phone: (847) 480-0617
Skip to content
  • Home
  • Clients
  • Marketing Strategy
  • Strategic Partnerships
  • Training
  • Event Planning
  • Social Media
  • Jobs/Recruitment
  • Video
  • Blog
  • Contact
← Delaying Retirement in a Recession
Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease: The Kundalini Yoga Philosophy →

Senior Citizen’s Positive Attitudes in Mexican Village

Posted by Marla on December 3, 2011
Mexico Spa0434
Mexico Spa0435


I just returned from, a wonderful week  in Ixtapan de la Sal, Mexico with a great group of women. Many of my fellow travelers also work in the field of aging and provide social work and marketing to seniors. I was looking forward to fun, rest and relaxation; which I certainly received, but along the way, I picked up several observations from the elderly who live there. Of course, I didn’t put down my elder care marketing hat, even far away from Chicago – which, by the way, is one of my favorite rules as an elder care marketer. Always keep that hat on!  And always “Focus on Aging” – there is always so much to continually learn.

When exploring the little mountain town of Ixtapan de la Sal, I noticed so many families of several generations walking together, working together, and simply hanging out together. One of my favorite pastimes in Spanish speaking countries is to talk to the locals in their own language as I speak Spanish. In the Sunday market, despite an obvious abundance of poverty, there remained a refreshing charm and friendly  and proud people.  The elders I spoke to had lived there all their life and were proud to show off their homemade wares and beautiful fresh fruits and vegetables. The local beekeeper gave details of how he transforms his honey into homemade lotions and sweets. There was positive energy and contentment surrounding us, along with lively music and children’s laughter. All those I spoke to told me that they are  happy, surrounded by their family and friends. They live a hard simple life, but had big smiles on their faces. I thought of my busy life back home, and remembered that there is something to be said about a simple life and making time for friends and family. And, especially reaching out to the elderly who live alone, are isolated and don’t live around the corner from a local zocalo (town center) to have easy and quality social interaction.

Every day, I took a Kundalini Yoga class. The teacher (guru) had some very interesting theories about Kundalini Yoga and the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease, which I will share in my next post.

Marla Levie, BSW, MA, President and Founder of Focus on Aging, has successfully been providing marketing consulting, social media and recruiting services to the elder care market and to other service-related professions in the Chicago area for over 20 years. Use the contact tab to email Marla for additional information about her services.

 

This entry was posted in Healthy Aging and tagged Focus on Aging, healthy aging, Isolated Elderly, Ixtapan de la Sal Mexico, marketing hat, Marketing to seniors, multi-generations, poor elderly, positve attitude and aging, Sunday market in Mexico. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.
← Delaying Retirement in a Recession
Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease: The Kundalini Yoga Philosophy →

7 Responses to Senior Citizen’s Positive Attitudes in Mexican Village

  1. Erica Karp says:
    December 3, 2011 at 3:43 pm

    Parece un viaje muy bueno. Quiero leer más. Gracias.

    Reply
    • Marla says:
      December 3, 2011 at 4:28 pm

      Erica: Gracias por leer el “blog”!

      Reply
  2. Lynn Reiner says:
    December 3, 2011 at 8:42 pm

    Thanks for sharing this wonderful blog about your trip!!

    Reply
    • Marla says:
      December 4, 2011 at 8:04 am

      About “our” trip!

      Reply
      • Bubbles Strongin says:
        December 5, 2011 at 1:40 pm

        Marla,
        You are a real HOOT!!! You never stop and thats why I LOVE YOU, beside 1000 other reasons. I am so glad you joined the Spa ladies. We all had a ball and you have really carried this out for us; talking to the locals and reporting!
        You are a fabulous networker in developing strong relationships – a true natural for sure. Thanks for sharing and caring. XO Bubbles

        Reply
        • Marla says:
          December 5, 2011 at 1:47 pm

          Thanks to my travel companions for their comments! Wait until I write about Singhao about our yoga classes next!

          Reply
  3. Sharon Berg says:
    December 5, 2011 at 12:05 pm

    Thanks for sharing your post–I enjoyed reading it. Please continue to send your future posts along.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Click here to cancel reply.

