Duluth News Tribune Story on Ecumen's Alzheimer's Initiative
The Duluth News Tribune had a good story this weekend on Ecumen's Awakenings initiative to reduce antipsychotic drugs in nursing homes. You can read it here.
Violet Smith Takes the Pitching Mound on her 109th Birthday
This might go down as the best opening day pitching ceremony in the U.S. this year. Violet Smith, pictured above, throughout the first pitch at the Great Lakes Loons' opening game last Thursday. To top it off, it was her 109th birthday. Here's more from WNEM-TV in Midland, Michigan.
Sandbagging Creativity of Ecumen Customers in Fargo
Above our some of the 50 sandbags designed by our customers at Ecumen Evergreens at Fargo. Thankfully, it looks as though our residents and team members will not have to evacuate this year from their homes as the water has met its crest in Fargo Moorhead. Good thoughts to others along the Red River.
Ecumen's Awakenings Alzheimer's Initiative Stories on Minnesota Public Radio and KBJR
Minnesota Public Radio's Dan Olson did a long story the other day on Ecumen's Awakenings Initiative to reduce antipsychotic drugs in nursing homes. That was followed by a TV story in Duluth on KBJR-TV. You can read more about Awakenings here.
The Kindle, IPad and Ageless Usability
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The beauty of design increases when it and makes life easier and more enjoyable. Kudos to new technology that through design is creating appeal across generations. Take Amazon's Kindle, for example. The portable reader can appeal equally to a reader with 20/20 vision and someone who typically would rely on "big-print" books.
A limitation of big-print books, especially the hottest titles, is they can be difficult to get at the local library or purchase online. And the largest ones can be quite heavy. The Kindle solves those problems with adjustable print and ease of portability.
Apple's iPad is another tool that isn't just built for seniors or young people. But it's touch screen navigation, bold graphics and light size and portability make it highly usable for multi-generations and physical abilities to read, watch movies, and do everything else one can do on a desktop or laptop.
Here's to more technology that crosses the ages.
Americans Living Longer and U.S. Death Rate Falls for 10th Straight Year
We're living longer according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and death rate is falling. Life expectancy at birth increased to 78.2 years in 2009, up slightly from 78.0 years in 2008. Life expectancy was up two-tenths of a year for males (75.7 years) and up one-tenth of a year for females (80.6 years). The age-adjusted death rate for the U.S. population fell to an all-time low of 741 deaths per 100,000 people in 2009 — 2.3 percent lower than the 2008 rate, according to preliminary 2009 death statistics released last week by CDC's National Center for Health Statistics. This marks the 10th year in a row that U.S. deaths rates have declined.
Read the CDC news release here and full report here.
Raymond
This music video by country artist Brett Eldredge, entitled Raymond, beautifully embodies patient-centered care in memory-loss situations.
Innovation Emanating from Minnesota Nursing Homes
TIME Magazine hasn't yet had a cover story on "innovation in nursing homes." But that's been the subject of recent articles by Warren Wolfe of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. He wrote yesterday about a new initiative by our colleagues at Benedictine Health System to reduce falls in nursing homes. And earlier Warren told a story about Ecumen's Awakenings initiative to reduce the use of antisychotic drugs in nursing homes.
In addition to how these initiatives are designed to improve lives, what's also common about them is that they involve multi-million dollar investment by government. Neat to see these stories of innovation and collaboration to improve lives coming out of The Land of 10,000 Lakes.
Jim Klobuchar: Maybe We Need Therapy for Harassed Donors
Jim Klobuchar, Ecumen Changing Aging blog contributor, feels the pain of being inundated by fundraising calls and has an idea. . . .
Most of the American medical and insurance industries have been too traumatized grappling over the health plan to offer relief to the American public from a creeping threat to the sanity of millions.
A few days ago I received 12 solicitations for money. It was a typical day’s harvest. Five came by phone and seven by postal mail. Others are on the way by land or by sea as we speak and a few more undoubtedly will drop in by air unless the next snowstorm shuts down the runways.
I don’t resent any of them except for the one from a political party not of my choosing, warning me that the America stands on the brink of destruction at the hands of its opponents, who I have been supporting for 50 years.
It’s not hard to understand this daily outpouring of need. The government is broke. School systems are shutting down, non-profits are bailing, millions of jobs have been shipped overseas and millions of Americans are standing in line for food. The law enforcement agencies are stressed and the appeals to support what we once called our quality of life are running off the charts.
So most of the time when the phone rings it’s not from my worried relatives or from the church telling me to get up at 6 a.m. because it’s my turn to cook at the Saturday men’s breakfast. That was then. What’s wearing me down today is the aggregate guilt that’s being dumped on my head by the telephone solicitors.
