Learning From The Animal Kingdom

image: courtesy of coolfunpedia.blogspot.com

How do we treat our pets? 

Mostly with high regard and an abundance of

 devotion.  We love them unconditionally.

I learned a new phrase recently for the way an animal is looked upon with a missing or malformed limb.  Not disabled as we look upon our own kind who are born with such a challenge. Instead of disabled, one pet owner referred to her devoted pet as differently abled.

What an open minded view in which to look upon an animal born with less than all of it’s appendages or by attack from another!

The program, broadcast on PBS, My Bionic Pet, was captivating, entertaining and thought provoking.

How is it that so many animal owners have a more compassionate way of treating their pet or animals they encounter in nature that exhibit missing or malformed parts of their bodies?

Why are more of us in our society not more compassionate about those among us who are differently abled? 

As a long time caregiver for four aging parents of whom three have passed away due to illnesses complicated by Alzheimer’s dementia, the thought occurred to me of viewing what happened to my parents and others who suffer from dementia in a new light.  Rather than considering my late family members and other dementia stricken folks as cognitively disabled, might it simply have been that each have merely been rendered differently abled?  

In other words, each of them were compelled to have to operate, to communicate by a means different from what they and we were accustomed to for so many years. Except that now…the onus is on us to figure out, to be open minded enough (cast off judging attitudes along the side of the road) to embrace different ways of communicating/connecting with our loved one. So maybe, going forward, it has to be a kind of sign language, or abbreviated style of contact that conveys our acceptance, our understanding of what that person wants or is trying to say, just now in a different way than before. 

Speech has become slurred or sentence structure is jumbled. How do we work around this?

Comprehension has become lessened.  What simplified words, phrases, pictures, signs or miming will work to achieve the same thing?

As a caregiver, when faced with the care of a declining dementia patient or loved one, a unique challenge is definitely in store for you.  Why not look upon it as a puzzle solving opportunity instead of drudgery or despair?  The old key no longer works with the old lock.  The tumblers inside the lock changed.  Time to get busy and fashion a new key that will work on the old lock.

Our dementia afflicted loved one is still there, trying to hold onto hope and also hoping for a helping hand and heart

Find out in what ways they are still able to function and at what level.  Make room for empathy, compassion and patience as additions to your caregiving tool kit.   It’s differently abled time.

Thank You PBS!

Jeff Dodson

May 25th 2014

I Can See Clearly Now A Book Review

This writing and the release of this book has been one that millions of fans the world over have been patiently waiting for. I choose to include myself among these folks.  

Though I have been a fan of Dr. Dyer for over 20 plus years, the first book of his that I actually purchased was, The Power Of Intention, published by Hay House in 2004.

Dr. Wayne Dyer is the author of 40 plus books devoted to self-help, self improvement and spiritual awareness and growth.  It is  because of his writing, his teaching and his many PBS programs that a worldwide audience of readers and viewers have learned how to live more enriched, spiritually inspired lives and treat those around them with more compassion, empathy and tolerance.

I Can See Clearly Now is his most recent title.  I Can See Clearly Now is Dr. Dyer’s life story shared with us in his own words.  The book is 371 pages of compelling reading chronicling the life story of one our most recognized and beloved authors, speaker, PBS fund-raising personality and evolving spiritual advocate.

Wayne Dyer’s life story is a captivating and intriguing one.  Born into a world of hardship and a fractured family, he appeared already comfortable within his own skin as early as the third grade while residing in a foster home. In other words, he trusted his instincts and struck me as  one of those possibility thinkers, one who, by his own words, was an enthusiastic optimist.  Wayne came to know at an early age that the act of writing held an immense satisfaction for him.  As he grew older, the realization that he possessed the talent to teach others began to take root and mature.

What I enjoyed about I Can See Clearly Now:

1.   A dream of wanting to become a teacher

Time spent with his uncle Bill who was a popular, well-read and intellectually stimulating school teacher inspired Wayne to prepare for college and set a goal for becoming a teacher himself.

2.   Inspiring assistance along the way

His life’s pathway included a handful of memorable mentors such as his 4th grade school teacher,  a high school biology instructor, and an assassinated president. Prominent writers in the field of psychology  such as Abraham Maslow,  Albert Ellis,  would come along later.

3.  Learning to trust in himself; in his own instincts

At the age of fifteen, Wayne discovers the book, Walden, by Henry David Thoreau and begins to solidify his embrace of independent thought and adhering to ones’ own conscious.

4.  Displaying a knack for writing in his own individual style

While in high school Wayne discovered he enjoyed and had a flair for writing.  He initiated his own modest business enterprise by writing book reports for .25 cents each. Fellow students were not required to pay if they received a grade of less than a B for the report.  By the time Wayne reaches the age of twenty, he’s in the navy in Guam and already the author of hundreds of essays on all variety of topics.

