Thursday, October 30, 2014
"Touch Me"
This song is a must-see reminder about the power of TOUCH. Watch with a box of tissues nearby.
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
The elephant in the living room
Sigh... It has to be said, simply because it is. Keep thinking about the timing of the onslaught of television monitors, all (every time I've been there, basically at least twice daily) blazing away with Fox News. What makes THIS moment in time a particularly interesting one to broadcast a full-bore load of Fox commentators?
Suddenly, three oversized television monitors appear in the main public area of a a popular senior residence that's filled to the gills with olders, men & women who consider it their patriotic duty to vote - including mid-term elections, which a lot of youngers sit out.
There could be a link. There might not. But there is no getting around seeing the elephant in the living room - the possibility that it's not just simple coincidence, but something more strategic.
Bears remembering that one constant in all the buzz I'm hearing about who is behind the onslaught of sterephonic television monitors & what's being shown is that they're to be on a sports station or on a news show, with Fox noted by all sources as THE channel of choice to at least one of the upper ups.
Did I mention that this particular senior residence is also a local polling place on election day?
A suggestion to the powers-that-be ~ make like Caesar's wife - when you have the care of precious oldersters in your hands, it's essential you, like Pompeia, remain above suspicion.
Ah, right - elections are in less than two weeks.
Here, in Pennsylvania, it's lookin' bad for
our incumbent Republican governor.
Suddenly, three oversized television monitors appear in the main public area of a a popular senior residence that's filled to the gills with olders, men & women who consider it their patriotic duty to vote - including mid-term elections, which a lot of youngers sit out.
There could be a link. There might not. But there is no getting around seeing the elephant in the living room - the possibility that it's not just simple coincidence, but something more strategic.
Bears remembering that one constant in all the buzz I'm hearing about who is behind the onslaught of sterephonic television monitors & what's being shown is that they're to be on a sports station or on a news show, with Fox noted by all sources as THE channel of choice to at least one of the upper ups.
Did I mention that this particular senior residence is also a local polling place on election day?
A suggestion to the powers-that-be ~ make like Caesar's wife - when you have the care of precious oldersters in your hands, it's essential you, like Pompeia, remain above suspicion.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Defines "a blowhard"
Am still in shock that I'd be writing anything that even remotely smacks of politics on my elder care blog. But here I am, once again sharing my concern about older friends being involuntarily submitted to having Fox News come at them from literally both sides - from the walls of the Club Room & across the hall of the main public area, a hughmungeous screen glaring into the entry foyer.
As mentioned earlier, I'd be concerned about this incomprehensible move by the powers-that-be at a grannie client's senior residence if it was MSNBC or CNN, 6 ABC or CBS 10.
The grannie client at this elder lifestyle community gets her news from the daily Inquirer. She sits on her bed with the paper & reads it. Her eye scans the print & picks out what it wants to focus on. The rest recedes from her view. Never registers.
Absolutely certain she read about Philadelphia presenting the city's 2014 Liberty Medal to Malala Yousafzai - at 17, the youngest recipient of the quarter-century-old prize; she would have skipped reading about the SUV that crashed into a Center City medical building. She would have eaten up the story about the South Jersey nurse who won a $1 million dollar potato challenge ; given a pass to reading about a bill making attacks against gays tried as a hate crime.
The option of it just not registering isn't available with the stereophonic news down on the first floor. It concerns me because it can be harmful to anyone's health, but especially an older person, particularly a significantly older one - like my friend.
There is a massive difference between reading a daily newspaper & watching a news show. The best analogy I can use is cocaine. Shooting cocaine directly into the blood stream, unlike ingesting it as a powder, creates an instant hit. Unlike reading the news in print, when we process it from a monitor - especially a LARGE monitor - our brain gets an instant hit of stimulation, usually negative. An article we read enters the brain via print; television enters directly through the eyes, the ears as its electromagnetic waves literally pass through us. And its side effects can be highly detrimental, lasting long after the oldster has moved past the range of the television monitors.
So, here's the buzz on what's what with the public area tellies at a grannie client's senior residence - seems that the ONLY stations to get air time on the big screens are sports & news. Some say it's the Director of Facilities preference; some heard it's part of an agreement signed with the company that installed the over-sized monitors.
All I know is that on the occasions I've been by, including today, the only programming on any of the screens was the Fox News Network.
Yesterday, being assaulted on both sides by Fox commentators, was reminded of a song from Silk Stockings, Glorious Technicolor. Today, am reminded of Oliver Larrabee's lines in Sabrina - "The 20th century? I could pick a century out of a hat, blindfolded, and get a better one."
Fox News glaring from every large-screen monitor in a senior residence? I could pick a network, a channel, out of a hat, blindfolded, and get a better one. Without question.
Yes, MSNBC is making progress in becoming as unremittingly partisan as the "fair & balanced" network, but it has a ways to go before it comes close to matching Fox for bald-faced fearmongering. My proof of such a blunt statement? Two words - Keith Ablow.
Been doing a little research since first experiencing the giant monitors beaming scary news phenom at... a client's senior residence. Checked out what an older friend might expect to experience if the channel is on Fox. Is the Medical A-Team real life equivalents of Dr. Gillespie & Dr. Welby, or more like B. A. Baracus & Howling Mad Murdoch?
