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Blog archive

November 2024

Event of Remembrance
11/22/2024

Phishing Scams: What You Need to Know
11/22/2024

Pupusas Family Style: Another Adventurous Dining Winner
11/22/2024

Celebrating the Holidays
11/21/2024

Genealogy Group: Discovering Our Pasts
11/21/2024

Nathan Wolford – From Tragedy to Ministry
11/21/2024

Pasadena Village Board of Directors: A Brief Overview
11/21/2024

President's Message
11/21/2024

The Day of the Dead (Dia de muertos)/ Mexican Culture/Community
11/21/2024

Vintage Celebration: Aging Like a Fine Wine
11/21/2024

Review of Racism in Our Local Past
11/20/2024

Creative Juices Flow in The Village
11/19/2024

Checking In by Ed Rinderle
11/15/2024

Eagle Poem by Joy Harjo
11/15/2024

I Shall Forget You Presently, My Dear (Sonnet IV) by Edna St. Vincent Millay
11/15/2024

Pictures From Brueghel by William Carlos Williams
11/15/2024

October 2024

ARBORIST WALK: NOT FOR TREE HUGGERS ONLY!
10/29/2024

Bill Wishner: Visual Hunter
10/29/2024

Can a Village Group Fix Our Healthcare System?
10/29/2024

Community Board Directors Strengthen Village Board
10/29/2024

Connecting with Village Connections: The A, B, C, & D’s of Medicare @ 65+
10/29/2024

Grief is a Journey: Two Paths Taken
10/29/2024

Message from the President
10/29/2024

Promoting Informed & Involved Voters
10/29/2024

What Will Be Your Legacy?
10/29/2024

1619, Approaching the Election...
10/27/2024

Beyond and Within the Village - A Star is Born
10/17/2024

Happiness by Priscilla Leonard
10/11/2024

Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden
10/11/2024

Unpainted Door by Louise Gluck
10/11/2024

In the Evening by Billy Collins
10/10/2024

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver
10/10/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

September 2024

August 2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

First Anniversary
08/19/2024

Alexandra Leaving by Leonard Cohen
08/16/2024

Muse des Beaux Arts by W. H. Auden
08/16/2024

The God Abandons Antony by Constantinos P. Cavafy
08/16/2024

Ch – Ch – Ch –Changes
08/15/2024

Cultural Activities Team offers an ‘embarrassment of riches’
08/15/2024

Engaging in Pasadena Village
08/15/2024

Future Housing Options
08/15/2024

Message from the President
08/15/2024

There Are Authors Among Us
08/15/2024

Villagers Welcome New Members at the Tournament Park Picnic
08/15/2024

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas
08/14/2024

A narrow Fellow in the Grass by Emily Dickinson
08/13/2024

Haikus
08/13/2024

One Art by Elizabeth Bishop
08/13/2024

Poem 20 by Pablo Neruda
08/13/2024

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
08/13/2024

Trees by Joyce Kilmer
08/13/2024

July 2024

June 2024

May 2024

Emergency Preparedness: Are You Ready?
05/28/2024

Farewell from the 2023/24 Social Work Interns
05/28/2024

Gina on the Horizon
05/28/2024

Mark Your Calendars for the Healthy Aging Research California Virtual Summit
05/28/2024

Meet Our New Development Associate
05/28/2024

Putting the Strategic Plan into Practice
05/28/2024

Washington Park: Pasadena’s Rediscovered Gem
05/28/2024

Introducing Civil Rights Discussions
05/22/2024

Rumor of Humor #2416
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2418
05/14/2024

Springtime Visitors
05/07/2024

Freezing for a Good Cause – Credit, That Is
05/02/2024

No Discussion Meeting on May 3rd
05/02/2024

An Apparently Normal Person Author Presentation and Book-signing
05/01/2024

Flintridge Center: Pasadena Village’s Neighbor That Changes Lives
05/01/2024

Pasadena Celebrates Older Americans Month 2024
05/01/2024

The 2024 Pasadena Village Volunteer Appreciation Lunch
05/01/2024

Woman of the Year: Katy Townsend
05/01/2024

April 2024

March 2024

February 2024

January 2024

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

By Blog Master
Posted: 08/03/2021
Tags:
Where are they now?

