Baby Boom to Aging Boom: MinnPost 4-Part Series
MinnPost kicked off the week with a 4-part series entitled "Baby Boom to Aging Boom." You can access the series written by Kay Harvey here. What an opportunity for innovation in Minnesota and beyond.
Welcoming the Newest Member of Ecumen's Changing Aging Centenarian Club From Detroit Lakes
Congratulations to Oma Grove, above, who lives at Ecumen Emmanuel Community in Detroit Lakes, Minn! She became the newest member of Ecumen's Changing Aging Centenarian Club. Oma celebrated her 100th birthday last week.
Oma grew up in a farming family, which farmed near Osakis, Minn., and later in Jackson County. She went to high school in Jackson and did her teacher's training there and then taught country school for two years before getting married. She told the Detroit Lakes Tribune in an interview that her teaching career lasted two years, because "continuing to teach after marriage was simply not done in those days."
Oma and her husband Donald lived in Adrian, Minn., where her husband operated a farm implement shop with his father and brother. Oma kept books for a couple of years, but then was busy raising three daughters. She and Donald lived in Adrian for 60 years before relocating to Detroit Lakes. They were married for 67 years before he died in 2002.
Oma's family now includes 14 grandchildren, 30 great grandchildren and “about a dozen great greats, along with a lot of step-greats and step-great-greats,” Oma said in her Detroit Lakes Tribune interview.
86-year-old German Gymnast Johanna Quaas Outpaces Much of the World
This is pretty incredible. Check out the floor routine Johanna Quass, 86, peformed at the recent Cottbus World Cup in Germany:
A Tax Increase to Pay for Senior Services in Minnesota?
Read today's Changing Aging Post at the Minneapolis Star Tribune on paying for the future of senior services in Minnesota. You can see new poll results from The Long-Term Care Imperative - a partnership of Aging Services of Minnesota and Care Providers of Minnesota
Picture Your Future Self at University of Saint Andrews Website
Would you save more if you knew what you would look like when you're older? Try the "Face of the Future" web site from the University of Saint Andrews in the U.K. (you can also make a picture of yourself younger at the site)
Robert Powell at Marketwatch.com had an interesting post the other day entitled Six Tricks to Spend Less, Save More for Retirement. According to the column, recent research shows people will save more if you show them a photograph of their future selves.
“The problem between now and later is the question of how much do we care about our future selves,” said Dan Ariely, the author of several books including “The Upside of Irrationality,” and a behavior economics professor at Duke University. “If you care a lot you might save more, if you care only a little, you would save not so much. But if you saw an image of yourself at age 70 you might care more about your future self. And the results show that people have a higher tendency of doing so.”
So his advice to those saving for retirement is this: Take a picture of yourself, age it, and consider making it your screen saver on your computer or hanging the picture somewhere in your home or office to “to remind you of your future self.”
Jim Klobuchar - Adrift in the Facebook Follies
On my doorstep the other day, on the front page of my favorite Minneapolis daily newspaper, was a story about a spreading high tech menace called “sleep texting.”
It told of thousands of people, mostly young folks of high school and college age, unwittingly expanding their adventures in the miracles of hand held devices by subconsciously writing text messages while they’re still half asleep.
It pictured scenes in untold numbers bedrooms and dormitories where the open cell phone lies on a bed table within easy reach as a wake-up alarm. Something from the cell—maybe a sound or some flickering light-- stirs the sleeper. Like Pavlov’s trained dog responding to a familiar stimulus, the slumberer reaches for the cell phone and starts texting. Texting what?
It doesn’t have to be coherent texting, with things like, you know, subjects and predicates. Roused from sleep the texter starts typing in a fog. Anything that comes to mind. How would I know? I can’t text on my cell phone when fully awake.
As a man who labored for this newspaper, the Star Tribune, for nearly 40 years, I have no reason to doubt this story. The explanation is that chronic use of the mobile phone, in all of its derivatives—the high tech pads and pods of the world—have now become so glued into our lives that we are beginning to respond to their summons by instinct. It doesn’t matter what our state of mind is when the bell rings. It’s OUR ring. Time to act. The sound doesn’t matter. It could by the first thee bars of Mozart’s clarinet concerto or a squealing pig. It’s ours. So act! Are we driving a car? All of the sensible traffic control experts on the continent tell us DON’T use the cell while driving.
You wouldn’t want to bet your dwindling bank account on how well that advice is doing. So OK, the experts are probably right and have all the documentation on the hazards when we act like robots. And the latest breakthrough in high tech communication is writing text messages in your sleep. The only response I have there is how on earth can you find the backspace key in the dark when the keyboard is two inches wide, you can’t see it, you’re fighting cobwebs and you really don’t know who sent the message.
