Changing AgingChanging AgingAn open discussion on aging services and successful aging Articles
In Sickness and In Health, Until Death Do Us Part
2007-11-15 16:41:00 Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor brought a great deal of awareness to breast cancer when she went public with her story. Today she’s shedding new light on Alzheimers disease and caregiving. Her husband, who was diagnosed with Alzheimers 17 years ago, has moved into an assisted living community in Arizona for memory care. He’s also begun an ... More About: Health , Death , Sickness , Part
Changing Aging and Back to the Classroom
2007-11-15 00:20:00 Could you see yourself doing a completely different job when you retire than the one you’re currently doing? Many boomers in our Age Wave study said they’ll be doing something very different when they hit their “third age.” In Maryland and California, they’re connecting the generations by bringing seniors and baby boomers back to the classroom ... More About: Back , Changing , Aging
An ELCA Senior Housing Partnership
2007-11-13 18:03:00 The Minneapolis Star Tribune had a nice article yesterday on Luther Park, a senior housing development that we are very excited to be part of in Sandpoint, Idaho. The first project of its kind in Idaho, it’s a great example of collaboration among Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) partners to help people live for a lifetime in ... More About: Senior , Housing
Thank You to Our Veterans
2007-11-12 17:47:00 At Ecumen, we have the honor of serving many people who generously served their country. On this Veterans Day, we say “Thank You” to all those who have served America and are doing so today. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B81kW814q A More About: Hank
How Information Impacts Perception
2007-11-09 18:19:00 It’s amazing how our perception can change with just a little more information. Check out this video. Have a great weekend! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k08yxu57N A More About: Information , Perception
Most Baby Boomers Think They Have Long-Term Care Coverage
2007-11-09 17:19:00 As we face the nation’s age wave, there’s a big disconnect between fact and reality for the country’s 78 million baby boomers when it comes to who they think is going to pay for their long-term care. What an innovation opportunity for policymakers. Without innovation, government-funded long-term care is going to eat up billions of dollars of state ... More About: Baby , Care , Boomers , Long , Baby Boomers
The University of Wisconsin’s Great Resource
2007-11-08 23:51:00 A couple of “thanks” here from Changing Aging at Ecumen. Ric Shafer, a Changing Aging reader, recently put us on to the Center for Demography of Health and Aging at the Univers ity of Wisconsin-Madison. Jack Solock of the UW’s Center sends out a daily digest of aging and retirement news from around the globe. It’s absolutely fascinating. If you’d like to sign up to receive their daily email updates, go here. Thank you to Ric for notifying our readers and thank you Jack for the updates. More About: Great , Resource
25 Visions of Successful Aging
2007-11-08 16:36:00 Posted by Kathy Bakkenist, Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President of Strategy and Operations Recently I blogged about several intergenerational focus groups we recently did of members of the Baby Boom Generation, Silent Generation and Greatest Generation. How would you answer this question?: If you could create your ideal future, how would you describe it? Here are answers from our focus group participants: - Close friends nearby, a strong sense of community. - Comfort, safety, good health. - Balance of being independent and having a community around you. - Stimulating community that allows me to expand my horizons as I age. - Friends, health. But I want some key things to be easy - computer repair, plumbing problems, etc. - Lots of things I can walk to. To live a pedestrian life. - Health and vitality. - Health support, so even if I’m at home there are resources I can tap into - like coming home from the hospital and not having to go to assisted living. - ... More About: Aging , Visions
Caring Connections and Communities in Rural America
2007-11-07 23:27:00 Back in August, we blogged about a Chicago Tribune story on “outsourcing long-term care to India.” The story was about a son moving his father there for care, because he’d get more personal attention and it was less expensive. Also, a recent ABC News story looked at people moving from the United States to get long-term care in Mexico. These ... More About: America , Communities , Rural , Ural , Connections
Successful Aging: Finding Joy in Service
2007-11-06 17:51:00 Key to successful aging are feeding and growing your social, spiritual, and vocational parts of who you are. The other day Linda Hanson of the Duluth News Tribune did a wonderful story of a person who exemplifies this (We’d link to it, but the News Tribune hasn’t put it online.) The story was about Monsignor Patrick McDowell, who resides at Ecumen’s Lakeshore community in Duluth and is pictured here with Bayshore and Lakeshore chaplain Rev. Alice Olson. (For our readers around the country saying to themselves ”I recognize that guy.” You’re right, Monsignor McDowell was the priest in the movie North Country.) We’d like to share a few excerpts from the story: When Monsignor Patrick McDowell moved into an apartment at Lakeshore in Duluth, he felt uncharacteristically shy about meeting other residents. A Catholic priest since 1954, he had served several Duluth Diocese parishes and always felt accepted, but at Lakeshore he didn’t... More About: Service , Aging
Thank You Changing Aging Readers
2007-11-06 17:22:00 THANK YOU! When we started this blog several months ago, we had zero readers. Today we are approaching 2,000 subscriptions from around the country. We didn’t advertise. People who have found us share an interest and passion in “changing aging.” If each of you tell one other person to subscribe to Chan g ing Aging , and they do, we could have an online community of 4,000 very soon. Thank you for your interest in Changing Aging . . . and for spreading the word. More About: Readers
What Words Would You Change?
