Council on Aging Programs
The Council on Aging holds monthly educational programs on the second Thursday of each month (except in July and August) at the O’Connor Senior Center at 2:30 pm. All programs are free and open to the public.
YOUR BEST SHOT: THE IMPORTANCE OF VACCINES FOR OLDER ADULTS
with Denette Jackson, BSN, RN/Community Registered Nurse Navigator, East Region
Thursday, September 14, 2023
2:30 pm at O’Connor Senior Center (611 Winona St., Knoxville, TN 37917)
As you get older, your immune system weakens and it can be more difficult to fight off infections. You’re more likely to get diseases like the flu, pneumonia, and shingles — and to have complications that can lead to long-term illness, hospitalization, and even death. Join us as Denette Jackson with The University of Tennessee College of Nursing highlights the importance of vaccination, debunks common myths and misconceptions, and addresses the need for vaccination later in life.
Denette Jackson is a registered nurse and graduate of East Tennessee State University. She is currently in pursuit of her doctorate degree at the University of Tennessee. Previous work experience includes women’s health, public health, and medical/surgical acute care. She worked through the Covid-19 epidemic at UT Medical Center and later at Knox County Health Department. It was at Knox County Health Department on the Community Vaccine Team that she discovered her passion for working with trusted community leaders to improve the health of her community. Currently, she is the East Region Community Registered Nurse at The University of Tennessee College of Nursing. In this role, she works with trusted community leaders to provide education and opportunities for vaccination.
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THE LONGEST RESCUE
with Capt. William (Bill) A. Robinson
Thursday, October 12, 2023
2:30 pm at O’Connor Senior Center (611 Winona St., Knoxville, TN, 37917)
From 1961 to 1973, the North Vietnamese and Vietcong held hundreds of Americans captive in North Vietnam, and in Cambodia, China, Laos, and South Vietnam. In North Vietnam alone, more than a dozen prisons were scattered in and around the capital city of Hanoi. American POWs in Vietnam struggled to survive horrid conditions, physical pain, and psychological deprivation, often for years on end. Local veteran, Captain Bill Robinson was one of those brave Americans. Join us as he tells his story of hope.
Bill Robinson was born in 1943 in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force on November 22, 1961, and was trained as a helicopter maintenance technician at Sheppard AFB, Texas. He deployed to Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai AFB, Thailand, with the 38th Air Rescue Squadron from April 1965 until his helicopter crashed during a rescue mission over North Vietnam and he was captured and taken as a Prisoner of War on September 20, 1965. After spending 2,703 days in captivity, MSgt Robinson was released during Operation Homecoming on February 12, 1973.