Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a Kun V studios original program. The content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.

Keith McMillen 0:16
Hello and welcome to focus on Olli. Olli is a program at UNLV, dedicated to retired or semi retired individuals who remain engaged and active in civic activities and lifelong learning. Ali is the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNLV. Ali is made possible by support from the Bernard Osher Foundation, established by philanthropists Bernard and Barbara Osher with a mission to support lifelong learning, higher education and the arts. This series is designed to give you an in depth look at the Olli program and encourage you to join in the fun. Well,

Ed Ort 0:54
hello, I'm Ed Ord. I'm a student as well as an instructor at Olli, and I want to welcome you to today's Ali podcast. We have a very important topic today, and that is health and health related classes at Olli. You know, over the years, Olli has offered a wide variety of health related classes ranging anywhere from nutrition to balance and exercise to brain health and more. So today we're going to talk about some of those interesting classes. We'll get insights from Dr Carolyn yuha. She's a professor and dean emeritus at the UNLV School of Nursing. We'll also hear from Dan milarski. He's a long time Molly student, also an instructor. He's been involved in various health related classes and some health related research projects. And we'll also hear from Celine Pulido. She's a doctoral student at Touro University, and she is currently interning at Olli. Celine will be leading a special series of movement classes at Olli during the break between the Olli spring and fall terms. Let's start with Dr Carolyn yuha. Carolyn, could you tell us a little bit about the class you're currently teaching at Olli and why you're doing it. Sure.

Carolyn Yucha 2:06
I am a registered nurse with a PhD in physiology, and I used to teach anatomy and physiology and pathophysiology in my professional roles, so I love those topics, because I believe we need to all know more about how our body works, because we need to be able to take care of them. So I teach a class on different semesters. I teach about different systems of the body with a focus on aging effects on those systems. So this is what our students are primarily interested in. So this allows me to focus this content on their interests and their needs. Sounds

Ed Ort 2:54
like a very interesting class. What as an instructor? What do you get out of being an instructor at Olli? What's the benefit to you? Well,

Carolyn Yucha 3:01
the benefit to me, it's amazing to me. When I first retired, I could not find a volunteer job that used my skills, my knowledge, my expertise, and so I was getting a little depressed, because I do have remarkable experience here. So then, when I got associated with Ali and I began teaching these courses, it just made me feel much more alive. And you know, it allows me to use my knowledge for the benefit of others. I really believe that everybody, but especially seniors, need to understand how their bodies work so that they can have a coherent conversation with their healthcare providers, and so that's really my goal in teaching these classes. Yeah,

Ed Ort 3:57
yeah. Very interesting. So, Carolyn, you're teaching a class that's essentially anatomy and physiology so seniors understand how their bodies work. Just to give you an idea of the variety of health related classes that Olli has offered over the years, I have also led a number of Olli classes on the topic of dementia. I became interested in the topic because of a history of dementia in my family, did a lot of research for those classes, and also had some real experts speak at those classes, including neurologists, neuroscientists from the Cleveland Clinic, lerovo Center for Brain Health here in Las Vegas, as well as the Kirk kerchorian School of Medicine at UNLV. One thing that's really interesting about that is it points up the fact that you don't have to have a particular background and a subject to teach it at Olli, as long as you have an interest in teaching it, willing to do the research in doing it, you are certainly encouraged to. Be an instructor. And as Carolyn mentioned, you get a lot out of it, by the way, Dan, you have also been an instructor, as well as a student at Olli what's your experience been? Well,

Dan Mysliborski 5:12
to be honest, my experience has been great. I've teaching something I love, and that's the Twilight told from the 60s. But I also taught Mark Twain, I have also taught other classes that just helped me to relate to the students, and as I'm also a student, so I've also been able to take classes that one I might not have been interested in, but I found out it's something good. We have our classes. We have a lot of health classes. We bring speakers in five times a week. Every class brings somebody in different that gives us insight into what UNLV has and what Ali has. Yeah.

