Moments with Baxter and End of Life Care
Post by Laurel Baxter, M.A., R.N., Ecumen Quality Improvement Nurse
When I saw the You Tube video “Moments with Baxter” the therapy dog, I immediately thought of Ecumen. I thought about the beautiful bedside services I've attended at Ecumen communities. I thought of the chaplains and social services staff that help us through the dying process. I thought of our team members who arrange for pet therapy and other meaningful moments. I thought of every team member at Ecumen who shows caring each day through their touch, their smiles, and their meaningful work. It is not always easy work. We often grieve for the residents’ losses and our own losses. May this story about Baxter bring a moment of Peace and Love to my colleagues, our customers and other readers of Changing Aging.
The Checkout Line - The First Online Advice Column for the Terminally Ill, Their Friends and Relatives
We all die and have to get better as a country in preparing for that inevitable part of life. That reality has spawned a new online advice column - "The Checkout Line" - by longtime journalist and hospice volunteer Judy Bachrach. Here's more about her and the impetus for this first-of-its-kind online advice column:
I am a longtime journalist, who has worked – in chronological order – for the Baltimore Sun, the Washington Post Style section, the Washington Star where I was a political columnist, and Vanity Fair, where I am currently a contributing editor.
When one of my closest friends was dying of cancer, I began work at a hospice, where I was a volunteer. There I did just about anything and everything to help the patients: I read to them, helped fix their small meals, wrote letters on their behalf. I spoke to their families, their lovers, the nurses and sometimes their religious advisors, a few of whom were not welcomed by those they wished to visit. Above all I listened: not only to what the patients said to me but to what they often didn’t say.
There’s a lot that the dying cannot articulate, and not simply because some are depressed or others too weak to talk. There are moments when they simply see no more use for talk. But after a while, anyone who spends time with the patient can sense whom that person wishes to see, whose visits might best be cut short, who should be avoided, what topics should be discussed. All these elements can be learned and shared.
Until I worked with the dying, I had always been afraid of death. Initially, I thought that perhaps by dealing with those who faced a more imminent mortality, my fears might be eased. As it turned out, they were. But that was by no means the most important result. That experience changed my life. I would like to do the same for others.
Medical Students, Seminarians Move to Senior Housing to Live and Learn
Photo by Jessica Janoski, Saint Paul Pioneer Press
The world is made of collaborative opportunities. Seizing on that the University of Minnesota School of Medicine, Luther Seminary in Saint Paul and the Minneapolis-based senior housing provider Augustana have created a new partnership.
The partnership allows medical school students and seminary students to pay discounted rent at Augustana Apartments in exchange for their volunteer time with senior residents. It also gives seniors the chance to share their years of wisdom and avoid feeling cut off from the rest of the world.
"We've been segregated," said June Englund, an 83-year-old resident of Augustana, in a recent Saint Paul Pioneer Press article. "I missed seeing young people - and anybody under 83 is young."
Dr. Ed Ratner, a geriatrician and professor at the University of Minnesota, who leads the initiative at the U said he hopes the program will attract much-needed doctors to the geriatric field and potentially lower health care costs. He also believes the presence of younger people could energize seniors and encourage them to live more healthfully.
"Having younger people around will bring back a better feeling of life for the future, and if we can keep people in their apartment versus going to a nursing home, we can lower health care costs through this."
You have to love this thinking and approach. Congratulations to Dr. Ratner, Luther Seminary and our colleagues at Augustana Homes.
Ladders, Holiday Lights and Aging in Place
Aging in Place's Patrick Roden has a good reminder here about how the combo of ladders and holiday lights can screw up one's desire to age in place. Hat tip to Mature Market Experts' Tom Mann for the photo above.
Can Old People Just Be People?
What does age have to do with it? Dig this column by Sy Rosen, playwright who has written for Frasier, The Bob Newhart Show, The Wonder Years and other TV shows:
Lately I've noticed a lot of news stories that seem to focus on someone's age, and I'm not sure I like it: A 90-year-old woman votes, a couple with a combined age of 181 get married, two men in their 80s get in a fistfight on a tennis court, a 92-year-old goes to the World Series and a 101-year-old man buys a new Camaro (I wonder if he got the extended warranty). I guess what's annoying me is that the only thing that seems to make these stories newsworthy is the person's age. What's next -- a 91-year-old man eats a Big Mac? Why is age a characteristic that's singled out? We don't see stories like "Man with beard bowls 250."
Are they saying that age is an obstacle we have to overcome, and therefore it's newsworthy if we're able to do anything? But being old is not an obstacle. I can do anything I was able to do when I was younger (except maybe find my car in the parking lot).Maybe they're categorizing some of these stories as inspirational. But an old guy going to the World Series isn't an inspiration; it's just baseball. Of course, there are some inspirational stories about older people. Stories like "88-year-old woman fights off mugger with her walker." In these dangerous times, that story certainly inspired me. No, not to stand up to a mugger but to hire that feisty lady as a bodyguard.
Read Rosen's full column here. It originated in the L.A. Times.
Building Green Senior Housing
It's an environmentally friendly Christmas tree at the new senior housing community developed by Ecumen in Bemidji, Minnesota for North Country Health Services. Each item on this tree at the WindSong community is pre-used. It was built to celebrate the submission of WoodsEdge for LEED (Leadership Energy Efficient Design) Certification.
WoodsEdge features a number of art pieces made with reused items. For example the entrance lobby features a sculpture made from a barn door and grain elevator. There are a number of other energy-efficient features, such as:
- Apartments are heated and cooled by 120 200-foot-deep geothermal wells.
-There are three natural gas fired boilers in the building - one for sterilizing dishes in the kitchen, one to keep the driveway to the underground garage from icing up and one for backup.