5.  Self reliance born out of necessity

Growing up in a divided household with a primarily absentee father whom he never got to know in his lifetime compelled Wayne to becoming self-reliant and resilient at a young age.

6.  Embracing the call to spiritual teaching

His transition from a teacher in the field of  psychology and interpersonal relationships into a teacher of spiritual principles and healing.

7.  Forgiveness

Reconciling the anger and rage he held for his absentee father for so many years in his youth and coming to a point of unconditional forgiveness for his dad after being lead to his father’s indigent grave marker in rural Mississippi.  

Who should read this book

If you are a writer or aspire to be one you’ll enjoy reading Dr. Dyer’s life story. If you are a teacher or one who’s goal is to improve and re-invigorate the way you motivate your students, then this book should be added to your reading list.  If you are a spiritual leader or one who is drawn to the subject of spiritual awakening and improvement, pick up a copy of this book. Finally, if you are one of those avid readers who just plain loves learning about an exemplary role model who is active within our society,  then this book is also for you.

Jeffrey Dodson

April 29nd 2014

FTC Disclosure:  I received this book for free from Hay House Publishing for this review. The opinions expressed in this review are unbiased and reflect my honest judgment of the product.

Nursing Home Eloping

From time to time, many of the nursing homes across the country must contend with residents who try to or are successful in escaping.  Within the nursing home industry, this dreaded activity is known as elopement.  American Healthcare (AHRQ) defines elopement as: when a resident’s location is unknown.

Thankfully, most of those residents who do, are found, caught, and returned safely to their facility.  Alarms, procedures and protocols are reviewed extensively to insure that such an event will not occur again.  Elopement is a BIG DEAL with nursing homes and can cost nurses, licensed vocation nurses, certified nursing assistants's and administrators their jobs and livelihood as well as lead to loss of certification and licenses from state authorities.

Sadly, on some occasions, an escape event leads to either serious injury or even the death of a resident. These are the kinds of situations that incur the sensational media headlines, lawsuits and recriminations amongst the parties.

A case in point recently was reported in the March 25th 2014 issue of the Sacramento Bee by reporter Cathy Locke. The Sky Park Gardens, an assisted living facility, was the scene of an escape by a 70 year old man suffering from dementia. He was last seen leaving the facility on March 18th,  On the bright side, this elderly gentleman was then found the following day, March 19th at an out of the area medical facility.  Two similar incidents such as this occurred in 2012 which has caused the State of California to initiate a possible State License Revocation proceeding against Sky Park Gardens according to the Sacramento Bee article.

On one occasion, my wife and I went to visit a nursing home and as we were about to leave through the main lobby entrance/exit, we came upon a scene of chaos.  A wheelchair bound resident had succeeded in making it all the way through both sets of motion sensor activated lobby doors with alarms, rolled onto the sidewalk and tumbled off the curb and down to the blacktop.  EMT’s were called and the elderly gentleman suffered head trauma and facial lacerations as a result.  This resident had never made an impulsive move for the exit doors like this before and caught everyone by surprise.

My own mother, Beatrice, in 2010, pulled off one of her own elopements from a local Sacramento nursing home.  She went missing after breakfast in her room and was gone for less than a couple of hours.  By the time I arrived at the facility after they had alerted me by phone, Mom had already been caught approximately six blocks away from the facility.  A concerned residential citizen, recognizing the facilities’ gown design, called in to report a lost resident (mom) perched under a shade tree with a broken branch (read switch) in her hand for protection.  Mom used the switch to hold the certified nursing assistant's at bay until a local police cruiser arrived to help persuade mom to give up her standoff and return to the nursing home peacefully.  The incident surprised both us as a family and the nursing home staff as to just how ambulatory mom could compel herself to be in an agitated  or combative state.

Thereafter, mom received a souped up alarm unit that remained with her whether 24 hours a day.  Extra certified nursing assistant's and staff were assigned to keep a diligent watch over her from that point on.  When necessary, mom was also placed under close watch right next to the nursing station in her wheel chair. 

In my own opinion, escapes occur for two primary reasons:

Not identifying the flight risk level of a resident

The first one is due to a failure of the nursing facility staff to really get to know and understand the psychology and propensities of each of those residents “most at risk” for flight.  This concern  is born out in much of the on-line literature available addressing nursing home risks.  This was the shared shortcoming between our family and the nursing home staff early in mother’s residency there.

Inadequate staffing levels

The second reason is simply one of understaffing. Not enough personnel to handle and keep an eye properly on all of the residents they are left to cover on their work shifts.  This is particularly true for graveyard shifts between 10:00 pm and 6:00 am.  The presumption behind the lowest ratio of staff to residents during graveyard hours is that vast majority of elderly residents will all be peacefully at sleep.  However, bathroom visits during the night still occur along with soiled bedding, gowns and diapers due to accidents or incontinence.  Add to this, “Sundowner’s Syndrome” that occurs with Alzheimer’s dementia patients and you can have a substantial amount of night time patient/resident activity demanding more from what few staff are on duty than they can adequately deliver.  Staffing at a nursing home can be at the ratio of one for every five residents during the day but then be reduced down to a one for every twenty or more overnight. 

