Seniors Organize for Health and Wellness in Cloverdale at their Monthly ECO Group Meeting

It’s early afternoon on a sunny and very warm Wednesday in July, and the Cloverdale Senior Center is buzzing with activity. A group of about 20 local seniors, most of them speaking in Spanish or switching back and forth between Spanish and English, are gathering in the Center’s large community room for the monthly meeting of their ECO (Equity Community Organizing) Group. 

Also arriving are a number of people from the local nonprofits — On the Margins, La Familia Sana, Alexander Valley Healthcare, Nuestra Comunidad, Council on Aging, Cloverdale Multipurpose Senior Center, and the Healthcare Foundation — who have been participating in the design and hosting of these ECO Group meetings since January with the aim of empowering local elders to explore the drivers of health inequities as well as the needs and solutions seniors themselves see as most urgent.

People continue greeting and chatting with each other as they slowly settle into seats, either around the horseshoe-shaped line of tables that opens to the front of the room, or in the sofas and fold-out chairs set a little further back from it. 

Meanwhile, Dra. Daniela Domínguez and her team from On the Margins, who take the lead in running the meetings, are busy loading a spare table with a catered lunch of Mexican food, the delicious aroma blending into the relaxed and festive ambience in the room.

Today’s installment of the Cloverdale ECO Group, which is planned to run through June 2025, features a presentation on disaster preparedness by Alma Bowen and Carmen Lada of Nuestra Comunidad. 

They stand at one end of the room facing the rings of tables with a video screen behind them. As the presentation begins, a slide with the words “Listos Para Lo Que Sigue” is up on the screen, while to one side of the room sits a large group of bright red backpacks — “go bags” prepped with emergency supplies that will be distributed to all at the conclusion of the presentation. Everyone assembled has also been handed a blue “Disaster Ready Guide” workbook, created by Listos California, a state preparedness initiative, which will form the basis of the presentation.

“We said we wanted justice, more access to health services, and to empower ourselves with information.”

Dra. Daniela Domínguez

Alma, the founder and executive director of Nuestra Comunidad, begins with a story of why she started their preparedness program. Working as an emergency services dispatcher during the Tubbs Fire in 2017, Alma says she was struck on the first night by the number of people calling in who had no idea what to do and fewer and fewer resources to draw on as time went by.

“That night changed everything,” she says. People around the room are listening intently, some nodding with their own memories of the crisis. 

Alma addresses the room in Spanish. Those requiring English translation have each been offered a small transmitter with earbuds that channels the words of the simultaneous translator standing just to the right of the screen and watching Alma. (ECO Group meetings alternate monthly between Spanish and English presentations but always with the offer of simultaneous translation.)

”We’ve had quite a few disasters since then, too, no?” Alma references the Kincaid Fire, the floods, and Covid to the nods around the room.

“If you’re not prepared yourself,” continues Alma, “you’re not going to be able to help someone else.” 

The presentation, filled with practical information and straightforward steps to take in preparation for the next emergency, continues for about 30 minutes. There is some back and forth with attendees who ask questions. In a discussion of the 211 service, websites (CalAlerts.org), apps (such as MyShake and Watch Duty) and text-based services that can serve as sources for vital information and assistance, Kirsten Tellez of Alexander Valley Healthcare chimes in with a mention of cloveready.org. 

Carmen then steps to the front to explain the contents of the go bags everyone is about to receive. And in a response to the Group’s request at the last meeting, she also distributes a booklet on how to respond to stress emergencies (“Para La Mente”) to a round of applause from the room.

The presentation concluded, Danny Domínguez addresses the Group, reminding everyone of what they had decided in previous meetings. “Why are we here?” she asks in Spanish, inviting people to recall with her. “To learn; to feel good together and be happy; and to alleviate some of the stress in our lives,” she recounts. “We said we wanted justice, more access to health services, and to empower ourselves with information.”

”Have you started to see yourselves as activists?” she asks them.

At this point, everyone receives a blank placard to write on. Danny invites the Group to write whatever message they would like to send to the Cloverdale City Council. A professional photographer stands by to take a photo of everyone who wants to express their voice in a collection of images that will be directed to the City Council. “Use your voice,” Danny encourages them, “tell the City what you want, because you have rights.” 

As people take time to write their messages, the Group breaks for lunch and individuals head outside to have their pictures taken by the photographer. People are also invited to avail themselves of free massage and reiki sessions being offered in the adjoining room. The Group disperses slowly, amid more mingling and conversations, food and laughter around the room as this month’s meeting draws to a close. 

Each ECO Group meeting covers a range of topics and exercises that engage seniors — especially those who are too often isolated and marginalized by economic, language and other barriers — in constructive and creative conversations about life in Cloverdale. These conversations, as July’s meeting demonstrated, are geared toward purposeful projects and actions that can lower perceived barriers and improve social determinants of health for all Cloverdale seniors. That begins with bringing people together for connection, a shared sense of belonging, and a good lunch.