posts on how occupational therapy supports aging adults who have cognitive limitations.

“I tend to create the projects based off of the students, and whatever the community needs are,” Valdez Taves said. “Right now, we really need to come together to support our caregivers because they've been through an awful lot these last several years with the pandemic.”

Valdez Taves said the walk is part of making sure her students have hands-on experiences in their field and giving back to the community is a key part of her curriculum.

“In the gerontics course, we learned about a variety of different ways to work with older adults from an occupational therapy standpoint,” Valdez Taves said. “So, we try to bring a little bit of community programming and real-life programming into our classes.”

Experiential learning and establishing community partnerships helps Ithaca College in its strategic plan goal of being a private college that serves the public good.

Kim Owen, marketing and sales director at Longview, said that IC student involvement is key in making the walk possible for Longview residents.

“Having the students around just really helps everyone keep their heads up and want to continue to bring attention to this topic,” Owen said. “It's huge for us, because obviously here at Longview, we have a lot of people who are touched by dementia and Alzheimer's disease.”

Graduate occupational therapy student Kaitlin Katz ’22 assisted at the walk and works with Longview residents through the IC-Longview partnership as part of her course work. Katz said she has benefited greatly from this experience as she has been able to practice her skills and form bonds with Longview residents.