The Age Wave and Aging Tech
What is so crystal clear is that technology is an essential part to riding the age wave in America and helping people live independently. Robert Powell of CBS Marketwatch.Com outlines some of this technology in his article entitled 'Not Your Father’s Emergency Response System.' You can see technology at work at Ecumen here and download Ecumen whitepapers on technology here. To see more technology, visit the Center for Aging Services Technologies, which has a great web site.
5 Ways Congregational Senior Housing Is Changing Aging and Ministry
Recently, I had the opportunity to sit in on a session about congregational senior housing at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Eastern Washington/Idaho Synod Assembly. I learned some interesting things about how this type of collaboration makes so much sense for communities and congregations of all denominations seeking to ride the age wave and expand ministry work.Presenters were Pastor Dave Olson of First Lutheran Church in Sandpoint, Idaho, Steve Ordahl, senior vice president of business development at Ecumen and Dana Wollschlager, director of real estate development at Ecumen. First Lutheran Church and Ecumen are developing senior housing called Luther Park of Sandpoint, which will be connected to First Lutheran Church (above is an architectural rendering). Ecumen is the developer and will manage it upon opening later this year. 5 Key Points About Congregational Senior Housing:1. Builds Connections Across Generations: Pastor Dave elevates with excitement when he talks about the opportunities for intergenerational connections at First Lutheran. First Lutheran operates an early childhood learning program that will be enhanced by the wisdom and friendships of new neighbors at Luther Park. And he sees Luther Park’s new residents benefitting from learning from their young friends. Congregational senior housing can be an effective vehicle for fostering meaningful intergenerational connections.2. Creates Bridges in the Community: I assumed that it would be all people who are already connected with First Lutheran who are moving to Luther Park. My assumption was wrong. There are a number of people who don’t attend First Lutheran today who are moving in. Also, Pastor Dave talks about how a lot more people know about First Lutheran in the Sandpoint area now that they are offering this housing option. It’s building bridges in the community.3. Enhances What It Means to be a Community: The most successful congregations and most successful senior housing are truly 'communities,' not simply bricks and mortar. People care for each other … respect each other … learn from each other … grow and develop … and are proud of being member of their congregation and their neighborhood. Congregational senior housing can capture and enhance what it means to be a community.4. Provides Another Appealing Draw to the Church: As I listened to Pastor Dave explain the many neat things about this expansion of First Lutheran’s ministry, you can see how the church-senior housing integration can be a draw to attract new members to a parish. You immediately sense that this is a place that has vision and is committed to being there for their parishoners for the long-term. That’s a comforting thought.5. Expands Ministry Resources: Pastor Dave conveyed how Luther Park will provide positive cash flow to First Lutheran Church. Congregational senior housing is a ministry that if done right can generate financial resources to benefit and help expand other ministries and create new synergies that make churches and communities stronger.A lot of people talk about the challenges of a large, aging population. As First Lutheran Church of Sandpoint is showing, there are also a lot of opportunities.
