Side-by-side photos showing Sarah Bahnson / Jeri Morrison

Senior Pride Speaker Series Returns!

Our Speaker Series, which in normal times meets at the Himmel Park Library, has been on hiatus since February due to COVID-19 concerns. Senior Pride has recruited a new slate of speakers for the post-COVID era via Zoom at our regular time, 2-3:30pm on the second Tuesday of each month. To be able to join these meetings, you must send us your email address and specify that you want to be invited to the Speakers Series. Please also include the time and date of the Speakers Series meeting you wish to attend, and you will receive a Zoom invitation by email prior to the event. »More help for Zoom newbies

PCOA and Senior Pride work closely together, so many of our members may already be acquainted with LGBTQ coordinator, Sarah Bahnson. Sarah presents Project Visibility to local businesses, schools, and non-profits to heighten awareness of discrimination and challenges LGBTQI+ older adults have faced and how to serve them more effectively.

Sarah is currently developing an updated version of Project Visibility to better reflect the diversity of our community.

On Tuesday, May 12, Sarah will talk about how PCOA has adapted to continue offering its services safely in the COVID era.

A University of Arizona graduate with a degree in Gender and Women’s Studies, Sarah worked at Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation (SAAF) as case manager and community educator for five years. She previously worked on Wingspan’s Anti-Violence Project. She has also been an independent community educator and consultant on LGBTQI+ and gender issues for TIHAN, the Pima County Democratic Party LD-10 Board, and other organizations.

As PCOA’s Caregiver Support Group and Training Coordinator, Jeri Morrison facilitates 11 family caregiver support groups across the Tucson metro area. Before COVID-19, these groups of eight to 12 caregivers each met in person once a month. Jeri is also responsible for enrolling caregivers who wish to join support groups and leads a full-day caregiver training.

On Tuesday, May 12, Jeri will be talking about how the caregiver support groups have adapted to COVID-19 realities by going virtual on Zoom, and how the full-day caregiver training is being adapted to new modules that caregivers can access safely from home.

A native of Syracuse, New York, Jeri says she wanted to be a nurse since kindergarten and worked in a nursing home while a high school senior. After earning her nursing degree in Upstate New York, Jeri worked as an intensive care unit (ICU) nurse in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for several years before moving to Tucson in 2007. Before joining PCOA a year ago, she worked for several nonprofits providing services to older adults.