Which leads me to Keith Ablow.
Hmmm.... What do his for-the-record statements reveal? Let's start out with the mildly absurd.
Fox & Friends were discussing the First Lady's persistence in trying to get American kids to eat a healthier diet. While others on the panel agreed in the message, they doubted her chances of success. Not the medical expert on the panel - Dr. Ablow weighed in with, "And how well could she be eating? She needs to drop a few. Let’s be honest. We’re taking nutrition advice from who?"
Did he stop there? Of course not! He continued: “I want nutrition. But let’s be honest, there’s no french fries happening? It’s all kale and carrots? I don’t buy it. Just saying.” Oh, then he added that perhaps Barack is a better source of nutrition advice because he is skinny. Ah, he does understand - I mean, he did get a medical degree so I'd assume he knows - that being skinny isn't a sign of health, right?
Building from the silly, let's take another look at the sort of thing my older friends can expect to hear in the main public areas of their senior residence. Just one example, from a week ago.
10/14/14 - Dr. Ablow reinforced that he was looking at the president from the perspective of a psychiatrist. In his professional opinion, the president considers himself a "citizen & a leader of the world" rather than the USA, who belongs to no one country, "perhaps least of all this country because he has it in for us as disappointing people. People who've been a scourge on the face of the Earth. And so for him to then say we're going to seal the borders and protect Americans when in my view, in his mind, if only unconsciously, he's thinking, 'Really? We're going to prevent folks suffering with illnesses from coming across the border flying into our airports when we have visited a plague of colonialism that has devastated much of the world, on the world? What is the fairness in that?' I believe Barack Obama is thinking."
Sheez! Speaking from the position of authority - as a psychiatrist - he is putting ideas in the president's head & words in his mouth. Is that considered professional?
But he wasn't done. He speculated that the president believes America should be as threatened by Ebola as other countries because he believes "we are a bad people." He brought up a litany of grievances with the president, dating from the 2008 primaries, and closing with, "It all fits, doesn't it? ... How can you protect a country you don't like? Why would you?"
This is the sort of regular commentary that is touted as presenting a fair & balanced reporting of news. My comments here aren't partisan - they're the observations of a reasonable human being.
Keith Ablow sniggers that the First Lady needs to lose a few pounds, that her husband is more knowledgeable because he's skinny, that he WANTS Ebola to come to the USA (where the most vulnerable with be the poor, the downtrodden, the chronically at-risk), and that he has no interest in protecting the United States of America, the country he has twice sworn an oath to preserve & protect, because he doesn't like the USA. And Fox News is so okay with it, they renew his contract.
Fact - I didn't do my undergrad studies at Brown, nor did I get a degree from John Hopkins, but in looking at a variety of Dr. Ablow's quotes & commentaries, am of the private opinion that if Keith Ablow isn't the very definition of a blowhard (and an unprofessional one, at that, if you ask me), I'd be hard pressed to find anyone who is.
One last ponder... well, for today. Would you want YOUR mother or grandfather, great-aunt or older friend to be subjected to the glaring blaze of any news network in what should be shelter of a welcoming public area? Shouldn't he or she have the freedom to choose to view - or not - news networks in the privacy of their own apartment? I put it to you... and I leave it to you.
As mentioned earlier, I'd be concerned about this incomprehensible move by the powers-that-be at a grannie client's senior residence if it was MSNBC or CNN, 6 ABC or CBS 10.
The grannie client at this elder lifestyle community gets her news from the daily Inquirer. She sits on her bed with the paper & reads it. Her eye scans the print & picks out what it wants to focus on. The rest recedes from her view. Never registers.
Absolutely certain she read about Philadelphia presenting the city's 2014 Liberty Medal to Malala Yousafzai - at 17, the youngest recipient of the quarter-century-old prize; she would have skipped reading about the SUV that crashed into a Center City medical building. She would have eaten up the story about the South Jersey nurse who won a $1 million dollar potato challenge ; given a pass to reading about a bill making attacks against gays tried as a hate crime.
The option of it just not registering isn't available with the stereophonic news down on the first floor. It concerns me because it can be harmful to anyone's health, but especially an older person, particularly a significantly older one - like my friend.
There is a massive difference between reading a daily newspaper & watching a news show. The best analogy I can use is cocaine. Shooting cocaine directly into the blood stream, unlike ingesting it as a powder, creates an instant hit. Unlike reading the news in print, when we process it from a monitor - especially a LARGE monitor - our brain gets an instant hit of stimulation, usually negative. An article we read enters the brain via print; television enters directly through the eyes, the ears as its electromagnetic waves literally pass through us. And its side effects can be highly detrimental, lasting long after the oldster has moved past the range of the television monitors.
So, here's the buzz on what's what with the public area tellies at a grannie client's senior residence - seems that the ONLY stations to get air time on the big screens are sports & news. Some say it's the Director of Facilities preference; some heard it's part of an agreement signed with the company that installed the over-sized monitors.
All I know is that on the occasions I've been by, including today, the only programming on any of the screens was the Fox News Network.
