Technology and Active Aging Story by MinnPost.Com
Technology is going to play an increasing role in aging and the transformation of America for the Age Wave.Christine Capecchi, a reporter with MinnPost.com, spent time with Honor Hacker, an Ecumen customer, yesterday (at left) at the Ecumen community of Lakeview Commons. Here is Christina’s interesting story.Honor and Kathy Bakkenist, Ecumen’s COO and senior vice president of strategy and operations, will be testifying tomorrow before members and staff of the Senate Special Committee on Aging on the subject of aging and technology.
Signs, Signs, Everywhere a Sign
Posted By John Korzendorfer, Senior Director of Campus Operations The ongoing dialogue on the Changing Aging blog about 'IT' fascinates me. 'IT' is comprised of numerous factors, and today I would like to talk about one of them as they relate to America’s nursing homes.
SIGNS!
In my work I have the opportunity to visit numerous nursing homes, and so many of them have this in common:
SIGNS!
I’m not talking about directional signs…Remember the chorus from the mid-70’s song 'Signs?''Sign, sign, everywhere a signBlocking out the scenery, breaking my mind.Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign?'You know what I am talking about…
And, if we do put up a sign, how about using other ones, such as:Welcome!Our Mission is to Create Home. How Can We Help?We Want Your Ideas.Thank You for Choosing Us.We’re Proud to Serve You.We’re Thankful for You.How Can We Do Better?If you have 'IT,' you will look 'IT.'
Churches and Senior Housing Development - Leadership in America’s Age Wave
Churches across America have a tremendous opportunity to play a significantly positive role in the aging of America by helping create vibrant communities that bring multiple generations together.Looking closer at this emerging leadership role, we have introduced a white paper entitled: 'A New Wrinkle on Aging, Congregational Senior Housing.' Author Kay Harvey shares one congregation’s experience as it turns a vision into reality.
Ecumen’s North Star: Our Mission, Vision and Values
We’d like to introduce Changing Aging' readers to our North Star: our mission, vision and values. We introduced them today throughout Ecumen.If you’ve ever been involved in developing a mission statement, you can appreciate how difficult they can be to shape …and then doubly tough when you add vision and values.But what was so cool about this process was that our board of trustees did it quickly, intuitively and decisively. The work sessions had the help of a wonderful moderator - Dr. Louellen Essex, a leading management consultant and author (if you’re ever in need of a highly skilled navigator who helps people move through complexities, she’s at the top). It was a lot of fun watching the trustees thoughtfully whittle and craft the words that our work give life to today and guide us in shaping tomorrow.
Our Mission
We create home for older adults, whereverthey choose to live.
Our Vision for “Changing Aging”
We envision a world in which aging is viewed and understood in radically different ways.
Our Values
Service:We intensely focus on serving our customers and delivering what they want with excellence.People:We believe in hiring and investing in dedicated, passionate people who make Ecumen communities great places to live and work.Innovation:We celebrate creativity and ingenuity, anticipate change, and understand that responsible risk is essential to delivering cutting-edge products and services.Spirituality:We honor our faith-based heritage by creating welcoming, inclusive communities that nurture and support the spiritual needs of the people we serve.Wellness:We believe that physical, intellectual, spiritual, social, emotional, and vocational growth is essential to wellness.Collaboration:We partner with other progressive organizations to maximize solutions for the people and communities we serve.Stewardship:We are committed to being financially successful and good stewards of our resources.
Ecumen to Discuss Aging Services and Technology at Capitol Hill Hearing
Technology is playing a transformational role in aging services and senior housing, and that role will only grow with the age wave.
On January 30th, Kathy Bakkenist, (pictured left) Ecumen’s chief operating officer and senior vice president of strategy and operations, and Ecumen customer Honor Hacker (below left viewing a wireless QuietCare sensor in her apartment), will testify before members of the Senate Special Committee on Aging and the Senate Medical Technology Caucus.Kathy and Honor will be joined by Mike Magee, M.D., senior fellow in health policy, Center for Aging Services Technologies (CAST) and commissioner on the National Commission for Quality Long-Term Care; and Darrin Jones, senior business development manager for Intel’s Global Digital Health Group. Kathy and Darrin also are commissioners for CAST, a collaboration of leading technology companies, aging services companies, research universities and government representatives.
Kathy will discuss the role of technology at Ecumen and how we’re using it to serve a changing marketplace, and Honor will be discussing her role as a consumer of aging services technology. We see the growing intersection of people and technology as fundamental to improving quality of life, adding years to life, enhancing independence, sharing knowledge across generations and connecting people across the country and world. To learn more about the role of technology in senior hosuing and aging services, we invite you to download this white paper: Technology Transforming Senior Housing and Aging Services.As part of this work, we’ve introduced a variety of technologies in the last three years, including: QuietCare sensor technology; [m]Power cognitive fitness technology; CareTracker, which eliminates paper charting in long-term care settings; and Ivivi SofPulse, which uses pulsed electromagnetic field technology to speed tissue healing.If you’re going to be in D.C. next week, the Senate briefings will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Room G50. In addition to taking testimony from the people above, a number of technology companies will be holding demonstrations.
