Gerontology
Are you ready to catch the Age Wave? By 2030, one in five Americans will be over age 65, and by 2050, our population of older adults with nearly double! Gerontologists are professionals who work with older adults at a variety of levels. Our curriculum will help you transfer to a four-year institution and advance your career in gerontological services.
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JEFF LAGUNA: Hi, students. My name is Jeff Laguna, and
I'm the program coordinator for the gerontology program
here at Chaffey College. Right, careers for gerontology. It kind of is pretty wide open. And that's primarily because,
really in the next 15 years or so, one in
five people in America are going to be
over the age of 65. So we're talking about
a huge number of people. That's going to
impact industries everywhere across the country. So because of that, the
US Department of Labor defines really careers in
aging as one of the high growth fields, so-- and that includes a number of
fields, such as direct care, working with older adults,
which is what a lot of people think of when they
think of gerontology. So that's in science. That's in medicine, health
care, pharmaceuticals. These are people
that are working either directly with older
adults or in health care related fields that will
impact the lives of older adults and their longevity. Also, within gerontology--
really, it's kind of wide open. You can think of law
and finance, people that are getting into the
areas of law that will impact these older adults as they age. And like I said, that's
20% of the country. So it's a huge number. Financial planning is a big one. Government at all levels. So you have local
government, state government, federal government. Various advocacy
groups like nonprofits that are looking to improve
the lives of older adults, both living in facilities, as
well as living in communities, as well as organizations
that support their families as they're navigating
that transition. Housing, urban
planning is a big one. So hopefully you're
kind of getting the idea that there isn't really just
one field that is gerontology. Gerontology is
really a layer that goes on top of almost
every industry. So we do have a gerontology
associates and a couple certificates here at
the college that do not require separate applications. It's not a cohort,
so you can really start whenever you'd like. You're free to go
in and actually go after those certificates,
or the associate degree. In fact, there's a
great deal of overlap with the gerontology
requirements and other programs that we have in Health
and Wellness ACC. So because of that,
we do have a number of students that are
majoring in another program here in the Health and Wellness
ACC, while at the same time, also doing gerontology. Conversely, because it really
is kind of an a la carte type setup, we also
have those students that are really just taking
one or two gerontology classes on top of whatever major
they are choosing here
at the college, [? just ?]
to supplement their learning
for the reasons that I described
just a little bit earlier.
And it should be
worth mentioning
that at the current time, we
don't have any field placement
requirements.
So students do not
need to go out and do
any practicums, or internships,
or anything like that
although that may
change in the future.
And also, there really are
no implications right now
currently for any DREAMers that
want to jump into our program.
There's no restrictions
or anything like that.
So whether we admit it or not,
we are aging all the time,
and we always have been.
And we actually have
a lot of autonomy
in terms of determining what
our aging experiences will
look like.
So what your life, your
health, your well-being
will look like five
years, 10 years, 20 years,
30 years from now.
You have a lot of control there.
So the majority of research
has looked at this question--
has found that only
about 30% of our genetics
determine our longevity.
So that means that, really, 70%
of how long we're going to live
is based on things that
happen outside of our body.
So some of that is stuff
that's outside of our control,
like whether or not we had
access to medicine as children,
and things like that.
But there still is a great
deal that we can impact.
Things like diet, like
exercise, like stress levels.
And learning how those
things impact us as we age,
and what we can do in order
to really maximize our lives,
that's pretty powerful.
That's pretty exciting,
to be able to,
as a professor, tell
my students, hey.
If you apply just
two or three things
you're learning in
my class, you can
have a totally different life.
This could change your
life 10, 15 years from now.
There's not very
many professors that
have the opportunity to
make that kind of a promise
to their students.
And that's one of
the reasons why I
love this field is that I can.
It's incredibly rewarding.
Kind of the flip side
of studying aging
and learning about how you
can maximize your experience,
there also are some
very harsh realities
when we study things like aging,
when we study dying and death.
First is just confronting
our own mortality
and how challenging that can be.
In America, we live in
a death-denying society.
We really, by and
large, deny aging.
We try to pretend like
it doesn't happen.
And with many older
adults, we just
try to get them out of the way.
We just don't want to see them.
And what that really means for
us as a society, as well for us
as we go through our
own aging experiences,
those are some very
harsh realities.
Right.
So the advice that I would
give to students considering,
or exploring the
program, would be
to challenge them
to try to understand
how whatever career
they're getting into
will be impacted
by older adults.
In my classes, I tell my
students name a career
and I'll do my best to
make the connection as
to how someone in that career
would be better off if they
have some understanding
of aging, or older adults,
because chances are that
opportunity of working
in that field--
There is an opportunity
to impact older adults,
and to improve the lives
of people in our society.
So I would say try to
think about whatever
it is that you're doing through
the lens of gerontology, right?
And of course, if you
have any questions,
reach out to me because
I'd be happy to help you.
All right?
Thanks, guys.
- What are the career possibilities in Gerontology and what programs does Chaffey offer?
- What is one of the most rewarding parts about being a gerontologist?
- What is one of the most challenging parts about being a gerontologist?
- What advice would you give to students exploring Gerontology?
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