ecumen

Thank you! Together, We're Changing Aging.

Your voices were heard – on Give to the Max Day, we raised more than $5,000 in support of Ecumen and Awakenings!

A special congratulations and thank you to Kori Williams, the Ecumen donor who won a Golden Ticket of $1,000 towards Awakenings.

While Give to the Max Day is just once a year, we are grateful for the year 'round support from you and other Ecumen advocates.  Without your commitment to changing aging, we could not accomplish all we do to make living longer, living better. 

Again, THANK YOU!!! 

by origineight

Ecumen Academy of Lifelong Learning: Because you're never too old to learn!

It wasn't just the seniors in high school who returned to school this fall in Apple Valley.

So did a group of senior citizens. Or rather, school came to them.

Through an opportunity that was new this fall, 23 senior citizens took either one or two courses that Inver Hills Community College coordinated with staff at the Ecumen Seasons at Apple Valley residence.

Read the full story about Ecumen Academy of Lifelong Learning at Apple Valley Patch.com. 

by origineight

Raise Your Voice. Change Aging. Give Together.

Today, YOU can be the change agent to make living longer, living better.  Here's what you need to know: 

• Giving began at midnight and goes until 11:59pm!
• GOLDEN TICKETS of $1,000 will be given to a random donor's charity every hour -- so any gift at any time can make a big impact! 
• Keep an eye on the Leaderboards -- prizes of $15,000, $10,000 and $5,000 will be awarded to the top three nonprofits which received the most dollars in 24 hours.  Help us make that Leaderboard! 
• PASS IT ON!  Encourage your friends, family, neighbors and colleagues to give to Ecumen!  E-mail, call, Tweet, or send a Facebook message -- just let them know!  

Make your voice heard for changing aging TODAY! 

http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Ecumen or www.ecumengiving.org

by origineight

Raise your hand. Change Aging. Give Together.

People are already thinking about changing aging. Just last week, Ecumen’s Awakenings project was featured on Kare 11’s Land of 10,000 Stories. Take five minutes to watch this incredible video – see the faces and hear the stories of Awakenings.

YOU can make change happen! Ecumen is participating in Give to the Max Day for the first time ever, encouraging our partners to stand with us for innovation in senior care.

Here is just one story among the many ways Ecumen is changing aging: 

This summer, on a Twin Cities golf course, Carri*, an Ecumen supporter, was telling her partner about Awakenings, Ecumen’s revolutionary new approach to Alzheimer’s care. As she described the incredible experience of residents shaking off the effects of archaic treatment and "awakening" to life once more, her friend’s eyes filled with tears. He cried as he described how his own mother had suffered from Alzheimer’s and experienced the very symptoms Awakenings works to eradicate. When she passed away, he had tremendous grief. He was astounded that a program like Awakenings now existed – and wished that his mother could have experienced it.

Change can’t happen fast enough. More people need to know about projects like Awakenings – projects that are literally changing aging and changing lives. When you participate in Give to the Max, you’re raising your hand for Ecumen and for change.

Raise your hand for changing aging on November 16! Visit www.ecumengiving.org for more information. 
*Name changed at the request of the donor

by origineight

Honor - Veterans Day 2012

Thank you to America's veterans! Following are just a few of the stories from Ecumen customers who have served our country.  We invite you to share your remembrances and tributes in the comments section below.

Mike Colallilo

Today in Duluth, one of the few living Medal of Honor recipients will be honored at Ecumen's Bayshore community. Only about 450 U.S. soldiers, sailors and pilots received the nation's highest combat award during the war. Mike Colallilo, pictured above with President Truman, received his based on his bravery and leadership on April 7, 1945. Here is an excerpt from a Minnesota Public Radio Story. You can read the full story here – it’s amazing.

"Lying on the ground, bullets and shells flying everywhere, Colalillo decided something had to be done. Even though he was a private, not in command, Colalillo rose up and yelled to the other soldiers to follow him.

The soldiers fell in behind some tanks and moved forward, firing as they went. Shell fragments hit Colalillo's submachine gun, making the weapon useless, and leaving him even more vulnerable.
"I jumped on the tank, and just hollered in the tank and told them, 'I lost my gun and I'm going to use your machine gun on the top,'" Colalillo recalls. "And that's when I started shooting all these positions where the Germans were."

Doris Brand

Doris Brand lives at Ecumen Point Pleasant Heights in Chisago City.  Among her neighbors at Ecumen Point Pleasant Heights are 30 other WW II vets.  She served in the Navy during WW II in the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service). She played a substantial role in developing America’s air supremacy.

She attended Hunter College in New York City and then headed to boot camp.  Afterwards she was one of just 1,000 women nationally who became Link Trainer instructors. These were instructors who ran flight simulators to train pilots. After her training in Atlanta, where she learned how to fly planes, transmit morse code, and other skills, she trained pilots at the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, Texas.

In a recent interview, she shared how some male pilots tried barrel rolls and loops in the simulator  to see if they could make her sick. They never succeeded. But she did succeed and, because of it, she helped our country succeed. 

