Penny Ingram

The path of life is different for everyone and we are not all created the same. We all have different strengths and weaknesses; some of us are blessed with fantastic genes that have enabled us to live each day to the fullest and some of us have had less than optimal foundations from which to draw our existence. But, we all do age and as we walk along this path, our experiences vary. For me, my daughter went to my husband distraught because my demeanor had changed from loving “Mom” to a cold and distant “Mom”. It’s often the people around us that recognize the change in us before we do. Fortunately, we have encouraged openness in our family and this event ignited the flame for me to seek alternatives for the inevitable process of aging.

My nursing career has taken me from labor/delivery at Valley Community and Brownsville Hospitals, newborn nursery to Lamaze instructor and Regional Director. As my family demands grew, my career took a shift to school nursing which was incredibly …insightful. Brownsville bordered on Mexico and I was the emergency nurse for 35,000 students from elementary to high school. The range of health problems and family circumstances opened my eyes to the different cultures and life styles within that area. We moved away from the violence of Mexico and chose to be closer to help my terminally ill father. Unfortunately, or fortunately, this move didn’t allow me to continue within my previous experience and my path changed towards the aging and elderly population. Grass Valley is known as a retirement community and it is the beginning of my career in long-term care/skilled nursing of 20+ years, leaving for my NP education and coming back as Director of Nurses to this 175 bed-privately owned skilled facility. As Director of Nurses, it was my charge to assess and monitor the care for hundreds of patients. It is here that health and the current approaches towards “graceful” aging illuminated my eyes.