Blanchard WinsDays

Blanchard WinsDays: Grandmother’s Walking School Bus

It’s a really simple idea: Get some grown-ups, preferably those that got all morning, like grandma and grandpa. Add children of busy working parents within a square mile or so of school. Have grown-ups don yellow vests and safely walk the kids to school.




Voila! Getting to school is fun – you get to see all your friends and meet some new ones of all ages. We re-weave the social fabric of our communities, too often threadbare since women entered enmasse the workforce. The environmental footprint for the school grows a wee bit smaller and there is less traffic congestion around the school. Young and old alike get daily healthy exercise twice a day, reducing spiraling obesity rates. A walking school bus is a natural win-win --- and an excellent example of the social software that builds “aging in community.”



To find out how you can start a Grandmother’s Walking School Bus in your neighborhood (don’t forget to ask elders to join, better yet, lead the effort!), check out the Safe Routes to School Guide. Let me know if you start one – we are starting one here in Denver and I am interested to share information!
http://www.saferoutesinfo.org/guide/walking_school_bus/pdf/wsb_guide.pdf

Better Care for Seniors

Beth Baker has published a terrific article that highlights a really fun project I have been working on for the past year. This is an attempt to craft an emergency services center that is designed to meet the needs of older patients.

See what you think.

Washington Post

Kavan Peterson has also put together a nice video on the same subject.

We Were There...

This is a good use of web technology to bolster journalism.

Dignity Champions

I have been very impressed the concept of "Dignity Champions" as a strategy for creating cultures with zero tolerance for elder abuse and neglect. I think that American care providers would benefit if they made explicit use of this concept.

Sir Michael Parkinson has learnt how Anchor Homes has boosted a Government campaign to improve the lives of people living in care homes across the UK.

Care Services Minister Phil Hope (far right) and Sir Michael Parkinson meet Anchor Homes’ Managing Director Jane Ashcroft and Help the Aged’s Policy Director Paul Cann for a working lunch at Sir Michael’s restaurant, The Royal Oak, in Maidenhead.

Accompanied by Care Services Minister Phil Hope, Sir Michael learnt how Anchor Homes’ commitment to quality dementia training for its staff has helped the Department of Health pass its goal of 3,000 Dignity Champions nation-wide.

The DoH Dignity in Care Campaign aims to drive up care standards and encourages people to become Dignity Champions, spreading best practice and giving advice. Anchor Homes’ Managing Director Jane Ashcroft said the not-for-profit organisation now had more than 300 Dignity Champions.

Since becoming a Dignity Ambassador in May, Sir Michael has helped raise the profile of the campaign and the work of Dignity Champions. Mr Hope wanted Sir Michael to hear about the success of Anchor Homes.

Mrs Ashcroft, who is also the Vice-Chair of the English Community Care Association (ECCA), said: “Maintaining the dignity of residents must be at the heart of every residential care service. We at Anchor are aware of how important it is to care for people with dementia with the dignity and respect they deserve.

“The number of people with dementia in the UK will soar from 700,000 today to more than a million by 2025. Anchor has addressed this issue head-on, giving dementia care training to more than 5,000 care staff in Anchor’s 102 residential and nursing homes.

“We also have 309 Dignity Champions who have received advanced dementia training. Anchor now has more Dignity Champions than any other care provider outside of the NHS.”

Sir Michael Parkinson added he had been inspired by the Dignity Champions he had met. He said: "I have had have the great honour of meeting some of our nation’s real unsung heroes, hearing their stories and bringing attention to what they are doing to hopefully inspire many others to follow suit.”

Care Services Minister Phil Hope said: “Dignity is about quality of life and enabling people to live their own lives as they wish, confident that the care and support they receive is of high quality.

“Government alone cannot make this happen. I look forward to continuing to work with the wide range of organisations that provide care services and represent the interests of those using them.”

Read more about Dignity Champions here...

Find out more about Anchor Trust's commitment to dignity here...

More on Medicare for Everyone

From the LA Times...

