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An Opportunity to Change the Way We Think About Aging
Ecumen CEO Kathryn Roberts had an op-ed published in today’s Saint Paul Pioneer Press on preparing for the age wave. The text follows:Herb Carneal was a wonderful person and announcer, and also a role model for vital, successful aging. His family and friends were always near. He embraced his work. And he lived and died where he wanted - at home.At Ecumen we’re vested in helping more people live as Herb did. To help get there, we recently commissioned the largest survey of Minnesota baby boomers - the biggest tide of the coming age wave - to see how they foresee living as seniors. Their opinions reveal astounding opportunities for leadership in reinventing aging and paying for the freedom we desire.Money-saving flexibility: Vermont’s nationally acclaimed 'Choices for Care' initiative lets Medicaid - assistance for the poor - pay for home care, which averages $20,000 annually in Vermont versus $40,000 for a nursing home. Nearly nine of 10 boomers (89 percent) embrace the initiative. (Interestingly, about three years ago Minnesota began a similar program. Few know it exists. The unwieldy 'Consumer Directed Community Supports' program is buried deeply in the Department of Human Services Web site, where it says about 120 people use it. Inquiring about it, a colleague received an 88-page booklet. Let’s seize the opportunity to simplify this and remove it from the closet. If it’s hidden because of costs, let’s say so and build something better.)Wired for freedom: Boomers love on-demand tech tools. In fact, 92 percent expect technology to enhance their independence as seniors. Take, for example, digital sensor technology. It unobtrusively learns a person’s daily routines and sends 24/7 motion updates to a caregiver’s or family member’s computer or cell phone. It helps spot small health issues before they expand in complexity and expense. It connects people across distances and gives caregivers and physicians data earlier. Two years ago, six early adopters piloted this for us in Maplewood. Now 600 of our customers use it.Ireland, seeing aging as an economic opportunity, recently joined Intel on a development center to create proactive digital technologies that help European seniors live how they want to live, where they want to. Minnesota could step ahead if we used our ingenuity to develop such technologies here.Better payment options: Don’t like the phrase 'long-term care'? Most boomers don’t, either. So why do companies try selling difficult-to-understand long-term care insurance? Few buy it or trust it. Boomers want more flexible hybrid products, such as life insurance that could be tapped for care if needed. And nearly 100 percent of boomers we surveyed want a simple point-and-click Web site to comparison shop for state-endorsed savings and payment options. Boomers see these as keys to living life how they want to, rather than one-way tickets to a nursing home. Products emphasizing that aging is about living - even toward the end of life - will create a better market-government balance and allow more independence. But thinking differently will also improve the safety net for those in need.Downtown development: Most boomers point to rural or suburban communities as their ideal retirement location. Only 10 percent say the urban core is where they want to be. But, with foresight, the age wave could benefit St. Paul as much as the river current has. Boomers want nearby health care, transportation, worship places, shopping, education, fitness and multi-generational living. St. Paul has many of these dots, and light rail could connect more.In Chicago, the Franciscan Sisters and Loyola University built The Clare at Water Tower to bring people downtown. This isn’t sterile, cookie-cutter housing. Architecturally stunning, it houses college classrooms, a performance center, day spa, rooftop terrace and restaurants. Called a life-care community, it also has memory and hospice care. A person, in return for an entry fee, never has to leave, even if his or her assets are depleted. It’s a new, successful entrepreneurial product based on the idea that aging is an active verb.Minnesota’s 1.5 million baby boomers are sounding a declaration of independence. It’s a human desire. And we can meet it if we lead in changing aging.Kathryn Roberts is CEO of Shoreview-based Ecumen, which is Minnesota’s largest nonprofit senior housing and services company. Read the full Ecumen Age Wave Study.
