(From left) Jen Yanez Pryor and Andrea Price share hosting duties for “Aging for All.” (Photo courtesy Virginia Commonwealth University)
As we discuss aging in public and private life, productive conversations about older adults and ageism can often go unheard. Two Richmond-based wellness experts hope to shine a light on the problems they face through a modern method: podcasting.
The show, called “Aging for All,” is produced by the Virginia Center on Aging, part of Virginia Commonwealth University. Beginning with its first episode in April, the podcast has featured many health experts describing ways to improve older people’s social and physical health. Topics range from ways to make a confusing health care industry more accessible to how older adults can avoid complications from medications.
Andrea Price, who co-hosts the podcast with VCU Department of Gerontology Graduate Program Director Jen Yanez Pryor, says talking about those changes helps listeners find the benefits of aging. “That’s what we’re here for: to celebrate and embrace aging,” says Price, who works as a project specialist for the Virginia Center on Aging.
Yanez Pryor adds that people and organizations often undervalue older adults, building systems that reinforce age discrimination and directly affect health outcomes. The podcast, she says, is a way to help. “I think the more that we can highlight these individuals and that we spread the word about it, not just in a classroom, but widespread, the more people will start to feel that we’re not stuck in this place where ageism is just out there, running around,” Yanez Pryor says.
Price and Yanez Pryor designed the podcast to be easily understood. Yanez Pryor says she wants episodes her mom can understand. “We’re having a conversation and having our guests break down complicated concepts into little bite-sized nuggets,” she says.
The hosts try to bring the conversation off the air, too, with additional resources and relevant readings published on the show’s website.
In an episode on trauma-informed and healing-centered care practices from May, discussion topics included how to empower people exposed to trauma and the intersections between trauma and care. Gigi Amateau, the episode’s guest and an assistant professor in VCU’s Department of Gerontology, says Yanez Pryor and Price were very interested in featuring those intersections. “They genuinely want to hear new ideas and learn about what people in the field see as promising and innovative,” Amateau says.
Being on the podcast allowed Amateau to discuss both theoretical ideas of trauma care and practical tactics.“I think that’s where this podcast really shines,” she adds, “in giving us new ways to think about our own aging experiences and the experiences of the people we love, care for and serve.”
The show’s first season ended in June. In the summer months, Yanez Pryor and Price brainstormed episode topics for their second season, which launched in September, including the role of homelessness in aging and dementia.
“No matter how hard the challenge of aging is, there are still people that are working in this space to help make the lives of others better,” Price says. “That, again, gives me hope, but it also gives us reassurance, as our population in America is aging. And the challenge is still great, but it’s not something we can’t handle.”
