A century of learning

Cecile Klein

Shannon Rose

April, 2009

Who said school was just for kids? Cecile Klein still attends weekly classes at the Jewish General’s mini-med program to learn about medicine and health. And she’s 101.

“The more I go, the more I learn,” Klein says. She has a weekly routine to keep her body and mind working. “Going to the lectures helps keep me mentally fit; I try to write down the next day what I heard at the lecture.” She also attends a weekly fitness class involving chair exercises for adults over 50 to keep herself physically fit.

Klein’s daughter, Harriet Nusfbaum, regularly attends mini-med lectures with her mother. She has attended many of the mini-med programs in the city but says the one offered at the JGH meets her needs. “It’s information about right now.” The others, she says, are about future research.

Nusfbaum explained that the JGH has the best approach because the workshops are very hands-on. “They have the facilities so they bring in the articles that you can see,” she says. Participants perform “surgery” on mannequins, led by teams of doctors and nurses to demonstrate the procedures, she explains.

Nusfbaum says she feels that it’s important to see how the entire hospital staff works as a team and the importance of each one.

“There is something for everybody at any age,” she says. “It’s never too young to start learning about how to keep yourself healthy.

“One of the most important things we learn is the de-mystification of the hospital and to be able to recognize symptoms – what’s normal and what is not.”

The next mini-med session begins on May 6, with the theme The New Old Age: Living Well. Staying Well. Being Well. Topics include living well with chronic conditions and heart disease, being well with arthritis and staying well-informed, and staying well with diabetes and after stroke.

The lectures take place at the Jewish General Hospital every Wednesday from May 6 to June 10, 7:30 to 9pm, in the block ampitheatre, room B-106. Registration is now underway at jgh.ca/minimed or 514-340-8222, ext. 3337. Space is limited.