- The building materials came from a radius of no more than 500 miles to save on transport and fuel.
- Three trees were planted to replace each tree cut for lumber.
- Concrete surfaces are limited and green space is emphasized to restrict light reflection.
- Outside lights are also focused downwards to cut light pollution.
New Senior Housing in Bemidji Opens Through North Country Health Services and Ecumen Collaboration
WindSong is a beautiful new senior housing community developed by Ecumen for North Country Health Services in Bemidji, Minnesota. It celebrated it's grand opening last week.
Congratulations to our friends at North Country Health Services on making this new community a reality. It has been submitted for LEED Certification, and our hope is that it will become Minnesota's first LEED-certified senior housing community.
Senate Votes to Keep CLASS Act for Long-Term Care
The Senate voted earlier today to preserve The CLASS Plan, a new long-term care insurance program to help seniors and the disabled in its health overhaul bill. Thanks to everyone who made calls to their Senators yesterday!
U.S. Senate Call-In Day (DEC. 3): Save the CLASS Plan
As you know, the Senate is currently deciding which provisions will remain in their final health reform legislation. We understand that Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) plans to submit an amendment to strike the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act provision from the bill now being considered. If he doesn’t, someone else is most likely to do so, so we are at a real crunch time for saving this major public policy agenda!
We need 51 Senators to vote against this amendment and make sure CLASS is in the final bill. To get these votes, we need your help.
Call Today: AAHSA and our partner organizations are having a call-in day to the entire Senate. Please get your or your members’ residents, clients, staff and volunteers to call (800) 958-5374 between 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Eastern and tell their Senators to support CLASS. Below is a sample phone script you can circulate:
Sample Phone Script:
Hello. I am calling to ask Senator ___________________ to make sure the CLASS Act remains in the final health reform legislation. People need help accessing the long-term services and supports that help them remain independent and at home. The CLASS Act is an affordable, accessible and fiscally solvent way to provide these services and reduce Medicaid costs at the same time. Can we count on Senator ___________________ for his/her support?
Why is there a need for the CLASS plan?
Ten million Americans today need long term services and supports—including 4 million under age 65. As the Baby Boomers age into retirement, these numbers will more than double. The CLASS plan addresses what may be the biggest current gap in coverage for seniors and people with disabilities by creating an affordable, accessible, voluntary insurance program to provide services and supports to help those in need remain in their homes and communities. Our major “insurance” plan, by default, for long-term services and supports (LTSS) is Medicaid, which serves the impoverished and has limited options for personal choice. This system fails to provide realistic opportunities for personal planning, requires people to spend-down into poverty before receiving the help they need, fails to support family caregivers adequately, leads to higher acute care costs and is fiscally unsustainable, given the Baby Boomers’ coming explosive needs. The nation needs a plan that protects people beyond just those who are healthy and wealthy enough for private market coverage. Helping people to avoid impoverishment due to the costs of LTSS is the right thing to do for individuals and their families and it is the right thing to do for the Medicaid program.
Jim Klobuchar -- Marooned in the Place Where Agatha Dwelled
On the Nile River a few days ago our felucca sailboat passed beneath the tea terrace of the elegant Old Cataract Hotel in Egypt’s Aswan. To the west the amber dunes of the Sahara spread into the desert infinity. But here on the Nile, egrets and herons flitted through the palm trees of Elephantine Island.
Although the Old Cataract was temporarily closed for renovation, I told myself “it’s Agatha, again.” Like a few million others, I have read Agatha Christie’s detective novels off and on for 50 years. They were literate, edgy and well-argued with enough room for fun and the indomitable Belgian bloodhound, Hercule Poirot.
Agatha Christie wrote some of her best stuff, including the sketches for “Death on the Nile” while she was a lodger at the Old Cataract. After retiring from daily journalism I satisfied some of my roaming yens by organizing an adventure travel club and often have included a 10 or 12 day tour of Egypt. It wasn’t long before I had adopted the Old Cataract as personal retreat, until one night when it delivered one of Agatha’s classic stroke-of-midnight ambushes and nearly had me walking out in a barrel.
When we’re in Aswan the others usually follow the tour Egyptologist to explore the 2,000-year-old Philae Temple. I’ve been there a half dozen times. So in later years I have excused myself and strolled to the Old Cataract for a cup of tea. The gatekeeper was a walrus-mustached Britisher in full uniform who was charged with turning back all non-guests and related imposters. But he had once admitted me in an act of chivalry and always greeted me thereafter with “hi Yank,” and escorting me through the entryway’s corridor of orange trees and tropical ferns.
So I sipped tea and luxuriated on the terrace overlooking the great cataracts of the Nile as it hurled itself at the ancient lava outcrops in fountains white water. And from there I would wander through the Victorian dining room where Churchill once drank brandy.
So one year I reserved 10 rooms in the Old Cataract and brought my travelers, who agreed the price was worth it. The orchestra played. The menu was laced with exotic fare and the waiters came in relays, dutifully taking the room numbers. When three hours later I signaled the headwaiter, he arrived with flourishes and smiles and handed me the bill. I had advised him, of course, to bill the diners separately. Somehow, he said, he didn’t have that impression. An animated discussion followed. It soon became clear that I was overmatched. My guests began leaving the room, assuming all would be handled appropriately and they would cover as necessary. At about this time I checked the bottom line. It read somewhere around $1,900.
In a trance I gave the guy my credit card. The next day my friends helpfully asked for their bill totals. I said I didn’t have the heart or calculator to tell them, counting the taxes, service charges, bar, entertainment and more. I did give them estimates. They paid but somehow I had talked myself into a $500 deficit, and they never could figure out what I meant when I laughed wildly and blurted “Poirot, where were you when I needed you?”
- Jim Klobuchar