Changing Aging

Interesting series by ABC News and USA Today begins today.  It’s called “Role Reversal.”  Looks at children taking care of their older parents. 

This “sandwich generation” presents a great opportunity for senior housing and aging services organizations to serve a much younger clientele and more broadly share its expertise.

The first story today looks at how senior care is moving away from nursing homes.  Looking at our Age Wave Study, it’s clear that baby boomers want to continue this direction.  Another interesting story is about technology, which we are users of here.

  Media often get a bad name.  Dennis Douda (pictured at left)  at WCCO-TV is one of the good guys.   (For our readers outside of the Midwest, WCCO-TV is the Twin Cities CBS affiliate).

He recently did a story on technology being used at Ecumen.   He enjoyed the people he met at Lakeview Commons in Maplewood as part of the story.  He is producing a short film called Willie 1.17 that is going to be entered at Sundance and other film festivals.  Last week 15 people who live at Lakeview Commons got to participate in the filming of the movie’s closing scene.  That was pretty cool, but then according to Wendy Traffie, the leader at Lakeview Commons, there were a couple of other surprises.

Posted in the Minneapolis Star Tribune

Start 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.

From the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal

BYLINE: Lauren Wilbert

Baby 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.

Posted in the Pioneer Press

BYLINE: Jeremy Olson, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Feb. 20–Minnesota’s baby boomers want exactly what the state’s long-term care  system lacks: technology and creative programs that will help them remain  independent and at home in their frail and elderly years.

That is one of the main conclusions of a study and survey being released today by  Ecumen, a Shoreview-based provider of nursing homes and community services for  the elderly.

Executives with the organization hope the results will inspire lawmakers and  caregivers to try new approaches and programs before the massive boomer  generation reaches retirement age.

Posted in the StarTribune 

Motion sensors, virtual dinner companions and a talking pill  could help baby boomers age more independently.

By H.J. Cummins, Star Tribune

Today, motion sensors can monitor the comings and goings of elderly Americans so  they can live safely and independently in their own homes.

One day soon, a cellular telephone will detect any new quaver in the voice, and a cuff  link will notice any worrisome change of gait.

Eventually a talking computer screen will tell the elderly whether they should take an  aspirin for a headache — considering their 12 or 16 or 20 other medications.

Posted in the Star Tribune

New public policies and products can help Minnesota to ride the age wave.

Kathryn Roberts

Lotions hide aging. Phrases such as “senior moment” disparage it. And many policymakers put it off. That won’t work much longer.

In 2020, Minnesota will have 1 million people over age 65 vs. 69,000 in 1950. Those 85-plus will be the fastest-growing group. Who will pay for their care?

Posted in the StarTribune

Shoreview-based Ecumen, an operator of independent and assisted living  housing, care centers and home health care, has  initiated a six-month pilot project at its Lakeview  Commons facility in Maplewood to test a new  “cognitive fitness program.” Ecumen is using the  mPower Cognitive Fitness system from Dakim Inc.  of Santa Monica, Calif., to help customers reduce  the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

Dakim believes that regularly exercising the mind is  the key to memory and mental function. Using a  touch-screen interface, mPower has thousands of  exercises featuring colorful images and  generational-specific references including movie clips from the ’30s and ’40s. The  program feels like a game but the questions have been designed to address  cognitive processes from memory to computation to critical thinking and life skills.