2007-11-05 17:41:00 “Honey, I can hardly wait to move into the Skilled Nursing Facility.” Can you imagine anyone saying that? We have to stop using the F Word (facility).  Also, in aging services, shouldn’t we make it an assumption that the people we employ are skilled? I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to move to a place where people aren’t skilled. The aging services profession is all about serving people, but lots of the language we use in our profession isn’t very people-centric. Language is a powerful shaper of the images we create in our mind. For example, people who wanted a new baseball stadium for the Minnesota Twins, stopped using the word “stadium” and changed it to “ballpark.”  One word connotes a large, sterile facility amid an asphalt jungle. The other: blue skies, Cracker Jacks, apple pie and nostalgia. Baby boomers told us in our Age Wave Study that they can’t stand a number of the wor... More About: Change , Words , Chang , Chan
What We Can Learn From Bees
2007-11-05 17:19:00 Jerry Seinfeld has a new hit movie out called Bee Movie. In an interview with Colin Covert of the Star Tribune last Friday, he had some interesting things to say about “work.” We saw the same themes in our Age Wave Study. Covert: [Seinfeld] dislikes coasting Ask him why and you get a surprisingly earnest response.  Seinfeld: Nobody wants to just turn to mush, you know?. . . .You work because you think you have something to offer. I think that working actually keeps you alive . . . One of the little messages I put in the movie is the importance of work, because it’s a big part of bee life. They work very hard their whole lives. Working hard and doing small jobs carefully makes a big difference in the world. More About: Bees , Learn
A New Halloween Tradition
2007-11-01 21:06:00 Hope you had a great Halloween . They sure did at The Villages of North Branch, a new Ecumen community. Invites from Pam Dolin and Julie Walton brought about 400 area kids trick or treating at The Villages, starting a new Halloween tradition. More About: Tradition , Allo
Blessing of The Animals
2007-11-01 20:56:00 Many of us have pets that we absolutely love and are essential to our home being “home.” Lakeshore, an Ecumen community in Duluth, was the site of a great ecumenical Blessing of the Animals service. The service was led by Rev. Alice Olson, chaplain at the Lakeshore and Bayshore communities; Lakeshore resident Monsignor Patrick McDowell; and Rev. Cy Solberg, who doubled as St. Francis of Assisi. Pretty neat seeing the march of cats and dogs of all sizes walking, prancing and trotting into the Lakeshore chapel. Here are more photos:                        Â
Dr. Bill Thomas and Changing Aging
2007-10-30 23:14:00 Three years ago as we were just beginning our transformation work at Ecumen, we had the honor of Dr. Bill Thomas speaking at our annual leadership conference. Many of you know Dr. Thomas . . . he’s a geriatrician, teacher, author, inventor, innovator, and a darn energetic, warm and funny person, among other things. Eden Alternative, Eldershire, Green House, . . . all came out of Dr. Thomas’ mind and action. Now you can read his thoughts on a more frequent basis. He’s started a great new blog at The Erickson School in Baltimore where he serves on the faculty. The name of his blog is Chang ing Aging . No . . . the blog writers at Ecumen and Dr. Thomas didn’t copy each other . . . We’re just part of that growing part of society that sees the possibilities in gaining seniority in this world and “changing aging.”  Welcome to the blogosphere, Dr. Thomas. We salute your work in Changing Aging.Â
Keeping Track of Your Medical Records
2007-10-30 23:00:00 Increasingly doctors’ offices are going to all-digital records. Now people too, can save all of their medical information in one place and share it with the radiologist, neurologist and allergist all in the same day. Microsoft just came out with its healthvault program where you can upload all of your medical information for free, so you have it in one easy access place.   They are working with another partner so that for a fee of $9.95 per year you can make that information available to emergency medical personnel who will be able to type into a cell phone to get your information in an emergency. If you’d like to learn about the various and growing products being offered for people to keep track of their personal health records, go to www.myphr.com, a service of the American Health Information Management Association. More About: Medical , Track , Records , Cord
What Do People Want?
2007-10-26 18:53:00 Posted by Kathy Bakkenist, Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President of Strategy and Operations What do people want? That question looms so largely in our work at Ecumen. And that’s why we conduct a significant amount of research with our current and future customers.   Many of you have read our Age Wave Study. Recently we conducted an intergenerational series of three 2-hour Twin Cities focus groups, largely of baby boomers and members of The Silent Generation, those born between the two World Wars. We also had several members of the Greatest Generation. All are currently living independently, most in condos or town homes. We asked them to think about living life as older people and what would be their ultimate lifestyle. I’d like to share with you some interesting themes that cut across all of the focus group sessions: -         All About Community: They want to be connected to other people and integrally involved in the life and e... More About: People
Congratulations for a Job Well Done!
More articles from this author:2007-10-25 21:59:00  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R4rQDgpt9 4 Today is “Best Places to Work” day at Ecumen in honor of Ecumen being named A Best Place to Work” for the third straight year by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. Here is the third part of Ecumen Vice President of Human Resources Robin Krause’s conversation with CEO Kathryn Roberts on creating a great place to work. You can view the other two parts (that thing called ”It”) here and (key ingredients to a great place to work) here. Make it a “Great Place to Work.” More About: Congratulations , Done , Well 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
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