Events

2025

Moment of Truth: Sorting Fact from Fiction in the Age of Misinformation
February 20, 2025 at 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm

View this recorded forum about media literacy, a critical topic now that fact-checking is no longer in effect.

Thank you to our speaker Starshine Roshell with the organization Moment of Truth. Starshine Roshell is an award-winning journalist, producer and educator. She was a reporter for over a decade at the Santa Barbara News-Press, where she helped lead the reporters’ walkout over the publisher’s failed journalistic ethics. She taught journalism at UCSB and SBCC, and now produces educational content for LinkedIn. Starshine is a national Association for Women in Communications’ Headliner Award recipient, and volunteers with the News Literacy Project.

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GPSBN Annual Membership Meeting 2025
January 22, 2025 at 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm

To become a member or renew your membership, fill out this form.

Click here to see the Agenda.

Click here to see the brief bios of the candidates for office.

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2024

A Conversation with Third District Supervisor Joan Hartmann
October 14, 2024 at 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm

Join us for a virtual conversation with Third District Supervisor Joan Hartmann, the Chair for the Adult and Aging Network. The topics of this forum will include climate resilience for older adults, housing for older adults (and others), and caregiving.

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GPSBN Presents: Property Tax, Prop 13, Prop 19, and More
July 10, 2024 at 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm

Our speaker, Harry Hagen is independently elected by the voters of Santa Barbara County to receive, safeguard, and invest county, school, and special district funds; collect taxes and revenues; administer estates for county residents when required as public administrator; administer conservatorships for county residents when required as public guardian; and assist county Veterans in obtaining State and Federal Benefits.

He will talk us through how Prop 19 changed the ability of families to keep family property, how Prop 13 has changed the funding of government and how it has affected older adults, and how property tax is calculated.

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Partnering with your Physician: Tips on Navigating our Healthcare System
February 29, 2024 at 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm

David Lebell MD will discuss the concept of “shared decision-making” and review some resources patients and their families can easily access to help determine if a proposed course of action or treatment is potentially controversial, such as the website thennt.com. Stan Frochtzwajg MD will focus primarily on ways to partner and the value of partnering with your physician with an acknowledgement of some of the unique pressures and rules physicians are currently facing. Silvia Corral MD will talk about patient advocacy and its importance. She will identify specific ways in which a person can be their own advocate, ie the “toolbox”, and improve the patient physician partnership. Lastly, she will explain how a medical advocate can help patients navigate the very complicated and serious decisions when the stakes are high.

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Universal Healthcare SBCAN South County Roundtable
January 26, 2024 at 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm

Universal healthcare is the main topic of discussion at Santa Barbara County Action Network’s South County Roundtable on Friday, Jan. 26 at noon. Gray Panthers Santa Barbara Network members Dr. Jerome Hoffman, Dr. Nancy Greep, Dr. David Lebell and Prof. Dick Flacks will lead a discussion on the potential for a single payer system, current legislative opportunities, and what we can all do to promote universal healthcare and a healthier state and country.

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2024 Annual Membership Meeting
January 25, 2024 at 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm

At the meeting, members elected our officers (chair, recording secretary, membership secretary, and treasurer) as well as some members of the Board of Directors, some for a one year term and others for a two-year term. 

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2023

Over Diagnosis in Medicine
November 8, 2023 at 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm

In Medicine, doing tests that are unlikely to help is dangerous enough when the tests find a problem that isn’t really there or fail to find one that is, but an even greater danger is finding a disease that really is there but would have been best ignored.

Dr. Jerry Hoffman, Emeritus professor of medicine at UCLA has spent his career educating physicians and others on how to thoughtfully analyze medical research studies to help us determine what tests and treatments actually benefits patients, and which may cause some degree of harm. Dr. Hoffman will explain why in large areas of medicine, less is more and why much of the advice you hear about screening and prevention is far more likely to harm you than help you. He will also explain how “advanced technology” can make this problem even worse. 

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Medicare: The Basics & The Threats
September 27, 2023 at 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Medicare has changed dramatically since its inception. What was intended to be a government run health insurance program with broad benefits for older adults has been allowed to be coopted by big insurance. Learn more about what Medicare Advantage plans are and what they could become in the future without public intervention. Dr. Nancy Greep will be sounding the alarms about Medicare Advantage and current plans in the House to expand opportunities for private insurance. Julie Posada, the Health Insurance Counseling Advocacy (HICAP) representative will clarify insurance terminology that can be confusing. 

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Extreme Heat Forum
August 15, 2023 at 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm

If you or someone you know are 65 and older, live on California’s Central Coast, and are concerned about rising temperatures in our community, we invite you to join us for our inaugural Extreme Heat Forum presented by the Gray Panthers Santa Barbara Network, Society of Fearless Grandmothers Santa Barbara, and the Community Environmental Council on Tuesday, August 15, from 5:00 – 7:00 PM. 

Extreme heat events are increasing in the United States and the rest of the world. The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, shared his deep concern over increasingly intense and frequent heat waves by warning the public that, “The era of global warming has ended, the era of global boiling has arrived.” It is crucial now more than ever to stay informed about extreme heat and learn how to stay cool during these extreme events.

The forum will be offered in person (at our new Environmental Hub in downtown Santa Barbara) and live streamed via Zoom. Space is limited for the in-person option and an RSVP is required to attend (both in person and via Zoom).

