[KJW #101] More About Environmental Gerontology, Collaborative Interdisciplinary Team For Better Longevity

Martha Stewart Center For Living at Mount Sanai Department of Geriatrics and Adult Development welcomes Kathy J. Ward, President of WEL, World Elder Land - New York, USA

	How environmental gerontology and interdisciplinary collaborative learning influence health, wellness and a better quality of life for our elders and caregivers, by KJW
	First WEL interdisciplinary geriatrics and gerontology professional development conference for elders and caregivers - USA

Environmental Gerontology: Overview

Multiple studies report that older person overwhelmingly wish to age in place in their own homes and neighborhoods (cf.Lawton, 1975, Tilson, 1990; AARP 1996). Yet, our society continues to build low-density, auto-oriented suburban communities that will make the accommodation of aging in place increasingly difficult (Calthorpe, 1993). Similarly, although multiple studies report that older Americans view traditional "medical model" nursing homes as a residence of last resort, too many such facilities continue to be built (Schwarz, 1997). Home safety is a major concern for older persons, however seldom appropriate modifications are made to facilitate independence and better quality of life for our elders.

Pay more attention to better environmental design in health care. The industry is growing very fast and more often we see new assisted living, group homes, or big beautiful retirement communities decorated like grand hotels but lacking in functionality for addressing the needs of our elders and caregivers, i.e., comfortable and safe arm chairs so our elders can achieve healthy posture and reach the floor with their feet.

Environmental gerontology (EG)— the relation between elderly persons and their sociospatial surroundings—has emerged as a subfield in its own right. When we encourage communities to develop, implement and practice Whole-Person-Centered Wellness programs, we also focus on the environment as our extended body acknowledging the meaningful interrelations of the environment and its effects our body, health, energy, communication, social relations, mental health, harmony and overall wellness. This is why we have chosen to visit the new Martha Stewart Center For Living that specializes in care for older adults, rehabilitation medicine and better quality of life for elders and their caregivers.

One of the most impressive programs at this location is disease prevention and integrative medicine for better longevity.

Stewart said she wanted the center to encourage older patients to "embrace a healthier lifestyle. We all want to live for many, many years but it's important to have a good quality of life, too."

WEL, World Elder Land congratulates Martha Stewart, Dr. Audrey Chun and their wonderful care team for designing, implementing and evaluating better ways to continue helping our dear elders and their caregivers... Bravo!!!

First Interdisciplinary Geriatrics and Gerontology Professional Development Conference For Elders and Caregivers - USA

Dr. Robert Muller, a magnificent elder, our keynote speaker, with his wife Barbara Muller, sharing his ideas about dreams, the importance of becoming healers of Earth and his views about "refirement" vs. "retirement. (Video presentation) Kathy J Ward presented three workshops at the conference; The Whole-Person-Centered Wellness program, Clinical Therapeutic Recreation For Elders and Listening Beyond Cultures and Challenges To Better Provide Health Care Services. Some of our participants

Surprise!!! A group of elders "Seniors On The Move" and their leader Toni Kruder showed us how to better our balance, motor coordination and daily aerobics. With their good energy, they put everyone to move showing that elders can inspire and stay fit while having fun!

Interdisciplinary Team Approach vs. Multidisciplinary Team Approach

Benefits of collaborative interdisciplinary teams delivering health care services:

• Facilitates team members to collaborate with health care providers across the continuum of services.
• Early recognition, better planning and implementation of rehabilitation medicine for better care.
• Opportunities to better the use of constructive feedback and objective observations. The practice of responsibility and accountability are also essential to collaborative interdisciplinary.
  
• Informed team decision making for complex care situations.
• Team members monitor each others performance, peer review, during care transitions improving assertiveness. Participating disciplines adequately contribute input to the selection, evaluation of findings, and identification of areas of improvement and planning. Effective listening is critical for better communication.
• Clinical competence means that the individual professional has demonstrated the technical skills and judgment to provide effective patient care.

