Changing Aging: Most Recent Articles

Do you have $200,000 saved? Do you have $260,000 saved? Do you have $570,000 saved? According to a new study by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, a typical couple would have to save nearly $200,000 to pay for their out-of-pocket medical costs from the time they are 65 until they...

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The University of Minnesota's School of Nursing is seeking Twin Cities volunteers with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease to participate in a study on the the impact of aerobic exercise on people with Alzheimer's.  This is a great opportunity for a person with Alzheimer's who is looking for a way...

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In senior housing and social services, we work in the ultimate "social" profession.  We're people serving people.  We're people building community.  We're people who either thrive or fail because of people.  Our profession is perfectly built for social media. Last week, I had the pleasure of being on a panel with...

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Ecumen guest blogger Jim Klobuchar is a journalist, author, and global travel guide. He wrote for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis for three decades and is the father of two daughters, including United States Senator Amy Klobuchar.  To read past blog posts, simply use our "search" box and type "Jim...

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The New York Times is doing some of the best, freshest writing on aging.  In a column today, physician Dr. Marc E. Agronin explores how often we make the wrong assumptions about old age. He share a story of an older woman in a nursing home. He expected her to...

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Recently, I witnessed the one-woman performance, Tales from a Trunk: Shakespearience, the brain-child of Marysue Moses, Memory Care Coordinator at St. Therese Southwest. Heavy on audience participation, Marysue involves all the senses in her fast paced, 45-minute show designed to engage memory care residents mentally and physically. Using a trunk filled with...

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Ruben Berg, was a Senior Olympian who died Monday in a community that loved him - Ecumen's Parmly Lifepointes.  Many of us were introduced to Ruben in 2004 when Warren Wolfe of the Minneapolis Star Tribune profiled him.  As Warren shares in the story below, Ruben didn't let getting cut...

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Photo:  Associated Press The Associated Press has put Matt Sendensky on the aging beat.  The fact that AP sees aging as an important beat is one sign of Changing Aging in America and here's another one courtesy of Sedensky on how marijuana use is increasing among U.S. seniors. In her 88 years,...

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One of the most popular events at Ecumen communities is exercise class.  A story this morning on National Public radio - Why We Gain Weight as We Age - illustrates how important exercise is to wellness as we age. ...

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Vance Opperman, publisher of Twin Cities Business Magazine, sent an extremely good letter to Wall Street Journal Editor- in-Chief Robert Thomson.  Click here for full text.  It's the subject of his "Open Letter" column in his Twin Cities Business Magazine.  Vance says, "People who keep working in their golden years...

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If you're going to be at the AAHSA Future of Aging Services Conference and Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C., this Wednesday, please join Ecumen at the 12:30 to 2 p.m. session on social media.  I'll be joining Larry Zook, CEO of Landis Homes in Pennsylvania; Ted Goins, president of Lutheran...

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Why should Arizona or Florida be the meccas for enjoying one's senior years?  We have incredibly beautiful areas in the Upper Midwest that people don't want to leave . . . One such place is Bayfield, Wisconsin, a picturesque village on the North Shore of Wisconsin overlooking the Chequamegon Bay and...

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Lori Orlov at Aging in Place Technology Watch has an interesting post on the lack of "innovation" in PERS devices or Personal Emergency Response Systems (known by many as the terrible "I've fallen and can't get up" commercials).  This device is going to totally evolve, especially as technology companies and...

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An op-ed  in today's Saint Paul Pioneer Press by Kathryn Roberts, president and CEO of Ecumen, and Mary Birchard, executive director of the Minnesota/North Dakota chapter of the Alzheimer's Association follows: Americans Need a New Way to Pay for Long-Term Services and Support Congress last considered transforming the inadequate way we pay...

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Football season has ended: Perfect timing for this story from Ecumen blogger Jim Klobuchar: I want to be the first to announce the arrival of an exciting shift in the vocabulary of professional football, direct from the lips of an original woman. My wife Susan glows with the auras of the emancipated...

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Participants in Velocity, which is an intensive yearlong leadership development program for 20 Ecumen employees, recently spent the day at 3M.  The focus of the visit was innovation.  Among the many highlights was time spent with Alex Cirillo.  To say Alex has a diverse background would be an understatement.  In...

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                    Here's another egregious example of why America needs to transform how we pay for long-term care.  NOW on PBS recently had a show that looked at the question:  "Who's helping our wounded vets?"  Much of that help is coming from family members working to exhaustion and financial ruin to provide...

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"You're seeing a bit of a culture shift in understanding how care can happen.                                        - Kathryn West, who operates the Veterans Affairs Foster Care Program for Seniors Interesting story in yesterday's Saint Paul Pioneer Press by Jeremy Olson about how the Department of Veterans Affairs has a new foster care program...

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Ecumen co-blogger Helen Rickman sent over this YouTube videol today with the the title "It will make your day."  It does.  Enjoy.  It's courtesy of three residents at Leisure World in Seal Beach, Calif. ...

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Ritz-Carlton has a brand promise - "Ladies and Gentlemen Serving Ladies and Gentlemen" -   and their 20 Basics of Service.  I've never stayed in a Ritz-Carlton.  Has any Changer Ager stayed there?  Did you feel that they delivered on their commitment to service? BRAND PROMISE At The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C., "We...

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