About this Forum

Dr. David Lebell and Rich Appelbaum of the Gray Panthers Santa Barbara Network, Pam Bury and Maureen Ellenberger of Society of Fearless Grandmothers Santa Barbara, Yumi Sera, Executive Director of the Governor’s Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic Communications, and Em Johnson, CEC’s Director of Climate Resilience will lead a discussion of the real and lasting impacts of heat and climate change on our elderly, how seniors can play a more active role in protecting our most vulnerable populations, and what actions are needed to ensure we not only support resiliency at the neighborhood level, but also at the policy level.

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Longevity, Health and Dementia: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
July 13, 2023 at 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm

Join us in person or virtually for this conversation-style forum by Stan Frochtzwajg, MD and David Lebell, MD on an update on actions we can take to help improve longevity, ways to slow or mitigate dementia, and improve ‘health span’—not just a longer life but more good years in which we are more physically and cognitively capable and engaged. Over the last five years, there has been considerable progress in the research and our understanding of these topics. We will discuss many of the eye-opening advances along with new insights into how known contributors to longevity, such as exercise, can be more effectively applied. Dr. Frochtzwajg will describe how he is incorporating this growing body of research into his family practice and finds himself focusing more of his time with his patients talking about these accessible modifications to their lives, which has the potential for a bigger impact on the patient’s health span than simply prescribing medication.

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Tour of the County Emergency Operations Center
March 23, 2023 at 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm

You are invited to visit the state-of-the-art Santa Barbara County Emergency Operations Center located at 4408 Cathedral Oaks Road. You will be given a private tour of the facility by Fire Chief, Mark Hartwig and Director, County OEM Director Kelly Hubbard. You will hear from these professionals about the emergency notification system from the point of the initial 911 call, the importance of the mutual aid system, the use of mapping an incident to the notification of at risk individuals, the use of technology to monitor an emergency and much more. There will be time for questions as well.

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Caregivers: How to Get ’em, How to Keep ’em, How to Support ’em
February 23, 2023 at 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm

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Gray Panthers Santa Barbara Network Annual Meeting
January 25, 2023 at 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm

You are invited to the Gray Panthers Santa Barbara Network Annual Meeting to be held via Zoom on Wednesday, January 25 at 5:00 p.m. At the meeting, members will elect our officers (chair, recording secretary, membership secretary, and treasurer) as well as the Board of Directors, some for a one-year term and others for a two-year term.  Let us know immediately if you are interested in serving as an officer or member of the Board so we may include you in the election process.  If interested, please email info@sbgraypanthers.org with your contact information and a statement about why you are interested in serving. We welcome your input on issues you would like the Gray Panthers to address in the coming months.  Our policies can be found on our webpage at:  www.sbgraypanthers.org.

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2022

Gray Panthers Event: The Wisdom of Elders
June 13, 2022 at 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm

Thank you for attending our forum, The Wisdom of Elders where four of our wise community members Pravrajika Vrajaprana, David Moore, Lois Capps, and Steve Cohen will be sharing their pearls of wisdom.

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2021

WHO IS SCAMMING YOU NOW? – COVID-19 and Current Scams, a Financial Pandemic
November 8, 2021 at 5:00 pm

This free forum will be of interest to seniors, as well as their family members and care givers, in addressing such issues as:

• The use of fear, isolation and desperate need to trick victims
• Current scams in Santa Barbara County and nation-wide
• What to do to avoid being scammed
• Fraud prevention and intervention
• Victim support

Featured Speaker:
Vicki Johnson, Senior Deputy District Attorney

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Pills or No Pills, that is the Question: how best to improve the quality of life for seniors
September 14, 2021 at 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm

Featured Speaker: Dr. Camille Hunter, CEO of Coastal Geriatrics

This forum will be of interest to seniors, as well as their family members and care givers, in addressing such issues as:

• Newer approaches to senior wellness
• Inappropriate prescription use in the older population: when too many medications in combination become problematic
• ‘Goals of care’ impact decisions about independent living, discussions with family about end-of-life issues (such as advanced directives), and issues of basic health maintenance such as mammograms or statins
• Maximizing quality of life now: the importance of exercise, diet, and social contact

Given possible risks involved with the highly contagious Delta variant of Covid-19, we have decided to make this forum, like our previous ones, Zoomed. Please register here and we will send you a Zoom link shortly before the forum.

Meeting Recording

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/93x1SPctKh5-ptu6HohNvUhFgBgN8yu9zvsqtdISXoxAOW2AmDimt4z-osJxcPUJ.edfNPsDz0MR9w-dV

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Forum on Gender: How Much Has Changed Since We Were Young(er)!!!
June 29, 2021 at 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm

Kristin Flickinger, J.D., Executive Director, Pacific Pride Foundation and Marian Shapiro, MSW, Retired SBCC Instructor of The Psychology of Human Sexuality

This forum was another success, with over 50 folks attending. Here is a link to watch it online; you can also see the questions and comments participants added during the program. Enjoy!

Meeting Recording

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/eAp8vkJz2j0SJzWrA2mkEUWeydBrqsVyCHRH60svscVxsULIO6E3ELjjRiik4kiX.E8fUFaao4bp6jlPW?startTime=1625011422000

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Forum on California legislation affecting seniors
April 27, 2021 at 5:00 pm

Featuring our State Senator Monique Limón and Assemblymember Steve Bennet

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Covid-19 Vaccination Rollout
February 8, 2021 at 4:30 pm

Zoom Forum on the Covid-19 vaccination rollout: What’s Working and What’s Not? Featuring Dr. Peggy Dodds, County Public Health Officer and Jan Koegler, County Public Health Emergency Preparedness Manager.

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