A Prayer from Pastor Ron Gerl
There are many heavy hearts in Minnesota and across the country today. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those families and many people who have been impacted by the Minneapolis bridge tragedy. Pastor Ron Gerl is the chaplain at the Ecumen community of Parmly LifePointes in Chisago City, Minn. This is a beautiful prayer that he wrote and we’d like to share it with you.
Prayer for the Disaster on 35W
Gracious Creator God, we forget sometimes that we are fragile beings living within a fragile world. In the Twin Cities we have been reminded of that reality with the I35W bridge collapse over theMississippi River yesterday. We are stunned and shocked by the destruction and loss of life so near to us. As we reel from the overwhelming current disaster give us the faith to call upon your power, give us the compassion to lift up in prayer all those who suffer due to loss of life and injury, and give us a caring spirit for all in present need.As we read about and watch the reports of the destruction may we never grow callous to the need and suffering of those in need. Gracious Lord, welcome home those who have died and who suffer no more. Please be with those families who have not heard from loved ones and feel the agony of anticipated or unanticipated loss. Grant recovery and healing to all who have been injured and in hospital care. For everyone, send us your strength, courage, and hope in the hours, days, weeks, and months ahead. In the name of Christ, we pray Amen.
Senior Care Becoming a Business Issue
Thanks to Ecumen’s Rose Lenzner for bringing these stats to the Changing Aging blog:Politically, long-term care has mostly been an issue whose advocates have largely come from inside the profession, rather than diverse coalitions. Here are some interesting stats that indicate aging is increasingly becoming a business issue - and not just due to pending workforce shortages caused by retiring baby boomers:According to the MetLife Caregiving Cost Study done last summer: - The cost to U.S. employers with employees who care for a senior parent is $33.6 billion.- 40% of employed caregivers take on average 17 days of unpaid leave per year to care for an aging family member.- Only about 26% of U.S. companies provide any type of senior care benefit.You can feel this issue percolating and getting ready to pop …Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty recently took over the chairpersonship of the National Governor’s Association. Can’t fault him with making his focus issue energy; it’s a popular issue that impacts everyone. However, another great issue opportunity for him in his own state is aging … As a baby boomer, he’s set up perfectly to be a champion for 'changing aging.' Don’t know if he’ll be the person, but someone in public policy will see how many different constituencies this issue impacts and will step out and lead. The Ecumen Age Wave Study illustrates a number of opportunities (and low-hanging fruit) for policymakers that want to grab them.
A Letter to the Presidential Candidates
At Ecumen, we see technology as essentially important to helping seniors live independently or to maintain maximum independence in assisted living, memory care or other senior housing communities.Andy Grove, co-founder of Intel, wrote about this exact subject last month in an 'open letter to the Presidential candidates' in Fortune Magazine in which he recommended the use of technology to help keep seniors where they want to live. Here’s the excerpt from his letter:
KEEP PARENTS AT HOME. The cost of caring for the elderly is huge and will only grow as our population ages. Of the $440,000 the average American spends on health care in his lifetime, $280,000 will be spent after age 65. Probably 50% of that post-65 outlay goes to assisted-living facilities and nursing homes. So it stands to reason that if there were a way to keep elderly patients in their own homes longer without degrading quality of care we’d have a cheaper and better system.
And we can do just that using technology. I’m talking everyday, low-cost technology the sensors, microchips, small radios you’d find in today’s PCs, in cellphones, and in Bluetooth earpieces. It’s not too difficult to use this stuff as monitoring tools. Not to spy, but to detect trouble. For example, did the patient go outside to get the newspaper or did she wander away? Has the patient taken his meds? The same technology that brings us HBO can watch over the patient and trigger human intervention when needed.
A critical step to make this happen is to have it blessed and reimbursed by the dominant health-care supplier to the aged, Medicare. Candidates, I hope to see a phrase in your inauguration speech that starts like this: 'I will have Medicare define specifications for electronic equipment that allows the average aging citizen to stay home two years longer than today.'
Can we afford all this? Let’s do the math… . the savings achieved by keeping just 10% of the aging population in their homes can amount to $30 billion a year. So, yes, Mr./Ms. Presidential Candidate, we can afford it. Not making these reforms would be the same as burning $30 million a day at the local dump.
Commit to doing these two concrete things now. You will save money. You will improve the lives of millions of citizens. And you will demonstrate to yourself, and to all of us, that we are a country of doers. That is worth the program by itself.
