Abstract:

Introduction:
Health and education are intimately related and independent themes. It’s not possible to think of promoting health without education. For this reason, it’s desirable that the social practices in this field always seek greater approximation and interchange. In all society, the health care ways are normally measured by informal and institutional educational processes presented in social relations. Many professionals ignore the fact they educate even when they do not have such intention, while others reproduce a vertical and depersonalized educative action based on a restricted comprehension of health as lack of disease and of education as mere information transmission.

Objectives:
Promote the dialog between the technical-scientific knowledge and the popular one acquired by the elderly.

Methodology:
It is the experience report of an extension project carried out by the University of the State of Amazon and the Pastoral of the Elderly. The work was developed with 60 elder people members of the Pastoral of the Elderly group in Petropolis neighborhood, Manaus, Amazon, Brazil. The intent was to develop a methodology of Popular Education in Health starting from the idea that the promotion of elderly health is constructed with him, and not for him, involving in this process experiences able to stimulate critical reflections in the elderly about themselves and their reality. Conversation circles were performed weekly by the own elderly during nine months, with various topics chosen by them.

Results:
it was elaborated leaflets and conversation circles, in which the own elderly collaborated with the choice of subjects taking into consideration the necessity of their fellows. It was observed that the themes of greatest interest were: abuse and elderly rights. The information became relevant for their daily lives, incentivizing change of habits and improving knowledge about health and quality of life for them and their family. Another important aspect observed was the strengthening in the application of the theory into practice by the academies involved in the project. The possibility of acting in the community was valued and the changes and readaptations of concepts and knowledge through talking and ideas exchanging can be easily observed.

Conclusion:
The interaction with the group of elderly allowed to raise curiosity, uneasiness and popular knowledge related to the practice of healthy habits as well as demanded issues by the elderly. The conversation circle allowed a greater intergenerational bond, in which young students and the elderly exchange experience, strengthening the respect that must exist between generations.

Keywords:

Aging, Popular Education.