Yesterday, being assaulted on both sides by Fox commentators, was reminded of a song from Silk Stockings, Glorious Technicolor. Today, am reminded of Oliver Larrabee's lines in Sabrina - "The 20th century? I could pick a century out of a hat, blindfolded, and get a better one."
Fox News glaring from every large-screen monitor in a senior residence? I could pick a network, a channel, out of a hat, blindfolded, and get a better one. Without question.
Yes, MSNBC is making progress in becoming as unremittingly partisan as the "fair & balanced" network, but it has a ways to go before it comes close to matching Fox for bald-faced fearmongering. My proof of such a blunt statement? Two words - Keith Ablow.
Background: The elderly, especially those who - like this grannie client - are significantly older, tend to trust authorities. Being savvy marketers who understand their targeted demographic, Fox News put together its has its own "Medical A-Team" which included Manny Alvarez, Marc Siegel & Cynara Coomer, as well as David Samadi & Isadore Rosenfeldwhich - and Keith Ablow. Their combined background is given as why viewers can trust them ~ and Fox News. The press releases say it all - the four doctors offer "over 100 years' experience in the field of medicine. We have authored more than 20 books and published countless academic papers."
Been doing a little research since first experiencing the giant monitors beaming scary news phenom at... a client's senior residence. Checked out what an older friend might expect to experience if the channel is on Fox. Is the Medical A-Team real life equivalents of Dr. Gillespie & Dr. Welby, or more like B. A. Baracus & Howling Mad Murdoch?
Which leads me to Keith Ablow.
More background: When an older person - particularly significantly older elders,like the grannie client who is a resident at this elder lifestyle community - hears that someone did his undergrad work at Brown, then completed his psychiatric studies at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine... well, that man is set up in their eyes to be an expert, whose opinion bears listening to, respecting. When he's billed (by Fox & his own website) as "one of America's leading psychiatrists," then he must be a man whose opinion must carry weight.
Keith Ablow is just the sort of commentator that Fox News respects, the sort whose opinion is given, week after week, a coast-to-coast national stage. And, hey - the network just renewed his contract last month, so they must believe he's pretty sharp & insightful. Guess his their idea of the ideal professional.
Hmmm.... What do his for-the-record statements reveal? Let's start out with the mildly absurd.
Fox & Friends were discussing the First Lady's persistence in trying to get American kids to eat a healthier diet. While others on the panel agreed in the message, they doubted her chances of success. Not the medical expert on the panel - Dr. Ablow weighed in with, "And how well could she be eating? She needs to drop a few. Let’s be honest. We’re taking nutrition advice from who?"
Did he stop there? Of course not! He continued: “I want nutrition. But let’s be honest, there’s no french fries happening? It’s all kale and carrots? I don’t buy it. Just saying.” Oh, then he added that perhaps Barack is a better source of nutrition advice because he is skinny. Ah, he does understand - I mean, he did get a medical degree so I'd assume he knows - that being skinny isn't a sign of health, right?
Building from the silly, let's take another look at the sort of thing my older friends can expect to hear in the main public areas of their senior residence. Just one example, from a week ago.
10/14/14 - Dr. Ablow reinforced that he was looking at the president from the perspective of a psychiatrist. In his professional opinion, the president considers himself a "citizen & a leader of the world" rather than the USA, who belongs to no one country, "perhaps least of all this country because he has it in for us as disappointing people. People who've been a scourge on the face of the Earth. And so for him to then say we're going to seal the borders and protect Americans when in my view, in his mind, if only unconsciously, he's thinking, 'Really? We're going to prevent folks suffering with illnesses from coming across the border flying into our airports when we have visited a plague of colonialism that has devastated much of the world, on the world? What is the fairness in that?' I believe Barack Obama is thinking."
Sheez! Speaking from the position of authority - as a psychiatrist - he is putting ideas in the president's head & words in his mouth. Is that considered professional?
But he wasn't done. He speculated that the president believes America should be as threatened by Ebola as other countries because he believes "we are a bad people." He brought up a litany of grievances with the president, dating from the 2008 primaries, and closing with, "It all fits, doesn't it? ... How can you protect a country you don't like? Why would you?"
This is the sort of regular commentary that is touted as presenting a fair & balanced reporting of news. My comments here aren't partisan - they're the observations of a reasonable human being.
Keith Ablow sniggers that the First Lady needs to lose a few pounds, that her husband is more knowledgeable because he's skinny, that he WANTS Ebola to come to the USA (where the most vulnerable with be the poor, the downtrodden, the chronically at-risk), and that he has no interest in protecting the United States of America, the country he has twice sworn an oath to preserve & protect, because he doesn't like the USA. And Fox News is so okay with it, they renew his contract.
Fact - I didn't do my undergrad studies at Brown, nor did I get a degree from John Hopkins, but in looking at a variety of Dr. Ablow's quotes & commentaries, am of the private opinion that if Keith Ablow isn't the very definition of a blowhard (and an unprofessional one, at that, if you ask me), I'd be hard pressed to find anyone who is.