Caught in the Middle
Interesting MSNBC article called 'Caught in the Middle' on the Sandwich Generation today shared with us from Ecumen’s Nicole Behm-Koep.Aging has so long been framed as something that impacts only the old. But here’s a story of a baby boomer caring for children and a parent who has dementia. In addition to those two full-time jobs she has another job outside of the house. Although it’s not explicitly said in the article, you can see how caring for senior parents connects to the workplace (time missed due to a parent’s needs), housing (a parent who doesn’t want to live in a nursing home and instead moves in with a son or daughter), transportation (helping Mom get to her morning care program) and a host of other areas that at first glance don’t seem to have anything to do with aging. As we advocate for changing aging as a profession, we have to start showing how aging is tied to so many other areas of our society. And what we do or don’t do … impacts many more people than seniors. Aging is about all of us.For more on this subject as it relates to caregiving, check out the research by the National Alliance on Caregiving.
Aging Services Leaders Talk Wellness
Posted by Jessica Drecktrah, Director of Special ProjectsPreliminary findings of the “National Whole-Person Wellness Survey,” sponsored by Mather Lifeways and Ziegler Capital Markets Group can be found within the current issue of Nursing Homes Magazine. This survey looks at how nearly 100 leaders within aging services envision of the future of wellness programming for vital, successful aging.One of the merits of this particular survey is that it gives a snap shot view of how aging services professionals are developing programs along the six dimensions of wellness (i.e., physical, social, emotional, spiritual, intellectual, and vocational). Currently, most wellness program opportunities exist along the social, physical, and spiritual dimensions. Respondents, however, see a different future ahead for programs aimed at the vocational, intellectual, and emotional growth dimensions; particularly in the areas of support groups, counseling opportunities (peer to peer and mentoring), educational programming, and volunteer opportunities.Furthermore, respondents note that aging services professionals have become motivated by the wellness initiative to make large changes within the physical plant. Currently, the majority of communities have exercise rooms, activity/game rooms, and libraries, the “traditional” staples of wellness space. Moreover, many communities have formal dining areas and formal space allocated for worship use. Coming up within the next five years, consumers will see more and more senior housing with spa treatment areas, café/refreshment areas, and pools as part of a much different type of senior living.
Evercare 100 at 100 Survey
The 'Evercare 100 @ 100 Survey' is a new survey of centenarians that looks at keys to successful aging. What’s particularly interesting is that a number of the people in the survey use technology, such as the internet and iPods. It again breaks down these stereotypes that seniors can’t or won’t use technology. Also when you look at how baby boomers use of technology in the Ecumen Age Wave Study it becomes abundantly clear that technology is going to be a big part of our profession. We’re just hitting the tip of the iceberg in using technology to help seniors live better and more independently. With the coming age wave, shortage in caregivers, and people’s overwhelming desire to live at home for as long as possible, we have to unleash the full potential of technology. As part of that effort, Minnesota’s Sen. Norm Coleman has launched an interesting bill that should be a broad bi-partisan effort.
Mobile Assisted Living Initiative Earns Senior Housing Community Emmanuel Gubernatorial Award
Pictured: Gov. Pawlenty and Janet GreenEcumen’s Emmanuel Community in Detroit Lakes, Minn., has been honored by Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty as a recipient of one of the inaugural Best PracticesAwards by the Governor’s Council on Faith and Community Service Initiatives. Senior housing community Emmanuel, a leader in the aging services profession, was one of just 7 recipients statewide to receive the honor. Emmanuel Community and Ecumen leader Janet Green accepted the award from Governor Pawlenty during a Capitol reception last month.The Best Practices award recognizes Emmanuel’s innovative initiative focused on vital, successful aging to deliver assisted living services to seniors in their Detroit Lakes apartments, so that they can stay in their home. Currently 78 customers benefit from this program that reduces nursing home use. Emmanuel Community is now working on extending this award-winning program to other Minnesota seniors and help the state prepare for the age wave.Governor Pawlenty commended Emmanuel Community for helping its customers stay in a community that they love and deliver senior independent living.“Emmanuel’s focus on promoting senior independent living and vital, successful aging is tremendous,” said Kathryn Roberts, CEO and president of Ecumen. “We need to expand these innovations to serve more Minnesota seniors today and prepare for the age wave of baby boomers.”
