Aging Together Abbotsford 2016 is a conference for baby boomers and seniors. It took place over two days with educational workshops, expert speakers, as well as vendors and exhibitors that promote a full and healthy lifestyle for older adults. Presented by Abbotsford Community Services (www.abbotsfordcommunityservices.com), the conference was well attended with over 130 registrants who were engaged fully in the sessions, workshops and ongoing conversations that ensued.
Dan Levitt, Executive Director of Tabor Village and adjunct professor of Gerontology at SFU emceed the two day event. He said that he “hoped the next 2 days would help all of the participants grow in wisdom and although growing old may be a challenging chapter in life, it will also be a valuable and meaningful time in your life”. Dan’s engaging sense of humor and knowledge of the field of gerontology set the tone for the two days of information, networking and fun.
Greetings were brought to the conference by Mayor Henry Braun who affirmed Abbotsford as an Age-Friendly community with desire and initiative to continue providing services for seniors.
Before introducing Isobel Mackenzie, Seniors Advocate, BC, Dan shared Henry Fredrick Amil’s powerful quote, “To know how to grow old is the master work of wisdom and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living.”
Isobel Mackenzie, Seniors Advocate, BC – Keynote Address
Isobel Mackenzie, Seniors Advocate, BC addressed the crowded room mixed with seniors, professionals, pastors and chaplains. With more than 20 years of experience working with seniors, Isobel MacKenzie brings a thorough, evidence-based, researched method to her work in advocating for seniors in British Columbia. Just prior to becoming the Seniors Advocate, Isobel was leading BC’s largest non-profit agency, serving over 6,000 seniors.
Isobel debunked a number of myths in her keynote address, such as the idea that seniors are a burden – that there is a great silver tsunami coming that will come by surprise and wash over British Columbia devastating everything in its path. She addressed the myth that all seniors are rich, stating the statistic that at age 65 over half the people are living on an income of $24,000 or less. There are 54,000 seniors in British Columbia who are living only on Old age Pension and Guaranteed Income Supplement, a sum of $16,800 per year.
Isobel shared how well-meaning professionals are trained to make people’s lives as risk-free as possible and yet, it’s time to allow individual seniors to live at risk as they choose.
Another myth addressed by the Seniors Advocate was the idea that you will get dementia if you live to be elderly. Statistics show that four out of five people over 85 do not have dementia. An unintended consequence of creating awareness of Alzheimer’s for research dollars is that everyone fears that they will get dementia.
What about resident-on-resident aggression within residential care homes? For the first time, there is a benchmark statistic collected by the Seniors Advocate office. This says that between 425 and 550 reported cases resulted in harm in residential care. Although our aim is to have no aggression, this rate of aggression needs to be understood in the context of the 27,000 residents in British Columbia.
What about the myth that all elderly people will lose their driver’s license? Over 97% of seniors over 80 years old will pass the DMER test and not be subject to the DriveABLE test. From there forward, they will be able to renew their license.
The Seniors Advocate also shared that they are collecting statistics through the Senior Abuse and Information Phone Line as to how many seniors are being abused. As the benchmark numbers are being developed, Isobel noted that many of the reports of abuse were more than five years old, indicating an under-reporting of abuse incidents.
Her work ahead will include a Resident on Resident Aggression Review, Home Support Review and a Pharmacare Review.
Conference workshops at the Aging Together Abbotsford 2016 Conference ranged from Advance Care Planning; Financial and Estate Planning; Successful Aging; Privileges and Responsibilities of Driving; Intimacy Through the Years: Exploring Sex as we get Older; Travel Tips; Family and Friend Caregiver Tips; Heads up for a Healthy Brain; Healthy Smoothies and Laughter Yoga.
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Heads Up For a Healthy Brain by Jude Weir, Alzheimer’s Society
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Daryl Plecas addresses the participants
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Vendors
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Vendors
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Vendors
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Vendors brought excellent information for seniors
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Garden Park Towers – Menno Froese
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Phillips Lifeline share their lifeline alerts
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Isobel engaging with seniors
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Isobel engaging with seniors
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Isobel Mackenzie, Seniors Advocate debunks myths about seniors
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Mayor Henry Braun welcomes the participants
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Dan Levitt, emcee and Isobel Mackenzie
Concert in Care – May 3rd at 10:30 am
/in Family and FriendsYou are invited to join with residents for this beautiful professional concert! No admission cost.
Tuesday, May 3rd at 10:30am in the Menno Hospital Chapel
Julian Nolan, Saxophone
Jane Hayes, Piano
Family and Friends Network – April 21
/in Family and FriendsCome and join us to discover how family and friends can be supported and involved in residents’ lives at Menno Home and Hospital.
Thursday, April 21st, 2016
1:30 – 2:30pm
Menno Hospital Chapel
We are looking forward to seeing you!