Monkhouse Monday: Thinking Differently

The founder of the "Alternative Nobel Prize", Mr. Jakob von Uexkuell gives practical examples of how our thinking and acting needs to change in the face of the global challenges, in fact, is already changing. Some European commentators believe that the Obama era will "go green" without compromising, because there is no choice to do otherwise.



Uexkuell:
At a private dinner party, conversation (or thinking) might go like this:
"Oh, you still got this big SUV?"
"Strawberries for dessert in December, how outdated!"
"Oh my, your house is very warm"
"Did you know that cats in the Western world eat more meat than whole African states?"

or:
"Yes, I am cycling to work too"
"I installed solar panels"
"We turn all electrical appliances off after use"
"We rediscoverded seasonal foods such as red cabbage and lentils, delicious"

and (my addition)
"Let’s talk about how we can become good, old and wise people so we can consult with the young how to create our future together."

Medicare for Everyone

From a Yahoo Question Board...

So why wouldn't Medicare for everyone work? Facts please - not diatribes of hate and fear.?
So tell me in logical plain English, why having everyone in Medicare instead of a thousand for profit private insurance plans would not work. Please give logical, factual answers, and not the crap that the talking heads on the right and left spew.
My Dad who is turning 80 is in very good health for his age. And yet when he tried to get supplemental coverage to go along with his Medicare, the lowest quote was for almost $5000 a year, with Medicare picking up 80% of the tab and the supplemental insurer only paying 20%. Logically, if they had to pay 100% of the costs after copays, they would be charging $20,000+ for the policy.

My private insurance is $12000 a year for a family of 4 on a
group policy that covers 5000 employees and their families.
It covered 100% of all expenses after copays for Rx.
Medicare paid $7200 / person last year to cover old and sick people. Private insurance paid $6800 / person to cover young healthy people.

The thing to understand is that there is too much money in the healthcare system in the United States. In fact, there is so much money (we spend more on health care per capita than any other country) that large for-profit corporations work round-the-clock to persuade policy makers that health care consists of "goods and services" and should not be understood as somethings that Americans have a right to receive.

Offering Medicare to everyone would save the nation trillions of dollars over the coming decades and bring us into line with the practice of other industrial economies.

Growing Up is Hard to Do

The road from childhood to adulthood runs through adolescence. Oh what a road!

Much less familiar to our popular cultural imagination is the transition from adulthood to elderhood.

Here's a comedic trip down memory lane. But, let's not forget that teenagers are not the only people who have to face up to and embrace a new way of living.

More on Age and Airline Pilots

This wonderful comment by "Jodi an Atlanta Realtor" is really what blogging is all about.

Her insights really added to my understanding of this issue.

Nice.

Very nice.

As the spouse of an airline pilot I couldn't agree with you more. My husband says that statistically there was never any real basis for the old FAA regulation requiring pilots to retire at 55. Just in the last year that was pushed back by the FAA to age 60. Most of the rest of the world had already gone to the "age 60 rule". Statistics show that generally as age increases airline pilots have fewer incidents and accidents. Another key to the successful ditching of flight 1549 is the fact that the captain has had glider experience. Although we still don't know who actually performed the landing. It very well could have been the first officer at the controls as it may have been his "leg". Many airlines encourage captains to give the flight controls to first officers when dealing with emergencies. First and foremost the captain is a manager and it is very difficult to manage and assess a situation if you are trying to run checklists, talk on the radio, make announcements to the passengers, and fly the airplane. It will be interesting to see what the crew has to say when they are released to the media.

Too Gray (I mean Blonde)???

I have written on several occasions about the penalty that society enacts all too often against women who choose to keep their natural gray or silver hair color.

This kerfuffle from England gets at the question from a different angle.

What is the problem with being too blonde?



It would seem to me that enforcing arbitratry rules about the color of someone else's hair is a real waste of time.

To Gray or not to Gray

Too Blonde or not too Blonde

That should not be the question...

Full story here