Thank You, Herb!
Minnesota lost a wonderful person, broadcasting legend, and a great role model for successful aging when Minnesota Twins announcer Herb Carneal passed away at his home on April 1st.We were very fortunate at Ecumen to have worked with Herb. Two years ago we worked with the Twins on a bobblehead partnership that celebrated the 1965 World Series team. As part of that partnership Herb, Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva shared their perspectives on aging in this series of interviews. Herb lived the life he desired, surrounded by people he loved and who loved him, and doing what he enjoyed most. He was a role model for all of us.According to Dave Campbell of the Associated Press, Garrison Keillor, another radio man whose voice made him a Minnesota icon, once wrote a tune for one of his Prairie Home Companion shows that was titled 'Porch Song.' In that whimsy, folksy tribute to summer’s simple pleasures, Keillor included this stanza:Just give me two pillows and a bottle of beer. And the Twins game on radio next to my ear. Some hark to the sound of the loon or the teal. But I love the voice of Herb Carneal.'To hear the one-of-a-kind voice that generations of Minnesotans grew up with, visit the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting, which features clips from his 50th Anniversary in Major League Baseball.
What is The Changing Aging Blog?
Posted by Eric Schubert, Ecumen, Director of CommunicationsHopefully, The Changing Aging Blog is a lot of fun and a place that people finding interesting, learn new stuff and meet others who are working to change aging for the better. So who is Ecumen? Well, we are Minnesota’s largest non-profit senior housing and services company. We own senior housing, manage it for others and develop it. We’re also working very hard to invent and develop products and services that promote vital, successful aging. We’re not alone. And that’s where this blog comes in. We’re going to use this spot to share ideas, connect to interesting articles, post opinions, ask questions, and share things that are interesting around the subject of aging, especially aging vitally, which should be an opportunity for all of us as human beings.Aging is fascinating because we all do it. And now with the aging baby boomer population, we’re going to have more people than ever before doing it. It used to be that you retired and then you died a few years later. Social Security was built on the expectancy that you’d only collect its dollars for a few years. Now people are hitting their mid 60s and just starting to hit their stride. That creates a whole new ballgame in so many ways from public policy, to housing, to community development to technology to media to just about everything. We have many days ahead of us and we look forward to being an arena where you can visit and find and share information from the brave new world of aging.
Editorial: State can encourage in-home senior care
Posted in the Minneapolis Star TribuneStart transforming nursing homes into service centers. The day is coming when advanced aging will no longer mean leaving home for most Minnesotans. For many, it will lead to the installation of electronic sensors in their homes. High-tech monitors will alert family members or care supervisors when a refrigerator isn’t opened often enough, a bathroom is visited too often, medicine is not consumed or movement is not detected.Some of what Minnesotans now call nursing homes will be older adult service centers' that monitor those readouts, offer drop-in care and clinics, host classes and events, and dispatch providers of in-home services. Others will be 'life care communities' that offer a variety of residential options for the chronically ill and disabled.The Legislature should seek to hasten the arrival of that future. When it does, Minnesota’s frail elderly will have more of the independence they want, and their care will be less burdensome to taxpayers. State and federal taxpayers foot the bill for about two-thirds of Minnesota nursing home residents; those tabs are running in the range of $50,000 per year.The transformation of elder care would be spurred by enactment this session of a bill sponsored by state Rep. Joe Atkins, DFL-Inver Grove Heights, offering income tax credits for installation of electronic 'senior sensors.' Lawmakers should also explore ways to encourage the purchase of long-term care insurance and to allow a Medicaid-eligible senior to use those funds to pay a friend or relative to provide home care.But until the good day comes when few frail seniors need to leave home for care, the Legislature must also attend to the condition of Minnesota nursing homes. They are hurting: Minnesota has lost 10 percent of its nursing facilities to financial failure since 2000, and one of every four remaining is considered by industry associations at risk of closure.State underfunding and hyper-regulation are major reasons why. Nursing homes can’t raise rates without state approval. No approval came for 2004-05, and the 2006-07 increase didn’t keep pace with inflation.Industry representatives are asking the Legislature for catch-up funding for fiscal 2008 and keep-up money for 2009, totaling $64 million. That’s more than three times the increase Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s budget allots for long-term care, and likely more than the DFL-controlled Legislature can muster. But legislators will be derelict in their duty if they turn their backs completely on the facilities' pleas. What’s more, they’ll do a disservice to tomorrow’s seniors if they spurn the industry’s request for $10 million a year to help underwrite the projects that will turn nursing homes into older adult service centers.A recent poll of Minnesota baby boomers by Ecumen, the state’s largest nonprofit provider of eldercare, found that they have no desire to end their days in nursing homes. Forward-looking state investments are needed now to make sure they won’t have to.
