The DL Tribune Shares the Empowering Stories of Two Detroit Lakes Men Living with Memory Loss
The DL Tribune shared the stories of two Detroit Lakes area men living with memory loss. George Jernberg's transformation since becoming part of our Awaking Initiative at Ecumen's Emmanuel Community has been "like he's truly awoken from a sleep," according to his daughter. You can read the full article on-line. And a volunteer at Emmanuel Community was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's but maintains a positive attitude and stays active through volunteering and technology. Read Steve's story on-line. Visit Ecumen's website for more information about the Awakenings Initiative.
Great Employees Make Great Places to Work
Great people make Ecumen a great place to work! Congratulations to the nearly 4,000 Ecumen employees who are changing aging every day. For the seventh straight year, Ecumen has been named by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal as one of Minnesota's “Best Places to Work.”
Ecumen was recognized in the "Large Company" category and is the second-most tenured award recipient with one thousand or more full-time Minnesota employees. Ecumen ranked seventh on the list of large companies.
More than 220 companies vied for the award, with only 55 organizations being honored. The awards are compiled through anonymous employee online surveys on areas of work environment, innovation and new ideas, people practices, personal development, people in the organization and day-to-day work.
Senior Citizen - Should That Phrase Be Retired?
We have boomers, Gen Xers, Millenials . . . and for years America has used the phrase "senior citizens?" It's a phrase that just seems dated. What do you think? What other ideas do you have? You can read more about this here. Share your thoughts on this blog or here at the Star Tribune.
Star Tribune Talks with Ecumen About its Transformation Work
The Minneapolis Star Tribune had an interesting Q&A Sunday with Steve Ordahl, who oversees Ecumen's senior housing development and fund development work, on our transformation over the last 8 years. You can read the full Q&A here.
5 Tips for Using Facebook from a Senior Housing Community Builder at Ecumen
The very best senior housing communities build "community" outside of their bricks and mortar. Julie O'Neil, who works at Ecumen Scenic Shores in Two Harbors, MN, shares here how she uses Facebook to connect people inside and outside of Ecumen Scenic Shores.
Jim Klobuchar: This Just in From the Dentist
The record will show that at exactly 4:32 p.m. on June 22 I reached into my mail box at the neighborhood delivery station. Mixed in with the daily harvest of fund raising appeals I found a bill from my dentist.
I looked at the envelope postmark with silent amazement. It read 06/21/11. Reviewing my movements of the previous 24 hours, I traced myself to the dentist’s office shortly before noon of that very day, 06/21/11. There I had been booked for one of the twice-annual tooth-polishing rehabilitations that my dentist thoughtfully schedules, mostly to learn if there is a clear and present danger of my teeth falling out.
Working backwords at the mail box, I calculated that no more than two or three hours could have elapsed between the time when (a) I left the dental clinic, clutching my usual complimentary packet of floss and my fruit-flavored mini-tube of tooth paste, and (b) the delivery of the bill at the nearest post office for next-day arrival at my mail box.
I marveled at the speed of this billing transaction. It was more than routine speed. It was record-breaking, Olympic-level, all-world speed. It was a level of speed that deserved asterisks and bold face in the record books, the ultimate in next- day service. You could almost build a company motto around it: “Our customers Always Leave Here With Glistening Teeth and Balanced Check Books.”
I should tell you that my dentist is well respected by his peers and is a friend of mine, stretching back to years when we routinely rode 100 miles a day on bicycles and both climbed the mountain Kilimanjaro, events which we rehash mercilessly. That takes up most of the time of my dentist’s evaluation after the technician has performed her small miracles and slipped peppermint toothpaste into my goody bag. None of this social networking time, I’m quick to tell you, finds its way into the bill. This is an honorable man who runs his dental shop amiably and badgers me only five minutes each visit to remove a disappearing rear wisdom tooth that he now claims he can find only with sonar equipment.
What worries me about that speed-of-light billing is that somebody in the administrative office may have taken a look at the latest actuarial tables, factored in my age, and decided that a good time to bill this guy is sooner than later.
This would sadden me. Yes, I have lost a step and the attendance at my annual high school reunion is approaching single digits. But I have just finished riding herd on 130 Type A personalities on a seven-day bike ride to Minnesota towns like Blackduck, Bigfork and Deer River with interim stops at outposts like The Hoot and Holler Rendezvous and the Gosh Dam café. Still I emerged in reasonably sound mental health and with my love for humanity intact.
