Depression-Era Cooking with Clara Cannucciari
Talk about a great collaboration: 93-year-old Clara Cannucciari and her grandson Christopher, a filmmaker. The result is part experiential history lesson, part cooking show. The video below is one segment from "Great Depression Cooking with Clara." Clara’s web site is here. Thanks to Ecumen colleague Helen Rickman for sharing this.
The Hours of Our Lives: How Do You Spend Your Time?
On Wisconsin, the University of Wisconsin alumni magazine, has an interesting article in its Spring edition about sleep. It breaks down how much time we sleep during a lifetime compared with other activities:Sleeping: 36%Other Activities: 19%Working: 16%Watching TV: 11%Household activities: 8%Eating and Drinking: 5%Socializing and Communicating: 3%Sports, exercise and recreation: 1%Telephone calls, mail and email: 1%
Red River Update
As you’ve probably heard, there’s been good news from the Red River Valley: the river has dropped a bit. Blizzard conditions are expected throughout Minnesota later today and tomorrow, potentially adding another obstacle to flood fighting efforts.Water currently is about 500 feet from Ecumen’s Evergreens community in Moorhead. Hopefully, the corner has turned and the water will continue to retreat.
Red River Valley Update: The Sign Says Stop, Ecumen Team Members GO!
The sign says stop, but Ecumen team members have been working non-stop in the Red River Valley and yesterday safely evacuated all residents from our Evergreens communities in Fargo and Moorhead. One bus got delayed leaving town, but Janet Green, Ecumen’s regional director, reports a police escort came and safely helped get it through.All of our Fargo-Moorhead customers are now in the safety and comfort of Ecumen’s Emmanuel Community in Detroit Lakes, Minn., about 50 miles from Fargo-Moorhead. A salute to the many people who are working so tirelessly together, a number of whom face a flood threat to their very own homes.In conjunction with this evacuation, Ecumen also assisted Eventide Senior Living in relocating a number of their residents from Moorhead to Ecumen communities in Alexandria, Park Rapids, Detroit Lakes, Pelican Rapids, and Lake Park.Now the waiting for the crest of the Red River occurs. Please keep your prayers coming for our neighbors. The crest is expected Saturday. What is known is that it will be higher than ever before. What still remains to be seen is how high that will be.… Thank you to Sayward Honer, daughter of Ecumen team member Corinna Honer, for the photo above. More of Sayward’s flood photos are here.
Ecumen and the Rising Red River
The photos above were taken by photographer Sayward Honer, the daughter of Ecumen team member Corina Honer. You can see more of Sayward’s flood photos here. Our hope is that relocation of our Fargo-Moorhead customers and team members will be temporary and that the river will spare its force.Not everyone can pack sand bags today, but please send our neighbors in the Red River Valley your prayers.
Alzheimer’s: Let’s Make it Affordable to Care
If you haven’t yet emailed or left a message for your Congress person regarding making long-term care and services part of health care reform, here’s another reason, a new report issued today by the Alzheimer’s Association:The health care costs of Alzheimer’s disease patients are more than triple those of other older people, and that doesn’t even include the billions of hours of unpaid care from family members, a new report suggests.
Please Call Your Congress People Today
The Spirit of Aging: A Lenten Reflection by Ecumen Pastor Ron Gerl
- Not winding down but simply shifting gears as we age.
- Not letting others take over the reins but letting God direct our course.
- Not disengaging from community but rather taking on new positions of leadership.
- Not dimming our vision but becoming visionary for our church, community and the world.
- Not losing touch with the sensual world, but celebrating the physical and spiritual gifts given.
- Not caving in to limitations but utilizing our strengths no matter how long lived they are.
- Not rattling around in an empty nest but opening the doors of our minds, hearts, and homes to new ideas, new feelings and new people that God sends our way.
THIS IS LIVING THE RESURRECTED LIFE and keeps us one with God!!!
You’re Invited to LPN Empowerment Seminars in April, Taught By Ecumen’s Mary Leber
For our readers in the long-term care profession:
April 27, 2009 - Mankato, MN Pathstone Living718 Mound AveMankato, MN 56001
April 28, 2009 - Willmar, MNHoliday Inn2100 East Hwy 12Willmar, MN 56201
April 29, 2009 - North Branch, MNThe Villages at North Branch5379 383rd StNorth Branch, MN 55056
Jim Klobuchar: Adventures in the Hospital
The nurse radiated good will. She smiled brilliantly and with compassion just as she jabbed my epidermis in a thoroughly unprotected place.Finished, she cocked her head pleasantly and looked into my eyes in a gesture that told me I was an utterly brave patient, without whimper. This of course was truth. It was also my re-introduction to the miracles of modern medicine after an all too brief sabbatical. I’ll admit that hospital stories over lunch rank somewhere below blizzard forecasts and bank bailouts in public popularity. Like a few million others, I have a bittersweet attachment to hospitals and the other agencies of mercy that accept my Medicare card. On one hand I treasure the skills of today’s surgeons, the breezy optimism of the family doctors and the end-to-end crusades to upgrade patient care hospital cooking .I was grateful for all this. I was touched to be granted a farewell kiss by my wife as I was being wheeled into a large room. En route I flashed back to hospital scenes of earlier times. They were sieges. I remembered my urologist in clipped professional tones advising the nurse of the penetrating power of various probes and spears he needed to remedy a peculiarly male condition. They had numbered all of the spears. I remembered shuddering when he called out '28,' the dreaded '28.'So now I was to undergo an angiogram where they inject dye into the arterial system and x-ray its passage, looking for potential blockage of the kind I experienced years ago. A pillow was placed expertly under my head. A nurse smiled confidently. Large white objects materialized above my head, part of the apparatus. It was going to be an ordeal. Other people appeared in the room. There was bustling about. Time ran on. Voices mingled. I wanted this to begin. I waited for the surgeon to arrive to join the crowd. More time. The surgeon had to be delayed.Right about then the surgeon’s masked face appeared. 'When will you start,' I asked, trying not to sound annoyed. 'When does the sedation begin?''We’re done,' he said. 'You’re clear. Congratulations.'He was five feet away all the time, and never had to use the dreaded '28.'Go here to read other Jim Klobuchar Changing Aging Posts.