Mid-Atlantic OAMNews
Happy Holidays!!
This
newsletter is sponsored by:
Older Adult Ministries
Committee
Synod of the Mid-Atlantic, PC(
Sunnyside Communities
The Presbyterian Homes,
Inc. of
Mid-Atlantic OAMNews – is a monthly e-newsletter
dedicated to the promotion of spiritual health and well-being of older adults
and their families – offering information, resources, model ministries,
stories, and humor!
Talking Points – Did you know…..?
Ø Every 15 minutes, a Presbyterian retires
Ø 35% of Presbyterians are age 65+
Ø Median age of a Presbyterian is 55
Ø Median age of active pastors is 48
Quotables
A definition of caring:
~to invite and encourage another person to grow~
Freda Gardner, former Moderator of the PC(
And more from Freda: There is no
retirement from discipleship. It may
change in form but there is no end to discipleship.
A Sermon: Undimmed Vision by Rev. Aaron Fulp-Eickstaedt,
offers some excellent themes about aging.
Click here to read Aaron’s
sermon.
Advent Litany for the Generations, by
Click here for
the Advent Litany
Book Review:
Circles of Care, by Ann Cason
Circles of Care: How to Set Up Quality Home Care for Our
Elders, by Ann Cason
Forward by Reeve Lindburgh
Reviewed by
Synod of the Mid-Atlantic
At a time in history when
one-quarter of American families are involved in caregiving,
Ann Cason’s book brings a holistic perspective to a tender subject. The Circle of Care refers to all who
may become involved in a caring situation:
family and helpers, friends and neighbors, health, legal, and religious
professionals, even the mail carrier, grocer, or hairdresser. It also embraces the bevy of feelings and
events that accompany providing or receiving care.
Cason’s vast experience and
deep compassion permeate the pages of this excellent guide to caring for
someone in their own home. All aspects
of care (physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual) are considered and
a team approach is advised. Practical,
realistic examples fortify the topics which include: arrangements of daily care, assembling a care
team, helping the elder accept their new life; enriching the elder’s environment, working with mood swings, confusion, and
memory loss; easing the transition to a nursing home; caring for and being with
the dying.
We all want to age with
grace and dignity. Ann Cason reminds us
that it is best done with a circle of care. A good companion book is Reeve Lindburgh’s No More Words, a memoir of her mother’s
last years. Anne Morrow Lindburgh’s care was overseen by Ann Cason.
ISBN#1-57062-471-2
Quotes: “The goal is
not to change anyone but to let all of our various agendas relax into awareness
and acceptance. The circle helps both
elder and caregivers feel at home, wherever that may be.”
“Care is not just one person
doing something for another. The
attention has to be on creating an environment in which all the members of the
circle take care of one another.”
“Caring for an old person can
be very humdrum without occasional celebrations. Look for excuses to have a party…Uplifted
spirits can carry people through untold difficulty.”
“The stimulation of people of
ideas, or breaks in routines can disrupt a pattern of confusion or a stuck
emotion, allowing it to settle or pop open and dissolve. The older person’s panic and your panic can
thus become the catalyst for developing confidence in yourselves and each
other.”
Mark your calendars for these upcoming events!
March 31-April 2:
Adult Retreat at
Newspaper clippings (
Study reveals broad bias against elderly in
The key to such attitudes is that many old people do
not, or cannot, think of themselves as old.
In such a youth-loving society, psychologists say, it is not surprising
that many elderly people deny having entered old age. To consider:
how the media portray old people in everything from TV shows to birthday
cards that joke about being “over the hill.”
Just presented at the Gerontological Society on Aging conference: A study found that in a group of 660 people
age 50 or older who were interviewed in 1975, those who had positive views
about aging had a definite survival advantage.
“A more positive view on aging predicted that a person would live on
average seven years longer” than those with more negative views, said Becca Levy, an author of the study and asst. professor in
Yale’s Dept. of Epidemiology and Public Health.
Ability to handle stress is key to longevity, centenarians say (
New research suggests that those who live to be 100
are less likely to dwell on problems and have a better ability to handle stress
than those who die younger. “Life has a
way of mixing grief with joy, evil with good, darkness with light,” said
Charlotte Chipman, who lives in
“The two major things you need to do is exercise your brain and manage your stress,” says Margery
Silver, Associate director of a
NCOA Week (The National Council
on the Aging) – a weekly newsletter of current events
and issues on aging is regularly posted on our web site.
Global Action on Aging – a weekly newsletter dedicated to issues of aging in the
NEW
WEBSITE OFFERS HIGH-QUALITY VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Editor’s
Note: What kind of volunteer
opportunities are being offered for seniors in our congregations? Are they meaningful?
There’s more to volunteering than stuffing
envelopes.
As nonprofit budgets shrink and the healthy, active
elder population grows, organizations must learn to
tap in to the expertise and vast knowledge of this volunteer base. But newer
generations of elders, in turn, are seeking meaningful, intellectually
stimulating opportunities to address real problems facing individuals, families
and communities.
Senior Corps’ new Web-based volunteer recruitment system (http://www.joinseniorservice.org),
links Americans ages 55-plus with top-quality volunteer opportunities in their
communities. Live since April 2002, the online database is easily accessible --
and free -- to elders and nonprofits around the country.