Rural v. urban/suburban

Count me in as a devoted Twitter follower of Brendan McCormack, Nursing Professor & Head of Nursing at Queen Margaret University Edinburgh.  Like Sarah Kagan, Brendan has a clear way of expressing what so many seem to find inexpressible - basic facts about the elderly & aging.   

A link in one of this morning's tweets connects to an article from the Online Journal Older People Nursing, from Wiley Online Library. The article - Family caregivers’ assessments of caring for a relative with dementia: a comparison of urban and rural areas - considers the impact of family caregiving for a member with dementia, specifically in a rural setting. a high financial & daily life impact was balanced by higher satisfaction, with reports of more inter-family support than was evidenced in urban settings.


 A worthwhile read!  Personally, am getting together a circle of friends to read the report & discuss its implications.  How can folks in an urban/suburban setting build in some of the family structure advantages that seem more prevalent in rural settings?  Worth a ponder...


About WILEY - can't resist adding this extensive background on the Wiley Online Library & its parent company.  Too darn fascinating!  This article on rural family caregivers was my first contact with Wiley.  Amazed to discover that Wiley is over 200 years old!  Gotta love a company whose taglines include "empowers teaching & learning" and  "enables discovery"!

Once upon a time, in a very big city in a fairly small country, 25-year old Charles Wiley opened a small printing shop in Manhattan.  Gotta love an early partner's name  - Cornelius Van Winkle!  Charles grew the business, with an impressive list of authors & best sellers. 

On Charles' death, his son took over the family business.  By the mid-1800s, Wiley was a major publishing house, the first American publisher with a branch office in London.  

As the century progressed, the company's interest shifted away from fiction toward scientific, technical & medical topics.  Right place, right time, right interests - Wiley road the wave of scientific breakthroughs & technological innovations. By the end of the century, the company had branched into social sciences & business management, then just coming into its own, and gone global.   As the nation entered the 20th century, Wiley was recognized as the #1 US publisher in science & technology.  

Talk about longevity - in 1932, John Wiley's great-grandson William Bradford Wiley (aka Brad) came on board, the 5th generation to work in the family business.  Naturally, World War II & America's postwar boom meant even bigger & better things for Wiley & Sons.  In 1962, shares were offered to employees and the public - after 155 years, Wiley was no longer a private family business.  Again, right move at the right time.  

Although headquartered just across the river from the original Manhattan location, today Wiley can be found all over the world.  And - of course - still expanding.  In the late 1970s. it saw the writing on the wall & entered knowledge-based trade publishing, purchasing Ronald Press to booster its business and accounting titles.

On its 175th anniversary, Wiley expanded into business education & training, acquiring Wilson Learning Corporation, then life sciences publisher Alan R. Liss, Inc. (1989), and VCH, publishing partner of the German Chemical Society (1996). 

Fueled by a variety of smaller acquisitions, a sharpened focus on the company's strengths, Wiley entered the 21s century primed & ready to grow even bigger.  

What would the early Wileys - or even Brad - think about the impact the Internet had on their publishing company, or the effect their publishing company would have on the World Wide Web?  Even more than when the company celebrated its 200 years of still thriving business, Wiley is better positioned than ever to serve & innovate.  As I just discovered this morning, The Wiley Online Library is an incredible online platform for scientific, technical, medical, and professional 

At this point, am going to blatantly lift sections from the company's website.  It's just too well written to try to rephrase in my own limited words:

In recent years, Wiley has focused its activities increasingly on the areas of research, learning, and professional practice, with its three core businesses now named Global Research, Professional Development, and Global Education. The strategy has been supported by additional acquisitions and partnerships and the divestiture of most of its consumer brands, with the notable exception of For Dummies.

Wiley has played a leading role in important industry initiatives such as CrossRef, a collaborative venture providing key services such as online reference citation linkage in journals and other scholarly content. Wiley is also involved in the Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) initiative, a collaborative effort to provide a unique identifier for each contributor to the scholarly literature.
Wiley is a founding member of the U.N.-backed HINARI, AGORA, and OARE initiatives (collectively known as Research4Life), which make online scientific content available free or at nominal cost to researchers in developing countries, as well as a founding partner in the Cochrane Collaboration's Evidence Aid project, providing evidence on interventions in the aftermath of natural disasters and large-scale health emergencies.

