Article Submitted by:
Rachel Lewis
Please let me introduce you to my good friend Ms. Sandra Brazelton. I know many of you have seen her around as she has been helping me out at the NWQOL monthly community meetings for the past couple of years and she also volunteered with the Northwest Partnership BCJI (Byrne Criminal Justice Initiative) resident driven plan, “Within Reach”. I want to share with you a story of resilience that demonstrates why we need a process to inform all of our residents, digital and paper, about the many assets, i.e. opportunities and resources that are available to our neighbors. Ms. Sandra was born in 1940 at Wishard Hospital and has been living in the Near Northwest area since she was 11 years old. She shares a modest two-bedroom house with her 96-year young mother. She has five children of her own four of whom still live here in Indianapolis. Ms. Sandra regularly attends the Flanner House Senior Program two times a week so she can socialize with her peers. Sometimes she goes with them to get groceries or go out to eat. She really enjoys going to Golden Corral and to play BINGO on Fridays.
If she chooses to go shopping on her own, she catches a city bus. She goes to rehab twice a week for her knees & hips by utilizing the Indygo transportation program. Her prescription medications are delivered to her in 90-day supply.
In addition to attending the NWQOL Monthly Community meeting, her church, Shilo Missionary Baptist Church, picks her up every Sunday. She puts money into a travel group that is coordinated by her church and has been able to travel to such places as New York, New Orleans and Washington DC. Ms. Sandra has a strong family support system that ensures that she and her mother’s needs are met and that they are safe. All this just to show you what is possible, right here in the NNW. Ask Ms. Sandra where she has on her bucket list now an she will say, “I would like to go to Jamaica one day”.
For more information about the Flanner House Senior Program contact Gerald Ardis at 317.925.4231 ext.247. The following is a list of workshops that are being offered and are FREE and open to the community. Join Us!!