Judy Blaseg's Role as Philanthropy VP Gets Personal
Judy Blaseg recently signed on as vice president of philanthropy at Ecumen. While she has raised money for good causes her entire career, this new job involves fundraising that is especially personal.
Judy’s mother is now in a dementia and Alzheimer’s care facility, much like those Ecumen operates, as was her now-deceased aunt, who had early onset Alzheimer’s.
“I know first-hand that it takes dedicated caregivers, safe and structured surroundings—and philanthropy—to ensure that those who need this specialized care receive it,” Judy says.
Judy grew up with an understanding of senior services. Her mother worked for 30 years as an activities director in a long-term care community. So when the Ecumen opportunity came her way, Judy felt a compelling convergence of experience and passion.
Now her work life and home life complement each other in special ways. On a recent visit to Ecumen Lakeview Commons in Maplewood she noted that every Thursday night is bonfire-and-smores night. That sparked an idea.
“My mother’s 85th birthday is coming up, and I have decided to give my hometown nursing home a bonfire pit in her honor,” Judy says. “I just loved that idea, and I hope my mom will soon be toasting marshmallows with her pals, just like they do at Lakeview Commons.”
Judy grew up in Hand County, South Dakota. For the past 25 years, she has worked in philanthropy and fundraising for numerous local and national organizations, including Catholic Charities, VocalEssence, and the Jeremiah Program. She has served on many boards including Mill City Summer Opera, Citizens League, DeLaSalle High School and MinnPost. She and her husband live in Minneapolis and have three children.
“Since coming to Ecumen, I’ve already met so many grateful family members who truly appreciate what we do, and I so personally understand their gratitude,” Judy says. “It connects me in a special way and makes my job so much more meaningful.”
One More Way to Look at Old Folks - by Ecumen Blogger Jim Klobuchar
I met Eleanor Roosevelt, the widow of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, more than 50 years ago on her last book tour as a public personality. She was often lampooned in her ungainliness and passion for causes, but also much loved for her commitments to social justice, world peace and other goals seemingly too far.
I was then writing for the Associated Press wire service in Minneapolis, assigned to interview her. Her escort at the book signing was a Democratic Party figure in the Midwest, Joseph Robbie, who later became the owner of the Miami Dolphins of the National Football League. Joe was there to insure that all protocols were observed and that Eleanor’s encounters with the newsman were amicable and touched with suitable respect.
The lady set him at ease. “Oh, I’m going to be all right,” she laughed. “I enjoy this.”
And so she did. I asked about her books and current causes, as well as her most recent role in party politics—she would be supporting Adlai Stevenson and not John Kennedy in the forthcoming scramble for the Democratic nomination. What I remember most vividly were her volleys of laughter, her unsinkable devotion to the uplift of women in this country and around the world—at the time not a subject overwhelmingly popular. Her escort, assigned to make sure all reputations were adequately protected, including the former first lady’s, seemed nervous when she insisted on staying a little longer than the initial schedule.
Joe could have saved himself the sweat. She was a delight. I thought of that morning at the book store a few days ago when a world-traveling friend of mine sent me a quotation from Eleanor Roosevelt. It said: “Beautiful young people are accidents of nature. But beautiful old people are works of art.”
Please know this is not a commercial. I’m not applying for a corner wall at the Louvre to celebrate my membership in the octogenarians club. But what my friend was suggesting by quoting Eleanor Roosevelt was the fruits that are available to older folks today—assuming they have been wise in protecting their health and reaching out for the gratifications available to them in today’s world.
And what are those?
The literature on the subject is endless. Much of it counsels awareness and good sense in our treatment of body and mind. I’ve trekked and climbed with people in their 80s. That’s hardly an achievable goal for most, or, it might be argued, even a sensible one. So what is a reasonable goal, achievable by most?
On this my friend and I agree: that coming to terms with those questions is largely shaped by our interests, by our dreams and by our needs – and ultimately by what have become the important markers in our lives, so we do not have to ask: “Is this all there is?”
What most of us seek is a place where we can enjoy and even expand life in later years and – whether we are physically active or not—avoid be dogged by the mysteries and fears of what’s ahead.
This is not living for the moment. We’re mortal. We can be aware of our vulnerabilities. But age does not mean we need to abandon our curiosity to know what’s around the corner or over the hill. Nor does it mean we better be prepared for sieges of loneliness or abandonment. We’re not helpless in all of this. If we were sensible 40 years ago, or ten years ago we wouldn’t be worrying about it today. But even if we weren’t, we have sense enough to know that John Dunne was right all along four hundred years ago: No one is an island.
So let’s say we actually start over at the age 50 or 60 or 70 or more. And we now know all of these sensible paths that we ignored. We had allowed some of our friendships to disappear because of neglect or selfishness. We got fat and that curtailed fun and achievement and respectability and built resentments.
So there’s a really powerful temptation to watch television for eight hours and to sign off.