THE PIONEER NETWORK CONFERENCE
1,000 pioneers are coming to the Twin Cities for tomorrow’s and Thursday’s annual Pioneer Network conference. If you’re coming to the 'culture change' workshop for long-term care and senior housing professionals, please stop by the Ecumen booth. We’d love to see you.
Resources for Family Caregivers
In Minnesota alone, everytime the ranks of family caregivers declines by 1%, it costs the state another $30 million.As we face the largest numbers of people ever needing care, many baby boomers and others are going to become caregivers. Johnson & Johnson sees this booming market and the need to provide information and support networks. Check out their new web site dedicated to people taking care of a loved one: www.strengthforcaring.com. It has all kinds of useful information in its online caregiving manual, a comparison chart for selecting senior housing options, financial planning information and an online community for caregivers … . kudos to Johnson and Johnson for this resource. What other information do you think would be useful for caregivers that people have difficulty finding? Are there other online resources that you’ve come across that are helpful to people as they navigate long-term care?
Changing Aging: The Zimmers
The Zimmers just make you feel good. While their singing is awesome, more interesting is their story below. In Minnesota and America, we have to get people out of isolation. AGING is about LIVING … . even at the very end of life.[youtube]S1ss_gzLTvM[/youtube]BY BOB RIPLEY, SUN MEDIA You might call it the rock of the ageless. Or Grand Funk.Either way, Zimmermania is spreading.The Zimmers, a band of 40 lonely old people have climbed, or perhaps shuffled, on to the British pop charts with their cover of The Who’s anthem, My Generation.The band takes their name from the Zimmer frame which is the British name for our walker. It was formed as part of a BBC documentary to show the isolation felt by many of the nation’s elderly.Alf, 90, sings lead vocals. The oldest member is 100-year-old Buster who still works as a plumber and is believed to be the oldest employee in Britain. Their combined age is over 3,000, slightly more than the Rolling Stones, stretching back to before Cleopatra and even Alexander the Great.Their video has been viewed more than 2.3 million times on YouTube.A few weeks ago Winnie, the 99-year-old, was mainly answering questions about what she wanted for supper in her senior’s home. Now it’s whether she’s covering Oasis' Live Forever if there’s an album.'Oh, I’m enjoying this very much' twinkles Winnie, before shuffling past the scrum into the TV studios. What has propelled Winnie into the midst of a global frenzy is being a member of the Zimmers, perhaps the most extraordinary pop sensation around.Zimmermania may be a funny frenzy, but its genesis was serious. It began as a documentary exposing the marginalization of the elderly and in the process challenges our preconceptions.Phyllis Diller used to say you know you’re getting old when your back goes out more than you do. Old age is not, as the saying goes, for sissies. But ultimately what matters most is not the condition of your arteries but your attitudes.When Abraham was 100 and Sarah was 90, they got news the stork was on his way at last. The Bible says Sarah laughed. It may have been to keep from crying, but it was still laughter. And when the baby came they named him Laughter, which is what Isaac means in Hebrew, because no other name would do.When you’re old you can be who you are, say what you feel, do what you want and let the chips fall where they may. Like King Lear, you can 'pray, and sing, and tell old tales and laugh at gilded butterflies.' You can even record a hit single.Profits from sales of My Generation go to Age Concern, Britain’s largest charity for the elderly.Watching the video of the Zimmers is both poignant and hilarious. But there’s something magical about watching lead singer Alf deliver the line, 'Hope I die before I get old.'Proving once again that you don’t grow old; you get old by not growing.
Looking Through a Different Lens
The other day we highlighted a new commercial from Erickson, an innovator in the Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) field. A few other interesting things from Erickson. They have a blog called e-chronicles here. They’ve done some very neat things in reaching out to their customers and beyond. The Erickson Tribune, which has become a lifestyle newspaper, that goes to 6.5 million people. They’ve also started Retirement TV, a cable television network. In addition Erickson also has underwritten a new undergraduate and graduate school program at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. It’s mission: To prepare a community of leaders who will use their education to improve society by enhancing the lives of older adults. Erickson has a number of resources that most organizations in senior housing and long-term care dream of. According to a 2006 Baltimore Sun article, Erickson planned to spend $20 million on their newspaper. But how they think and approach things is applicable to all organizations in terms of innovation: they have looked at aging differently and through that lens have developed new niches and met people’s desires in senior housing and aging services that weren’t being served. What other innovative ideas have you seen out there that are looking at aging differently?
