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Creative Aging Expert
May 2008
In This Issue
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Sorry No March Newsletter
My apologies for skipping my March Newsletter
issue; there was just too much going on!
I've just returned from riding Bike Florida
from Clearwater to Fanning Springs, mostly on
lovely rail trails. We rode for seven days,
covering 300 miles of gorgeous countryside. I
then joined my son Josh to ride Bike Safari
out of Live Oak, Florida, with routes taking
us into southern Georgia. Safari had great
food and snacks and on three of the six
nights we camped on a beautiful lake with
free canoes and kayaks. On my way down to
Florida, I spent two days in the Okefenokee
swamp at Steven Foster State Park. I had a
lovely campsite at Edisto Beach State Park in
South Carolina on the journey home.
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Pennsylvania Ombudsmen
I recently keynoted the Pennsylvania
Department of Aging Ombudsman Enrichment
Conference. Pennsylvania has a very complete
and forward looking ombudsman program.
Funded with Federal money, and working
through local Area Agencies on Aging,
ombudsmen work with Long Term Care (LTC)
facilities and have legal authority to go
into any LTC facility, personal care homes,
assisted living facility or nursing home.
There they work with resident councils,
adjudicate resident complaints, and help in
any way they can to make the facilities run
smoothly with optimal benefits to the
residents and their families.
Both staff and volunteer ombudsmen receive
training provided by the Department of Aging.
In addition they train residents in five two
hour sessions to become PEERs (Pennsylvania
Empowered Expert Residents), residents in
these facilities who help to orient new
residents, resolve complaints, and make
suggestions for improved care and activities.
I attended a panel of trained PEERs from
several facilities and heard first hand what
they were doing to make life easier and more
friendly for residents - welcoming baskets
for newcomers, meeting with new residents to
go over their resident rights, letting
everyone know the names and hall numbers of
their nearest PEER, and encouraging people to
contact them if they had questions.
What especially impressed me was the
enthusiasm of the PEERs for their roles; they
expressed great satisfaction in helping other
residents. Really a wonderful program that I
hope will be duplicated in many more
facilities across the country. For more
information on this program contact Laurie
Sisak at lsisak@state.pa.us.
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Seniors Handling Retirement
I am always big on quizzing seniors I meet
about how they're handling their free time in
retirement. I got some cool answers in
Florida from senior cyclists.
Dick: Near the end of his career in
electrical engineering, Dick and his wife got
into biking and went on several tours. His
wife found that her neck and shoulders would
ache after a long ride, and she asked Dick
for a massage. He discovered he was pretty
good at it, and soon his wife's friends were
lining up! Two years after retiring, Dick
became a certified massage therapist. But
the best part is he gives massages only on
Tuesdays, allowing for lots of free time for
all of his other interests and
activities.
Judy: I kept bumping into Judy, a
vivacious older woman who had one terrific
tan. We biked at about the same speed so
were often on the road together. One day I
asked her how she was spending her retirement
years; and also how she got so brown.
"Well," she explained, "I worked as a teacher
and then for 20 years in Social Welfare,
often having to take children away from
abusive homes. I decided that I had earned
the right to relax in retirement and just
enjoy myself. So I ride my bicycle every
morning, and then come home and swim in my
backyard pool and sit in the sun and read. I
figure I deserve it!"
Carol: One of the most amazing
retirees I met was Carol Deland of York,
Pennsylvania. A former physical education
teacher, she discovered running when first
entering a 3-mile husband-and-wife race in
her hometown many years ago. It soon became
a passion, and over the years she worked her
way up to running marathons - about three a
year. When her kids were grown, she joined
some of her friends and signed up with
Marathon Tours to run on different continents
and then spend time touring there. Her first
foreign marathon was in South Africa where
they started out before dawn and ran 26 miles
in the countryside. Then she went to New
Zealand and participated in the New
Millennium Run to celebrate the first day of
the 21st century. It was positively
exhilarating, and Carol set a goal of
completing a marathon on every continent.
Yes, even in Antarctica where she ran up a
glacier! Now at age 66 she has accomplished
that goal. In 2003 a worrisome Achilles heel
interfered with her running, and she took up
biking, even signing up for an across America
bike ride! It doesn't give her the same high
as running, but it allows her good physical
exercise in the out doors which she loves.
Carol is now recovering from a shoulder
injury from a serious automobile accident
which has put a crimp in her biking, but
she's in physical therapy, and riding the
shorter rides until she fully recovers.
Right on Carol. I admire you for what you've
been able to do in retirement.
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Commentary: The Creative Age
This piece is written by Mary and Ken
Gergen in their March/April Positive Aging
Newsletter www.healthandage.com.
To us, the concept of the "third age" is a
chronological term, without specific
qualities. We propose to define it as "the
creative age." This conclusion was prompted
this last month by a provocative critique of
"retirement" published in the Baltimore Sun
on March 26. As Andrew L. Yarrow, a professor
of history at American University, wrote,
"Retiring when you're still in good health
isn't just wrong, it's profoundly selfish and
unpatriotic...Dropping out of the workforce
while still in one's prime means ending one's
contributions to America's strength,
mortgaging our children's and grandchildren's
future, and leeching trillions of taxpayer
dollars from the economy... If millions of
Americans worked until age 67 instead of
62...[they] would increase national output
and personal wealth and keep the labor force
at a healthy level."
These were strong words, but they were met
with some fierce rebuttals from contributors
to Encore.com, where they had been
highlighted. As one reader wrote, "How
times change! It used to be that people were
encouraged to retire as soon as they reached
the statutory age so as to 'get out of the
way' of younger workers... Now we're
'unpatriotic' if, after slogging away in the
work force for 40 or 50 years, we want to
devote our remaining years of good health to
traveling or pursuing our hobbies ... give me
a break!!" Another was more indignant," "I
had to laugh after reading Andy Yarrow's plea
to keep the shoulder to the wheel until age
65 or longer. He's got a cushy University job
while the rest of us blue collar types work
in physically punishing jobs. He is the
classic case of an egghead who doesn't even
know where eggs come from...an older person
who wants to get the hell out of the rat-race
should be able to do so when they want to."
However, one further comment seemed most
compelling," Seniors can become extremely
productive without having to associate with
the corporate lifestyle. We need to see a
paradigm shift for seniors from basically
consumption efforts to more creative and
productive projects. This new direction can
always be combined with family, leisure or
any 'other' pleasurable retirement
activities. "
With this comment, the image of the creative
age becomes clearer. Provided one has the
financial security, the years following a
full-blown career offer an unprecedented
period in which one can envision, explore,
and create a richly fulfilling lifestyle.
As survey research indicates, the majority of
those working in the private sector would
prefer work that more directly benefits
society. The creative age offers just such
possibilities. As it now stands, those in the
creative age already contribute enormously to
the well-being of their children,
grand-children, and their communities. And,
as we see it, exploring the world, developing
new skills, meeting new challenges, savoring
these joys, and sharing our enthusiasm with
those around us, is the ideal scenario for
the "creative age".
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Hot Books on Retirement
I am currently reading Changing Course,
Navigating Life After 50 by William A.
Sadler and James H. Krefft. As the cover
states, the book helps readers "learn how to
create the life you want." This work puts
solid research behind the different
lifestyles seniors are developing in
retirement. It is a joy to read and very
helpful in encouraging people to make a new
life for themselves in the extended years of
living after work.
Bernice Bratter and Helen Dennis's long
awaited book, Project Renewment: the First
Retirement model for Career Women, was
published in March of this year. Ads for it
ask us to "Lose your title and find your
life. Exchange business for challenge,
growth and joy. Create emotional health and
physical well being. Contemplate a sunset or
help change the world." More at
ProjectRenewment.com
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Interesting Travel Options
When I was looking for a reasonable trip to
Costa Rica, a friend who retired from the
travel business suggested I look up www.budgettravel.com.
The web site features many interesting
options, several that include volunteer
opportunities. On one tour you volunteer at
a sea turtle farm, go horseback riding to
LaFortuna, and explore the Monte Verde Cloud
Forest. They offer tours to many interesting
places.
If you are a nurse and looking for adventure
google "Travel Nurses." Lots of neat
opportunities to travel and work in places
you've always wanted to explore, both in the
U.S. and overseas.
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Upcoming Presentations
I will be journeying to the Rolling Hill
Retirement Community in Greenville, South
Carolina, to keynote a banquet for their
Senior Olympics, my topic is "Make Your Life
an Adventure Not a Chore." Then to
Morgantown, West Virginia, to address the
opening session of the Summer Institute on
Aging, whose theme is Reflections on Aging:
Visions for the Future - my topic for this
exciting conference is "Redefining Aging for
the 21st Century."
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Emily Kimball
3220A West Grace Street
Richmond, VA 23221-1306
(804) 358-5536
Fax (804) 358-2415
web: TheAgingAdventurer.com
email:
etkimball@aol.com
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