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Member Spotlight – Adaline Cook

Please welcome Adaline Cook, a new ALCA member, and a student at Youngstown State University. Adaline is located in Westmoreland County, just outside of Pittsburgh, PA.

Adaline tells us she always knew she wanted to work with older adults. Throughout her years at YSU, she learned more about Aging Life Care and care management and always felt it would be a good fit for her. Says Adaline, “Much of my inspiration for working with older adults came from my grandparents as well as when I started to volunteer in LTC facilities in middle school.”

While currently working on her master’s degree in gerontology as Youngstown State University, she hopes to work for a larger organization as soon as the opportunity comes, and to later become a sole practitioner, if that still makes sense for her.

In joining ALCA, Adaline hopes to gain guidance from other members who have more experience in the field. “Any advice or leads on any job positions for somebody just starting out in the field would be very helpful,” says Adaline. “The biggest challenge for me so far has been finding connections to others in the field near home (Vandergrift, PA). I have met lots of wonderful people and made connections near Youngstown, Ohio but the transition back home has been more challenging. In addition, I hope to learn more about useful tools and resources that would help me and any people I work with in the future.”

When asked about an aging issue that she is passionate about, Adaline reports she has learned many aging issues she has learned in her past 5 years at YSU. “The first two that come to my mind are issues of social isolation and fall risk. These are two issues that have been largely focused on at my school. I also worked on a fall risk research study in the Mahoning Valley community (Ohio) which helped me learn about risk factors as well as prevalence of falls that lead older adults to the ER.”

In her free time, Adaline lives a pretty active lifestyle and enjoys being outdoors. She has moved back home to finish out school. She enjoys any time spent with her dogs, family, and friends. She runs, hikes, bike rides, camping, etc. And soon she will be making the transition into ski season!

Adaline can be contacted via phone or email at 724-681-0697 or agcook@student.ysu.edu

Welcome to ALCA Adaline!