Most of these people are schooled in the craft of maneuvering you into the awkward position of sounding cheap, insensitive uncaring or both. I don’t suppose you can blame them. A substantial share of the calls come from professional fund-raising companies that are paid to be both stubborn, relentless and sometimes sly. A lot of them represent prestigious services and life-saving organizations and have been instructed to insist on an irrevocable, God- is-our witness pledge over the phone to seal the commitment. The implication is that anything less brands the hapless respondent as a weasel or a selfish boor.
So yesterday morning the phone rang and the caller ID told me it was from a fund-raiser for a cause to which I have contributed several times. I answered and was greeted heartily. “Good morning,” I said, “how are you? I’m in Minnesota. Where are you.?”
“I’m in San Antonio, Texas. Thanks for asking. I see you have made a contribution to our appeal before and, again, thank you. We appreciate this and would like you to help us again because we know you are interested in our work.”
To which I answered. “I receive a number of calls like this every day, just like you do. If I responded with money to each one I’d be headed for the poor farm by the end of the month. I’ll tell you how I try to manage this and be fair. I don’t have unlimited means but I do give as much as I can. At the end of each week I take all of the appeals I have received, by phone or mail but especially by mail because that’s what I would like you to do. I go through these mailed appeals with their optional gift levels and ask, “Which one of these have I helped before, which one is new, which of these have the benefit of large national constituencies and which come from small, out of the way causes in need of friends—maybe a place for homeless kids in one of the Dakotas. After sifting through these, I try to make a reasonable decision. I know you do mailings so I’m asking you to send me your request by mail so that I can determine which groups to help this month.”
I thought this plan eminently reasonable. It was met by immediate rejection.
“We can’t do that. Sending you an envelope means extra expense, and we found that a lot of people promise and never come through.”
“You don’t mean you can’t mail the envelope,” I said, “You mean you’d rather not.”
“I want you to tell me whether you’re going to help us or not,” the voice said.
I tried to explain that I’d already helped this organization four times over a two-year span. “Now I understand you not only want me send you money again but I have to play by your rules.”
He hung up.
The net effect of this 5-minute conversation which I thought I approached with quiet reason and good will was to leave me feeling ambushed, infuriated and the reincarnation of Ebenezer Scrooge.
I’m considering endowing a small therapy service for abused donors.
I promise not to solicit you for contributions more than four times a year.
About Jim Klobuchar:
In 45 years of daily journalism, Jim Klobuchar’s coverage ranged from presidential campaigns to a trash collector’s ball. He has written from the floor of a tent in the middle of Alaska, from helicopters, from the Alps and from the edge of a sand trap. He was invited to lunch by royalty and to a fist fight by the late Minnesota Viking football coach, Norm Van Brocklin. He wrote a popular column for the Minneapolis Star Tribune for 30 years and has authored 23 books. Retiring as a columnist in 1996, he contributes to Ecumen’s “Changing Aging” blog, MinnPost.com and the Christian Science Monitor. He also leads trips around the world and an annual bike trip across Northern Minnesota. He’s climbed the Matterhorn in the Alps 8 times and has ridden his bike around Lake Superior. He’s also the proud father of two daughters, including Minnesota's senior U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar.
Lifelong Housing Design Forum Next Monday at University of Minnesota
The Vital Aging Forum has a neat and free event coming up next Monday. Pre-registration is necessary due to space limitations.
Lifelong Housing Design: Options and costs for upgrading your home
Parking instructions can be found at the bottom of the email.
Monday, March 14, 2011
9:30AM to 12:30PM
McNeal Hall
Goldstein Museum of Design
1985 Buford Avenue #364
Saint Paul, MN 55108-6134 [map]
Presenters:
Lyn Bruin, Housing Studies Associate Professor, College of Design, University of Minnesota
Jodi Riha, Master's Student, College of Design, University of Minnesota
Diane Sprague, Lifetime Home Project
Ron Peterson, Residential Energy Auditor, ENERVISION
Steve Johnson, Sustainable Resources Center
Jim and Maria, a fictional couple in their mid 60s, want to refurbish their 1960s home so they can continue to enjoy their active, engaged lifestyle into their 80s. What can they do? The University of Minnesota's Goldstein Museum is displaying their refurbished Smart House for visitors to tour.
In this forum, a museum curator will narrate a one-hour, hands-on tour of the house. An interactive exhibit will provide options for retrofitting existing entrances to homes. Presentations will address ways to upgrade a home to meet evolving needs, the costs of these remodels, and suggestions on how to get started.
The University of Minnesota is on spring break this week, making parking less of an issue. People can park at the Gortner Ramp, 1395 Gortner Avenue, at a rate of $3 per hour, up to a daily maximum of $12. The State Fair grounds has parking lot with a daily rate of $3.75. This lot is about a 5- to 10-minute walk uphill to McNeal Hall. Public transportation is also available through Metro Transit.