But I have to think seriously about the implications of that hot-breathed billing in my mailbox. The average age in America is rising; it does tend to build a new realism among the golden agers. I know completely healthy older folks who routinely pass up big markdowns for jumbo packages of wiring and 65 watt flood lamps in the big box hardware stores and supermarkets. They tell me it’s all about using hard bark Yankee logic, because where they’re going in a few years they may have no use for wires and light bulbs, even at 40 per cent off. I’m not that smart or practical. What worries me more is that lightning fast bill from the dental clinic. The idea could sweep the country and become a model cutting across all age groups. You could get married in a full blown church ceremony with tuxes and gowns and a dinner for 250 guests, and three hours later on your wedding night find a bill for $20,000 on your I Pod.
For sure, this would not be an auspicious beginning for a love traveling through time.
The moral of my saga is that the very next morning after the bill arrived I put a check in the mail for the dental service, reasoning: the way we’re going, Washington could shut down the postal service tomorrow and the next bill might come with 33 per cent interest and immediate cancellation of my bonus tooth paste.
Be smart, America.
Start flossing.
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.
Ecumen's Lakeshore Brings Generations Together Under One Roof
Senior living at Lakeshore in Duluth has become a little livelier recently with the addition of the Little Treasures Child Care and Family Center to its campus. Read more in the Duluth News Tribune's article about how this new opportunity is making a difference in the lives of young and old alike.
Join us: CLASS Act Call-In Tuesday, July 26
Please call Congress on Tuesday, July 26, in support of the CLASS Act.
Many of you helped pass the Community Living Assistance and Supportive Services Act (CLASS Act), the country's first voluntary public long-term care insurance plan. Please help keep it from being repealed.
Our nation does not have a sustainable option for financing long-term care. For many, Medicaid - which requires a person to be impoverished - is their only payment option for care and services. That's unsustainable.
Ecumen supports innovation in developing new solutions to fund the increasing health and housing needs of older Americans. The CLASS Act is a big step in creating a national long-term care financing system, but deficit reduction proposals are calling for the repeal of CLASS.
We must act immediately to keep the program moving forward.
CALL-IN DAY – TUESDAY, JULY 26
On Tuesday, our national trade association Leading Age will host a "Call-In Day to Save CLASS." We hope you'll participate by calling 1-888-785-9795 on Tuesday, July 26. The call-in is an opportunity to tell your members of Congress three main reasons repealing the program would be a mistake:
1. CLASS Helps Americans - The CLASS program provides families with an affordable way to plan for future supports and services. CLASS will allow more Americans the ability to remain in their homes while getting the care they need.
2. CLASS Saves Money - The Congressional Budget Office said CLASS will reduce the budget deficit by $83 billion over 10 years. The program also saves federal dollars spent on Medicaid by reducing the number of people relying on the program for long-term services and supports.
3. Americans Support CLASS - A Kaiser Family Foundation/Harvard poll found that 76% of Americans support the CLASS Act program.
ALSO E-MAIL YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS TODAY
Ecumen's Changing Aging Network has already setup messages to send to your members of Congress. There is no need to wait until Tuesday to send an e-mail, simply visit our Changing Aging Legislative Center web page.
The reality is that CLASS repeal would increase the federal budget deficit. Not only will CLASS bring in revenues, but according to the Congressional Budget Office, it also will reduce Medicaid spending. CLASS will transform financing of long-term services and support, help America's workers and future retirees and promote choice and independence. Repealing it would reduce federal revenues and increase federal spending. It would be directly counterproductive to any reduction in the federal budget deficit.
Please contact your Senators and House members now and urge them not to include CLASS repeal in any deficit reduction legislation.
Make Your Voice Heard: Keeping Seniors Out of the Debt Ceiling Debate
The Ecumen Changing Aging Advocacy Network members are encouraged to contact their elected officials to oppose Medicare and Medicaid cuts being proposed by the Federal Government in the debt ceiling debate. Ecumen cares for thousands of Minnesotans through senior housing options and services. Massive cuts would threaten seniors' access to quality housing and services, and senior service jobs and job expansion at a time we have an unprecedented growth in our aging population. Visit Ecumen's Changing Aging Legislative Center to take action!
Great Video - Lip Dub from Clark Retirement Community and Grand Valley State University
Love this video from Clark Retirement Community in Grand Rapids, Michigan in conjunction with Grand Valley State University. What creativity!