Boomers study shows future demand for health technology
From the Minneapolis St. Paul Business JournalBYLINE: Lauren WilbertBaby boomers in Minnesota consider themselves young until at least age 80 and say they will invest in technology to help them live independently, according to a survey released this week by Ecumen.That will open opportunities for businesses that successfully cater to those needs, particularly in the insurance, technology, senior housing and advertising industries. Some businesses already are creating a new niche to cater to the young at heart' seniors, while others will need to work on their marketing to connect with this audience.Ecumen, a Shoreview-based senior-housing nonprofit, surveyed 564 Minnesota baby boomers between the ages of 42 and 60 for the organization’s first Age Wave study.he research found that Minnesota boomers overwhelmingly believe technology will play a major role in their aging experience. Half said they’d spend $100 a month on technology to help them live independently, and 5 percent said they’d spend as much as $500 per month.Many boomers already are buying health technology for their aging parents and are savvy about products on the market, said Eric Schubert, Ecumen’s director of communications.'Technology is a huge part of their life,' Schubert said. 'Boomers have grown up in this TiVo, iPod age, and every sector of life that boomers have gone through, there’s been huge change.'Ecumen might even seek out partnerships with large retailers to sell digital health technology. Other businesses might look at the trends and develop partnerships of their own, Schubert said. 'While we’d love to bring everything to market, there’s clearly some [companies] better poised to act on things.'Tweak the messageBoomers' buying power will continue to grow, as evident in the sheer number of them. Ecumen’s study estimates that by 2020, Minnesota will have more seniors than children.Take into account that boomers plan to work into their 70s and even beyond and it becomes clear that the 'silver tsunami' will affect the way employers structure their hours. Many companies are trying to provide flexible work schedules to accommodate this work force. In retirement, boomers will do something they enjoy, and businesses can benefit from boomers' expertise,Schubert said.Insurance is another area set for changes. Most senior plans are sold as 'long-term care insurance,' a name that boomers hate, he said. 'It’s basically the precept that aging is about living, no matter what stage you’re at. So often aging is about the end of life and declinism, and boomers just aren’t going to go with this.'Boomers would rather buy a hybrid health care package that resembles a life-insurance policy that they could leave for their heirs, he said.Preferences in housing also are creating huge opportunities for developers and places like Ecumen.No one surveyed said they would like to live in a nursing home, and most said they’d prefer to live in a rural or suburban setting over an urban one.Entering the marketCommercial Equity Partners (CEP), based in Woodbury, is just one example of companies racing to enter the boomer market.CEP, which specializes in building business campuses, has partnered with Ecumen to develop a senior-living community in Woodbury adjacent to HealthEast Care System’s Woodwinds Hospital.The project would be 325,000 square feet and include a fitness center, common area, housing for 250 people, restaurants, a general store and transportation to places outside the development.CEP first has to convince Woodbury’s City Council to change the zoning, which now is designated for medical office developments. But already, the project is attracting investors and potential residents, said Bill Knutson, CEP’s vice president of senior housing.'It’s [focused around] emerging needs in health care, and our role is to understand how all these relationships can mesh.'