By delivering whole-person-centered wellness care, the interdisciplinary team moves to the forefront facilitating better communication and services. Most of us strive for an interdisciplinary versus a multidisciplinary team, because we know such a team is more efficient.

In all our efforts to pull such a team together sometimes we forget one very important component: the patient. The development of common goals that are person-centered, not centered on individual team members or disciplines, but rather involving the patient in a team discussion and most important... listening to the patient and to each other, validates, positively reinforce everyone and evaluates team members as a whole more efficiently.

An effective interdisciplinary team has the ability to reduce health care costs and improve health and healing for patients and their caregivers. "Effective" means that the team has good communication, and works in an environment promoting openness, a culture of process improvement, creativity and true teamwork.

Suggestion: Create "The Good News Book" in your health care community. Promote this idea and encourage everyone to focus on the positive and better ways that everyone is able to do. This book provides a public way of passing along positive comments, good news and good energy to an individual or group, including comments from patients and families, and to communicate important team events, accomplishments and developments. Supervisors can use it to comment on the accomplishments of specific employees, volunteers or other community members. This book is often one of the first things turned to when people come to work. It is, indeed helpful in pulling a meaningful team together.

Example of multidisciplinary vs collaborative interdisciplinary team work

Concept of multidisciplinary team work

Concept of collaborative interdisciplinary team work

Dear Kathy and colleagues:

May God bless You and Your families, stay happy and healthy in coming New Year!

Regards, Anna
UNFPA/Armenia

          

I feel as though our work has it's own rewards as we continue to practice person centered service to others !
God Bless you in the coming year!

Peggy Connelly
Corporate Director Programs and Dementia Services, Florida, USA

[KJW #100] WEL Begins The New Year 2008 Nurturing Strong Global Partnerships, Extending Our Services In Spanish To Venezuela, Colombia and Chile.

WEL, World Elder Land continues promoting global meaningful partnerships, civic engagement, better living arrangements, resources, "whole-person-centered wellness©" programs and healing for our elders... WEL believes in the active participation of our elders to influence the design and implementation of better practices, policies and programs that affect them directly.

Participation and empowerment of older persons, a meaningful and efficient way of co-creating betterment for our elders.

As older persons continue to constitute an ever-greater proportion of the total population, they have the potential to be more influential in society. Empowerment and civic engagement vary greatly across countries, for example, there are countries where older people carry great social and political weight, mostly associated with the important concentration of economic resources and a tradition of political participation; in many countries however, older people are not organized and experience great difficulty in voicing their concerns and incorporating them in the public debate and the policy agenda.

WEL continues promoting efforts to organize and facilitate the inclusion of our elders in their own betterment. Solitary living, which may result in increase isolation, makes care-giving by family members more difficult to arrange; it also increases the need for additional support services so as to enable older persons to remain in their own home. Developing countries may have difficulty providing such services. (World Economic and Social Survey 2007). WEL continues promoting civic engagement and education facilitating meaningful "Clinical Therapeutic Recreation©" services that can be implemented by each elder, at home and at a community level nurturing a better and healthier quality of life for everyone.

Living arrangements of older persons (aged 60 years or over) in Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean.

In developing countries, the large majority of elders live with their adult children. In Africa, Asia and Latin American and the Caribbean, the proportion is two thirds. Solitary living in developing countries is particularly problematic because of the generally limited social support programmes and networks. (World Economic and Social Survey 2007, United Nations). In Latin America and the Caribbean region, only 1 to 2 per cent of older persons live in institutional care facilities. (Pelaez, 2006).

Aging is not the major factor that is rising health care cost, our daily lifestyle choices are what mirror the way we aged. We can better and influence the way we aged.

In Canada, the use of high-tech medical treatments and new drugs is a reason for high expenditures on older persons. The high cost of health care are partly a result of the use of an extended period of time owing to chronic illness (Mathiason, 2003).