I’m told these things are slam-dunks for the young people of today. This may be right and I’m the first to admit not being enthralled by the miracles of Facebook and Twitter. I also admit having been dragged screaming into it. I’ve been persuaded that it’s not a generational roadblock; that millions of retirees are having a ball on Facebook, people eligible for Social Security, AARP and 10 per cent off on Viagra at some outlets. That if you want to start a revolution, Facebook is the place to recruit foot soldiers. All of this may be true. I admit having tried to launch myself into Facebook. I lost track of my password and petitioned for a new one. I began getting a scrambled alphabet and being asked to identify the numbers sent in the test. Most of the numbers looked upside down. One of them came with what looked like the face of a gorilla and turned out to be the figure 9 that had experienced a first life in a pretzel factory. Somebody said I needed a photo. I couldn’t figure out how to install it. But one of the friends stepped in to provide a photo taken years before on a bike ride, showing one of the old timers and me wearing helmets that basically obscured our faces and could have been used initially in an underground coal mine. I finally registered because I was starting to get notes from people totally unknown to me, living in such far afield cities as Manila and the Kyber Pass. But as far as I know we never crossed paths so I really don’t know what to do or say when I’m asked to go to the wall.
There was one promising exchange a year ago when I got a message on Facebook from Ljubljana in the little Balkan country of Slovenia, from where my grandparents emigrated to northern Minnesota in the late 1880s. The message came on Facebook from a young man named Blaz, his first name, and with the same surname as mine.
Blaz is fan of American pro football. He’d been surfing the internet for material on the Minnesota Vikings, whose games he was somehow able to watch on television in Ljubljana beneath the southern Alps, not far from Switzerland and Austria. Nothing is beyond the restless reach of the National Football League. Through search engines geared to information on the Vikings he found my name as the author of several books on pro football.
Correspondence followed immediately. Blaz Klobuchar turned out to be a forestry student studying at the university in Ljubljana. Through Facebook he made contact. This was sometime in 2010. The Vikings were losing routinely.
“Why don’t the Vikings move out of the 3-4 defense into something that gives them a better balance against either the run or pass?” was Blaz’ first question.
This from a forestry student in Slovenia!
“Where,” I asked, on the Facebook Wall, “are you getting all of this?”
Blaz turned out to be the only living expert on pro football in the entirety of Europe, including a small pocket of NFL fans in Trondheim, Norway, who for years having been trying to entice the Vikings to play an NFL game somewhere near the Holmenkollen ski slide outside of Oslo. When you come to think of it, that scheme could have some merit and sooner or later might get some serious attention from the Vikings. They’ve tried everything else.
The moral in this is that once the internet arrived-- followed by cell phones, I Pods, electronic tablets, Facebook, Twitter and texting while you’re sleepwalking-- the line between reality on hand and the need for daily therapeutic counseling has disappeared. I’m going to ask Blaz in Slovenia if the Vikings need another quarterback.
About Jim Klobuchar:
In 45 years of daily journalism, Jim Klobuchar’s coverage ranged from presidential campaigns to a trash collector’s ball. He has written from the floor of a tent in the middle of Alaska, from helicopters, from the Alps and from the edge of a sand trap. He was invited to lunch by royalty and to a fist fight by the late Minnesota Viking football coach, Norm Van Brocklin. He wrote a popular column for the Minneapolis Star Tribune for 30 years and has authored 23 books. Retiring as a columnist in 1996, he contributes to Ecumen’s “Changing Aging” blog, MinnPost.com and the Christian Science Monitor. He also leads trips around the world and an annual bike trip across Northern Minnesota. He’s climbed the Matterhorn in the Alps 8 times and has ridden his bike around Lake Superior. He’s also the proud father of two daughters, including Minnesota's senior U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar.
Meet Ecumen Customers Bud & Mae from Ecumen Oaks & Pines in Hutchinson
Neither Bud nor Mae ever seem to stop smiling.
It is a blustery February afternoon in Hutchinson and I am enjoying the couple’s company in their cozy apartment at Ecumen Oaks & Pines. They settled in here just over a year ago, in December 2010.
“The kids brought us here to show us the place and before we could say ‘Yea or Nay’ we were moved in,” says Bud. “Of course that’s not true,” Mae counters. And a conversation ensues about the process that led them to their current home, punctuated by clarifications: “But isn’t that about how it went?” queries Bud; “No dear, we took our time finding a good place,” Mae returns.