One last ponder... well, for today. Would you want YOUR mother or grandfather, great-aunt or older friend to be subjected to the glaring blaze of any news network in what should be shelter of a welcoming public area? Shouldn't he or she have the freedom to choose to view - or not - news networks in the privacy of their own apartment? I put it to you... and I leave it to you.
Monday, October 20, 2014
WHY it's wrong
There are so many reasons against having any apartment building's residents involuntarily bombarded with large screen television, am interested in learning what motivated the "senior care community" that's home to a grannie client to install several in their 1st floor commons area.
Perhaps it particularly appalls me because of my own mother's experience, as an older, with television. In her later years, she didn't watch television - ever - by herself. Never, unless John and/or I was with her. When it was as much a social occasion as watching a program or movie. If she watched alone, she couldn't separate her sense of self from what was unfolding on the screen. It was a major triumph when, in the last years of her life, after counseling that helped her develop healthy boundaries for the first time, Mom was able to watch & enjoy television by herself!
Mom's experience watching television might not have been the norm, but I don't think it was an aberration, either. In my experience, a lot of olders get drawn more deeply into television shows than younger people. Could always tell when certain grannie clients had been watching a lot of television - other than sporting events - earlier in the day. They were tense & unsettled. Especially if they had been watching news shows throughout the day, as several did, particularly Fox.
In her article, Lifeline or Leisure? TV's role in the lives of the elderly, Kathaleen Reid points out that while television viewing increases after age 55, it decreases as people get considerably older. Most of the residents where my grannie client lives are over 70, with a large number in their 80s & even - like my g.c. - over 90.
My grannie client is massively curious, intensely interested in the world around her, loves discussing what's happening, adores history & science - and hasn't the slightest interest in watching television. The television in her apartment might as well be unplugged - she never turns it on. And, unlike her radio & CD player, she's shown no interest in learning how.
But now, due to the large screen monitors in the Club Room & commons area, she can't avoid being bombarded with not only television, but network news television. Unless she starts restricting her goings & comings to the back entrance - which she dislikes - she is forced to run an electronic gamut, which to date has featured only Fox News.
Can't speak for my grannie client, but I know that Mom would have been chronically depressed by the exposure. And my g.c. has taken to asking, every day, "What is the state of the world?"
Ms. Reid notes that, "Implicit in the couch potato stereotype is the assumption that seniors are passive TV consumers. They are not..." Ah, but this particular audience generally IS passive. Judging from the conversations I overhear, both in the sitting areas throughout the commons & at dinner, television is not used by most as a stimulating entry point to broad & broadening discussion.
In her closing, Ms. Reid brings up the very thing that has me most concerned with the oppressive presence of huge television screens turned to commercial programs - the key word for seniors & television viewing is CHOICE ~ "The majority of seniors actively choose the media they want. (Television or internet? This program or that one?) It is absolutely vital that seniors be seen in that light (of choice) if their strength, dignity and responsibility for self are to be respected... In fact, it's increasingly clear that viewers continue to make clear choices throughout their media-using lives. And through each stage of the life cycle, those choices reflect not only their current needs and tastes but who they are."
And by having huge television monitors mounted where they can't be ignored, blaring out news programs & adult-targeted advertising, the olders at a dear-to-my-heart senior community are being, in my opinion, poorly served. Maybe grievously.
It's wrong, so wrong.
Perhaps it particularly appalls me because of my own mother's experience, as an older, with television. In her later years, she didn't watch television - ever - by herself. Never, unless John and/or I was with her. When it was as much a social occasion as watching a program or movie. If she watched alone, she couldn't separate her sense of self from what was unfolding on the screen. It was a major triumph when, in the last years of her life, after counseling that helped her develop healthy boundaries for the first time, Mom was able to watch & enjoy television by herself!
Mom's experience watching television might not have been the norm, but I don't think it was an aberration, either. In my experience, a lot of olders get drawn more deeply into television shows than younger people. Could always tell when certain grannie clients had been watching a lot of television - other than sporting events - earlier in the day. They were tense & unsettled. Especially if they had been watching news shows throughout the day, as several did, particularly Fox.
In her article, Lifeline or Leisure? TV's role in the lives of the elderly, Kathaleen Reid points out that while television viewing increases after age 55, it decreases as people get considerably older. Most of the residents where my grannie client lives are over 70, with a large number in their 80s & even - like my g.c. - over 90.
My grannie client is massively curious, intensely interested in the world around her, loves discussing what's happening, adores history & science - and hasn't the slightest interest in watching television. The television in her apartment might as well be unplugged - she never turns it on. And, unlike her radio & CD player, she's shown no interest in learning how.
But now, due to the large screen monitors in the Club Room & commons area, she can't avoid being bombarded with not only television, but network news television. Unless she starts restricting her goings & comings to the back entrance - which she dislikes - she is forced to run an electronic gamut, which to date has featured only Fox News.
Can't speak for my grannie client, but I know that Mom would have been chronically depressed by the exposure. And my g.c. has taken to asking, every day, "What is the state of the world?"
