"Healthy Aging Group Changed My Outlook on Life"

In Winter of 2025, I was encouraged by a nurse at the local clinic to join the primary care healthy aging group. I was having mental health issues due to the loss of my spouse a few years ago, living alone with no family close. I joined the class, twice a week. I met new people and the exercising we do twice a week, has seriously impacted my outlook on life. The young man, Mike, isn't strict but he wants us to do our best. He and the group of seniors have shown me that I am capable of so much more than I thought. I feel that Mike and Alex, the nurse, see me as a person, not some old person who is feeling bad. The other seniors in the group, who were all strangers to me, now say hello when we meet and call me by my name. I never knew how important it is to have someone say my name. Its been almost 3 months since I started and my physical health is improving with the exercising. My mental well being has improved 100 fold just by going out and someone saying hello to me and calling me by name.  I encourage all seniors to register with their local Primary Care Network. I do feel more advertisement could be done to help seniors become more aware of this program. I smile more, losing unwanted weight, and am more knowledgeable about senior health issues such as cancer and diabetes.  I am slowly realizing that I am a person of worth. I have a name and people recognize me. We are not best friends, just people who know each others' name.  That is enough.