Long-Looming Age Crisis Has Arrived
That’s the title of an interesting article today by Saint Paul Pioneer Press reporter Jeremy Olson:U.S. policy leaders have fretted over the coming of a single year €” the one that will kick off the graying of the baby boomers and prompt dramatic increases in health care and long-term care costs. That year will see a 30 percent increase in the number of workers turning 62, the age of eligibility for Social Security benefits. It will also be the tipping point when aging trends cause a sharp drop in the labor force and a decline in productivity. That year? 2008. State demographer Tom Gillaspy told members of the Minnesota Senior Federation on Monday that this year has been anticipated for decades, but too little has been done to prepare for it. Unchecked, the rising costs of health care for state government eventually will stifle spending on roads, bridges, education and other public programs. Untrained, the coming generations will yield too few doctors and nurses to care for the boomers and keep the economy churning. The next five years will be critically important to the future history not just of Minnesota but of the entire United States,' Gillaspy said during the advocacy group’s annual convention. 'What we do now, people will look back and say, 'Wow, these people did the right thing' or they will look back and say 'Wow, that’s when it all started falling apart.' Read Jeremy’s full article here.Did you Vote? Which Presidential candidate do you think will do the most to help America ride the Age Wave: Vote Here
Ecumen News Widgets: Age Wave, Senior Living Development & Long Term Care
Keep up to date with news and events about the age wave, senior living development and long term care with Ecumen widgets.The widgets, each be seen below, can be added to your blog, social network, start page or website.To install, click the Get Widget button at the bottom of the widget. It’ll then give you code for your site.It’s completely free and will help you and your site’s visitors keep up on the latest age wave, senior living development or long term care news.
Obama or McCain - Who Will Be Best For Changing Aging in America?
Last night was the last debate between Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama. As we make the turn to voting day, who do you think will be the best President in providing leadership in developing policies that help America ride the historic age wave?[poll id=5']Want more information on Obama and McCain’s views on aging services? Go here.
The Healing Power of Paro, The Robotic Seal
The healing value of animals is well documented, but what about robotic animals? You have to check out this video from what looks like a traditional nursing home in Japan. It tells a lot about our human need for friendship. By the way, the seal’s name in this video is Paro. He or she comes from Japan.[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3npV-npZkxI&feature=related[/youtube]For Other Technology-Related Information in senior services: Visit our technology area or visit or Library of Successful Aging, where you can find a new whitepaper on the Sandwich Generation’s to connect with and be involved in the care of aging parents.
Who Will Care for America’s Seniors?
That’s the question raised by Neil Johnson, executive director of the Minnesota HomeCare Association, in a article he penned in yesterday’s Minneapolis Star Tribune business page. The looming wave of baby boomer retirements underscores the country’s shortcomings in caring for seniors and the need for business and policymakers to take action, he writes. Read Neal’s full article here.
Are You Speaking Elderspeak? In Sweetie and Dear There’s Hurt for Seniors
Check out the article by John Leland at The New York Times on 'elderspeak' … it ties directly to customer service in aging services …
Professionals call it elderspeak, the sweetly belittling form of address that has always rankled older people: the doctor who talks to their child rather than to them about their health; the store clerk who assumes that an older person does not know how to work a computer, or needs to be addressed slowly or in a loud voice. Then there are those who address any elderly person as “dear.”“People think they’re being nice,” said Elvira Nagle, 83, of Dublin, Calif., “but when I hear it, it raises my hackles.”Now studies are finding that the insults can have health consequences, especially if people mutely accept the attitudes behind them, said Becca Levy, an associate professor of epidemiology and psychology at Yale University, who studies the health effects of such messages on elderly people.“Those little insults can lead to more negative images of aging,” Dr. Levy said. “And those who have more negative images of aging have worse functional health over time, including lower rates of survival.”In a long-term survey of 660 people over age 50 in a small Ohio town, published in 2002, Dr. Levy and her fellow researchers found that those who had positive perceptions of aging lived an average of 7.5 years longer, a bigger increase than that associated with exercising or not smoking. The findings held up even when the researchers controlled for differences in the participants’ health conditions… . . Read John’s full article here.
Barack Obama and John McCain on Long-Term Care Financing
Tonight is the second debate of the presidential candidates. It will be a town-hall forum. Wouldn’t it be nice if one of the citizens - or Tom Brokaw (the NBC moderator living fully after 50) asked about the candidates' ideas on the future of financing long-term care and aging services in America?Here’s a question that AARP Magazine recently put to the two candidates:
How would you shift long-term care services and financing so that people can afford to stay in their homes and communities as long as appropriate? (Below are their answers to the AARP questions . .; . do you agree … disgree … or would you like to see a different answer?)John McCain: I am confident in the pioneering approaches for delivering care to people in a home setting, and would look to them first as models for how we need to approach this issue. There have been a variety of promising state-based experiments such as Cash and Counseling or The Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE). Through these programs, seniors are given a monthly assistance which they can use to hire workers and purchase care-related services and goods. They can get help managing their care by designating representatives, such as relatives or friends, to help make decisions. it also offers counseling and bookkeeping services to assist consumers.Barack Obama: The long-term care system is heavily biased toward institutional care -- even though most people would rather remain at home -- and the quality of care is often poor. Moreover, nursing home and home care are very expensive, and Medicare coverage for both is limited, making catastrophic expenses routine. As President, I will work to give seniors choices about their care, consistent with their needs, and not biased towards institutional care. I will work to reform the financing of long-term care to protect seniors and families from impoverishment or debt. I will work to improve the quality of elder care, including by giving our long-term care and geriatric workforce the respect and support they deserve and training more nurses and health care workers in geriatrics.
Support or Oppose
AARP also put three statements in front of the candidates and asked if they supported them or opposed them:1. Increasing consumer choice and control for people needing long-term care.2. Improving standards and incentives for quality care.3. Providing family caregiving initiatives, such as respite care.Barack Obama supported all three; John McCain chose not to answer. (No clue as to why McCain chose not to answer.)
Want to read more on long-term care financing? Visit our special section devoted to the subject.
Bob Said He Was Growing Down
Anne Simpson and Laura Crosby had the opening of their exhibit at the Aslan Institute last Thursday evening. What spirit and energy there was. The exhibit runs through October.Following is the second narrative from Anne’s book 'Growing Down,' the Alzheimer’s journey of a husband and wife. Following the narrative is a poem from Anne’s book. You can read earlier installments here and here of this very personal and beautiful story.
II. Growing Down
One day, when I took Bob for a check-up, our local doctor motioned me aside and very gently said, 'It’s time.' I knew what he meant. It was time for us to leave our small community and move to Duluth where we would have more services available for help with Bob’s care. It had been our contingency plan for almost six years.We went to a continuing care community on the campus of St. Scholastica. There was adult day care available for Bob as well as additional help from some wonderful college students. We participated in monastery and college events, and we lived within a community of lively seniors.As the disease progressed, inevitably, it took more of our lives. Some of the changes and losses were painful indeed - especially Bob’s loss of vision. Bob was aware of what was happening to him; he said that he was 'growing down.' But still we were lucky because for almost four more years the decline was so gradual that I was able to keep Bob at home.
Bob’s Poem
Of me there is three -the one I amthe one you seethe one I want to be.
America’s Nursing Home Problem is Just Beginning if America Doesn’t Step Up
Swamped by the news of Monday’s failed bailout vote on Capitol Hill, was the report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that more than 90% (yes you read that right, more than 90%) of U.S. nursing homes were cited for violations of federal health and safety standards last year.In the New York Times report by Robert Pear, inspector general Daniel Levinson of the department broke down the stats in his report by non-profits and for-profits:
- The inspector general said 94 percent of for-profit nursing homes were cited for deficiencies last year, compared with 88 percent of nonprofit homes and 91 percent of government homes.
- About two-thirds of U.S. nursing homes are owned by for-profit companies, while 27 percent are owned by nonprofit organizations and 6 percent by government entities.
UNACCEPTABLE. Americans need, want and deserve better. So do so many professionals in the long-term care profession. In this country, one should be able to live with the utmost dignity with the best possible care to the very end of life.Simply adding band-aids of more rules and regulations on top of mega fractures isn’t going to get the collective body working the way it should. Major change demands collective innovation and collective leadership. This issue is all about the 'common good.' We’re all aging, and more of us are doing it than ever before in our country’s history.We invite you to read two perspectives on this by two leaders focused on changing aging in America. Download here Ecumen CEO Kathryn Roberts' article entitled 'An Incredible Opportunity for Candidates Who Desire Change in America' and Larry Minnix’s (CEO of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging) interview today with Jane Gross in The New York Times' blog 'New Old Age.'Related information is available at the top of Changing Aging in these two categories: Innovation in the Age Wave and Long-Term Care Financing Reform.
I’m Still Here - The Alzheimer’s Story
Photo Copyright: Laura Crosby
Twin Cities Poet Anne Simpson and photographer Laura Crosby have collaborated on a new book and exhibit entitled 'I’m Still Here.' The exhibit will open this Thursday, October 2nd with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Aslan Institute in Eagan. The exhibit runs through October 31. Above is one photo from the exhibit, and below is a poem entitled 'Visitation' also featured in the book and exhibit:
VISITATION
In the Alzheimer’s homewhere the young mother has come to visit,her baby is crying.You hold out your arms.
You sit on a cold, metal, fold-up chairby the nurse’s desk,sit calmly as you hold the flailing bundle --
purple screwed-up face,fists and feet pummeling the air,tiny lungs forming screamsthat pierce old deafened ears.
Bent over the child, you sit,gently rocking,stroking her,speaking sounds no others understand.
You murmur the language that comes before speechthat she, so recently arrived,and, so close to return,can speak together.
- By Anne Simpson, 'I’m Still Here' - The Alzheimer’s Story