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Please Join Us Today

leg-callers-4 Thanks to everyone, such as our Ecumen colleagues at the left in Duluth, Minn., who called in yesterday during the congressional call to urge Congress to make long-term care services part of health care reform. Several thousand calls were generated across the country … thank you for your help!On Wed. beginning at 10 a.m. Eastern the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging will hold a hearing on Health Care Reform in an Aging America. Sen. Kohl (D-Wis.) is the chair. Live streaming video of the hearing can be ound at the link above.

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Please Join Us Today in Our Ecumen Congressional Call-In Today

Please join us and other callers like those from Ecumen above today in urging your U.S. Senators and U.S. Reps. to support transforming how we pay for aging services so everyone can live as independently as possible, where they most want to call home:
Today Ecumen is joining with the American Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA), the Alzheimer’s Association, the National Council on Aging and Easter Seals to host a call-in enabling you an easy way to tell your U.S. Senators and U.S. Rep. why these essential services must be part of health care reform.
Where to Call:Please make a toll-free call to (800) 958-5374 between 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. central. You will be asked what state you live in. After you tell them your state, you will be patched into one of your two Senator’s offices. You will then be able to leave a message for your Senator.After you make your call, please take 30 seconds to send an email to your U.S. Rep. It’s super-easy. Just go to this link: Contact Congress.
Key MessagePlease feel free to tailor your message, but here’s a general theme:
Hello, Senator, my name is ____. I want to encourage the Senator to make long-term care financing reform part of health care reform. We need to have an affordable, well-coordinated, innovative health care system that empowers people and promotes wellness. A new way of financing long-term care is essential to that. Thank you.Changing Aging Readers: Thank you for helping in 'Changing Aging' and empowering Americans. To learn more about the AAHSA long-term care financing plan we support at Ecumen, please go here.

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The Top 10 Longevity Trends and The Extreme Future

loresjcDr. James Canton is head of the Institute for Global Futures, a California-based firm that advises business and government on the future. He’s also authored a new book called The Extreme Future, The Trends That Will Shape the Future for the Next 5, 10 and 20 Years.Here are his Top 10 Longevity Trends … do you agree with them? What else would you add? What’s interesting to Changing Aging is that Dr. Canton doesn’t talk about senior services in any of his Top 10 …our profession is going to have a huge impact on longevity in the next 5, 10, 20 years and beyond …extreme-futureThe Top 10 Longevity Trends According to Dr. James Canton1. Within 10 years, human beings living beyond 100, will be accepted reality. 2. Longevity Medicine will postpone aging and promote health, enabling people to be more active, more productive, and enjoy longer lives.3. Health-enhancement rights, fueled by the wealth of aging baby boomers and the fusion of nano, bio, IT and neuro innovations, will become a fierce social issue.4. Mapping personal DNA profiles, and linking that knowledge to prevent illness, will radically change medicine, making it boldly predictive.5. Health enhancement via biotech, stem cells, and genomic drugs will enhance human intelligence.6. Supercomputers, artificial intelligence, and advanced medical information technology will usher in a new era that will empower doctors to extend the quality of life.7. Personalized DNA diets will greatly enable longevity as people learn which foods enhance their health and prevent illness.8. Life-extension treatments, from genetic vaccines and designer DNA 'surgery' to smart drugs and neuro-medical devices, will augment health, improving intelligence, and maximizing beauty.9. Cognitive brain-science breakthroughs will protect the aging mind, refreshing vital memories, improving physical agility, and promoting human performance enhancement.10.The evolutionary transformation of human beings, via emerging breakthroughs in Longevity Medicine, will provide vast new choices of an astounding and alarming nature for individuals and society.

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WE NEED: 60 Seconds of Your Time Next Tuesday, March 3rd

president-obama
On Tuesday night President Barack Obama said that 'now is the time for fixing health care.' Long-term care and services financing also needs to be part of health reform.
Here’s your opportunity to tell our Senators the importance of transforming how we pay for aging services so everyone can live as independently as possible, where they most want to call home:
Next Tuesday, March 3, the day before a U.S. Senate Aging Committee hearing on financing for long-term services and supports, the American Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA) will host a call-in enabling you an easy way to tell your U.S. Senator why these essential services must be part of health care reform.
Where to Call:Please make a toll-free call to (800) 958-5374 between 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. central. You will be asked what state you live in. After you tell them your state, you will be patched into one of your two Senator’s offices. You will then be able to leave a message for your Senator. You can also email them here.
Key MessagePlease feel free to tailor your message, but here’s a general theme:
Hello, Senator, my name is ____. I want to encourage the Senator to make long-term care financing reform part of health care reform. We need to have an affordable, well-coordinated health care system that empowers people and promotes wellness. A new way of financing long-term care is essential to that. Thank you.Changing Aging Readers: We need your help in 'Changing Aging' and empowering Americans. THANK YOU. To learn more about the AAHSA long-term care financing plan we support at Ecumen, please go here.