Creating Global Centers of Excellence

Since the 1990s, Wiley has seen vigorous growth and dramatic change, as the company moves purposefully toward its vision of giving customers the information they want, in the form they want, whenever they want it. In financial terms, revenue increased from less than $300 million in FY1990 to $1.8 billion in FY2013.

Over the past decade, Asia has emerged as both a dynamic market and a vital source of Wiley content. China is now the second-largest consumer of Wiley Online Library content, as well as the second-largest source of articles for Global Research journals. India, a well-established market for Wiley, is also developing into an important source of content.

In the Middle East, Wiley opened an office in Dubai in 2010 to take advantage of the region's rapid growth of higher education opportunities; in 2012, Wiley established Brasil Editora LTDA, based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. As a global company, Wiley is able to create consolidated centers of excellence at locations sited strategically around the world and, in turn, achieve cost savings and efficiencies that make room for ongoing investments to develop the business.

Honoring the Company and Its Authors

Wiley has been honored frequently for its sustained financial success and exceptional culture. Accolades include Forbes magazine's list of the "400 Best Big Companies in America," Book Business magazine's citation of Wiley as "One of the 20 Best Book Publishing Companies to Work For," and Standard and Poor's 2006 addition of Wiley to its MidCap 400 Index. In addition, Fortune magazine named Wiley one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For," and Wiley Australia has received the Australian government's "Employer of Choice for Women" citation every year since its inception in 2001. Wiley has also appeared on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's "Best Workplaces for Commuters" list.

Wiley authors have received numerous honors, and Wiley and its acquired companies have published the works of more than 450 Nobel laureates in every Nobel prize category: Literature, Economics, Physiology/Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, and Peace.

Always ready to catch the next big wave, Wiley currently collaborates with TED (hard to get more cutting edge), curating  a series of talks along with  educational support materials. 


For over 200 years, Wiley has evolved to meet the needs of its customers — from letterpress pamphlets to digital apps and interactive online learning tools. The Wiley family's involvement in the business continues, now into the seventh generation. Given Wiley's financial stability, experienced leadership team, and talented workforce, the years ahead promise to bring exciting opportunities for continued growth and prosperity.

The company may be a far cry from Charles Wiley's small Manhattan printing shop, but its emphasis on quality and commitment to customers haven't changed since 1807.

The Divine Nine

Whittled my older2elder positioning statement down to nine (9) words:

I'm an elder care anarchist, advocating change, expanding possibilities. 

Whew!

Patricia Gallagher, Rent-a-Helpful Daughter services

As I look ahead to easing my way out of delivering one-on-one support services to older friends & their families, am delighted that my dear friend & inspiration, Patricia, is available.  Lots of people can be described as a force of nature - Patricia is a force of pure spirit; not simply an earth angel, Trisha's close to a real one as you're likely to find in our natural world.

Perhaps best known in our area for her Random Acts of Flowers project & being the Angel Pin Lady, Patricia has a special bond with & gift for connecting with the aged.  

Whether you or someone you know is a caregiver yearning for a break, an across-state son too far to do regular check-ins with beloved parents, an over-booked daughter who wants a fun someone to pal around with Mom in ways she can't,  or oldster seeking wheels to get her & her "lunch bunch" buddies out for an afternoon spin, Trisha is well worth checking out!  


 

PRISCILLA SITIENEI, Earth Angel!

 

From now to forever, whenever I'm tempted to think "I am too _____" to do whatever, will think of Priscilla Sitienei, a 90-year old Kenyan great-great-grandmother who is attending primary school!  

 
It would be silly to paraphrase the excellent BBC News article, much wiser to direct you to the link.  I am sure that Gogo would approve!

Elder-on-Elder Bullying

 

Was reminded - again - this weekend that bullying isn't limited to the young.  A dear friend, edging up toward her upper 80s, was openly bullied by a fellow resident at her senior community.  

