Gretchen Alkema, vice president of policy and communications at The SCAN Foundation working on long term care, grew up in San Clemente, far from her grandparents but neighboring two elderly couples. The couple north of her house “taught me about Dodger baseball, and we planted strawberries in their backyard.” The couple south, on the other hand, “were very mean, and really didn’t like my brother and me because we were loud.” The experience got her wondering about the elderly. “From the mind of a six year old, I was fascinated that these people could be the same age and live in the same place and have such different perspectives on life, children, family, faith and engagement,” she said. “It made me want to know more about older people and what made them tick.” Read on to learn more about Alkema.
Q. What music have you listened to today?
A. Bonnie Raitt’s Give It Up album, it’s one of my favorites.
Q. What do you wake up to in the mornings?
A. KUSC. I’m a huge supporter and listener and I love Dennis Bartel in the mornings.
Q. What is your favorite word?
A. Gratitude.
Q. Who is your favorite fictional character?
A. Tigger. The wonderful thing about Tiggers is Tiggers are wonderful things
Q. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A. A stockbroker. Or a ballerina.
Q. What is your favorite cocktail?
A. I don’t drink. But the one that fascinates me that I watch people drink are cosmopolitans, in those big glasses with the swirling colors.
Q. What is your guilty pleasure?
A. As much dark chocolate as I can eat. See’s, preferably, anything out of the nuts and chews box.
Q. If you could take only one more journey, where would you go?
A. My father and I did this amazing drive from Seattle to the farthest point one can drive in Canada, so we drove the last 100 miles on an ice road. I’d go anywhere where I could drive on an ice road again.
Q. If you could live in any other time, when would it be and why?
A. The time in which settlers were first coming over the Saddleback Mountain or the Cajon Pass – to be at those crests and see that land, to have gone on this incredibly long journey, and then to have that glorious moment of seeing the ocean for the first time.
Q. What profession would you like to practice in your next life?
A. I’m a social worker and a gerontologist, and it’s an incredible way to serve people. All of us are aging every single moment – that’s the beauty of living, frankly – so I feel fortunate with the job I have today.
To read about Alkema’s panel on long term care, click here.
*Photo by Aaron Salcido.