Bud and Mae are from the rural Stewart area of Minnesota, in McLeod County, current population 533, about 10 miles south of Hutchinson. They have known each other most of their lives. The two lean in toward one another as they recount story after story, pausing to question or correct the details of each other’s recollections.
Though they seem for all the world to have been happily married forever, they are not, in fact, married. They have been together since 1991, after both of their spouses passed away. “She won’t give up the farm,” jokes Bud. Mae chortles and lets the comment pass, though she doesn’t disagree.
Their lives are long intertwined and iconic of their milieu. For more than 40 years, Bud ran the family grocery store, “Ahler’s IGA,” that his grandfather bought in 1902. He and his wife, Ruth, met while Bud was in the Army. He brought her home to Minnesota from New Jersey after serving 43-and-a-half months in WWII, during which time he played the baritone in his Army post band in between stretches as a bomb disposal specialist in the Philippines and Japan. Bud and Ruth raised a daughter and three sons in Stewart, one of whom died in a car accident 10 years before Ruth’s own death, also in a car accident.
“Sure, there’s a lot of tragedy,” reflects Bud, “but isn’t that the way it is? I’ve had a pretty good life.” Holding Mae’s hand he adds, “It’s still good, right Mae?”
Mae and Howard raised a son and three daughters on 240 acres of fine farmland just north of Stewart. Her son and grandson now live in the farmhouse. Mae and Ruth were friends. “I was nearly in the car with Ruth the day she was killed,” remembers Mae. “I wasn’t able to join her because something else came up,” we all pause for a few moments, then Bud, moving on, offers, “Our kids would go out to Mae and Howard’s to be with the horses and had such a great time causing a ruckus. Howard was such a good sport he’d let them do just about whatever they wanted!”
The story of their own “courtship” unfolds with laughter in a non-linear fashion, the two finishing each other’s sentences and backfilling bits along the way. “She came by the store in her new van that fall day and told me to get in for a ride,” recalls Bud. “And he asked me, ‘Why’d you go and get yourself a new van?’” laughs Mae, adding, “We drove to Glencoe and had some pecan pie.”
Both agree that their new home is a good place. “Bud’s got diabetes, and they take such good care to check him out and manage his medications,” notes Mae, who still drives on outings, often to doctor appointments. “I’ve made a lot of nice friends here, and am learning new things,” she adds. Asked what he likes most about his new home, Bud laughs, “That’s easy. No shoveling, no mowing the lawn!”
Innovation in Senior Living - What If?
“What if?”
It's a key part of Michelle Holleran's article for LeadingAge entitled "Innovation in Senior Living," which has insights for transformation in the world of aging services and beyond. It also includes this excerpt from a recent innovation summit in Colorado, which Ecumen CEO Kathryn Roberts attended and describes . . .
How to Encourage Innovation
Creating a culture of innovation requires deep commitment and constant work. Kathryn Roberts of Ecumen has been working on it for nearly a decade, and says the organization still has a way to go. Her latest tool for spawning more innovation was learned at the Innovators Summit she attended this fall—getting the right people in the room to create intersections of ideas.
“The summit used a focused business design template and brought people who see aging from different perspectives into the same room to collaborate,” she explains. As a result, seven new business models were hatched at the summit, a few of which hold great promise for going forward. “Some will actually turn into innovations, others will not,” she notes in a practical tone. Roberts and her team conceptualized a model called Vital-cocity, offering cities and rural communities a package of tools, processes and services to create livable communities that are socially and economically vibrant. The concept capitalizes on the idea that many baby boomers are unprepared for retirement, and leaders in aging services need to create new aging-in-place options for this new generation of retirees. The model follows the basic concept of what the Chinese are creating in their quest to build 50 age friendly cities from scratch, but instead retrofits current cities to better accommodate and attract boomers as they age.
Roberts believes the process of inviting innovation into an organization is an important one. In addition to adopting the format of the Innovators Summit, launching the Ecumen Idea Box, and creating a new way to measure innovation, she has dedicated space in the home office campus in Shoreview, Minn., so employees can create new ideas in a place that welcomes staff to “think the unthinkable.”
Playground fun for everyone
At a Manchester, United Kingdom park, seniors can use low impact exercise equipment built just for them. In Japan, with birthrates falling and the numbers of older citizens increasing, underused playgrounds are being renovated for seniors. The social aspect proved to be the primary draw at a Nürnburg, Germany senior park where lawn bowling and a giant chess set are as popular as the trampoline.
An outdoor setting designated just for older adults appeals to many and has multiple benefits beyond the physical. "Many older people aren't exercising enough," Madeline Elsdon said, explaining that physical activity with others their own age can help seniors struggling with loneliness and depression. Madeline is spokeswoman for the Knightsbridge Association, the group responsible for the Hyde Park Senior Playground in Westminster, England.