Honor Flights

A number of Ecumen customers this year have taken Honor Flights to visit the World War II memorial in Washington D.C. Recently returning from one of those flights was Jim Reasoner (pictured at left) from Ecumen's Pathstone Living Community and Bill Spehar, Vince Flesness and Bob Huston, who recently passed away, took flight to D.C. from Ecumen Lakeshore.

Among the remembrances, Jim shared the following:  He was 19 years old, and married with two young daughters when he was drafted. He was involved in combat in the invasion of the Philippines. In addition to participating in heavy combat, he suffered from 26 attacks of malaria. After a 30-day hospital stay on the Island of Leyte, he rejoined his company in Yokohama, Japan, soon after it had been bombed.  He worked out of Tokyo. He recalls at the end of the War taking the USS U.S. Grant back across the Pacific to the U.S. with 5,000 other soldiers. Crossing below the Golden Gate Bridge, he and his fellow troops were welcomed by thousands of people and bands, and banners flying everywhere.

Another neat story added today by colleague Lori Olson; you can read the full stor in the comments below.

Thank you again to all veterans!  We invite you to share your thanks, remembrances and tributes below in the comments section.

by origineight

Ecumen Awakenings in the News

  Gary Babcock hadn't heard his father speak in two years, and watched as Melvin Babcock sat motionless, most often slumped in sleep, in his wheelchair. Melvin Babcock was living with Alzheimer's, and as his behavior became more and more agitated, caregivers increased his antipsychotic medications in effort to "restrain" him. That was before Melvin became part of Ecumen's Awakenings program at Ecumen North Branch.

  "When I heard him tell my mom, 'That was our son Gary,' as I walked away, I couldn't believe it," said Gary. "And now he's wheeling around the place, stopping at neighbors' doors to say hello."

  You can view a poignant news feature about our Awakenings initiative that recently aired on KARE 11 TV, by clicking here. What the feature video won't tell you is that Melvin is now on his third pair of biking gloves. 

  Ecumen's Awakenings initiative is underway in all of our 15 care centers in Minnesota. Find our locations at ecumen.org. You can join us in changing aging by donating to Ecumen Giving on Minnesota Give to the Max day, November 16. 

by origineight

Changing Aging: Give Together!

Ecumen is participating in Give to the Max Day!  www.youtube.com/watch

On November 16, tens of thousands of Minnesotans will join together to give to the causes they believe in. This year, we are calling on Ecumen’s friends and supporters to join us to GIVE TOGETHER TO CHANGE AGING. See a quick video by clicking HERE.

Watch for more information on this blog and in your e-mail – let’s change aging together!

by origineight

Urge Your Senators Not to Repeal the CLASS ACT - CALL 855-218-2109

Urge Your Senators Not to Repeal the CLASS ACT - CALL 855-218-2109

We must urge Congress not to repeal the CLASS Act. It is the only framework on the books to help transform how our country finances long-term services and supports. Today Medicaid pays for half of long-term care services, which is not sustainable. Before the week's end, we hope you will call 855-218-2109 and follow the prompts to be connected to one of your senators. You can call back to be patched through to your other Senator.

The Message

Once you are patched through, tell the senator's office that you hope they will urge the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to appoint the CLASS Independence Advisory Council that is mandated in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act .

Thanks for making these calls and your work in changing aging . . .

by origineight

Please Contact the Obama Administration This Week: Keep Working on the CLASS Act

Please join us and others this week across the country incontinuing our advocacy around the creation of a national insurance program to help people pay for long-term services and supports.

The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act is at a critical time. Last week, the administration issued a letter saying that it did not "see a path forward" for implementing the CLASS Act.

Please call: 855-218-2109 (you will be patched to either the White House or Dept. of Health and Human Services where you can leave a message).

Urge the Administration to continue working on CLASS.

The problem of financial protection for Americans is not going away. America has to create a viable solution for people to pay for long-term services and supports they need. Giving up on a solution now after all the work that's been done to this point would be foolish.

Without a solution, Medicaid continues as America's default insurance, which isn't sustainable. . . . America can and must do better!

Thank you for your advocacy in Changing Aging!

P.S. This editorial today from the Minneapolis Star Tribune illustrates why work on CLASS must continue. Also, here is the recent non-partisan Citizens League's Journal, which includes an article from Ecumen and another from Minnesota's Commissioner of Human Services Lucinda Jesson. This issue looks at ways to innovate in long-term care financing. Also, this NY Times article does a good job summing up the issue.

by origineight

Ecumen Customers in Alexandria Reunite and Rekindle Friendship as They Turn 100

Ecumen customers in Alexandria, MN Iola Stark (L) and Christel Guiles (R)

Iola Stark and Christel Guiles first met in 1929 when attending college in Morris Minnesota Agricultural School, a branch of the University of Minnesota.  (Today it's the University of Minnesota-Morris).  After graduation, life took off and they lost touch.  Almost eight decades later they met again at Ecumen's Bethany Community in Alexandria, MN.  They have had a lot to catch up on and they have a lot to celebrate. . .

Born five days apart, they each celebrate their 100th birthdays in December.  Iola's 100th birthday is December 13th and Christel's the 18th.  Congratulations to both of them!  We're looking forward to having them join Ecumen's Centenarian Club.

by origineight