Ed Ort 5:50
I also understand, getting back to the topic of health, that you have been a student in a meditation class, and I believe you also have been involved in some research regarding meditation. Tell us about that. Yes,

Dan Mysliborski 6:03
the meditation class start out. It was introduced to us over one day. The speaker came in and talked about it, and she looked for volunteers that would be willing to take a study in which we tracked different things that we learned to meditate. And it's I found out. It's a very relaxing thing, and it helps me to to be ready for the day. Yeah, I've also taken another class which dealt with Alzheimer's and dementia through brain health doctor Sam, and she taught not only myself, but brought my family and brought my son in so he would know how to recognize if I was starting to get off the track right.

Ed Ort 6:47
So continuing on the health thread. Celine, first of all, welcome to ollie. I know you've you've joined us pretty recently. I understand you are going to be leading a movement class. Is that correct during the break after the spring term? Tell us about that. Sure.

Selene Pulido 7:05
Thanks. Ed. So as part of my capstone project, I will be partnering with Ollie, and my goal with this project is to create a space that promotes participation and physical activity in a group setting, to also promote social participation as well. So this is a perfect location for me to do that. And so throughout my capstone, I'll be presenting a series of health related topics, followed by group exercises. And the topics will include fall prevention, joint health, flexibility, nutrition and benefits of exercise. And then following that will take some time in between and then continue with some related exercises

Ed Ort 7:45
that really sounds like an interesting class. Now, is this only open to all these students, or is it open to a water audience? This

Selene Pulido 7:53
is open to anyone in the community who is interested. All ability levels are welcome. I will be able to help grade down or grade up the activities as we're doing them. However, I do recommend, if there's any concerns before participating, you know, have somebody talk to their health care provider, make sure that that's something that they can participate in. But otherwise, everyone is welcome. Sessions are going to be offered starting April 22 through May 28 from 1030 to 12pm you can get more information. Ollie at unlv@unlv.edu. That's O, L, L, I, A, T, unlv@unlv.edu.

Ed Ort 8:35
Terrific. Getting back to you, Carolyn, you're in an interesting position in that you have, over the years, taught nursing students at the UNLV School of Nursing, but you're also teaching Olli students. How would you compare the two groups? What's different about Olli students other than their age, as opposed to the nursing students at UNLV, the

Carolyn Yucha 8:55
Olli students don't study. So I if I want to mention something that I talked about two weeks ago, I need to just refresh their minds about it. So these classes are without homework, without quizzes, without tests. So in that way, it's much more relaxed. And of course, students who were in my classes came to class because they had to ollie. Students can come, not come if they're not feeling well. My class is hybrid, so they can either come to campus or they can take it from home, which makes it very flexible. So if someone isn't feeling well or doesn't want to drive in in the weather, they can stay home and still be in the class, right?

Ed Ort 9:45
You hear that, folks, no homework, no grades. It's not like you were back in high school. You you come to ollie for your edification, for enjoyment, and also, Ali is a great place for social involvement. Involvement. So there's lots of good reasons to come to Holly. You know, talking about nursing students. Dan, I believe some nursing students have come to some of your classes. What was that experience like? It

Dan Mysliborski 10:14
was actually excellent, because as our average age runs into the 60s and 70s, the nursing students actually ages between 21 and probably 30. And most of them haven't seen a lot of things we do, and they've also had conversations with a person they're sitting next to, who might be 40 years older, 45 years older. And most of them that I've talked to after they've left, or after the class is over, have actually been impressed with the way our students that are older have really gotten involved in the amount of knowledge that our students have.

Ed Ort 10:55
Yeah. I mean, one of the great things about Olli is the variety of backgrounds that people have who come to Ali first of all, they all have the great ability, the great want to expand their knowledge, which is terrific for people at our age. But there's so many different backgrounds there. You've got nurses, you've got teachers, you've got lawyers, you've got doctors, you've got homemakers, you've got everything, and they all share their background, which really adds to the experience at Olli. Again, a question to both you, Carolyn and Dan, what would you say to somebody who is thinking about perhaps being an instructor at Olli and hasn't done it yet, would you encourage them? And if so, how would you encourage them? What I'll

Dan Mysliborski 11:51
take that first, because I have had people talk to me and say, How can you teach? And I said, the first thing you have to do is take a class, because then you'll see the flow, and you'll be able to step in, and pretty soon you'll start to participate. And after a while, you may have something and some knowledge that other people would want, but nobody knew you had it, and that's the best thing that we get. As you said, there's plenty of people there with plenty of backgrounds, and in Nevada, just the casino workers and people have been involved in Las Vegas for the last 40 years. If they could give that information out to everybody else, it's really in their learning experience, right?