Employee Innovation and Technology in Senior Housing and Long-Term Care
L to R: Tracy Meyers, Mark Hibbison, Wendy Traffie and Kathy Bakkenist next to the newly planted oak tree honoring the Lakeview Commons team.Yesterday was the first of two big celebrations within Ecumen. The team members at Lakeview Commons, an Ecumen assisted living community in Maplewood, were honored with Ecumen’s highest award: The Majestic Oak Award. Two years ago, the team at Lakeview Commons raised their hand to pilot QuietCare technology that helps us spot small health problems before they grow into larger ones. Their initial pilot of 20 people grew and grew. Today more than 600 customers at Ecumen Communities use QuietCare.Lakeview Commons and The Oaks and the Pines of Hutchinson were this year’s Majestic Oak winners for innovation. The Hutchinson celebration is coming up. Here’s how our online Innovation Station program works:
L to R: Care Attendants Jessica Wiszowaty and Cindy ObergAcorn Awards: All members of a innovation team receive acorns.Seedling Awards: Awarded to those innovations deemed 'Major Innovations.'Majestic Oak Award: Given to a team that develops a 'Major Innovation' and then helps other Ecumen communities develop it. The Oak Tree was planted at Lakeview Commons in honor of their achievement.Fertile Ground Award: Give to those communities who adapt a major innovation.You can read a recent Minneapolis Star Tribune article about the Innovation Station here. More information about all of this year’s winners can be found here.
The Age Wave and the Presidential Debates
Tonight on CNN, there is a unique debate where CNN editors will ask questions of the Democratic candidates for President. The questions will come from YouTube video questions submitted by viewers. Above are some samples. Wonder if there will be any questions asked about aging and how we’re preparing the country for the Age Wave. If you missed getting your question in for the Democrats, you can still do it for the upcoming Republican debate.
Futurist’s View of Long-Term Care Profession
Ian Morrisson is a futurist who deals a lot in healthcare and has spoken at a number of long-term care conferences. He’ll be one of the headliners at Mayo Clinic’s 2008 National Symposium on Health Care Reform. It’s kind of interesting to take a look back at what a futurist says and then what actually happens. Check out this excerpt from a 1999 Nursing Home magazine interview with Ian: Changing demographics related to an increase in the aging population continue to fuel the post-acute care industry. What are your thoughts on public policy in this area as we look ahead?
Morrison: The numbers of those over 65 really begin to increase starting in 2020. The fastest-growing segment of the population today is the group over 85 years old, and this is expected to continue. I think this creates tremendous opportunities and challenges. The post-acute care industry has really suffered under the recent Medicare reimbursement changes. Part of the problem is that we don’t have a clear concept of what our national policy is toward older persons and how we will care for them. Our default policy is Medicaid, to take care of those in nursing homes, which is unsatisfactory. It is not a sustainable plan. The question then becomes, can we build policy instruments, such as long-term care funding systems in the private sector, to alleviate some of the inevitable public burden? And, can we restructure the Medicare system?
Obviously there will continue to be a need for home healthcare, nursing homes and residential living centers. Do you see new entrants to the market?
Morrison: I think it’s about life care. There will be an explosion of opportunities over the next 20 to 30 years, which will involve some existing components, such as home healthcare, and others that will be newly created, because I don’t think that the average baby-boomer’s aspiration is to spend his last years in a traditional nursing home. I think we are going to want to "do everything" until our last breath.
And information technology’s role?
Morrison: Hugely important. You are going to have a bunch of 80-year-olds who have been Net-literate since they were 40, and they are going to look for services to be delivered electronically and, potentially, by very intelligent and sophisticated instruments. Many will also seek social support from communications technology.
Any concluding thoughts to offer our readers?
Morrison: Step up to the leadership challenge. In the final analysis, leadership is about values. It’s important to have a dialogue with people about what they believe in, what they see as the goal and purpose of the organization. If leaders can "connect the dots" in terms of the values and motivations of the organization’s stakeholders, then we can have a better healthcare system.
Ian is Pretty Right On
His analysis in 1999 is pretty spot on: A national public policy system (and so many states' policies) that aren’t anywhere ready for the age wave, new technology and new products, and the need for all of us to step up to the leadership challenge to deliver what a new generation of customers will want (they tell us in the Ecumen age wave study). It’s a cliche, but what a blue ocean opportunity for long-term care. It’s our turn to build the future.