Mature Market Experts: A New Online Networking Opportunity
There are a lot of senior housing and aging services professionals in a whole bunch of different professional sectors from journalism to technology to health care to development, but there are few online resourcs to bring them together. I want to share with you a new resource called Mature Market Experts.It’s a free networking group connecting investors, bankers, real estate developers, consumer goods companies, health care professionals, journalists and marketing experts who are interested in serving the senior marketplace. In short, if you serve, market to, or write about people who are 50+, this is the group for you. The goal of this group is to help members:- Reach other members of Mature Market Experts- Accelerate networking/careers/business through referrals from Mature Market Experts members- Know more than a name - view rich professional profiles from fellow Mature Market Experts Group membersTo join, go to group founder and moderator Tom Mann’s LinkedIn profile, http://www.linkedin.com/in/trmannconsulting and scroll down until you see the Mature Market Experts badge. Just click on it and send an email explaining that you’d like to join and what your connection is to the 50+ marketplace.In addition, the group has a blog (http://maturemarketexperts.wordpress.com/). The goal of the blog is to keep you up to date with current senior trends and profession news and serve as a collection point for profession related events. Contributors will include:-Mark Miller writes Retire Smart, a weekly newspaper column syndicated by Tribune Media Services, and publishes RetirementRevised, the online companion to the column. He also has a wonderful blog 50+ Digital.- Dan Rexford, Partner, Equity Partners Inc. Dan is the former Executive Vice President of Marketing at Erickson Retirement Communities, with over 18 years in the retirement community industry.-Jodi Rudick, author. Jodi is putting the finishing touches on a book to be published by Human Kinetics focused on programming/marketing recreation services to baby boomers.- Tom Mann, President, TR Mann Consulting, which is an independent marketing consulting firm focused on real estate, media and the senior marketplace. His clients include 50+ communities, health care companies and media outlets, including GRAND, a magazine written for today’s active grandparents.I also will occasionally contribute, and the group is also looking for bloggers from other areas to contribute (i.e. doctors, bankers, social workers, etc.) If you are interested, contact Tom Mann at trmann@verizon.net.
Aging Services of California’s Changing Aging Videos
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=VmgHRG8hPFg[/youtube]I dig these videos by Aging Services of California, the association that represents California’s non-profit aging services companies. They all come under the theme: Age is Just a Number.. They’re right. This is the kind of positioning and creativity that gets people excited about aging. It underscores that aging is all about living … even at the end of life.
Kathryn Roberts on Aging Services: Deliver The Right Care in the Right Place at the Right Time
Policymakers across the country are wondering what to do about rising health care costs and increased needs for aging services coming from the age wave. Ecumen CEO Kathryn Roberts discusses this in the article below, which appeared on the editorial page of yesterday’s Saint Paul Pioneer Press:Deliver the Right Care in the Right Place at the Right TimeMinnesota spent $553 million on elder care last year. If the age wave and status quo continue on parallel tracks, we’ll soon hit unsustainable budgets and intergenerational conflict. You get a flavor for that right now as state policy-makers do their biannual budget dance with the elephant in the room €” aging services. Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s budget proposal slices more than $130 million in aging services over the next eight years, most of it from nursing homes. The Senate would delay a 2 percent cost-of-living adjustment to homecare employees, while the House would make no cuts and give nursing home workers a 2 percent pay increase. Even with a budget deficit, cuts to government-funded nursing homes aren’t the right tactic now. Most people don’t want to live in a government-funded nursing home. But 30,000 Minnesotans rely on their care. Because nursing home care is mostly paid for by government dollars that don’t cover the costs of care, many nursing homes have less than 10 days' cash on hand. Choosing between payroll and innovation isn’t a choice. The silver tsunami requires transformative thinking, not shortcuts to a dead end. Most people don’t need long-term' care and million-dollar nursing home stays. But serious disconnects in our patchwork health system often lead to institutionalizing people, over-doctoring, draining will and devouring public dollars. In a coordinated, localized short-term care system, people would move much more easily and with greater confidence from the hospital to coordinated care and services. A nursing home would be a specialized medical respite center for rehabilitation and chronic care management, not an underfunded institution where someone recovering from a hip replacement shares a wing with an Alzheimer’s patient. It also wouldn’t have the overhead of hospitals' emergency services, surgery suites and birthing centers. And it would pay providers based on the value we bring to the person and to coordinated health care. This is all about delivering the right care in the right place at the right time. If you’re not at the hospital or respite center, you’re in your own home or an assisted living facility served by professionals. A coordinated short-term care system is also predicated on not turning assisted living into a mega-regulated nursing home that thwarts independence and suffocates people’s willpower. In a paradigm-shifted approach, the respite center could be the medical home for chronic and elder care €” the technologically connected hub that coordinates all therapy and services among settings. That future is emerging in Duluth, where we’ve replaced an outdated nursing home with a short-term care center and independent, assisted-living and memory-care apartments. The focus is on getting people better so they can go home. If they need more care, it’s coordinated at an Ecumen-managed nursing home. Of 700 people we served last year at the short-term care center, only 30 went to the nursing home. A short-term, coordinated care system would be efficient and proactive. And it would lead with self-empowerment, which today too often gets compromised. Other states recognize this. In Oregon, you would spend less time in a government-funded nursing home than would nursing-home residents of any other state. Why? Oregon puts the biggest percentage of government dollars toward self-directed home care rather than institutional care. Why can’t Minnesota seniors who qualify for government-paid care self-direct that care at home? They can, but few people know about the state’s initiative called Consumer Directed Community Supports. In fact, it has only about 400 enrollees. Many of the thousands eligible will likely have more expensive nursing home stays in today’s mouse-in-the-maze health system. Minnesota had 69,000 seniors in 1950. We’re now approaching a million, many of whom will need some physical assistance. In the short term, we must forge a long-term strategy for growing old in Minnesota, not keep taking short cuts to a dead end. Kathryn Roberts is president and CEO of Shoreview-based Ecumen, Minnesota’s largest nonprofit senior housing and aging services company. She was recently appointed to the Minnesota Veterans Health Care Advisory Council.
