Senior man and woman having coffee at table seen through window

Successful Aging: Finding Joy in Service

Key to successful aging are feeding and growing your social, spiritual, and vocational parts of who you are. The other day Linda Hanson of the Duluth News Tribune did a wonderful story of a person who exemplifies this (We’d link to it, but the News Tribune hasn’t put it online.) The story was about Monsignor Patrick McDowell, who resides at Ecumen’s Lakeshore community in Duluth and is pictured here with Bayshore and Lakeshore chaplain Rev. Alice Olson. (For our readers around the country saying to themselves 'I recognize that guy.' You’re right, Monsignor McDowell was the priest in the movie North Country.)We’d like to share a few excerpts from the story:When Monsignor Patrick McDowell moved into an apartment at Lakeshore in Duluth, he felt uncharacteristically shy about meeting other residents. A Catholic priest since 1954, he had served several Duluth Diocese parishes and always felt accepted, but at Lakeshore he didn’t eve know who was Catholic.One day another resident patted him on the shoulder and asked whether he had heard what happened to the Pope, 'He has that bird disease,' the man told him. 'He got it from one of his cardinals.'With that joke, and others that followed, McDowell soon felt at home.'I began to realize I have some kind of mission here,' said McDowell, 79. Shortly after he moved to Lakeshore in 2006, McDowell offered to celebrate Mass. Now he does it five days a week.At a time of life that for many is marked by loss of loved ones or physical abilities, McDowell has found joy in serving a new flock.'If I’ve ever experienced Christianity, I’ve experienced it here in the greatest sense of the word. The spirit here is tremendous,' he said. 'Everyone is accepted.' … Although he has has health problems, he adapts to them. McDowell recalled the Bible story of the 10 lepers that Jesus healed and how only one thanked Jesus. He said he used to be guilty of being one of the nine who didn’t give thanks. Now, he said, he thanks the Lord for many things, such as being able to get dressed on his own without falling.'God’s been very, very, very, good,' he said. 'My faith has increased 100 percent since I came here.'Thank you Monsignor McDowell and the many other people we in the senior housing and services profession have the honor of serving each day who contribute mightily to the vitality of our communities and are wonderful role models for successful aging.

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Senior man and woman having coffee at table seen through window

Thank You Changing Aging Readers

THANK YOU!When we started this blog several months ago, we had zero readers. Today we are approaching 2,000 subscriptions from around the country. We didn’t advertise. People who have found us share an interest and passion in 'changing aging.' If each of you tell one other person to subscribe to Changing Aging, and they do, we could have an online community of 4,000 very soon.Thank you for your interest in Changing Aging … and for spreading the word.

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Senior man and woman having coffee at table seen through window

What Words Would You Change?

Honey, I can hardly wait to move into the Skilled Nursing Facility.' Can you imagine anyone saying that? We have to stop using the F Word (facility). Also, in aging services, shouldn’t we make it an assumption that the people we employ are skilled? I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want to move to a place where people aren’t skilled.The aging services profession is all about serving people, but lots of the language we use in our profession isn’t very people-centric.Language is a powerful shaper of the images we create in our mind. For example, people who wanted a new baseball stadium for the Minnesota Twins, stopped using the word 'stadium' and changed it to 'ballpark.' One word connotes a large, sterile facility amid an asphalt jungle. The other: blue skies, Cracker Jacks, apple pie and nostalgia.Baby boomers told us in our Age Wave Study that they can’t stand a number of the words that we use in the aging services lexicon. The Pioneer Network has an interesting look at language and a number of the words we use. Boomers told us they LOVE the word COMMUNITY. It sounds a lot different than 'facility.'Givs Us Your Insights:What other words would you change? Let us know by clicking on 'comments' below. Posted By Eric Schubert, Director of Communications

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What We Can Learn From Bees

Jerry Seinfeld has a new hit movie out called Bee Movie. In an interview with Colin Covert of the Star Tribune last Friday, he had some interesting things to say about 'work.' We saw the same themes in our Age Wave Study.Covert: [Seinfeld] dislikes coasting Ask him why and you get a surprisingly earnest response. Seinfeld: Nobody wants to just turn to mush, you know?… .You work because you think you have something to offer. I think that working actually keeps you alive … One of the little messages I put in the movie is the importance of work, because it’s a big part of bee life. They work very hard their whole lives. Working hard and doing small jobs carefully makes a big difference in the world.