Improvements implementing a culture of process-improvement in the areas of:

• nutrition
• literacy
• sanitation
• integrated medicine
• mindful health care services
• community integration
  
• financial independence, and
• meaningful social support networks
  

can co-create and influence better longevity, economic growth, social development, overal productive growth, migration and more...

KJW meeting with elders from Latin American countries about the implementation of whole-person-centered wellness self-care programs.

Each person can engage totally in their whole-person-centered wellness planning, implementation and evaluation process of betterment. Individuals, communities, governments and the international community can focus their ATTENTION, INTENTION and BETTER RESOURCES into nurturing meaningful partnerships, the development of societies for all ages and betterment for our elders into the global agenda in 2008.

We have each other, we can always do better... Everyone is invited, together we can nurture a paradise of Earth... WEL, World Elder Land for our elders and their caregivers.

Puerto Rico: Collaborative Major Study Of Older Puerto Rican Health Conditions

China: Beauty Contest Held For Our Elders

Chile: Government Initiatives in Support of Older Chileans

El Salvador: A Month of Festivals for the 50

References:
- Development in an Ageing World, United Nations 2007
- Pan American Health Organization. (1998) Health in the Americas
- World Economic and Social Survey, United Nations 2007
- United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America
and the Caribbean (ECLAC)

Please send inquiries, requests for programs, speaker and consulting services with WEL, World Elder Land or Kathy J. Ward to connection@kathyjward.com

[KJW #100] WEL Inicia El Nuevo Año 2008 Mejorando Lazos Globales De Fraternidad y Cooperación Mútua, Extendiendo Nuestros Programs En Español A Venezuela, Colombia y Chile.

WEL, World Elder Land (WEL, El Mundo De Nuestros Abuelitos) continúa promoviendo lazos de fraternidad y cooperación mútua, una sociedad más participativa, mejores condiciones de vida y recursos, ¨programs de sanación integral centrados en el individuo ©"y un balance óptimo para nuestros ancianos... WEL cree firmemente en la participación activa de nuestros ancianos para influenciar el diseño y la implementación de práticas más efectivas, en políticas y programas que los afectan a ellos directamente.

Facilitando la particiapación y delegando autoridad en nuestros abuelitos, una forma eficiente de co-crear mejoras para nuestros ancianos.

Ya que nuestros ancianos continúan constituyendo una gran porporción del total de la población, ellos tienen el potencial para influenciar aún mucho más en la sociedad. El delegue de autoridad y mejores maneras de participación varía entre países. Hay países en donde los ancianos representan un gran peso político y social, mayormente asociado con importantes concentraciones de bienes y recursos económicos y la tradición de participación en la política; en otros países por el contrario, los ancianos no estan organizados y experimentan gran dificultad en expresar sus preocupaciones, puntos de vista y en el incorporarlos en temas de debate público.

Procentaje de la población de 60 años o más que viven solos, por región y sexo, 2005

WEL continúa promoviendo esfuerzos para organizar y facilitar la inclusión de nuestros ancianos en su mejoramiento y salud global. El vivir solos, lo cual causa muchas veces soledad, contribuye a que el cuidado proporcionado por los miembros de la familia resulte un poco defícil, además ésto contribuye a el aumento de servicios adicionales que faciliten que las personas de avanzada edad permanezcan en sus propias casas. Países desarrollados pueden tener problemas al tratar de facilitar dichos servicios. (World Economic and Social Service Survey 2007). WEL continúa promoviendo la participación comunitaria y educación a través de los programas de Recreación Clínica, Rehabilitativa y Terapeútica Para Ancianos©" Servicios que pueden ser implementados por cada persona anciana, a nivel personal o de comunidad mejorando así su calidad de vida.

Por favor envíen sus comentarios, preguntas o solicitudes de consultoría a Kathy J. Ward, Presidente de WEL, World Elder Land (WEL, El Mundo De Nuestros Ancianos). Escriba a: connection@kathyjward.com