WE NEED: 60 Seconds of Your Time Next Tuesday, March 3rd
Vital Aging Network Forum - March 10th
For 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.
Aging Deliberately Columnist Liz Taylor Reinventing
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!
Successful Aging Profile - The Mermaids and Long-Term Care
Congratulations to Ecumen Colleague Joanne Sherbrooke
If 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.
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.
The Tragic Story of Vern Gagne and Helmut Gutmann Puts Spotlight on Behaviorial Alzheimer’s
By 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.
Preparing a Home for Old Age in Young Age
Boomers Use of the Internet - 2000-2008 - WOW
Ecumen tech evangelist and strategist Kathy Bakkenist, who is pictured above with Eric Dishman, dirctor of product research and innovation at Intel, recently returned from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world’s largest consumer electronics show, which was held in Las Vegas. One of the big themes was 'integration' and how so many different applications that relate to wellness and aging at home will increasingly be integrated into several key devices, such as the home computer, telephone and television.For the first year ever, aging services technology was featured at the conference. The Center for Aging Services Technologies (CAST) of which Kathy heads public policy efforts, sponsored a 'wired' home to showcase how technology can be integrated into the home.Technology is only going to expand in aging and wellness services (check out the Boomer stats below). Last weekend one of the 'most read' stories at NYTimes.com was about health sensors, such as QuietCare, which we use at Ecumen communities. It was about the 4th or 5th time they’ve run a sensor technology story in the last two years. And every time it explodes with readership.… Now take in these stats from Lee Rainie of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which he presented at the Silvers Summit, which has posted a bunch of great presentations.- In 2000, 40% of U.S. Boomers used the internet, in 2008 it was 74%.- In 2000, fewer than 5% of Boomers had broadband at home, in 2008 it was 62%.- In 2000, 34% owned a cell phone; in 2008 72% owned a cell phone.- In 2000, 0% connected to the internet wirelessly; in 2008 43% did.Wow.
Possibility Aging With Patrick Roden
If you’re having trouble getting rolling this Monday, check out Patrick Roden’s story below about his chance meeting with Mavis Lindgren. It’ll make you hop and feel incredibly good doing it.Patrick blogs at homebychoiceblog.com. He began the first few years of his life crawling around the floors of a nursing home where his grandmother was the head nurse. He later became a nursing assistant while pursuing his B.A. in nursing. And then he met Mavis Lindgren in 1992. That chance meeting with a 85-year-old marathon participant led him on a path of 'possibility aging' and even more learning and growth (Patrick’s full bio is here).Thanks, Patrick, for sharing your story with Changing Aging readers.
Meeting and Running With Mavis
Night’s chill lingered in the air and the silence was broken by the sounds of songbirds. The sun was just beginning to rise on a crisp October morning in 1992. Suddenly the squeaking brakes of a rental truck and the clanging of folding chairs shattered the serenity. With military precision, the volunteers began to set up the first aid station at the 18-mile marker. I was one of those volunteers and this was the annual running of the Portland Marathon.It took an hour to set up and go through my checklist. The first aid kit was in order and the communications were working. We were ready. Soon the elite runners would be flying through, followed by a seemingly endless sea of participants. The conditions were perfect: a bright clear indigo sky, golden fall leaves. All of us were anticipating an inspiring day.The morning had been uneventful at our station. The usual blisters, Vaseline applied to chaffed skin, hydration to the dehydrated, and lots of moral support. One pregnant woman reached the 18-mile point and could go no further so we loaded her in the ambulance. They taxied her to the finish line and her anxiously awaiting husband.It was now late afternoon and the sea of runners had dwindled to a trickle of determined souls. The frequent and now familiar static that preceded a message from the EMS broke the airwaves. An elderly woman was reported down near the 18-mile mark, in our territory. I waited for a person fitting the description to pass, and no one did. Strapping on my first aid kit, I set out to investigate. Running upstream, I began to think, how elderly could they mean? Who ever it was, he or she had gone 18 miles, and this was a marathon after all€¦€¦.50, maybe 60, I thought. As I rounded the bend I saw a young woman attending the injured runner who looked like Mother Theresa in running shorts! The young woman explained that another runner had cut in front of the injured woman and knocked her down as she stepped towards the curb. As I listened, I assessed the situation. The injuries included an obviously fractured wrist as well as a small bump on the head. 'Her name is Mavis,' the young woman said.'Mavis, I would like to escort you to the first aid station,' I began€¦ 'Young man, I’m going to finish this race,' she politely interrupted. After a few seconds of negotiating, I held up her injured arm and we briskly took off for the station (or so I thought).Amazed, I blurted out 'How old are you?' 'I’m 85.' She pointed to her number pinned to the front of her T-shirt. 'Every year, they give me the number of my age. This year I’m number 85. ' What do you mean each year?' I asked.Mavis Lindgren had run all over the world. She had appeared many times on TV, radio, and magazines such as Runner’s World, Sports Illustrated, and The New York Times, and been mentioned in books such as Age Wave (Ken Dychtwald) and Grandma Wears Running Shoes (Patricia Horning Benton). She was no stranger to Portland, either. All along the course there were signs encouraging her and the cheers followed her every step! Two middle-aged women ran up and hugged her exclaiming that they wanted to be just like her when they grew up.Mavis and I reached the finish line arm-in-arm, right into interviews for the 6’oclock news (I have the video). I was asked to escort her for the entire race the next year in 1993, and it became a tradition.She retired from running at age 90 after the 1997 marathon. It was her 75th and final 26.2-mile outing. Phil Knight of Nike, had a custom pair of 'Air Mavis' running shoes made especially for her final marathon. Her two daughters and grandchildren accompanied us and it was an emotional finale to an illustrious running career.What makes her story all the more exceptional to me is that at age 62, Mavis was leading a sedentary life, spending most of time reading, writing and knitting. She had suffered four bouts of pneumonia in five years and, as a retired nurse, she knew the antibiotics weren’t the long-term solution. Something had to change. A doctor urged her to join an early bird walking group. At age 70, encouraged by her son, she ran her first marathon! Two years later, she established a record of 4:33.05, and for the next eight years, held world’s best time for women 70 and over. And at 84 she finished the Los Angeles marathon in 6 hours 45 minutes-the fastest woman in her age category. 'After I started running, I never had another cold,' she said. Asked what his message was, Ghandi replied: 'My life is my message.' This could well be said about Mavis Lindgren.