Put it in the ash can. Most of us have more choices than we realize. There is a marvelous earth here to be explored. We don’t have to be millionaires or 21st Century Magellans to do it. What we need are people in our lives who matter! It is called relationships, which do not magically give us solace or comfort when needed but have to be nourished. In one of the most primitive societies in Africa there is what we would call a medicine man. He’s not skilled medically but when he is asked to tend to someone sick with a condition the medicine man can’t identify, he will usually ask the ailing one, as his first question, the equivalent of “how are your relationships?”
My friend told of a trip to South America where she met a woman traveling alone. The woman had just turned 92. She was the last to board the boat for a cruise to Antarctica. “We all knew she was going to be the most fascinating person on board,” my friend said. “I remember sitting with her one evening at dinner for eight. A passenger, curious as we all were, asked if she had children. The 92 year old woman considered this question momentarily and then shouted, ‘Not yet.’ The table was in hysterics the rest of the dinner.”
When I talk to students who want to know what is the best way to seek success in life I tell them if I had any gift I could give them, it would be the gift of curiosity. Curiosity about the world, about the people in it, about the beauty and the mystery of it and about the choices available to us. Because from there comes discovery. And if I had any advice that would give them the greatest satisfaction in life and chance for comfort and success, it would be to nourish the relationships in their lives, and to be serious about it. Because out of that can come love, which opens our lives to what we call a fulfillment that lasts.
Reframing Our Country's Thinking on Care for Alzheimer's and Related Dementias
A new post by Shelley Matthes, Director of Quality Improvement at Ecumen, on overcoming outmoded thinking related to Alzheimer's care and care for related dementias.
Inc.com: AgePower and the Quest to Help Boomers Age Gracefully
Last week, Inc. magazine reporter Will Yakowicz highlighted The AgePower Tech Search and the quest MOJO Minnesota and Ecumen have begun to find technology that helps Boomers age gracefully. Read more on Inc.com: "AgePower and the Quest to Help Boomers Age Gracefully"
AgePower’s intent is to locate, reward and help launch new technologies (high-tech and low-tech) that have a positive, near-term impact on the aging experience. It’s being launched from Minnesota, an epicenter for innovation in healthcare, social innovation, technology and other essential areas to our global future. Four finalists will gain a real-life test environment for their technology and access to experts in key areas necessary to fueling a successful venture. For more information, visit www.agepower.org.
Ecumen, the most innovative leader of senior housing and services, empowers individuals to live richer and fuller lives. A non-profit that has served for more than 150 years, Ecumen envisions a world in which aging is viewed in radically different ways.
MOJO Minnesota is an innovation co-operative comprised of like-minded business leaders working to fuel entrepreneurship and reignite Minnesota’s culture of innovation. They are business advisors, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors and attorneys passionate about creating jobs and economic growth through the power of Minnesota based technology companies.
KARE 11: Technology contest seeks ideas to help aging population
MOJO Minnesota's Ernest Grumbles and Ecumen's Eric Schubert joined KARE 11 News at 4 on Tuesday, August 20, to encourage tech entrepreneurs to enter The AgePower Tech Search. Read the story on KARE 11's website.
AgePower’s intent is to locate, reward and help launch new technologies (high-tech and low-tech) that have a positive, near-term impact on the aging experience. It’s being launched from Minnesota, an epicenter for innovation in healthcare, social innovation, technology and other essential areas to our global future. Four finalists will gain a real-life test environment for their technology and access to experts in key areas necessary to fueling a successful venture. For more information, visit www.agepower.org.
Venture Beat: "New Minnesota Startup Program Supports 'Overlooked' Aging Population
The AgePower Tech Search continues to gain momentum. VentureBeat published the article, "New Minnesota Startup Program Supports 'Overlooked' Aging Population," last week. (Follow the headline link to read the article.)
AgePower’s intent is to locate, reward and help launch new technologies (high-tech and low-tech) that have a positive, near-term impact on the aging experience. It’s being launched from Minnesota, an epicenter for innovation in healthcare, social innovation, technology and other essential areas to our global future. Four finalists will gain a real-life test environment for their technology and access to experts in key areas necessary to fueling a successful venture. For more information, visit www.agepower.org.
VentureBeat covers disruptive technology and explains why it matters in our lives. Led by founder and editor-in-chief Matt Marshall and a team of experienced journalists, they're a leading publication for news and perspective on the most innovative technologies.
Global Aging Presents Opportunity: How to Make Aging a Minnesota Innovation Advantage
The AgePower Tech Search was featured in a recent StarTribune Business article, "Global Aging Presents Opportunity: How to Make Aging a Minnesota Innovation Advantage," co-authored by Ernest Grumbles and Eric Schubert. Grumbles is co-founder of MOJO Minnesota, a cooperative working to boost entrepreneurship and Minnesota's cultuer of innovation. Schubert is vice president of communications and public affairs for Ecumen, a nonprofit senior housing and services company.
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It’s called the Silver Tsunami, Agequake, Longevity Economy and Age Wave. But no matter the moniker, unprecedented global aging is a wide-open door for innovation, and Minnesota is uniquely positioned to forge partnerships that deliver it.
