Last week I was walking through a city near where I live---strolling along, enjoying the beginning of Fall, fending off the normal amount of requests for money. I had taken the afternoon off to wander around and visit some used bookstores.
Gradually it dawned on me that there was something different about the requests for money. For one, there were a lot more people sitting with signs and cups. For another, there was a lot less of the usual banter and funny signs (lwill work for beer). But the stunner was the number of elderly men and women sitting on the sidewalk with cups and signs. These were men and women in their sixties (my age) and seventies. What made them look elderly?
Ironically the book I had with me to read on the train was A Long Bright Future, An Action Plan for a Lifetime of Happiness, Health, and Financial Security by Laura L. Carstensen, PhD. Dr. Carstensen is the founding director of the Stanford Center on Longevity. She encourages the reader to “envision the possibilities of a longer life; design your future with smart choices you make today; diversity your social, civic, and leisure pursuits; and, invest in yourself, your family and your community.
The contrast could not have been more ironic, more bitter. How many of these people had been proactive?---envisioning, designing, diversifying, investing---only to find that events over which they had no control (like an economic meltdown or critical illness) had made a shambles of their plans for a long, bright future.
Dr. Carstensen makes some very good points from her 50,000 foot view. But what about the person on the ground whose best-laid plans have blown up in his/her face?
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Getting Back in the Game
I was shocked when I realized how long it had been since I did a blog entry. I have been doing so much at the computer: designing the brochure for my practice; learning LinkedIn; answering e-mails; writing reports; doing research etc. Surely in all that computer time I had written a blog entry?
It seems that my resistance to writing my own thoughts had used my Internet industriousness (and reading and thinking) to accomplish its end---no creative writing. Clever! What woke me up?
I have to give credit to the late Joan Erikson. I have been reading Erikson on Development in Adulthood by Carol Hren Hoare. Professor Hoare explored Erikson's published and unpublished works to discover his theories on adult development and how these evolved. She had also been conducting many interviews including some with Joan Erikson, then in her 90's. Joan Erikson, looking at her progress, said: “If you don't stop going around talking to people about Erik...this book is going to come out of your ears instead of your pen!”
I confess to the same tendency. One more article. One more book. One more exciting conversation. It doesn't look like procrastination... Still what people are writing and talking about today is so interesting and important.
People are starting to talk seriously about the realities of illness, aging, dying---the challenges and the costs. More people are questioning some of our basic assumptions like “do everything.” In my opinion even the “death panel” folks are providing a service. They are wrong, of course, but their extreme position is challenging those of us in the middle and those of us at the other extreme to state our positions/values/concerns.
Just what we need to have a healthy debate.
It seems that my resistance to writing my own thoughts had used my Internet industriousness (and reading and thinking) to accomplish its end---no creative writing. Clever! What woke me up?
I have to give credit to the late Joan Erikson. I have been reading Erikson on Development in Adulthood by Carol Hren Hoare. Professor Hoare explored Erikson's published and unpublished works to discover his theories on adult development and how these evolved. She had also been conducting many interviews including some with Joan Erikson, then in her 90's. Joan Erikson, looking at her progress, said: “If you don't stop going around talking to people about Erik...this book is going to come out of your ears instead of your pen!”
I confess to the same tendency. One more article. One more book. One more exciting conversation. It doesn't look like procrastination... Still what people are writing and talking about today is so interesting and important.
People are starting to talk seriously about the realities of illness, aging, dying---the challenges and the costs. More people are questioning some of our basic assumptions like “do everything.” In my opinion even the “death panel” folks are providing a service. They are wrong, of course, but their extreme position is challenging those of us in the middle and those of us at the other extreme to state our positions/values/concerns.
Just what we need to have a healthy debate.
Monday, August 3, 2009
What’s in a Name?
The main reason I got my graduate certificate in geriatric care management (2008) was to bring my skills up to date as I shifted from hands-on caregiving to consulting. So much of the suffering I’ve seen in my work could have been prevented with better information and prior planning.
For example, I work with an elderly woman who was diagnosed some years ago with myasthenia gravis, a degenerative neurological disease that can result in difficulties with swallowing and increased weakness in the arms and hands. Simple daily tasks like feeding and dressing oneself become impossible. As she begins to experience these disabilities it is obvious that none of her healthcare practitioners have discussed this condition with her. After the initial diagnosis the subject was dropped. Instead her various health care practitioners tell her how great she looks and that she will get to be 100. Now, at 94 and living alone, she is experiencing all those symptoms. She is caught by surprise. There is no plan. It’s crisis time.
Initially I called myself a geriatric care manager. This didn’t feel right. I don’t want to manage anyone and most adults don’t want to be managed. Then I tried geriatric care consultant which is a better description. Also people of my generation are used to working with consultants. However feedback from friends and colleagues was that most people hate the term geriatric.
A good friend asked me point blank “what was I trying to accomplish in my work with clients and their families?” My answer? Aging well! Working with individuals and their networks to design a style of life uniquely tailored to his/her specific circumstances. Key words: collaboration---coaching---confronting---creating.
Now---how do I put that on a business card?
For example, I work with an elderly woman who was diagnosed some years ago with myasthenia gravis, a degenerative neurological disease that can result in difficulties with swallowing and increased weakness in the arms and hands. Simple daily tasks like feeding and dressing oneself become impossible. As she begins to experience these disabilities it is obvious that none of her healthcare practitioners have discussed this condition with her. After the initial diagnosis the subject was dropped. Instead her various health care practitioners tell her how great she looks and that she will get to be 100. Now, at 94 and living alone, she is experiencing all those symptoms. She is caught by surprise. There is no plan. It’s crisis time.
Initially I called myself a geriatric care manager. This didn’t feel right. I don’t want to manage anyone and most adults don’t want to be managed. Then I tried geriatric care consultant which is a better description. Also people of my generation are used to working with consultants. However feedback from friends and colleagues was that most people hate the term geriatric.
A good friend asked me point blank “what was I trying to accomplish in my work with clients and their families?” My answer? Aging well! Working with individuals and their networks to design a style of life uniquely tailored to his/her specific circumstances. Key words: collaboration---coaching---confronting---creating.
Now---how do I put that on a business card?
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