Many of us will remember Claudia Chavez.  She was assigned to the Pasadena Village as a social work intern during the academic year 2017-2018, the first year of her two-year program at Azusa Pacific University. She brought energy, enthusiasm, a drive for organization, and great people skills to our Village.  One of her significant contributions to our community was the development of a template for the management of the Volunteer Recognition event, which at that time was an annual event. She assumed the role of coordinator of the event in 2018 and created a detailed step-by-step guide listing all of the tasks and the time frames for each step to be used by future coordinators of the event.  The event was a grand success. She graduated in 2019 and upon completion of her second-year placement at the Huntington Hospital Senior Care Network, she was hired as a part time employee.

Today Claudia is working as the Community Social Worker, at the Health Services Center at Pilgrim Place in Claremont, California.   Claudia agreed to be interviewed for our “Where are They Now” a column on past Pasadena Village interns that will appear periodically in the Pasadena Village Newsletter. 

“In late 2019 I was looking for a job that was full time and I came across a notice for a social work position at Pilgrim Place.  I applied; I was hired. Little did I know that this would turn out to be a social worker’s dream job. I love what I am doing.”

In order to describe what her current position involves Claudia shared some history about Pilgrim Place.  The community was founded over 100 years ago by missionaries affiliated with the Universal Christ Church who were retiring and returning home to California from assignments abroad. They needed a place to live. So, they set out to create a community for themselves in Claremont, California.  Originally limited to retired missionaries, Pilgrim Place is now not only home to missionaries but retired teachers from the surrounding Claremont Colleges and their family members, and other residents from the area.  Designed for older adults, Pilgrim Place offers several distinct programs: Independent Living, Assisted Living, Skilled Nursing and Memory Care. 

Among its many unique characteristics, Pilgrim Place is neither a gated community nor a set of distinctly identifiable set of structures but consists of 185 private residences and 57 Assisted living units which blend into city of Claremont. Their residences are about two blocks from downtown Claremont allowing residents to walk into town to do shopping, eat out, go to the library, etc.    Its 62 unit skilled nursing facility was not built following the medical model – long corridors with doors to rooms off to the side. Instead, each wing has been divided into neighborhoods where the residents decide on what their neighborhood will look like: the furniture it will contain, how it will be arranged, and how it will function. It is made to feel like a home.  Patients decide on when they will eat, what they will eat and are supported in every way to ensure the dignity of the patient and his or her ability to make autonomous decisions about how they wish to be treated.  

“What I love about Pilgrim Place” says Claudia, “is that it is ‘person centered.’   Members receive what they need and are not limited to a set of the organization’s predetermined options. I also love the fact that the organization is driven by a specific set of values that are known and practiced by all employees:  peace, justice and sustainability. The members have skills and resources and contribute to the Annual Festival, the primary fund-raising effort, along with community members who support the event.   Pilgrim Place partners with the Claremont Colleges where some members act as mentors for the college students; others actually teach classes to the college students in areas related to the Pilgrim Place values.”

In response to the question, “What do you specifically do?” Claudia responded.  “I am the go-to person for 200 members in the Independent and Assisted Living programs.  When anyone has a problem or an issue that requires assistance, they come to me. Yes, I am kept busy, but not all 200 members have immediate needs at one time.  It’s all very doable. I also have some responsibilities within the Skilled Nursing program and I can be involved in some of the partnership programs.”

Claudia was asked, “If you were to provide feedback to members of the Pasadena Village about the year that you spent with us, what would you say?”  

“The experience taught me to slow down, to become more centered and present in the moment.  I learned how to engage a family, how to assess situations. I learned to work with older adults.  I learned that older adults can create their own programs.  They don’t need program coordinators.  I learned that whenever there is need for a helping hand, there is someone there able and willing to step forward. What I learned at the Pasadena Village made it possible for me to understand and work with the older adults in my current position.” 

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