Facilitators:
Dan Janzen – Social Worker
Ruth Neufeld – Social Services
Refresh. Renew. Renovate – Updates: Home and Hospital
/in Family and FriendsThis spring, two areas of the Menno Place campus will be receiving updates – Menno Home E2 and Menno Hospital W2. These are the first updates to happen as we continue to move away from an institutionalized feeling in our care homes.
Menno Home E2 will be the initial pilot project for these updates – fresh paint, updates to the decor and new furniture throughout will help to create a homelike feel. A homelike environment is one that de-emphasizes the institutional character of the setting, to the extent possible, and allows the resident to enjoy the environment that feels like a home rather than an institution.
New dining room furniture is arriving for both Menno Home E2 and Menno Hospital W2 at the end of April!
Some good practices that serve to decrease the institutional character of the environment include:
* Elimination of overhead paging and piped-in music throughout the building
* Eliminating the use of trays to serve meals
* Removal of institutional signage labeling work rooms in areas visible to residents and the public
* Reduction of medication carts. Some innovative facilities store medications in locked areas in resident rooms
* Removal of large, centrally located nursing/care team stations
Changes in our older buildings can be challenging as the physical layout of the units creates obstacles to the homelike environment.
Last year, Menno Place partnered with Emily Carr University of Art and Design to begin the conversation with families, residents and staff around changes to the physical environment and increasing the emphasis on person-centered care.
Look forward to updates on this project as we continue to work toward a homelike environment.
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Recreation Highlights for March
/in Family and FriendsMenno Home
March 10 – Music with Nick Klassen
March 17 – St. Patrick’s day party
March 24 – Easter party with Paska
Hospital
March15 – St. Patrick’s Day with Shawn Mckee
March 17 – Irish dancers
March 24 – Resident and staff Easter egg hunt
March31 – Rock Show
Family and Friends Network – March 17
/in Family and FriendsCome and join us to discover how family and friends can be supported and involved in residents’ lives at Menno Home and Hospital.
Thursday, March 17th, 2016
1:30 – 2:30pm
Menno Hospital Chapel
We are looking forward to seeing you!
Facilitators:
Dan Janzen – Social Worker
Ruth Neufeld – Social Services
Aging Together Abbotsford 2016 Conference – Isobel Mackenzie, Seniors Advocate
/in NewsAging Together Abbotsford 2016 is a conference for baby boomers and seniors. It took place over two days with educational workshops, expert speakers, as well as vendors and exhibitors that promote a full and healthy lifestyle for older adults. Presented by Abbotsford Community Services (www.abbotsfordcommunityservices.com), the conference was well attended with over 130 registrants who were engaged fully in the sessions, workshops and ongoing conversations that ensued.
Dan Levitt, Executive Director of Tabor Village and adjunct professor of Gerontology at SFU emceed the two day event. He said that he “hoped the next 2 days would help all of the participants grow in wisdom and although growing old may be a challenging chapter in life, it will also be a valuable and meaningful time in your life”. Dan’s engaging sense of humor and knowledge of the field of gerontology set the tone for the two days of information, networking and fun.
Greetings were brought to the conference by Mayor Henry Braun who affirmed Abbotsford as an Age-Friendly community with desire and initiative to continue providing services for seniors.
Before introducing Isobel Mackenzie, Seniors Advocate, BC, Dan shared Henry Fredrick Amil’s powerful quote, “To know how to grow old is the master work of wisdom and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living.”
Isobel Mackenzie, Seniors Advocate, BC – Keynote Address
Isobel Mackenzie, Seniors Advocate, BC addressed the crowded room mixed with seniors, professionals, pastors and chaplains. With more than 20 years of experience working with seniors, Isobel MacKenzie brings a thorough, evidence-based, researched method to her work in advocating for seniors in British Columbia. Just prior to becoming the Seniors Advocate, Isobel was leading BC’s largest non-profit agency, serving over 6,000 seniors.
Isobel debunked a number of myths in her keynote address, such as the idea that seniors are a burden – that there is a great silver tsunami coming that will come by surprise and wash over British Columbia devastating everything in its path. She addressed the myth that all seniors are rich, stating the statistic that at age 65 over half the people are living on an income of $24,000 or less. There are 54,000 seniors in British Columbia who are living only on Old age Pension and Guaranteed Income Supplement, a sum of $16,800 per year.
Isobel shared how well-meaning professionals are trained to make people’s lives as risk-free as possible and yet, it’s time to allow individual seniors to live at risk as they choose.
Another myth addressed by the Seniors Advocate was the idea that you will get dementia if you live to be elderly. Statistics show that four out of five people over 85 do not have dementia. An unintended consequence of creating awareness of Alzheimer’s for research dollars is that everyone fears that they will get dementia.
What about resident-on-resident aggression within residential care homes? For the first time, there is a benchmark statistic collected by the Seniors Advocate office. This says that between 425 and 550 reported cases resulted in harm in residential care. Although our aim is to have no aggression, this rate of aggression needs to be understood in the context of the 27,000 residents in British Columbia.
What about the myth that all elderly people will lose their driver’s license? Over 97% of seniors over 80 years old will pass the DMER test and not be subject to the DriveABLE test. From there forward, they will be able to renew their license.