Ms. Reid notes that, "Implicit in the couch potato stereotype is the assumption that seniors are passive TV consumers. They are not..." Ah, but this particular audience generally IS passive. Judging from the conversations I overhear, both in the sitting areas throughout the commons & at dinner, television is not used by most as a stimulating entry point to broad & broadening discussion.
In her closing, Ms. Reid brings up the very thing that has me most concerned with the oppressive presence of huge television screens turned to commercial programs - the key word for seniors & television viewing is CHOICE ~ "The majority of seniors actively choose the media they want. (Television or internet? This program or that one?) It is absolutely vital that seniors be seen in that light (of choice) if their strength, dignity and responsibility for self are to be respected... In fact, it's increasingly clear that viewers continue to make clear choices throughout their media-using lives. And through each stage of the life cycle, those choices reflect not only their current needs and tastes but who they are."
And by having huge television monitors mounted where they can't be ignored, blaring out news programs & adult-targeted advertising, the olders at a dear-to-my-heart senior community are being, in my opinion, poorly served. Maybe grievously.
It's wrong, so wrong.
Now, it's personal.
Even when I was a Republican (conservative on some issues, liberal on others - and not necessarily the ones you might expect), I regarded the Fox network's "fair & balanced" tag as all marketing, no reality. It clearly had an agenda. From Day One. An agenda that was more slanted to one position than, at that time, any other network on television. Including MSNBC.
Even during the Bush 43 administration, MSNBC derided & laughed at the president, was scathing & brutal with the vice president, blunt & snarky with GOP policies & tactics. But, in spite of what a lot of my current day conservative friends like to believe, the general level of discourse was limited to mockery, derision, contempt. Nothing like what started at Fox as open hostility & distrust against the present administration, now grown to an entrenched enmity. Not my opinion - do a word search on any day's programming and their personal sense of dislike & distrust of the president & his party is clear.
MSNBC has grown progressively worse because the head honchos see how well the Fox business plan works - how the clear animosity many, maybe most, of their commentators feel toward liberals in general & the flat-out hostility toward the president in particular is lapped up by their targeted demographic. Why would folks at Fox bother trying to give a genuinely balanced view of events when their targeted demographic is soothed by a partisan slant that agrees with rather than challenges their world view?
Do you think Rupert Murdoch & Roger Ailes care that their viewership is the least informed of any viewing audience? Not when their coverage draws, far & away, more viewers than any other news network. It might be bad old-school journalism, but it's a wildly successful business plan. And, alas, MSNBC seems to have gone over to the Dark Side.
None of the above is my personal opinion. My comments are quantifiable. And none of it mattered before now. John & I haven't owned a television set since 2012. We don't watch shows on the internet. Neither of us have been affected by Fox News.
Until now.
Last week, the very nice full-service senior residence that's home to a grannie client installed large screen television monitors in key places on the first floor, places that get the most foot traffic, the most eyes. And each time I have walked through those areas, all three screens were running Fox News, with the sound turned up.
Now, it's personal. Now, someone I love & literally care for is being affected by the far from fair & balanced interviews & comments blazing from the huge screens.
Small wonder she's asked each day since the screens went live, "What is the state of the world?"
Why would any residence have three screens blazing with any news channel right before elections, when things always get overheated? Why would any residence have on a news channel infamous for clearly partisan coverage of events & rabid contempt for the present administration, especially the president? Why would they show any channel - other than ESPN during major sports events - that includes commercials? Why are the screens in the Club Room turned on, with the sound up, even when the room is closed & dark?
I just don't get it. You can bet I'll do what I can to find out. It's not just curiosity. It's personal.
Even during the Bush 43 administration, MSNBC derided & laughed at the president, was scathing & brutal with the vice president, blunt & snarky with GOP policies & tactics. But, in spite of what a lot of my current day conservative friends like to believe, the general level of discourse was limited to mockery, derision, contempt. Nothing like what started at Fox as open hostility & distrust against the present administration, now grown to an entrenched enmity. Not my opinion - do a word search on any day's programming and their personal sense of dislike & distrust of the president & his party is clear.
MSNBC has grown progressively worse because the head honchos see how well the Fox business plan works - how the clear animosity many, maybe most, of their commentators feel toward liberals in general & the flat-out hostility toward the president in particular is lapped up by their targeted demographic. Why would folks at Fox bother trying to give a genuinely balanced view of events when their targeted demographic is soothed by a partisan slant that agrees with rather than challenges their world view?
Do you think Rupert Murdoch & Roger Ailes care that their viewership is the least informed of any viewing audience? Not when their coverage draws, far & away, more viewers than any other news network. It might be bad old-school journalism, but it's a wildly successful business plan. And, alas, MSNBC seems to have gone over to the Dark Side.
None of the above is my personal opinion. My comments are quantifiable. And none of it mattered before now. John & I haven't owned a television set since 2012. We don't watch shows on the internet. Neither of us have been affected by Fox News.
Until now.
Last week, the very nice full-service senior residence that's home to a grannie client installed large screen television monitors in key places on the first floor, places that get the most foot traffic, the most eyes. And each time I have walked through those areas, all three screens were running Fox News, with the sound turned up.
Now, it's personal. Now, someone I love & literally care for is being affected by the far from fair & balanced interviews & comments blazing from the huge screens.