To my amazement, the woman cruelly teased & taunted my friend about her memory challenges with me sitting right there, at the same table.  Not once, but numerous times, I had to ask the bully to stop.  

When my friend left us to use the ladies room, I spoke more directly.  The bully took offense, brushing it off, even painting herself as the victim - she was "just teasing."   

Perhaps the saddest thing is knowing that my friend, if questioned, would have defended & absolved her tormentor.   It's the same dynamic I saw years ago, as a high school teacher.  While I knew one of my students was being mercilessly mistreated by a classmate, it was never within my direct hearing or sight.  Just as my older friend did last year, when the same person goaded her with poisoned jabs like "What day is it?" & "What time is it?," the student tied the hands of anyone who tried to help. 

That's what my friend did last year, when I first saw the torture & tried to address it.  Unlike this year, there were other people at the table who - in spite of my friend shrugging it off - also stood up to the bully.   


This past weekend, the bully was even more openly cruel, far worse than before.  Last year, I hit a brick wall in my attempts to discover how the senior residence staff handled bullying situations - they claimed that such problems were unthinkable, had never come up before.  With this weekend's cruel taunts ringing in my ears & the bully's disregard of requests to stop, will dig & delve until I get a better answer or response.  

If the administrative staff is clueless about the fact of bullying going on right under their roof, then I'll gladly introduce them to Dr. Maria De Leon.  She has no illusions about elder-on-elder bullying, discusses the crisis loudly & clearly.

I sympathize with any elderly person's reluctance to speak up about bullying.  Whether they are the victim or an observer, they could fear that the impact of reporting such abuse could be far worse than the abuse itself.  Just as my 7th grade student held back from pointing the finger at her tormentor for fear of what might come.  

For me, there is no alternative.  A couple days ago, a bully felt comfortable openly savaging someone she knew was my friend, right in front of me. If there really isn't an official policy on peer bullying, no procedures for handling, what's to hold her back from being even crueler in the future?

Whittled down

Seems that while an "elevator pitch" ideally clocks in at 30 seconds, a "positioning statement" should max out at 10 words.  Mine - "I'm an elder care anarchist, overthrowing the norm, expanding possibilities." 

C.V. Dreamin' - breath work, meditation

 

What a happy day it was for me, discovering that yoga is more than simply holding body postures.  Although movement (asana) is a core part of yoga, breath work (pranayama) & meditation (dhyana) are two other key aspects.  While my somewhat decrepit body makes even simple yoga poses a struggle to achieve without looking (in contrast to Barbar's family) like a great lumbering elephant, breath work & meditation are well within my abilities.  Well within most people's abilities, including oldsters & even folks like my mother, who started breath work in her late eighties.  

While it is true that it's ideal a full yoga program provides the best results, developing a regular daily workout of breath work and/or meditation can also yield remarkable benefits.  

Why is it that most of the information about older people & yoga focus on the physiological benefits?  Yes, it decreases blood pressure, increases breathing efficiency, decreases pain, increases depth perception.  But - as I discovered with Mom - the most important benefits are typically ignored.  I only discovered them myself by accident, thanks to listening to a radio interview on my way over to my brother's.  Blessed serendipity!

My church is introducing a series on practicing mindfulness, starting next month.  Hopefully, one of the small groups will meet at our local senior residence, then lead to a regular mindfulness support group for my older friends, residents & non-residents alike.  Could be a great start to my ultimate dream of full yoga offerings -  from traditional to chair yoga, breath work to meditation - at C.V.  

Yoga, as an integrated whole or as breath work and/or meditation, offers tremendous benefits to oldsters & the significantly elderly.  When Mom found herself with nothing to do or could feel stress beginning to rise, she'd run through several breath work exercises.  The older she got, the more she spent a lot of time in meditation - it was one of the things that kept her from ever getting bored.  

Meditation seemed to come easily to Mom, who took to breath work as naturally as... well, as breathing.  Wish I could say the same.  I sloughed off doing the simple, basic breath work exercises that stood her in such good stead over her final few years.  As for meditation - have known for years it would benefit me beyond imagination, yet it feels like very cell in my body resists resists resists.