The Seniors Advocate also shared that they are collecting statistics through the Senior Abuse and Information Phone Line as to how many seniors are being abused. As the benchmark numbers are being developed, Isobel noted that many of the reports of abuse were more than five years old, indicating an under-reporting of abuse incidents.
Her work ahead will include a Resident on Resident Aggression Review, Home Support Review and a Pharmacare Review.
Conference workshops at the Aging Together Abbotsford 2016 Conference ranged from Advance Care Planning; Financial and Estate Planning; Successful Aging; Privileges and Responsibilities of Driving; Intimacy Through the Years: Exploring Sex as we get Older; Travel Tips; Family and Friend Caregiver Tips; Heads up for a Healthy Brain; Healthy Smoothies and Laughter Yoga.
Aging Together Abbotsford 2016 – Wisequacks -Dr. Dave Hepburn and Dr. Rob Seeley
/in NewsKeynote speakers at the Aging Together Abbotsford 2016 conference, Dr. Dave Hepburn and Dr. Rob Seeley, The Wisequacks. WiseQuacks is the most fun, informative and upbeat health show in the media today. Heard nationally across Canada and the USA every Sunday, this live call-in show allows you to talk to Dr. Dave Hepburn and Dr. Robert Sealey, both MDs (Masters of Deception), about any medical issue. (www.wisequacks.org)
With absolute hilarity and belly-laughter, the doctors shared how to live health for longer. Dr. Dave Hepburn shared the doctors orders to exercise, work on your sense of humour, keep your mind sharp, get enough sleep and learn to connect. With hilarious photos accompanying his talk, Dr. Dave Hepburn quoted from The Gesundheit Foundation and from his favorite philosopher, Willie Wonka, “A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men.” Final thoughts were, “If I knew I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.” Mickey Mantle.
Dr. Rob Seeley’s talk on How to Die Young at an Old Age touched on the eight important numbers for seniors as well as the Hits and Myths of Medicine. Myths include: everyone should take an aspirin a day; cell phones cause brain cancer; drink 8 glasses of water per day and only men have prostates.
Continuing their comedic talks, they shared the power of optimism in living long and truly living. Laughing 100 times a day is the equivalent of 20 minutes in the gym. The most influential factor in enduring happiness is that we are born into a wealthy democracy followed by education, spiritual path, happy marriage and large social network. The biggest single factor that we can control is our circumstances – reducing stress as effectively as possible.
The doctors shared multiple research studies, including research on happiness, optimism, anger and how using your money to help others is the most powerful factor to how it effects your happiness level. Quoting the Dalai Lama, they inspired the audience to really live, “What surprised me most about humanity is that man sacrifices his health to order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”
They continued to bring laughter and inspiration through multiple stories and photos of the people on the island of Tanna in the South Pacific where they have both served the happiest people on earth, according to Conde Nast.
They quoted Walt Whitman who said, “Happiness – not for another place, but for this place. Not for another time, but for this time.”
They closed by saying that, “there ain’t much fun in medicine, but there’s lots of medicine in fun”.
“Like” us on Facebook – Menno Place Life
/in Family and FriendsFacebook – Menno Place Life
Menno Place on Facebook is an engaging and encouraging source of information and inspiration, including the popular Joy Jumps that are published every Friday.
It is an amazing privilege to bring joy-filled moments to seniors at the Menno Place campus everyday. Our Joy Jumps remind us that we are a conduit of joy for the 700 seniors who call Menno Place their home.
“Like” us on Facebook – Click Here
Concert in Care – March 1
/in Family and FriendsEvery month, we sponsor a Concert in Care. In March, we hosted Columbian guitarist David Sossa Fernández.
The next Concert in Care will take place Tuesday, April 5 at 10:30am in the Menno Hospital Chapel.
Tuesday, March 1 at 10:30am in the Menno Hospital Chapel
No Admission cost.
This event is made possible by Menno Hospital, Odlum Brown and Health Arts Society.
Menno Place Alerts – Subscribe now
/in Family and FriendsMenno Place now has a real-time alert system that can be used to communicate with families and friends in the event of an emergency or flu outbreak.
Three ways to receive alerts:
Thank you to a family member who used our Compliments and Concerns online form to request real-time information about the Flu Outbreaks on the campus. She said,
Upon receiving this suggestion, we began to create a system that would update family members in a timely fashion, while providing education on what to do with and for a loved one.
A new Twitter account @MennoPlaceAlert and webpage was launched to convey information about flu outbreaks. This same communication system will also be used to send emails when a new update is available.
Along with information about flu outbreaks, this new communication stream will be used to provide real-time updates in the case of emergency. In the case of a fire, earthquake, safety concern or power outage, you will be able to find pertinent information through the Menno Place Alert system.
How can you sign up?
In February, all subscribers to the Menno Place Family & Friends email newsletter will receive an invitation to also sign up for the @MennoPlaceAlerts