Small wonder she's asked each day since the screens went live, "What is the state of the world?"
Why would any residence have three screens blazing with any news channel right before elections, when things always get overheated? Why would any residence have on a news channel infamous for clearly partisan coverage of events & rabid contempt for the present administration, especially the president? Why would they show any channel - other than ESPN during major sports events - that includes commercials? Why are the screens in the Club Room turned on, with the sound up, even when the room is closed & dark?
I just don't get it. You can bet I'll do what I can to find out. It's not just curiosity. It's personal.
Sunday, October 19, 2014
WHAT were they thinking??
Horrors - literally!! Swung by a local senior residence to whisk a grannie client out to supper & discovered a) two new HUGE television screens flanking the bar of the once cozy club room were tuned to the same news network, with their volume up, and b) another HUGE television screen had been installed where residents & their guests turn to enter the large, once fairly welcoming commons area, and IT was turned to the same news show, with its sound up.
There was no getting away from Ebola! Isis! Economic doom! Inept White House! Clueless congress! Russia on the rise, US on the down slope!
Yikes! I was battling depression for the rest of the night. And my grannie client once again asked, several times, a question new this week - "What is the state of the world."
My gosh. While television has the potential to have a positive impact in the life of olders, you don't need a scientific study to know that news networks are the worst possible choice for lounge viewing. There are far wiser choices. Even if an older requested to see Fox or MSNBC or CNN, its impact on the entire group - blazing from a huge screen, or in this case three - would be atrocious.
The key, as pointed out in the article, Lifeline or Leisure? TV's Role in the Lives of the Elderly, from the Center for Media Literacy, is choice. It's common sense to know that having world & national news blaring from no fewer than three over-sized screens could have a seriously detrimental impact on anyone's state of mind, not just an older person's.
What were they thinking??
There was no getting away from Ebola! Isis! Economic doom! Inept White House! Clueless congress! Russia on the rise, US on the down slope!
Yikes! I was battling depression for the rest of the night. And my grannie client once again asked, several times, a question new this week - "What is the state of the world."
My gosh. While television has the potential to have a positive impact in the life of olders, you don't need a scientific study to know that news networks are the worst possible choice for lounge viewing. There are far wiser choices. Even if an older requested to see Fox or MSNBC or CNN, its impact on the entire group - blazing from a huge screen, or in this case three - would be atrocious.
The key, as pointed out in the article, Lifeline or Leisure? TV's Role in the Lives of the Elderly, from the Center for Media Literacy, is choice. It's common sense to know that having world & national news blaring from no fewer than three over-sized screens could have a seriously detrimental impact on anyone's state of mind, not just an older person's.
What were they thinking??
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Power of EMOTIONS
My guess is that most caregivers have some sense of the power of emotion, especially when loved ones or clients face the challenges of forgotten memories. If you've worked with or are closely connected to someone with dementia, you're probably aware that emotions are readily recalled long after the ability to connect with memory is shaken. But I am glad for anyone who needs a quantified confirmation that a University of Iowa study confirms the power & presence of emotion with Alzheimer patients.
Am grateful for the study, but its findings are hardly news. Hang around older folks with dementia for any amount of time & it's clear that emotions remain when memories are elusive or gone altogether.
This past weekend is an excellent example of the staying power of emotion. Starting with last Friday morning, the weekend was filled with special events designed to celebrate a grannie client's alma mater's homecoming. She has wonderful emotional connections - over 70+ years! - to all the related celebrations.
Five years ago, she was still up for going to Friday's special worship service & the gathering afterward of the school & all the reunion classes. She went to the Friday night dance & attended Saturday's banquet. When she thinks about Charter Day, she remembers all those special times, remembers all the special people who were part of them, most long gone from her life.
Homecoming could be a sad time, a reminder of all that is no more. Which was why I made sure she did a lot of special things over those days, beginning with Friday morning breakfast. Everything came with the repeated over & over tag line, "To celebrate Charter Day!" So, while we went out for breakfast instead of church, to a college open house instead of the dance, for a drive instead of to the football game and out for dinner & dessert instead of the banquet, what she remembers is the feelings she had, the same sort of fun that she associates with her younger years.
Even now, five days later, she remembers all the joy & sense of celebration. She doesn't remember that we didn't go to all the usual events. She only remembers having the same sort of delightful time she recalls from years past.
It's nice to have the study to back up what is clear to most of us who work closely with the elderly - people experiencing dementia can have a lasting sense of both positive & negative emotions. Specifics of events or people might be elusive, but HOW they felt can linger for a long time.
Although the article doesn't comment on it & in spite of the fact I'm not a sociologist or psychologist or any other -ologist, can say that stirring a person's positive emotions ~ perhaps particularly someone dealing with the challenges of dementia ~ with something as simple as a sunny smile & warm greeting can go a very long way. As I walk through the halls of a senior residence, can feel a wave of happiness follow me. How many times have I experienced going though the large "living room" on my way to meet a client, smiling at everyone, greeting those I know - being happy. Sometimes, it feels like grey stretches out in front of me, while sunshine lights up the room behind.