Realizing that the best way to help my dream of C.V. hosted yoga programs is to start incorporating them into my own life.  Sheez, it's so much easier to wish for something rather that taking responsibility to do all I can to help create an environment where it's possible.  Wish I could go back to this morning, back to where it didn't hit home that the best way to realize this particular C.V. dream starts with making the dream real for myself.  Stay tuned!


 

Beautiful unintended consequence

 

Last week, John & I were headed over the back roads to Norristown, car loaded with take-out from my brother’s favorite Chinese restaurant, looking forward to a leisurely reconnect over General Tso, sweet & sour chicken, veggie lo mein.   Little did I suspect that, somewhere between Willow Grove Avenue & Dekalb Pike, a long-time perspective on a major life event would shift to a new level. 

Our drive-time listening was NPR’s Here & Now, a Jeremy Hobson interview on the effectiveness of yoga on treating Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).   Between leaving Squirrel Haven & arriving at Suburban Woods, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk's insights morphed every assumption I had about why Mom could finally face tough family issues into new possibilities.

Dr. van der Kolk, a psychiatrist with more than forty years experience treating people with PTSD & other forms of trauma, talked about how it affects the body as well as the mind. 

“Trauma is an experience that

overwhelms your capacity to cope.

People feel helpless,

overwhelmed, scared, horrified;

at the core of trauma is horror.”

Oh my gosh - that described Mom, faced with a crisis that involved family.  Helpless, overwhelmed, scared.  Horrified. 

Had never thought of the word horrified before, but it connected as soon as Dr. van der Kolk said it.

Talking about patients suffering from PTSD, Dr. van der Kolk noted, “It was clear that … their bodies felt deeply unsafe, so the enemy that was once living outside was now living within.”

“You can’t talk yourself out of being in love, or being angry, or hating particular people because these are not rational processes, and reason has only very limited capacities to override these more primitive survival issues.”

Even knowing Mom's history, had never thought of her as suffering from PTSD. Duh! Duh! Duh!   Both Mom & Dad experienced the worst form of trauma.  The very people they needed to turn to for care, for protection - their surviving parents - turned on them.  Mom responded by forgetting & shutting down, walking away from anything that might stir a negative emotion.  All smiles, no sadness.

What I saw....

How she felt....

 

Had never considered what made Mom, in her late 80s, finally feel safe enough to FEEL?  It wasn't anything anyone said.  As Dr. van der Kolk pointed out, rational arguments have no impact on irrational processes.  So, what?

The rest of his interview answered that question.  Breath work. Breath work helped restore a feeling of safety to Mom’s body. 

Mom started doing breath work after I found Pam Grout’s book, Jumpstart Your Metabolism.  While I soon slacked off & stopped altogether, Mom kept on, right to her final days.   

Three sets of breath work exercises, three times a day.   She did them to replace the daily walks she’d taken all her life.  As Mom edged into her late 80s, her brisk walks around the neighborhood became treks up & down our road, then around the back yard, then around the kitchen island.  Finally, breath work provided the aerobic workout she craved.  She did them in her big chair, even stretched out on her bed. 

 

While I knew that deep breathing & breath work helps remove toxins from our body – our bodies are designed to release 70% of its toxins through breathing, but most of us don’t come close – didn't realize it helps release the toxin of imprinted trauma, too.

Sure, Mom knew that doing her Sama Vritti, Nadi Shodhana, Kapalabhati and Abdominal Breathing Technique improved her sense of well-being, left her feeling calm & peaceful.  Did it ever occur to her that they were byproducts of developing a greater sense of safety?  I doubt it.  

There aren't words to describe how it feels, realizing that exercises Mom did to replace her daily walks helped restore a sense of safety to her body. 

None of this is conjecture.  I saw the before & after.  Just never connected Mom’s astonishing courage, seeking to change a long-protected but damaging status quo, with her doing regular HA! & Bikini breaths. 

Mom set out to replace a daily walk, stuck to it every day, three times a day, & ended up restoring a sense of safety & well-being to her soul & body.  What a beautiful unintended consequence! 

FYI - Mom treated her breath work as she would any exercise routine & checked FIRST with her doctor for his okay.