Church Rummage sale

Yesterday Jean and I were walking and the Church on Fremont and 26th was having a rummage sale. Jean really enjoyed looking at the different things and talking to the people. She was really interested in the shoe section, blankets, and clothing. She picked up a small child's belt made of a rope like material and said, "I want this" unfortunately I hadn't brought any cash along. She put it back and walked out with an elderly man and his teenage granddaughter. She really likes over hearing people laugh and talk. When we got home she was tired and took a nap.
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Margaret

Summer Wardrobe

We've been shopping for summer clothes for Mother. On the subject of summer wardrobes, here's a photo of friend John Varley which appeared in the LA's shopping blog Racked .

With John's "Indiana Jones Goes Surfing" look setting the standard, we hope to dress Mother in equally classic (and comfortable) style. 

When the Phoenix landed on Mars on May 25, 2008, it was carrying a copy of Varley's story In The Hall Of The Martian Kings, along with fiction by various Varley wannabes like Isaac Asimov, H. G. Wells, and Ray Bradbury.

Picture of health

Remembering that the mission of The Mother Project blog is to post updates of the day to day adventures here at The Fremont Street Center for Healthy Aging, I will report that I am fighting the world's most long lasting cold, and have been for more than a month. Marcie, Margaret, Sam, Bart, Jenna and I have all come down with this cold. Mother and Dennis have chugged through it all without a sniff.

From The Oregonian, Part 2

"We want people to have a sense of belonging." said Bill Reed, who developed Elite Care with his wife and business partner, Lydia Lundberg. "We want them to have influence over their surroundings, and we want them to have purpose." Elite Care does that through what it calls relationship-based care.

So this is the puzzle. Everyone would agree with the stated goals of the people who have founded Elite Care in Tigard, Oregon. How do you give elderly people sequestered in a nursing home a sense of belonging? How can a nursing home feel more homey? Recognizing that the kitchen is the heart of a home, they designed theirs without doors so it is open to residents at all times. They eliminated long, impersonal hallways, and they increased the caregiver-resident ratio. 

This sounds great, and I am sure it is great. But reading this article as a caregiver made me realize ----- 

I am starting to feel that most of the caregiving for elderly people is actually directed to the adult children who are making decisions about them.  It is not the mind and body of the old person which is being studied and maintained. It is the trust and cooperation of the adult child which is being massaged and nurtured.  Everyone wants the same thing for their parents. It is like selling beer. How do you sell beer? How do you set your "tastes great" beverage apart from all the others? 

The marketing hand tries to be quicker than the eye. 

I am not being critical of Elite Care when I point out that "relationship based care" is what virtually all human beings receive. All people being cared for are in relationship, and even people not being cared for are in (very bad) relationships. 

Caring for the caregiver

Here is an article about the health costs of stress on the adult child providing care to a parent with Alzheimer's. The article doesn't mention a recent study which showed little difference between the stress levels experienced by adult children acting as long distance caregivers, and those who were in daily or weekly contact.

Our mission as scientists at the Fremont Street Center is to understand the exact source of this stress. Why is it pleasurable for parents to care for children, and life draining for children to care for parents? 

From The Oregonian

Today in the Oregonian, reporter John Foyston writes about a new assisted care facility in Tigard which shares many of the same goals as the Fremont Street Center for Healthy Aging.

 "Resident-directed care and a high ratio of caregivers to residents are some of the ways that we deinstitutionalize long term care," said Ellen Liu Kellor, an elder-living specialist with Elite Care." 

Margaret Beeson, Artist

This is one of Margaret's collage paintings. Here is the link to her page where you can see more of her artwork.