It chills me when I see a caregiver sitting, clearly bored out of her mind, with a grannie or gramps. I gringe when I hear a sharp voice or snippy tone.
For me, the fun is finding a balance, to be upbeat without being falsely cheerful - elders distrust overly cheerful people. Am blessed to genuinely enjoy being around older friends & acquaintances, to get a lot of pleasure over being in their company.
About the study. As invaluable as it is, I find myself coming back over & over to a particular sentence - "Our findings should empower caregivers by showing them that their actions toward patients really do matter. Frequent visits and social interactions, exercise, music, dance, jokes, and serving patients their favorite foods are all simple things that can have a lasting emotional impact on a patient’s quality of life and subjective well-being.” (lead author Edmarie Guzmán-Vélez, a doctoral student in clinical psychology, a Dean’s Graduate Research Fellow, and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow.)
How brash & bold of me to disagree with the statement. And I do! Our actions aren't what make the significant difference; it's the emotions tied to the action. Imagining someone reading the article, determining to spend more time with Mom or Granddad - but then keeping an eye on the time or looking bored. Or a caregiver making sure that a client gets down to a group exercise class or a music event but iwho's short when she dawdles in the bathroom or when he is slow getting dressed.
In my totally unscientific opinion, it's our ATTITUDE, the emotions that we convey, that imprints a positive or negative emotional response to us.
So here's my take on the power of emotions, particularly with older friends dealing with memory challenges ~ ~ take the time & care to discover what gives them joy. Then milk those things for all their worth!
Loves sports? Don't just get a game on the television, watch it with him; if he likes to talk about the action, learn enough to ask good questions, or if he likes to just enjoy it in silence, be sure to watch, too - with interest.
One grannie client loved dogs, so we'd go to a nearby dog park - what fun we both had, as she identified the different breeds.
And there's my jazz-loving friend - the last Wednesday of the month finds us down in the heart of Philadelphia, savoring dinner at a wonderful Chinese restaurant that features the best jazz in the city in an upstairs performance space.
None of those activities would leave a lasting, positive emotional response if I wasn't genuinely enjoying doing them with my dear older friends! In my utterly uncredentialed opinion, that's the best, the most powerful sort of care any of us can give.
It's the overlay of emotional connection that makes it possible to engage, energize & empower!
Am grateful for the study, but its findings are hardly news. Hang around older folks with dementia for any amount of time & it's clear that emotions remain when memories are elusive or gone altogether.
This past weekend is an excellent example of the staying power of emotion. Starting with last Friday morning, the weekend was filled with special events designed to celebrate a grannie client's alma mater's homecoming. She has wonderful emotional connections - over 70+ years! - to all the related celebrations.
Five years ago, she was still up for going to Friday's special worship service & the gathering afterward of the school & all the reunion classes. She went to the Friday night dance & attended Saturday's banquet. When she thinks about Charter Day, she remembers all those special times, remembers all the special people who were part of them, most long gone from her life.
Homecoming could be a sad time, a reminder of all that is no more. Which was why I made sure she did a lot of special things over those days, beginning with Friday morning breakfast. Everything came with the repeated over & over tag line, "To celebrate Charter Day!" So, while we went out for breakfast instead of church, to a college open house instead of the dance, for a drive instead of to the football game and out for dinner & dessert instead of the banquet, what she remembers is the feelings she had, the same sort of fun that she associates with her younger years.
Even now, five days later, she remembers all the joy & sense of celebration. She doesn't remember that we didn't go to all the usual events. She only remembers having the same sort of delightful time she recalls from years past.
It's nice to have the study to back up what is clear to most of us who work closely with the elderly - people experiencing dementia can have a lasting sense of both positive & negative emotions. Specifics of events or people might be elusive, but HOW they felt can linger for a long time.
Although the article doesn't comment on it & in spite of the fact I'm not a sociologist or psychologist or any other -ologist, can say that stirring a person's positive emotions ~ perhaps particularly someone dealing with the challenges of dementia ~ with something as simple as a sunny smile & warm greeting can go a very long way. As I walk through the halls of a senior residence, can feel a wave of happiness follow me. How many times have I experienced going though the large "living room" on my way to meet a client, smiling at everyone, greeting those I know - being happy. Sometimes, it feels like grey stretches out in front of me, while sunshine lights up the room behind.
It chills me when I see a caregiver sitting, clearly bored out of her mind, with a grannie or gramps. I gringe when I hear a sharp voice or snippy tone.
For me, the fun is finding a balance, to be upbeat without being falsely cheerful - elders distrust overly cheerful people. Am blessed to genuinely enjoy being around older friends & acquaintances, to get a lot of pleasure over being in their company.
About the study. As invaluable as it is, I find myself coming back over & over to a particular sentence - "Our findings should empower caregivers by showing them that their actions toward patients really do matter. Frequent visits and social interactions, exercise, music, dance, jokes, and serving patients their favorite foods are all simple things that can have a lasting emotional impact on a patient’s quality of life and subjective well-being.” (lead author Edmarie Guzmán-Vélez, a doctoral student in clinical psychology, a Dean’s Graduate Research Fellow, and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow.)
