Changing Aging

An interesting new study on China’s “oldest old” has been released by Duke University researcher Dr. Matthew Dupre and is available in the American Journal of Public Health.  (note: you have to have a paid subscription to access it)  He did the research while at the University of North Carolina and is now at Duke University Medical Center. 

Highlights of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Study, which included a sample size of more than 13,000 people include:

- Fewer than 1 percent of of Chinese 80 and older are living in nursing homes.

Do you golf a lot?  According to this news from our friends in Sweden, golf can be a good investment for health.  So says a new study from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet. The death rate for golfers is 40 per cent lower than for other people of the same sex, age and socioeconomic status, which correspond to a 5 year increase in life expectancy. Golfers with a low handicap are the safest.

Changing Aging recently sat down with Dr. Andrew E. Scharlach, of the University of California at Berkeley, where he holds the Eugene and Rose Kleiner Chair in Aging. He also serves as Director of the Center for the Advanced Study of Aging Services, which conducts research designed to inform development of innovative and effective services for older adults.  It recently sponsored an international web-based conference on “Creating Aging-Friendly Communities” and  technical support through an ongoing “Community of Practice” is available here.

The Sunday New York Times featured Ecumen customer Helen Trost in an interesting article on technology enhancing independence, seniors being able to stay in their own home and involving family members across long distances. You can read more about technology Ecumen is using to enhance customers’ independence here.

The Washington Post calls Time Goes By “the quintessential seniors’ blog,”  . . . AARP calls its author Ronni Bennett (in the cool photo montage above), “the dean of older bloggers,”  . . . And we’re fortunate to have her insights today at Ecumen’s Changing Aging blog.

For more than 25 years Ronni, who says “Age is a gift,” was a radio and television producer, working on such programs as 20/20 and the The Barbara Walters Specials on ABC and for shows on Lifetime TV, NBC, PBS and CBS.  In 1996, as the Internet was in its infancy, Ronni was named the first managing editor at cbsnews.com.  It was there that the seeds of Time Goes By began to grow.  Today she’s changing aging in America from her home in Maine where she authors her groundbreaking blog.  Thank you to Ronni for taking time with us.

Last week was a busy, interesting time on Capitol Hill in the area of “Changing Aging in America.” 

Three different hearings (one including Ecumen)  . . . all highlighting the need for holistic aging public policy in America - no planning in silos - so that the United States rides the age wave and people have the independence, quality of life and safety that they desire and deserve.

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor testified before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging urging Congress to take a more active role in the research and treatment of Americans with Alzheimer’s Disease  Justice O’Connor’s husband John has it, and another person is getting it every 72 seconds.  Her testimony is here.

You might have read our post the other day about a Duluth News Tribune “story that missed the story” about Ecumen’s work in Duluth. Below is an op-ed authored by Ecumen CEO Kathryn Roberts and Lakeshore volunteer community board chair John Hyduke that provides context that was missing in the original story. It was published in yesterday’s Duluth News Tribune:

Care systems should foster self-empowerment
Kathryn Roberts & John Hyduke, Duluth News Tribune
Published Sunday, May 11, 2008

 “In this volatile business of ours, we can ill afford to rest on our laurels, even to pause in retrospect.  Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future”      
                                                                             - Walt Disney

We had a fabulous day at the annual Ecumen Leadership Conference yesterday, which brings together 400+ leaders from across Ecumen to meet in Minneapolis.

Aging services is the ultimate customer service business.  Our theme yesterday was the “Magic of It,” which we’ve discussed  here.   And we got to hear the perspective from a leader at Disney (which knows a thing or two about customer service).  It’s interesting how many parallels there are between creating customer magic at Disney and in aging services. 

What is so crystal clear is that technology is an essential part to riding the age wave in America and helping people live independently.  

Robert Powell of CBS Marketwatch.Com outlines some of this technology in his article entitled “Not Your Father’s Emergency Response System.” 

You can see technology at work at Ecumen here and download Ecumen whitepapers on technology here.  To see more technology, visit the Center for Aging Services Technologies, which has a great web site.

I dig these videos by Aging Services of California, the association that represents California’s non-profit aging services companies. They all come under the theme: Age is Just a Number.. They’re right. This is the kind of positioning and creativity that gets people excited about aging. It underscores that aging is all about living . . . even at the end of life.