Your email is never published nor shared. Required fields are marked *

*
*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

  • Subscribe / Connect

    Subscribe to Posts

    Email:

    LinkedIn

    Twitter

    Facebook
  • Recent Blog Posts

    • Taking Care of your Aging Relatives in your own Backyard, Literally
    • Quick Tips for Your 2012 LinkedIn Profile
    • “Tweets: To Whom It May Concern”? Part 2
  • Archives

    • February 2012
    • January 2012
    • December 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
    • December 2010
    • November 2010
    • October 2010
    • September 2010
  • Categories

    • Alzheimer's Disease
    • Awards
    • Caregiving
    • Debt Ceiling
    • Elder Care Marketing
    • Healthy Aging
    • Job Recruitment
    • Marketing
    • Medicare Reform
    • Older Americans Month
    • Retirement
    • Social Media
    • Twitter
  • Upcoming Events

    • Events are coming soon, stay tuned!
  • Testimonials

    I have known and worked with Marla since she first entered the field of aging. She immediately showed a propensity and understanding of the elderly. Over the years she has proven her selfless dedication in the industry as well as the non-profit world. Her knowledge was vital in developing a project for us while I was Commissioner. Her passion and expertise helping Casa Central has been invaluable. Without reservation I would recommend her company to any elder care or any organization needing marketing assistance
    — Rev. Daniel Alvarez, Former Commissioner of Human Services, City of Chicago

    Former Executive Director, Casa Central

    Marla is THE marketing guru in the field of elder care. She is a great networker and you can guarantee when you go to an event, someone will know Marla. She stays up-to-date on the ever-growing older adult industry and is always seeking out new opportunities for her clients and thinking outside of the box. Our firm has worked with Marla since day one and we have never been disappointed- she is an integral part of our marketing campaign. I can not recommend her enough!
    — Kerry Peck, Attorney, Managing Partner, Peck Bloom, LLP
    Kate Konieczny, Marketing Coordinator, Peck Bloom, LLP

    Marla has made our facilities an enormous success through her keen understanding of the senior housing market, and her organizational ability, follow through, persistence and relationship skills. Her remarkable insight of eldercare marketing has helped us package or "re-package" many of the programs and philosophies we've always had. She capitalizes on our strengths and counsels our weaknesses.
    — Jay Lewkowitz, LCSW, Executive Director, Oakton Place

    I hired Marla to be my marketing coach. She was very helpful and always kept me on task; she gently reminded me of important things to follow up on and provided me with amazing contacts all who were invaluable to me in order to grow my practice. Marla is extremely professional, provides personal service, and is a marketing maven!
    — Srdjan Andrei Ostric, MD, Hand Surgeon

    Marla is a true professional and has been an exceptional marketing resource at our many facilities. Whatever the project, she always produces outstanding results.
    — Brian Cloch, Principal, Pathway Senior Living, Owner, Transitional Care Management

    Marla showed me how effective social media marketing could be. Based on her research, I took the plunge. Focus developed a social media plan and proved that putting my reputation in Marla’s hands was the best decision I made. Focus implemented my plan and minimized the amount of work on my end, all at a reasonable cost. I obtained new clients, which I contribute to Marla’s hard work and marketing expertise.
    — Michael Craven, Attorney, Partner, Beermann Swerdlove, LLP

    We have repeatedly used the services of Focus on Aging to help us establish long-term relationships which lead to increased referrals, census gain and a boost to our bottom line. Their professionalism and attention to detail is a major reason we continue using them for both short and long term marketing projects. We also have used and recommend Focus on Aging for recruiting projects as they always find the perfect candidates. They use their connections, excellent networking and relationship marketing skills when recruiting.
    — Carl J. Brodarick, Chief of Marketing, Seasons Hospice

  • Recent Blog Posts

    • Taking Care of your Aging Relatives in your own Backyard, Literally
    • Quick Tips for Your 2012 LinkedIn Profile
    • “Tweets: To Whom It May Concern”? Part 2
    • Tweets: Customer Service and the New “To Whom It May Concern”? Part 1
    • Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease: The Kundalini Yoga Philosophy
  • Living Better at 50
© 2012 Focus On Aging