Although the U.S. has long had outdoor trails, where users can move from station to station, public playgrounds just for seniors in park settings are few and far between. Enter Michael Cohen, founder of Must Have Play, who hopes to change that. With an extensive background is building children's playgrounds, Cohen's vision is to marry the well-documented health benefits of fitness for the elderly with social engagement. Creating safe, attractive and peaceful gardens, with shelters, conversational nooks, and wide walking paths along with activity equipment designed for face-to-face usage, exercise then becomes a social activity that promotes wellness and confidence, and preventing isolation. Best of all, play translates to pure joy. And joy is ageless. ~Helen Rickman
Jim Klobuchar - Innocent Anthem Under Siege
Ecumen guest blogger Jim Klobuchar dissects the singing of the Star Spangled Banner as America readies for Super Bowl Sunday and Madonna taking the stage in Indianapolis. Enjoy
Millions of Americans were innocently preparing to watch the New England-Baltimore football playoff game a few weeks ago when the noted rock singer, Steven Tyler, confronted the national anthem with an original act of sadism from which it may never recover.
This is a prediction that is not made lightly. Since the arrival of the modern age of anthem soloists, the venerable old hymn to the land of the free has been subjected to assaults that (a) not only defy the ancient rules of Guido’s scale that have defined music for centuries but also (b) the Geneva Convention’s rules against inhumane punishment
I don’t know why they do it. In our household my wife and I race to see who will grab the remote before the soloist, in a doomed attempt to reach the culminating high note, dissolves into actual excruciation.
Democracy was never intended to be this painful.
I have seen hog callers offer more sympathy to their audience.
It actually goes deeper than that. A lot of times they forget the words. In Cincinnati at a baseball game one year I heard the soulful soprano remembering “the star bangled batter.”
It used to be so simple and harmless. The public address announcer asked the fans join in singing while the band played the national anthem. Mostly we put our hands over our left chests (actually we should sort of center it there if we’re looking for the heart) so we stood and sang or, if military, saluted. Mostly we knew the words. If the audience tried to join in singing with Steven Tyler in New England the other day the crowd would have been finished by the time Tyler spotted the dawn’s early light.
But what I find more worrisome today is the actual health of the soloists. The occasion calls for a certain amount of passion. Commitment. Often it also calls for a lot of hair. Tyler had more hair than Clay Matthews of the Green Packers. I have no idea how it looked on the super-sized Blue Ray loaded screens, but on mine it was enough to reach from our book case to the fireplace.
I was worried because Tyler looked to be in actual anguish. Clutching his microphone, he tossed his head backwards. His voice rambled over at least three octaves and was working hard on the fourth when he got around to the “banner yet wave…”
The suspense in front our TV was intense. My wife wasn’t sure he had the firepower left to reach the home of the brave. More crafty in these matters, I was sure Tyler would make it. He was now in what was dangerously approaching actual convulsion, in the throes of passion. His eyes closed. His hair thrashed in the New England wind. He clutched the microphone. When he got to the land of the free, he reclutched.
With his passion now almost beyond restraint, his hair leaping to new heights with the favorable wind, Tyler finished this ultimate suspense, only slightly off key.
After which they put on the commercial in which the guy wrecks a couple of cars, two city blocks and half of the landscape to remind us there is mayhem out there and we better be insured by the right people.
After which my wife left the TV screen shaking her head and asking, “does all of this really make sense to you?”
I told her it did make a little more sense when a paunchy Kate Smith sang God Bless America followed by the commercial for Rye Krisp.
Change comes hard, friends. Don’t ignore the virtues of Rye Krisp.
About Jim Klobuchar:
In 45 years of daily journalism, Jim Klobuchar’s coverage ranged from presidential campaigns to a trash collector’s ball. He has written from the floor of a tent in the middle of Alaska, from helicopters, from the Alps and from the edge of a sand trap. He was invited to lunch by royalty and to a fist fight by the late Minnesota Viking football coach, Norm Van Brocklin. He wrote a popular column for the Minneapolis Star Tribune for 30 years and has authored 23 books. Retiring as a columnist in 1996, he contributes to Ecumen’s “Changing Aging” blog, MinnPost.com and the Christian Science Monitor. He also leads trips around the world and an annual bike trip across Northern Minnesota. He’s climbed the Matterhorn in the Alps 8 times and has ridden his bike around Lake Superior. He’s also the proud father of two daughters, including Minnesota's senior U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar.