Elderhostel (Road Scholar) Project Reflection

Elderhostel (Road Scholar) Project

Alternate title:  LWC Elderhostel Poster Session and Reflection Paper

The LWC Elderhostel Poster Session and Reflection is worth 150 points toward your final course grade.  It consists of five tasks:

• Learn about Elderhostel/Road Scholar at http://www.roadscholar.org/.
• Design an original intergenerational Elderhostel Program that (hypothetically) could be implemented at Lindsey Wilson College.  Examples:  http://www.roadscholar.org/Programs/search_res.asp?Type=A&ProgDesc=Intergenerational
• Create informational and promotional materials for your Elderhostel, i.e. brochures, flyers, websites and so on.
• Present your program and materials in a Poster Session on Academic Celebration Day at the end of the semester.
• Write a 750-word individual reflection essay explaining how you applied what you learned from course readings during the project.  Be specific.  The essay must be typed, double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, and substantially free of composition errors.

1. Pre-flection: Read and discuss with your partner(s) the following passages:

“Paraphrasing what Eric Fromm once said about our society as a whole, college students are notoriously unhappy people—lonely, anxious, depressed, destructive, dependant—who are glad when they have killed time they were trying so hard to save.”

~William H. Willimon & Thomas H. Naylor, The Abandoned Generation:  Rethinking Higher Education (Grand Rapids, MI:  William B. Eerdmans, 1995), p. 14

“Before the pioneers came, the Native Americans of the Great Plains survived the harsh winters by having grandparents and grandchildren sleep beside each other.  That kept both generations from freezing to death.  That is a good metaphor for what the generations do for each other.  We keep each other from freezing.  The old need our heat, and we need their light.”

~Mary Pipher, Another Country:  Navigating the Emotional Terrain of Our Elders (New York:  Riverhead Books, 1999), p. 322

“[Ronald J.] Manheimer reports that intergenerational projects generate increased tolerance, comfort, and intimacy between generations and dispel negative stereotypes of aging and old age. ‘Generations Learning Together,’ in Intergenerational Approaches in Aging: Implications for Education, Policy and Practice, Hawthorne Press, 1997, pp. 79-91.”

~Intergenerational Strategies http://www.igstrats.org/youthbenefits.html

2. Practice: Read and discuss with your partner(s) the following mini-case study:

Except for the insertion of “Carl” and masculine pronouns, the first task is borrowed verbatim from a gerontology lesson plan posted at http://www.ithaca.edu/aging/guide/unit2sectionC.pdf (Accessed 11/28/05)

“Your assignment is to take on the identity of Catherine [or Carl] and research her [his] questions using the web site given.

“Catherine/Carl is 77 years old.  Like most of the people s/he knows that are her/his age, s/he has a thirst for new and stimulating experiences.  When Catherine/Carl was young, s/he never had the opportunity to attend college.  Like most people Catherine’s/Carl’s age, there is nothing that has slowed the way s/he thinks or her/his capacity to remember details.  Catherine/Carl would like to travel to new places and experience different cultures.  Ultimately, Catherine/Carl would like to write some children’s books about her/his experiences.  S/he thinks about writing the books as a second career and a way to give something of her/himself to her/his grandchildren.

“One of Catherine’s/Carl’s friends has suggested that s/he check out the concept of Elderhostels.  Catherine’s/Carl’s friend gave her/him this web site to research the Elderhostel concept:  http://www.roadscholar.org/.

“Here are some of Catherine’s/Carl’s main questions that s/he (you) would like to find answers to through the web site:

• What is the Elderhostel/Road Scholar concept?
• Am I too old to take advantage of Elderhostel/Road Scholar?
• What types of people participate in Elderhostel/Road Scholar?
• What are some of the programs that are offered through Elderhostel/Road Scholar?
• What specific programs would match my interests?”

3. LWC Elderhostel Poster Session:

Now that you are more familiar with Elderhostel/Road Scholar, I want you to plan a one-week (Sunday evening until Saturday noon) Elderhostel/Road Scholar experience that could be implemented here at Lindsey Wilson College during the summer (June-July).  The Elderhostel must have a coherent theme that relates to, and takes full advantage of, local cultural, educational, historical, and/or natural resources.  Participants will stay in residential halls on campus and have access to all campus facilities, including the dining center, fitness and wellness center and library.  LWC faculty, staff and students, and, possibly also, community members, may conduct workshops, give presentations, teach short courses and serve as facilitators—in other words, they may do whatever you decide is appropriate for the program you design.  Thematically relevant field trips within a sixty mile radius (about an hour’s drive) of campus may also be used.

Importantly, the Elderhostel must include significant intergenerational components, i.e. multiple opportunities for older people to interact (not just occupy the same space) with younger people and vice versa.

Road Scholar does offer intergenerational programs, several of which have been located in Kentucky.  These programs are variations of the traditional Elderhostel concept, involving elders and youth, e.g. grandparents and grandchildren, or “families” (three generations).  You may use these programs as references and borrow ideas from them, but you must not copy them.  Your Elderhostel must be original and unique to the setting of the College.

• http://www.roadscholar.org/Programs/search_res.asp?Type=A&ProgDesc=Intergenerational
• http://www.roadscholar.org/n/program/summary.aspx?id=1-4GE8YK

Create a simple brochure, flyer, website and/or other promotional item for your Elderhostel that includes a daily schedule and descriptions of planned activities and events.

Links to Online Resources for Making Brochures and Flyers

• http://www.computorcompanion.com/LPMArticle.asp?ID=143
• http://www.mybrochuremaker.com/mybrochuremaker-fun.html

You can create a website for your Elderhostel using free tools available at http://www.weebly.com/ and other sites.

(Important:  Do not publish your website!!!  And delete it when the assignment is completed.)

Present your Elderhostel Program as part of a poster session on Academic Celebration Day at the end of the semester.  Include copies of promotional materials (e.g. brochures, flyers) and links to online content.  If possible, bring a laptop computer to display websites.

Write and post your Reflection Essay before 1:30pm, Monday, Dec 7^th.

Better Nursing Homes and Gardens Reflection

“We must teach ourselves to see places where Elders live as habitats for human beings rather than facilities for the frail and elderly.”

—Eden Alternative http://www.edenalt.org/our-philosophy.html

Communication, like all human activity, is situated within specific contexts, which are both social (involving people) and spatial-temporal (involving place and time).  Contexts contain and constrain the activities happening within them, both in terms of what we do and our attitudes about, and expectations for, what we and others should do, will do, are doing, or have done (and with whom).

Moreover, contexts not only contain and constrain communication; they also may constitute communication themselves.  For example, think about how context (i.e. where you are and who you’re with) creates or contributes to…

1. a romantic mood
2. a worshipful attitude
3. a feeling of elegance
4. a sense of home
5. an emotional reaction of anxiety, fear or panic

Nursing homes are contexts themselves and include other contexts (e.g. dayrooms, dining areas) within them; landscapes surrounding nursing homes also are contexts.  Nursing home contexts may either create or contribute to “home-like” atmospheres in which residents, staff members and visitors can interact effectively with each other and feel at home—think cozy; or they may be institutional and impersonal—think cold.

In this activity, you will complete a series of five tasks that will result in a realistic design of your ideal nursing home environment.

Tasks

1. List and discuss with a partner the things you dislike or fear about nursing homes you have visited. (If you have never visited a nursing home, do so.)
2. List and discuss with someone the things you would want in a nursing home either for yourself, prospectively, or an Elder loved one, presently.
3. Taking into account both macro (i.e. the nursing home and its grounds) and micro (i.e. the private and public areas contained within the nursing home) design considerations, make a comprehensive list of the most important design principles for your ideal nursing home.
4. “Build it.” Pay attention to your nursing home’s private and public areas, and to details such as decorations and furnishings.  Don’t forget the grounds (landscaping)—pathways, patios, ponds, etc.—which contribute to the overall atmosphere of the place.
5. Share it. Present your ideas in an Academic Celebration Day poster session during the last week of classes.

Materials

1. Large poster board: On one side draw the floor plan and surrounding landscape for your nursing home.  On the other side draw the design for a typical private or semi-private room; or, alternatively, split the side in halves, using one half for the private or semi-private room and the other for a public area such as a dayroom or lounge.  Another option is to use a tri-fold display board with macro and micro
2. Crayons/Markers: Use dark crayons or markers, e.g. black or blue, for line drawings.  Use other colors, as desired, for contrast effects, e.g. green for shrubs/trees or yellow for an area’s or room’s color scheme.
3. Photographs: You also may use photographs in addition to or instead of drawings.  Provide appropriate attribution for sources of photographs, drawings and other graphics that you use.
4. Ruler: To draw lines and angles, and for measurements.
5. Strongly Recommended: If you want to make your nursing home design project more realistic and “professional,” then build it with free design software.
6. Homestyler http://usa.autodesk.com/homestyler/ or SweetHome3D http://www.sweethome3d.com/index.jsp are both good choices.

Reflection

Write a 750-word reflection essay about what you learned from doing the project, focusing on specific connections with course content.

Writing mechanics matter:  Carefully check for and correct errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc., before submitting your essay.

The Great Thanksgiving Listen

For several years, StoryCorps has encouraged people to set aside time on the day after Thanksgiving to interview family members, record the interviews and upload the recordings to the StoryCorps website.  It’s called The Great Thanksgiving Listen.  That would be a good thing to do, but if you do not wish to do it, you can do this instead:  Talk to an Elder family member or friend on the day after Thanksgiving and write a 250-word comment here, reflecting on the experience of spending “quality time” with the Elder.

You may use resources provided by StoryCorps, including its list of “Great Questions” on pages A-11 and A-12 of its Teacher Toolkit or you may create your own list.  There’s also a mobile app!

Happy Thanksgiving and Have Fun!

Noise-Induced Hearing Loss

Hearing loss in Elders may be the consequence of any of several possible causes, including, for example, the side effects of some medications.  In many cases, the onset of hearing loss occurs during one’s Elder years.  However, a significant cause of hearing loss is exposure to loud noises, the onset of which probably occurs during one’s youth and is mostly attributable to the use of ear-buds with mobile devices; that is, listening to amped up music on cell phones or tablets.  The damage is permanent and progressive.  In other words, it begins in youth and worsens as one ages.  This video demonstrates the effects of different levels of hearing loss.  To protect your hearing, limit use of ear-buds to about an hour a day or less and lower the volume to fifty or sixty percent (or less).

Young@Heart

The film Young@Heart (2007) documents a community chorus comprised of Elders whose repertoire includes pop, R&B and rock music.  The chorus was founded in 1982 by Bob Cilman.

PBS produced a companion discussion guide for the film that poses nine thought-provoking questions, the last of which is “Are there lessons that you take away from this film?  If so, what are they?”  In addition to your reflections on this question, I want you to reflect on another:  Does the meaning of a song written by and for young people change when an Elder sings it?  Before answering, watch these videos.  However you choose to respond, I am interested in your reasoning.  Explain your answer.

Video 1:  Johnny Cash “Hurt”

Video 2:  Fred Nittles “Fix You” 

Peege

“Each year, it got worse and worse, and we’d begun to dread visiting.  I wrote Peege about that last trip to the nursing home.”  So reflects director Randal Kleiser (1946-    ) about the inspiration for the semi-autobiographical film about his grandmother.

Kleiser’s many feature-length films include Grease (1978)*, Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (1992) and Shadow of Doubt (1998).  He was in his mid-20s and a graduate student in film studies at the University of Southern California when he directed Peege (1972), his Master’s thesis film.  Director’s web site:  http://randalkleiser.com/index.html (Accessed 10/29/14)

Peege was the unanimous choice for best short film at the National Council on Family Relations Film Awards Competition, in 1974.  It was added to the Library of Congress National Film Registry, in 2008—only the second student-produced film ever to be added to the registry.

*Grease is the most successful movie musical in cinema history.

Plot Summary**

A family visits Ethel Kleiser (the director’s real-life grandmother) in a nursing home.  Ethel’s nickname is “Peege.”  It is Christmastime.  Peege is in failing health.  The family expects this to be the last Christmas they’ll spend with her.  They engage in small talk with Peege and bring her gifts, getting very little response; they are awkward and uncomfortable in the situation.  When, after the short visit, the other family members say their goodbyes and leave, one of the grandsons stays behind and begins to reminisce with Peege about when she “was a vibrant, laughing, fun-loving person.”  Sitting by her side, and gently stroking her hand and hair, he is able to connect with her by revisiting the good times they had shared in the past and rekindling the spirit of love that had always surrounded them.

**  Paraphrased and quoted from Phoenix Learning Group http://www.phoenixlearninggroup.com/media/videodetail.aspx?id=145 (Accessed 11/29/06)

Intergenerational Communication Issues

The film is a poignant portrayal of a family’s communicative and emotional difficulties coping with the communication barriers caused by an Elder loved one’s failing health.  Peege suffers from cognitive and sensorineural impairments (dementia and vision loss, respectively) that affect her ability to communicate effectively.  She also appears to have arthritis, and may also be on medications that affect her mental alertness and speech.  Family visits are infrequent, possibly because it is so hard for family members to witness Peege’s decline.  Observe, in particular, the daughter-in-law’s discomfort, which reminds me of my aunt visiting my grandmother in a nursing home.

Recall Alvin Straight’s reply to the question about the hardest part of getting old:  “…remembering when you were young.”  Maybe a corollary to this is the hardest part about interacting with “old-old” loved ones is remembering when they were young.  Because of her mental and physical conditions, Peege is socially isolated from family and friends, and does not appear to have much social stimulation in the nursing home (even though she acknowledges when asked that she has friends there and isn’t lonely).  Happily, though, her grandson finds a way to break through the communication barriers to enjoy a brief, but very meaningful, conversation with the grandmother whom he may never see again alive.

Recommendation:  Make opportunities to visit your elderly family members and friends.  Every day you can be with them is precious.  There’s no guarantee of tomorrows.

For Reflection:

Review The Ten Principles of The Eden Alternative http://www.edenalt.org/about-the-eden-alternative/mission-vision-values/:

1. The three plagues of loneliness, helplessness, and boredom account for the bulk of suffering among our Elders.
2. An Elder-centered community commits to creating a Human Habitat where life revolves around close and continuing contact with plants, animals, and children. It is these relationships that provide the young and old alike with a pathway to a life worth living.
3. Loving companionship is the antidote to loneliness. Elders deserve easy access to human and animal companionship.
4. An Elder-centered community creates opportunity to give as well as receive care. This is the antidote to helplessness.
5. An Elder-centered community imbues daily life with variety and spontaneity by creating an environment in which unexpected and unpredictable interactions and happenings can take place. This is the antidote to boredom.
6. Meaningless activity corrodes the human spirit. The opportunity to do things that we find meaningful is essential to human health.
7. Medical treatment should be the servant of genuine human caring, never its master.
8. An Elder-centered community honors its Elders by de-emphasizing top-down, bureaucratic authority, seeking instead to place the maximum possible decision-making authority into the hands of the Elders or into the hands of those closest to them.
9. Creating an Elder-centered community is a never-ending process. Human growth must never be separated from human life.
10. Wise leadership is the lifeblood of any struggle against the three plagues. For it, there can be no substitute.

Comment on the insights any of the principles provide(s) to understanding the conditions depicted in Peege.

Additional Reflection Questions

1. Why is the family unable or unwilling to visit Peege more often?
2. Why are they visiting her now?
3. Use the Transactional Communication Process Model to analyze the communication depicted in the film.
4. How are communication barriers manifested by Peege’s behavior?
5. What seems to be the primary cause(s) of these barriers?
6. How do family members try to overcome these barriers?
7. Despite the awkwardness, do you think that Peege appreciates or enjoys the visit? What about her family, do they appreciate or enjoy the visit?
8. According to David Solie in How to Say It to Seniors, a “legacy coach” (someone who helps elders find meaning in their lives and articulate how they wish to be remembered) facilitates an elder’s life review process by asking “meaningful questions” and listening “attentively” (p. 89). Maybe Peege is too far gone to engage in life review, or maybe not.  In either case, do you think the grandson exhibits any of the characteristics of a legacy coach?  Which ones?

Age Simulation

As society ages, both academic and corporate researchers are trying to (1) understand the effects of aging on individuals (and society), (2) empathize with Elders and (3) develop “Elder friendly” products and services.  In my Communication & Aging course, we use versions of the Xtreme Aging Workshop that I learned at the Macklin Intergenerational institute to simulate the experience of aging and sensitize students to the conditions and needs of Elders.

I wish we had the resources to either develop or purchase age simulation suits, which are very expensive.  Anyway, here are some age simulation links that you may find interesting.

MIT AgeLab

GERT Age Simulation Suit

Hello in There

I Am Every Age I’ve Ever Been

We never really leave our pasts behind.  In the film The Straight Story a young RAGBRAI rider asks 73-year-old Alvin Straight “What’s the worst thing about being old Alvin?”  Alvin replies “The worst thing about being old is remembering when you were young.”  Alvin is becoming “old-old” to use a term coined by the late gerontologist Bernice L. Neugarten (1916-2001).  Alvin’s eyesight is failing, and he walks with the aid of two canes.  He has diabetes and emphysema.  He smokes cigars, and he is a recovering alcoholic.  Tellingly, however, in a line from the screenplay that was not used in the film, Alvin’s oldness is not, strictly speaking, a matter of chronology or the passage of time, or the loss of physiological functions.  In the same scene, another rider, Steve, asks Alvin “When d’ya know you’re getting old?”  Alvin answers “The first time I felt old was when I saw a buddy die in the war [World War II].  I got old that minute.”  So, Alvin subjectively got old in his twenties.

Age and aging are funny that way.  They really don’t have all that much to do with our culture’s chronological markers, e.g. 16, 18, 21, 40, 65…, which are subjective themselves.  People age at different rates, and aging has as much or more to do with the cumulative impact of our life experiences as it has to do with chronology, up to some point when time eventually catches up with us.  But, someone can be “old-old” at 60 and “young-old” at 90, as was the case with my wife’s paternal grandfather. When he was in his early nineties, he drove from Florida to visit us in Kentucky.  Somewhere in Tennessee, he became ill.  It being a weekend, he had to seek treatment at a hospital.  Because of his age, he was admitted.  The doctor examined him thoroughly and told him that he was in good shape for a “seventy-year-old man.”

But, I digress.  What of this notion that I am every age I’ve ever been?  I don’t know to whom it is properly attributable; possibly, Madeleine L’Engle (1918-2007):  “I am still every age that I have been.  Because I was once a child, I am always a child.  Because I was once a searching adolescent, given to moods and ecstasies, these are still part of me, and always will be….”  As I discovered from another blogger, Sandra Cisneros expresses the same thought in her short story Eleven.

“What they don’t understand about birthdays and what they never tell you is that when you’re eleven, you’re also ten, and nine, and eight, and seven, and six, and five, and four, and three, and two, and one. And when you wake up on your eleventh birthday you expect to feel eleven, but you don’t.  You open your eyes and everything’s just like yesterday, only it’s today. And you don’t feel eleven at all.  You feel like you’re still ten….  Because the way you grow old is kind of like an onion or like the rings inside a tree trunk or like my little wooden dolls that fit one inside the other, each year inside the next one. That’s how being eleven years old is.”

I don’t really have anything to add to what’s already so well said, except that I can relate to the notion, “I’m every age I’ve ever been.” Can you?

Just one more thing.  Whatever age we are, we should be grateful.  Maya Angelou “Every Age I’ve Been Grateful”  I wonder how Alvin would have answered the question “What’s the best thing about being old?”

Old Henry