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Senior man and woman having coffee at table seen through window

A New Halloween Tradition

Hope you had a great Halloween. They sure did at The Villages of North Branch, a new Ecumen community. Invites from Pam Dolin and Julie Walton brought about 400 area kids trick or treating at The Villages, starting a new Halloween tradition.

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Senior man and woman having coffee at table seen through window

Blessing of The Animals

Many of us have pets that we absolutely love and are essential to our home being home.'Lakeshore, an Ecumen community in Duluth, was the site of a great ecumenical Blessing of the Animals service. The service was led by Rev. Alice Olson, chaplain at the Lakeshore and Bayshore communities; Lakeshore resident Monsignor Patrick McDowell; and Rev. Cy Solberg, who doubled as St. Francis of Assisi. Pretty neat seeing the march of cats and dogs of all sizes walking, prancing and trotting into the Lakeshore chapel. Here are more photos:

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Dr. Bill Thomas and Changing Aging

Three years ago as we were just beginning our transformation work at Ecumen, we had the honor of Dr. Bill Thomas speaking at our annual leadership conference.Many of you know Dr. Thomas … he’s a geriatrician, teacher, author, inventor, innovator, and a darn energetic, warm and funny person, among other things. Eden Alternative, Eldershire, Green House, … all came out of Dr. Thomas' mind and action.Now you can read his thoughts on a more frequent basis. He’s started a great new blog at The Erickson School in Baltimore where he serves on the faculty. The name of his blog is Changing Aging. No … the blog writers at Ecumen and Dr. Thomas didn’t copy each other … We’re just part of that growing part of society that sees the possibilities in gaining seniority in this world and 'changing aging.' Welcome to the blogosphere, Dr. Thomas. We salute your work in Changing Aging.

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Senior man and woman having coffee at table seen through window

Keeping Track of Your Medical Records

Increasingly doctors' offices are going to all-digital records. Now people too, can save all of their medical information in one place and share it with the radiologist, neurologist and allergist all in the same day.Microsoft just came out with its healthvault program where you can upload all of your medical information for free, so you have it in one easy access place. They are working with another partner so that for a fee of $9.95 per year you can make that information available to emergency medical personnel who will be able to type into a cell phone to get your information in an emergency.If you’d like to learn about the various and growing products being offered for people to keep track of their personal health records, go to www.myphr.com, a service of the American Health Information Management Association.

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What Do People Want?

Posted by Kathy Bakkenist, Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President of Strategy and Operations


What do people want? That question looms so largely in our work at Ecumen. And that’s why we conduct a significant amount of research with our current and future customers. Many of you have read our Age Wave Study. Recently we conducted an intergenerational series of three 2-hour Twin Cities focus groups, largely of baby boomers and members of The Silent Generation, those born between the two World Wars. We also had several members of the Greatest Generation. All are currently living independently, most in condos or town homes. We asked them to think about living life as older people and what would be their ultimate lifestyle. I’d like to share with you some interesting themes that cut across all of the focus group sessions: - All About Community: They want to be connected to other people and integrally involved in the life and events of the larger community. Purpose is huge with them. - No to Institutions: They acknowledge the fragility of life and want easy-access, nearby assistance or care that either allows them to live in their own home or to stay in their neighborhood and connected to it. They say “no way” to large institutions. - Seek Lifestyle Concierge: Many of these focus group participants live in condos. They want a “lifestyle” concierge, someone who goes beyond a concierge that might be found in a condo. They see it as someone who they can make one call to €“ instead of 10 separate calls €“ for assistance with everything from travel arrangements to grocery shopping to helping them assemble services that help them stay as independent as possible if they need care. - All About Technology: Technology is a big part of these people’s lives. They see it continuing to be a big part of their lives and they want a resource (through the concierge) that helps them stay on top of the latest trends and that keeps their technology running.

It’s so clear to me that the “next seniors” are thinking very differently about their senior years. What an opportunity for the aging services profession!

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Congratulations for a Job Well Done!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R4rQDgpt94[/youtube]Today is Best Places to Work' day at Ecumen in honor of Ecumen being named A Best Place to Work' for the third straight year by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. Here is the third part of Ecumen Vice President of Human Resources Robin Krause’s conversation with CEO Kathryn Roberts on creating a great place to work. You can view the other two parts (that thing called 'It') here and (key ingredients to a great place to work) here. Make it a 'Great Place to Work.'

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