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Agnes Malabanan was born and raised in Manila, Philippines! She grew up in a close-knit community, surrounded by the vibrant colors and rich traditions of her home

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She and her late husband Michael had 6 kids. Jenny, Shiela, Catherine, Bernard, Jerry and Michael. Each one of her kids had a special flare to them. She loved each of them for their vibrant and different personalities!

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Her favorite thing to do is knitting. She loved scarf making and altering clothes. She's an absolute wizard with a sewing machine too!

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She channeled her spirit as an entrepeneur as her children grew older. Agnes explored small business opportunities by selling homemade Filipino goods!

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Agnes loves talking to her grandkids about her old life in the Philippines. The beautiful weather, beaches, food and culture were her favorite things!

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Agnes was able to create a bridge between her roots and the diverse experiences of her children and grandchildren.

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Throughout the year, she travels to spend some time with each of her three daughters. She spends time in California with Shiela, West Virginia with Jenny, and in Amsterdam with Catherine

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She described the best things that age brought her had to do with the family she built. Being able to watch her kids become adults, and those adults building a family of their own. Her six grandkids have become the new pride in her life. All of them have become successful in their own type of way.

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To my Lola Agnes,

Thank you for sharing your time, experiences, and stories with me. I appreciated learning a lot about our family, and specifically the things that I did not know about you. It felt like I was missing a big part of myself by not knowing a lot about how life was back in the Philippines. With both of my parents moving to the states in 1995, it created a very interesting circumstance growing up. It was an absolute blessing to have you around growing up too. There were so many days that you had to be left with me and Anthony, even though we were troublesome at times. I regret not asking you the questions I did today earlier in life. It would have changed my perspective and outlook on life much earlier. I’ve learned a lot about what it means to age gracefully and enjoy different aspects of life. Having more pride in my family and their accomplishments, rather than living with a tunnel-visioned and selfish perspective was definitely one of my greatest takeaways.

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What have been your reactions, the older adult’s responses to you, the relationship and the focus on life story?

I thought that I had a very eye opening experience talking with my grandma. She was very receptive to everything that I had to ask. I learned a lot about how hectic life was before everyone decided to move away from the Philippines. The way that they lived then compared to now was very interesting to hear about. Her eyes opened up when I wanted to know more about her and our family.

Explain how you adapted your communication, presence, active listening, and other therapeutic communication techniques to facilitate the reminiscing process. Why did you choose these approaches? What were the outcomes (effects)? Draw at least two connections of learning to information learned from the assigned readings.

I had to change a lot about the way I usually speak with my peers. The language barrier was the greatest challenge for me in this project. My tagalog is conversational at best, and her English may be worse. A lot of our conversation had to be slowed down. There were a lot of emotions that we had to interpret through signs and body language. I chose to do things this way because I felt it was the best way to get the raw emotions and feelings out of both parties. I chose to discuss why I was gathering her life story in a way that was digestible for her. We had two private FaceTime calls, this ensured that she felt comfortable and calm when talking about sensitive information.

Reflect on the words/phrases you listed at the beginning of this course (shown in your Elder Life Story: Part 1 in the Padlet). Did your thoughts or feelings change as a result of this assignment? Why or why not?

The phrases that I listed from Part 1 are: wisdom, tired, knowledgeable, frail and sweet. For the mostpart, I’d keep these words the same. My grandma is a very wise and knowledgeable person. She had a lot of memories to share with me, which came with life lessons at each part. Though, I have seen her physical health deterioriate, especially over the past 5-6 years or so. She had a fall 2 years ago that left her hip in bad shape, and her overall energy levels are starting to decline. The last word I mentioned was sweet. My grandma is one of the most kind hearted and loving people I know, and that feeling stays true after this interview.

All knowledge and skills used in this setting are transferable to all settings for nursing practice. Briefly discuss how this experience might impact your future nursing practice, regardless of the setting or population (e.g. peds, young adult, etc.).

I think that this experience has given me great tools about communication with older adults. Changing the cadence of the way I speak, not asking leading questions, and being both emotionally and physically available for them when necessary. Being a versatile communicator is something that is extremely crucial to being a nurse. Adding another exchange of being adaptable to what someone needs was a great way to practice translating my communication skills.