Thoughts on MLK Day, Segregation and Long-Term Care in America
There are days when you pause and think about how far America has come and at the same time how far we still have to go. Today - when we honor Martin Luther King, Jr. - is one of those days.It’s hard to believe, but it wasn’t too long ago, where you wouldn’t have whites and blacks living or working side-by-side in America’s senior care communities. Yes, things have changed. But then you read studies such as that led by Vincent Mor, chair of the Community Health Department at Brown University. Last fall he and his fellow researchers released a study that found that 60% of African Americans in U.S. nursing homes ended up in just 10% of the country’s nursing homes €” typically ones that had been cited for quality problems. Other key findings in the study:
- Blacks were nearly three times as likely as whites to be in nursing homes that predominantly cared for Medicaid patients.
- Blacks were twice as likely to be located in homes that had provided such poor care that they were subsequently kicked out of Medicaid and Medicare.
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Blacks were nearly 1½ times as likely as whites to be in homes that had been cited for deficiencies that could cause immediate harm.
The study also found that nursing homes in the Midwest were most likely to be racially segregated. Nursing homes in the South were the least likely to have an unequal distribution of minorities.
Segregation. It’s ugly. It’s still alive. And it underscores how public policy decisions connect generations. It’s time for an American Aging agenda.
Behind the Alzheimer’s Cure Headlines
Every 72 seconds another person gets Alzheimer’s. No surprise that baby boomers list it as one of their biggest concerns about growing older.You might have seen the recent headlines about a potential Alzheimer’s cure reported in the United Kingdom. Here’s a quick summary: An 81-year-old man was injected with arthritis drug (Etanercept) and within 10-minutes, his memory came back to the utter amazement of his family.It was fabulous news, and if you heard it, you might have wondered, why didn’t it get more headlines in the coming days? You wouldn’t be alone. The devil is in the details. Trisha Torrey, who blogs at Every Patient’s Advocate, provides some great context on this story and goes behind the headlines as does this article by the British Broadcasting System.
Baby Boomer Grandparents Redefining Grandparenting in Age Wave
Are you a grandboomer? Is it different than what your experience was like with your grandparents?The Age Wave is redefining grandparenting.- More than one in three baby boomers are grandparents, with the average age of grandboomers being 53.-With life expectancy at record lengths, baby boomer grandparents will be part of their grandchildren’s lives longer than any previous generation. - The newest grandchildren will see work as an integral part of their grandparents' lives as boomers will work longer than previous generations of grandparents according to our study of boomers.- Grandboomers are driving new products such as grandboomers.com and Grand Magazine, which was founded by grandboomer Christine Crosby, who skates, does yoga and videoconferences with her grandchildren.
The Age Wave and America’s Public Policy Agenda
Thirty years ago last Sunday, former Vice President and Minnesota U.S. Senator Hubert H. Humphrey died. He was only 66.It’s interesting how America’s public policy agenda changes over time. In Humphrey’s 1976 campaign brochure the theme was: Humphrey … The Man for All Reasons.Guess what Reason # 1 was? Senior Citizens.When you open his 1976 brochure this is the text that hits you first:Senator Humphrey believes that Older Americans should be able to live in dignity, independence and security. The man who fought for Medicare also has worked to improve Social Security and Supplemental Security Income and to ease the restrictions on Social Security recipients. Senator Humphrey’s legislative efforts have focused on providing older persons with better nutrition and medical care, improved access to transportation, adequate housing, and expanded opportunities for recreation and enjoyment of the arts. In short, Senator Humphrey wants to see that older citizens have a place in the mainstream of American life.Aging is going to rise on the American agenda again, especially as 78 million baby boomers find that aging is very personal. Yes, it’s interesting how America’s agenda changes over time.
What’s Your Successful Aging Story?
Every person has a story. You really see that when you read the obituaries. Many of them are stories in successful aging, people living fully to the end of their life. I was struck by this story I came across on the obituary page last month. Here are a few excerpts.Seward Renwick Moore, 105, retired in 1966 to Sedona, Arizona and lived in his home until his death on November 27, 2007. He lived a healthy, beautiful life for 41 years in Arizona, where he was able to enjoy the miracles in nature year around. He continued to ride his beloved horses up to his 102nd birthday.He was preceded in death by his wife Dorathey who died in 1993 after celebrating 72 years of marriage.The enduring legacy he left to his family are the principles he valued above all others: trustworthiness, freedom of spirit, and the independence to pursue his hopes and dreams.How cool … I think most Americans would like their legacy to read like this, no matter their age. Is there a person who inspires you (living or dead) by their approach to successful aging?Posted by Eric Schubert, Director of Communications, Ecumen