How brash & bold of me to disagree with the statement. And I do! Our actions aren't what make the significant difference; it's the emotions tied to the action. Imagining someone reading the article, determining to spend more time with Mom or Granddad - but then keeping an eye on the time or looking bored. Or a caregiver making sure that a client gets down to a group exercise class or a music event but iwho's short when she dawdles in the bathroom or when he is slow getting dressed.
In my totally unscientific opinion, it's our ATTITUDE, the emotions that we convey, that imprints a positive or negative emotional response to us.
So here's my take on the power of emotions, particularly with older friends dealing with memory challenges ~ ~ take the time & care to discover what gives them joy. Then milk those things for all their worth!
Loves sports? Don't just get a game on the television, watch it with him; if he likes to talk about the action, learn enough to ask good questions, or if he likes to just enjoy it in silence, be sure to watch, too - with interest.
One grannie client loved dogs, so we'd go to a nearby dog park - what fun we both had, as she identified the different breeds.
And there's my jazz-loving friend - the last Wednesday of the month finds us down in the heart of Philadelphia, savoring dinner at a wonderful Chinese restaurant that features the best jazz in the city in an upstairs performance space.
None of those activities would leave a lasting, positive emotional response if I wasn't genuinely enjoying doing them with my dear older friends! In my utterly uncredentialed opinion, that's the best, the most powerful sort of care any of us can give.
It's the overlay of emotional connection that makes it possible to engage, energize & empower!
Monday, October 13, 2014
I (heart) Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Ph.D!
And you should, too!
I discovered her due to a Huffington Post article that seriously bugged me. It was spot on in describing a problem that holds me back, but it didn't share can-do steps for making improvements. Inspired an online search of said problem & my discovery of Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Ph.D - - who is, it turns out, the very same author of the abysmally inadequate HuffPo piece (woefully condensed from an excellent article in Pschology Today)!
Sadly, there was no link to said article, nor any mention of her Fulfillment at Any Age blog.
Of course, condensed anything can't approach the real thing. Especially paring down an article on such key life skills as wise start & savvy stop controls.
For folks like me, who KNOW we stink at picking the best next step task & sticking with it all the way to satisfactory completion, describing our dilemma is not a solution. We need constructive, do-able, next steps.
Now, the Psychology Today piece - praise be, that's the real deal, a gauntlet thrown down, challenging me to pick it up & enter into the fight for saner, more effective, satisfying life experiences.
Turns out Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Ph.D.is a woman after my own heart, Her grad students focus on life-span development, small wonder with her own professional interests/expertise includes adult development & aging, contributions to wholesome aging, aging & exercise, and the relationship between physical health & personal identity*.
You never know where an online search will lead? Would NEVER have guessed that the very person who wrote the woeful article - the very article, in it's complete form - would inspire & uplift me, would provide understanding & give hope for a future better.
And realizing, all over again, that one of the crucial gifts I bring to my elder care anarchy calling is the time to check out these things, to find the resources, to connect others to apt info & applicable support. To dig out & openly share how we can help loved ones & friends celebrate being engaged, energized,empowered elders.
* The last - the relationship between physical health & personal identity - just seized my fuller attention this past weekend. Learned that my brilliant but physically limited sister is staying, at her preference, in a nursing home's shut-down Alzheimer's unit - has chosen to stay there, rather than move into standard quarters.
I discovered her due to a Huffington Post article that seriously bugged me. It was spot on in describing a problem that holds me back, but it didn't share can-do steps for making improvements. Inspired an online search of said problem & my discovery of Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Ph.D - - who is, it turns out, the very same author of the abysmally inadequate HuffPo piece (woefully condensed from an excellent article in Pschology Today)!
Sadly, there was no link to said article, nor any mention of her Fulfillment at Any Age blog.
Of course, condensed anything can't approach the real thing. Especially paring down an article on such key life skills as wise start & savvy stop controls.
For folks like me, who KNOW we stink at picking the best next step task & sticking with it all the way to satisfactory completion, describing our dilemma is not a solution. We need constructive, do-able, next steps.
Now, the Psychology Today piece - praise be, that's the real deal, a gauntlet thrown down, challenging me to pick it up & enter into the fight for saner, more effective, satisfying life experiences.
Turns out Susan Krauss Whitbourne, Ph.D.is a woman after my own heart, Her grad students focus on life-span development, small wonder with her own professional interests/expertise includes adult development & aging, contributions to wholesome aging, aging & exercise, and the relationship between physical health & personal identity*.
You never know where an online search will lead? Would NEVER have guessed that the very person who wrote the woeful article - the very article, in it's complete form - would inspire & uplift me, would provide understanding & give hope for a future better.
And realizing, all over again, that one of the crucial gifts I bring to my elder care anarchy calling is the time to check out these things, to find the resources, to connect others to apt info & applicable support. To dig out & openly share how we can help loved ones & friends celebrate being engaged, energized,empowered elders.
* The last - the relationship between physical health & personal identity - just seized my fuller attention this past weekend. Learned that my brilliant but physically limited sister is staying, at her preference, in a nursing home's shut-down Alzheimer's unit - has chosen to stay there, rather than move into standard quarters.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)