Monthly Archive

First, it was the “The Village at Penn State.” Then came Kendal at Oberlin. Now, going moving on campus to retire is a national trend… and AAHSA and its members are the experts on how to do it right. Check out this article from Sunday’s New York Times about how dozens of colleges and universities are helping their older alumni come back to their college stomping ground for their retirement. Who knows, maybe my alma mater will be next!?!

I’ve been watching with interest TIAA-CREF’s new advertising campaign, the powerof.org.  TIAA-CREF is leveraging its status as a not-for-profit provider of financial services to draw a distinction for customers.  Their point is that because they are a .org, people should trust their motives and mission.  I think this is an excellent model for aging services providers to embrace.  Over the last couple of months, I have asked several AAHSA members how they use their not-for-profit status in their marketing, and the answer often comes back that they just haven’t figured out how to do so.  Some who have done market research find that potential residents and clients like the values that being not-for-profit convey, like being focused on people over profits, dedicated to staff, and stable for the long-term.  Do you accentuate your not-for-profit status in your marketing materials?  If so, I’d love to hear about it.  I’m leading a session at our Annual Meeting on this topic and would be delighted to feature your efforts.

 Check out TIAA-CREF’s Web site at www.powerof.org. 

Congratulations to Selfhelp, an AAHSA member in New York, for a fabulous New York Times story about music therapy in one of its adult day program. Selfhelp is always at the forefront of innovation in our field, and the media knows it! Check out the story. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/21/nyregion/21nyc.html

Technology has the potential to transform aging, but the real question is: do older people want it in their lives? In Japan, the answer may be no.

An article in today’s Washington Post  takes a look at how technologies like robots and automatic feeding spoons are becoming unpopular among Japanese elders and their families. This isn’t good news for companies like Sanyo, who invested millions of dollars in developing Hopis, a robotic dog that could monitor everything from a person’s blood sugar to body temperature. And it probably isn’t good news for aging-services providers, since researchers predict that 40 percent of Japan’s population will be elderly by 2050.

What’s the source of the tech turn off? According to one expert, “….we keep coming up against the same problems. They (technologies) are costly to create, require supervision to use, and in the end the manpower issue is not solved. We can see things work, but who is going to pay the expense?”  

So, what beats Hopis and his other friends in the popularity contest? For now, it’s stuffed animals.

Harvey Shankman is at it again… and this time his commitment to storytelling landed Eliza Bryant Village on the pages of USA Today! Check out his letter to the editor about how not-for-profit organizations are pooling resources and developing innovative programs to offer minority seniors quality nursing home care.

 Let us know if there is an organization in your community that’s doing something similar.