Martha Stewart Talks Caregiving on Capitol Hill
The aging services drumbeat is getting louder … Yesterday was a big day on Capitol Hill as Martha Stewart testified before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging about caregiving. She, Robyn Stone from the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, John Rowe, MD of Columbia University and others had some very insightful testimony at the hearing entitled: Caring for our Seniors: How Can We Support Those on the Frontlines? You can read the testimony here.
Grumpy Seniors? Think Again Says University of Chicago Study
You have to have a certain degree of confidence to wear a Speedo (this blogger doesn’t have it). But we have customers, such as the one above, who do.We are fortunate to serve a lot of people who have found a great deal of contentment in their life, people who are comfortable 'in their skin.' In talking with them you’ll find authenticity, straightforwardness and happiness. A new study by the University of Chicago confirms what many in our profession know already . . . many Americans grow happier as they grow older. Interestingly, the next generation of seniors - the baby boomers - don’t score so high in the happiness study. Any thoughts as to why that’s the case?
Long-Term Care, What’s Age Got to Do With It?
That’s the question that our friends at Future of Aging are asking. They have a few others they’d like younger readers to think about on long-term care and how the heck they’ll pay for it, too. Go here to check the questions out . . . .They get you thinking.
Ecumen Community Honored for Senior Housing Design
The Villages of North Branch, an Ecumen community pictured above just north of Minneapolis has been named as one of the country’s top designed senior housing communities by a panel of judges convened by Design Magazine.
The 14-member panel of judges, which included a number of leading national architects, selected The Villages of North Branch as one of four winners for top design in the March issue of Design. Thirty-seven senior housing designs from across the nation qualified for the judging process.
The Ecumen community was honored for its focus on empowering residentsm its use of technology, household-based care philosophy and interior design. The Villages of North Branch provides assisted living, memory care, rehabilitation and nursing services.
To see what senior housing and care services looked like in North Branch before The Villages, go here. Talk about a new day.
A Different Kind of Play: All the Leading Men and Women are 70 or Older
Have you seen any plays where the leading actor or actress is over 70? I can’t think of any.The Mixed Blood Theater in Minneapolis is changing that.Minneapolis Star Tribune entertainment writer Graydon Royce calls Mixed Blood’s 'Exit Strategy' a theatrical Ocean’s 11 … a classic risk/reward scheme as a means out of a dump (In this case, the dump is the type of senior housing that makes us cringe.)The mean age of the three actors is just shy of 76. Exit Strategy producer and writer Bill Semans, 71, wrote and directed 'Herman USA,' a film from a few years ago about a small Minnesota town full of bachelors who advertised their availability and drew women from 37 states and four nations. I love his quote in Graydon’s story:
'I hope this is the best thing I’ve ever done. And if it’s not, I’ll keep trying.'