We’re all aging consumers. Local companies such as Healthsense and Anser Innovation are inventing in this space, but nearly every business works in aging, even if they don’t yet know it. The world’s only growing demographic is people 60-plus. And in the United States, the 60-plus cohort is the fastest growing. Read more on the Star Tribune website...
A Solution for Enjoyment from a Customer Who Has Alzheimer's
An example of how customers with Alzheimer's can be extremely helpful in crafting solutions that make their lives better.
AgePower Launch Event at University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management, August 13th
An AgePower Launch Event will be held at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management on August 13, from 4:30 - 6 p.m.. This is a great chance to meet in an informal setting, network, learn about AgePower, and discuss innovation opportunity in the aging space.
Presenters will include AgePower organizers and Healthsense CEO A.R. Weiler, who will share more about this growth company's story and what he sees ahead.
4:30-5 p.m. Check-In and Networking
5:00-6 p.m. Presentation, Q&A
To RSVP and for more details go here.
By Ecumen Blogger Jim Klobuchar - A Day in Court Unlike Any Other
A Day In Court Unlike Any Other
By the appointed hour of 8 a.m.the DWI courtroom in Minneapolis was filled with all of the required principals.
The defendants were there waiting their turn to testify about their progress or their troubles. The judge was seated and so was the court’s team of aids and trouble shooters—a DWI court coordinator, a prosecutor, public defender, probation officers, a treatment program specialist, a chemical health assessor, a treatment program expert, a victim advocate, law enforcement representatives and more.
When all of the court people and defendants were seated in the courtroom one of them shared a remembrance. This would have been the birthday of his late wife and the mother of his children. His refusal to give up drinking had led her to threaten to leave with the children unless he came to his senses more than 20 years ago.
He did and the marriage was saved. The testimony came not from the defendants in the court room but from the presiding judge, Gary Larson, one of the most respected in the Hennepin County court system and its suburbs.
For the judge it was reality and also thanksgiving for the ultimatum that saved his marriage and the course of his life. It was no stage effect to create an aura of democracy around this unusual gathering of violaters and upholders of the law. The primary issue here, and in courts like it around the country, is public safety. The guideline of DWI Courts is to find a more sensible way to reduce the carnage and the financial toll caused by drunk drivers by offering them incentives and tools that make sense.
More sensible than what?
Probably more sensible and ultimately less expensive than maintaining an assembly line of driving offenders with a long rap sheets of drunk driving convictions, jail time, accidents, more victims, longer jail time and more public expense.
On this day in the Hennepin County DWI (driving while intoxicated) court session 20 or so participants in the program appeared before the judge and the cadre of court connected advisors and monitors to bring the court up to date on their progress. The evaluations offered to the judge were mixed. So were the demeanors of the defendants. Some were sprightly and satisfied that they were making progress. Most gave brief testimonies that were largely upbeat.
But here was a woman who had struggled through years as a night club entertainer that made drinking part of the culture. She was trying, but laboring.The stresses so far had not driven her to drop out of the program. The others there to testify to their progress tried to empathize, and there a palpable sense of community about the gathering.
Is it working? The program workers in the Hennepin County DWI system offer figures to show that it is twice as effective in reducing repeat offenses as chronic jailing. Today in many parts of the country that maintain DWI Courts, offenders convicted of drunk driving are given their choice of jail time of varied length or entrance into the DWI Court system. Joining the system is hardly an open door to freedom and relaxation for offenders. They’re subject to random home visits by law people with breathalyzer equipment and other tests of sobriety. Curfews are enforced. Equipment can be installed in cars that will nail anyone who gets behind the wheel after drinking.
Nobody forces the defendants to stay in the DWI Court system if they want out. But the court records show that defendants who drop out of the system are nearly three times as likely to test positive for alcohol in random test than those who stay the course and graduate.
So is actually a kind of school?
Defined broadly, it is. If you’re arrested and guilty of drunk driving in Hennepin County’s Fourth Judicial District, which receives money from a federal grant for this purpose, you get a choice of standard jail time or joining the drug court part of the option. If you do that you’re actually free after token time BUT—
You enter into a bargain. No drinking. You’ll be tested. In the early going you have to meet curfew deadlines. Attend sobriety meetings where recovering alcoholics will welcome and counsel you. Home between 10 p.m. and 6 p.m. broadened if you advance in the program, If you tsry to game that system the curfew hours will be tightened, you may find community service added to the sentence or you may draw substantial jail time.
The people who supervise the program are basically telling the defendant:
We know these outcomes a little better than you do. We’re not only trying to help you rehabilitate your life, but we’re also trying to protect your potential victims. If you can’t see what we’re trying to do for you—but even more, for your innocent victims,--then we’re all better off if you do more jail time.
Here I have to offer a disclosure.
The Drug Court Judge identified earlier, Gary Larson, is the same judge who presided over my case of drunk driving 20 years ago. There was no DWI court then. I pleaded guilty, received the required day and a half sentence, entered treatment and have been free of alcohol since.
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’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.