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Vital Aging Network Forum - March 10th

vital-aging-network-webFor our Twin Cities readers:The Vital Aging Network is holding a forum from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 10th entitled Fostering Healthy Communities: Connecting health care providers, neighborhoods and people.Where: Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital6500 Excelsior Blvd., St. Louis Park, MN 55426Presenters:Michael Johnson, President, Park Nicollet FoundationEdward Ratner, M.D., Minnesota Medical Directors AssociationRita Kach, St. Louis Park, Senior Program CoordinatorMarney Olson, St. Louis Park Community LiaisonThe forum will discuss how St. Louis Park involves neighborhoods in planning city services, Park Nicollet’s role in this, and the 'Medical Home' model. Free and open to the public. More at www.vital-aging-network.org.

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Aging Deliberately Columnist Liz Taylor Reinventing

liz-taylor Liz Taylor hasn’t let the newspaper industry meltdown end her work in helping people prepare for their future. When the Seattle Times cancelled her column of 14 years (Seattle is exhibit A of the faltering newspaper business), she repackaged her popular column and insights by moving them online.Her website is entitled 'Aging Deliberately'. There you’ll find her new newsletter service and past columns with the Seattle Times.According to Liz:

Most of us age accidentally, without planning or forethought. Our mission is to teach people how to age on purpose - deliberately!

Congratulations on your new venture, Liz!

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Successful Aging Profile - The Mermaids and Long-Term Care

The Mermaids of Long Term Care
The Mermaids of Long Term Care
Words are interesting. Society often uses the word long term care to mean nursing homes or some type of care that is “done” to someone. But it seems long term care is also the care we provide ourselves from childhood to the end of life. It’s long term, and it’s care.With this in mind, we bring you the newest Successful Aging Profile, or Profiles if you will. We’d like to introduce you to Bea Gabrick, Val Fredell, Pearl Hartmann, and Gertrude Lindo, who call themselves The Mermaids. Like mermaids, they’re beautiful and enjoy the water, using the pool at Ecumen’s Parmly LifePointes senior housing community in Chisago City, MN. You’ll also find them doing their “land” workout on Nautilus machines.All are either in their 80s or 90s, two live in the Parmly LifePointes community while two others come from their homes in the larger community for their workouts of mind, body and spirit.None of the Mermaids knew each other before they met. 'But you’d never know it,' says Patricia McArdle, director of Vitalize! Wellness Centre at this Ecumen community. 'They’re always smiling, always laughing. They’re a total hoot. If you didn’t know them, you’d think they’ve been friends since they were teenagers.'And they’re enjoying long term care … It’s care they’re providing themselves, taking it upon themselves to nourish the social, physical, and intellectual parts of who they are.If more people practiced long term care, such as the Mermaids, there’d no doubt be a lot more laughing.

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Congratulations to Ecumen Colleague Joanne Sherbrooke

joanne-sherbrookeIf you don’t have that thing called 'care,' you really don’t have anything when it comes to serving people.Our congratulations go to Ecumen colleague Joanne Sherbrooke. Joanne has worked for more than 30 years as a nurse at Sunnyside Care Center in Lake Park, Minn. Sunnyside is managed by Ecumen and owned by Becker County.Joanne was recently named by our state trade association Aging Services of Minnesota, as Caregiver of the Year.There were a large stack of nominations that came in from Joanne’s colleagues. I’d like to share this excerpt, which tells you quite a bit about Joanne: It comes from Derek Martin, a colleague of Joanne’s:

'As I began my career, I learned immediate from observing and working with Joanne that being a nurse was so much more than passing out medications. It’s a profession of genuine and tireless compassion and kindness. It was because of Joanne that I made the decision to attend nursing school. To this day my goal is to be a nurse like Joanne.'Also, congratulations to the Ecumen community of Parmly LifePointes, which received one of three Excellence in Practice Awards. The award was given for the Vitalize! Wellness Centre.

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A Follow Up on Behavioral Alzheimer’s and Dementia

Jeremy Olson, health writer at the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, did a front-page story yesterday, on behavioral Alzheimer’s and dementia. It includes an interview with Ecumen’s Janelle Meyers, who leads Ecumen’s Prairie Lodge community in Brooklyn Center, Minn., and new Summit House for people living with the behavioral challenges of Alzheimer’s and dementia.

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The Tragic Story of Vern Gagne and Helmut Gutmann Puts Spotlight on Behaviorial Alzheimer’s

vern-gagneBy now you’ve probably heard or read reports of a tragedy that occurred in a memory care center in the Twin Cities.Famed wrestler Vern Gagne apparently had an altercation with Helmut Gutmann, a longtime research scientist at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Minneapolis and violinist in the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra. Both talented men were living with the extreme challenges of Alzheimer’s and dementia. Vern Gagne is still living with it. According to media reports, Helmut Gutmann died from injuries sustained from being thrown to the ground by Gagne.In the light of this tragic story, is a very stressful situation that more and more families are dealing with: major behavioral issues that can come with Alzheimer’s and dementia.Changing Aging readers might remember the Minneapolis Star Tribune story on the new behavioral memory care community, Summit House at Prairie Lodge, Ecumen opened in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. The story provides insights into living with behavioral challenges that are only going to grow with more people living with Alzheimer’s and dementia.Our condolences to the Gutmann and Gagne families and to the caregivers who have worked closely with them.

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