The public is invited to attend a viewing party for a televised simulcast presentation featuring surgeon, public health researcher and author Atul Gawande from 4-5:30 p.m. Sept. 25 in Schwab Auditorium of the Coralville Public Library at 1401 Fifth St.
“Being Mortal’s Villages: The Value of Community and Choice as We Grow Older” will be broadcast live from Boston. The event celebrates the 15th anniversary of the founding of Beacon Hill Village and the subsequent aging-in-place village movement it inspired, which now includes the local nonprofit organization TRAIL of Johnson County.
TRAIL and the Iowa City-Johnson County Senior Center are co-hosting the Coralville presentation of the simulcast, which will be moderated by Robin Young, host of NPR’s Here & Now. The simulcast will be followed by a brief reception with refreshments.
The event is free, but registration is encouraged through TRAIL website or by calling the TRAIL office at (319) 800-9003. Attendees are asked to arrive before 4 p.m. and to park in the lower level of the adjacent parking facility, avoiding the two rows closest to the library. Parking is free.
The Gawande conversation will feature a discussion on aging, living life with purpose and how to transform the possibilities for the later chapters in everyone’s lives. These are among the concepts explored in Dr. Gawande’s best-selling book, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End.
They also are the underlying principles of Beacon Hill Village and other organizations, including TRAIL, that are part of the nationwide Village to Village Network.
TRAIL of Johnson County is a membership-based organization whose mission is to help older adults age safely and comfortably in their own homes by providing access to volunteer services, prescreened service providers and socializing opportunities. TRAIL launched in spring 2017 and now has approximately 80 members; its office is housed in the Iowa City-Johnson County Senior Center.