Carolyn Yucha 12:35
And I would say you learn far more about a topic when you teach it than when you listen in a class, and so just preparing the classes for me is is fun. And of course, it's okay to say I don't know, if a question comes up that you don't know. And typically, what happens if I say I don't know, somebody in the class Googles it and tells me and answers the question, or someone's had that experience and can share that experience. So I think if you're thinking you want to teach, this is the way to do it, because, you know, we're all volunteers, so you don't have to worry about getting fired. And that's nice. So it's it's been very rewarding. Yeah,

Ed Ort 13:24
I will definitely Second the motion about you learn more as a teacher, certainly, because you're doing research in the subject, most teachers would do that, but I always say this, when I lead a class at Olli, I learn more from the students than I learned from the research. And that's true. I mean, again, people bring a wealth of experience with them, and you learn from them, so that it's a great learning experience.

Carolyn Yucha 13:55
Yes, I just wanted to share an experience I'm having. I you know, genetics has changed remarkably since we were in school back in the 1970s or whenever. And I decided to teach a genetics course. And first I thought, I don't know enough about genetics. It's too complex. How am I going to do it? But once I got into it, I mean, I'm learning so much more. It's just, it's really been, been wonderful,

Ed Ort 14:25
yeah, yeah, it's, it's a great education experience to be a teacher, too. Selena, I'd like to get your viewpoint. You're brand new to Ali. What's your experience been like here? Anything surprised you.

Selene Pulido 14:40
Ali, has been great. I have been really surprised about how many classes are available to the population. There is a variety of topics. There's a diverse group of people. Everyone is there because they want to be, as you mentioned earlier, and I think it's just really nice to be in a spa. Where you can see the enthusiasm from both the instructors and the participants there. I'm really excited to get my project started, because I know the people who are there are going to want to be there as well, and I'm just as passionate as providing the classes. So Ollie has been a great experience. This is only my second week, but I'm loving it so far. Terrific.

Ed Ort 15:20
Terrific. You know, before we end the session, I would like to mention, speaking of the topic of health, that the next brain health a new forum will be held on May 6. It's coming up fairly soon. This event is presented by Ali and the Department of brain health at the Kirk kerrian School of Medicine at UNLV, in conjunction with Humana, and it's going to focus on nutrition and its impact on brain health. You can learn about foods that keep your brain healthy. For instance, have you ever thought about trying the Mediterranean diet or a plant based approach, approach to nutrition? You'll learn more about it again. It's on May 6. It's from 11am to 1pm at the Olli building. That's 4350 South Maryland Parkway, and it's going to be in room 157 to 161 find out more about the event. See the Department of brain health events page, and that's it. Www.unlv.edu/brain, health. All one word, brain health slash events, anything else today about

Dan Mysliborski 16:35
like to make a remark, yes, people do not realize if we've been very lucky and had speakers coming from UNLV. The professors, UNLV is probably some of the best professors dealing with health and genetics and a few other things that we don't realize that they're here because they don't get any publicity, yeah, but the education that they bring to us is unbelievable.

Ed Ort 17:00
Yeah, I've been very gratified in my in a number of my classes, to get some of the higher level staff, people from both the med school and from the laruvo Center, including the head of the laruva Center and various high level neurologists there. So it's just terrific that we've been able to bring people like that here too. And you know, we've got someone here at our table who was who led the nursing school program at UNLV. So that's a great example. So I think that's about it for today. I want to thank all of our guests for Well, thank you joining us, Carolyn, Dan, Celine, and I want to thank all of you for listening.

Keith McMillen 17:51
Thanks for listening to focus on Ollie. There are several ways to get more information. Our web address is Ollie O L, L, i.unlv.edu i.unlv.edu You may also email us at Olli at UNLV, that's Ollie O, L, L, I, A, T, U, n, l, V, at sign unlv.edu, you can also just give us a call at 702-895-3394 Monday through Friday, between the hours of eight and five, except of course, on university holidays you.