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:
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.'
Mapping Your Retirement
A lot of retirement books look at how much you’re saving. Mapping Your Retirement, a new book (it’s really part book and part workbook; it forces you to be an active particiapnt) by husband-and-wife team Mark and Janet Skeie, and Julie Roles does that, too, but a whole lot more.It’s much wider ranging guide to help you plan for how you want to live the rest of your life. And it delivers insights from a variety of expert contributors, a number of which have been through the process. What’s also neat about this book is it’s a labor of love by the authors. We hear a lot about retirees finding purpose in the next part of their lives. These authors are living it. To learn more about the book, the authors and reviews, go here.
Where Americans Retire
What state is your ideal retirement place?Below are the top 10 states where retirees 60+ relocate. The data comes from Dr. Mark Fagan at Jacksonville State University in Alabama and his report called 'Retirement Development and Job Creation.' STATE NUMBER1. Florida 394,2542. Arizona 134,5833. California 127,7574. Texas 100,7005. North Carolina 74,9376. Nevada 61,6277. Pennsylvania 60,4308. Virginia 59,9769. Georgia 57,99210. New Jersey 54,657It will be interesting to see if other communities or regions, such as Northern Wisconsin where a lot of people from the Twin Cities and Chicago go in the summer, become larger senior housing and healthcare hubs to serve people that want to stay in those areas.
Politics in Minnesota and The Work at Ecumen
Politics in Minnesota, the long-running newsletter on - just as it name says - politics in Minnesota had very kind words for the work being done at Ecumen. Below is the text: Who Needs Dennis Hopper?Many of our readers are Baby Boomers who, like your publisher, are now starting to think about life down the line. Boomers present an unprecedented age wave. The Department of Human Services figures the half billion the state spends on senior care will grow to at least $20 billion by 2050. That’s obviously unsustainable. Plus, Minnesota’s 1.48 million Boomers don’t envision living in institutions (Cuz I just don’t see you playin' shuffleboard, you know what I mean?!').Enter Ecumen, a completely reinvigorated former nursing home organization previously called Board of Social Ministry. In 2003, the board of trustees wanted to reinvent and brought in highly respected Kathryn Roberts to be CEO (bio here). Roberts, in turn, brought in a 'change agent' board of trustees and staff, names many of our readers know, including:Board chair Loanne Thrane (former state director for GOP U.S. Sen. Rudy Boschwitz), Dave Karsnia (Detroit Lakes business leader), Keith Halleland (health law guru), John Byom (former International Multifoods CFO), Lynn Anderson (Gov. Perpich’s chief of staff), Bob Hoffman (former MnSCU board chair), Rev. Dean Johnson (former DFL Senate Majority Leader), Rev. Kris Linner (author), Peggy Lucas (Brighton Development founder), Joanne Negstad (Lutheran World Relief exec), Lisa Deverell, (Land O' Lakes exec), Dianne Nimmer (entrepreneur), Rev. Hank Noordzy (Duluth community leader), Jerry Peterson (former West Publishing exec.), David Stillman (Generations expert), and ELCA SE Minnesota Bishop Harold Usgaard.Roberts also recruited Steve Ordahl, who headed Underwater Adventures, Lifesource C.O.O. Kathy Bakkenist, former UCare exec Mick Finn and Eric Schubert from Himle Horner’s leadership team.Ecumen has been doing lots of good stuff like conducting the largest ever study of Minnesota Boomers, adding hundreds of housing units, developing housing and services for other organizations, starting the 'Changing Aging' blog, creating a more tech-driven system and working for laws to get technology to market faster. Ecumen is certainly a company to watch, professionally (and personally for those of us who will have seniority next).
Leadership and Culture Transformation
For our readers around the country who are attending next week’s American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA) annual meeting in Orlando, we invite you to stop by the 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. session on Tuesday with Ecumen CEO Kathryn Roberts; Ecumen’s regional director Janet Green and Michele Holleran of Holleran Consulting.Their panel discussion is entitled 'Leadership and Culture Transformation.' Janet will share how Ecumen’s Emmanuel Community in Detroit Lakes, Minn., reduced staff turnover from 100% to 7.2%. Kathryn will discuss leadership that empowers. Michele recently authored a AAHSA white paper based on her experiences observing life at Ecumen communities. The leadership themes she pinpoints as critical to transformation are: - Transparency- Trustworthiness- Connectivity- Accountability- Empowerment- Optimism Hope to see you in Orlando.
Life Part 2
Have you had a chance to check out the TV show Life Part 2. Produced by PBS, it’s about life, especially the life of the 26% of Americans who are 55 and above (actually, it’s really about all of us because we’re all aging.). If it’s not showing in your area, they’ve set up a great website here. You can download key episodes and see transcripts. They recently had an interesting interview with Dr. Robert Butler, head of the International Longevity Center, on myths around aging. Another interesting discussion was on the language of aging and how it needs to change. Really good stuff.