Lets say that your facilities’ overnight goal for a CNA is to check in and attend to each of your twenty residents at least once every hour.  That allows you ,approximately, 3 minutes for each resident check per hour? And this does not allow for the walking time through the halls, wings and corridors that each CNA must cover.  Suppose that  during each graveyard shift, a CNA receives 4 buzzer or alarm calls to rooms to change a resident for incontinence issues. Changing and cleaning up a soiled resident who is even  partially cooperative and ambulatory can easily take up to 20 minutes or more (I know from firsthand experience).  Try the same thing with a resident who is not ambulatory, paralyzed, or just plain feisty or combative. Now that 20 minutes can easily become an hour.  And that CNA may need to call in a helper to contend with that resident. So now let’s say you’ve had two 30 minute incontinence calls plus two difficult incontinence cleanups that took an hour each.  There went 3 hours of your 8 hour shift. There goes your timetable of checking on each of your residents once each hour.  You now have residents that you were not able to check on as quickly as you wanted.  You may also still have residents who may have soiled themselves in bed in their sleep and were not awakened to hit their room buzzers or door lights.  And what about what’s going on with those residents most at risk for flight or eloping attempts.  Which ones had time to get out of their bed, their room or get themselves locked in a closet, an elevator or a supply room?

In my opinion, the perfect staffing ratio at a nursing home ought to be one to one, or, one staff member assigned to two residents.  This however is not the reality of how residential coverage is dispersed.  It also, unfortunately, would be a prohibitively expensing proposition for what a nursing facility would have to charge the public.  At a minimum, graveyard staffing at nursing homes should at least be doubled up from where they are now.

The key to reducing (not eliminating entirely) the level of elopements that occur is a greater focus on education and action plans such as those listed here.

Better informed staff about their individual residents including those who are most at risk for flight (dementia patients rate high on such lists).

More exhaustive  internal “Code Silver” practice drills to nail down quicker response times and more thorough searches of a facilities physical layout prior to executing an external search.  Practice these enough so that every employee is familiar with the drills in terms of what to do, when to do it, and where they are supposed to meet at.  Also included in these drills should be knowing (and how to get there quickly) where an established fire and storm resistant ‘safe room’ is upon the premises.

Better use of camouflage and internal decorations to hide or reduce the visual attractions of vulnerable exits, doors, etc.

For more detailed information on how a skilled nursing facility or even an assisted living complex can address the elopement issue, I found the website www.elopement.org a helpful one.  I also found a very detailed outline on the topic of elopement at the University of Iowa, Iowa Geriatric Education Center: Info-Connect, Great Escapes: The Wandering Dilemma. 

Jeff Dodson

April 2nd 2014

A Book Review of The Turning Point

Gregg Braden’s newest book is entitled, The Turning Point, by  Hay house Publishing, 2014. His eight previous books include  New York Times Best Selling titles, Deep Truth, The Divine Matrix,  and Fractal Time.

In essence, it is about creating and instilling personal and societal resilience at a time when we are confronted with extremes in our world. World wide events show us that the new normal is change. The old world as we knew it has evaporated and will not be returning.

Resilience is defined as the ability to recover readily and quickly from an illness, depression or adversity. 

The reason for all of this upheaval is that our planet and it’s population are currently experiencing:

Extreme  and disruptive climate changes: the kind that only come in cycles every 5000 years or so.

Massive world economic debt load.

Exhaustion of the availability of cheap fossil fuel deposits.

A world population explosion that began around 1650 and that now teeters near 7 billion people as of 2012. Prior to 1650, and for nearly 11,000 years, the population of our planet remained stable at around 500 million.

All of these above events are happening at once. How has this all come about? Looking back at the geological history of our planet, we find that we are on track for a cyclical weather change that occurs once every 5000 to 5200 years. The weather challenge is being brought to us by Mother Nature. The debt load problem along with over population, feeding everyone and the depletion of cheap energy fuel is our own doing. 

All of these challenges are pushing us to the brink or a tipping point of no return as Gregg writes. A tipping point has been described by  Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, as the “moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point.” A tipping point arises as a result of a pile up of extremes and leads to irrevocable change.

Before this tipping point happens, there is time to execute a turning point. A turning point can be thought of as an opportunity that arises to take advantage of.  There is a time when every crisis can be turned into transformation: when simply surviving can become thriving. That time is the turning point, and, based upon Braden’s writing and research, that time is now.

Gregg argues that we are close to a tipping point  now but that there is still time to pull away from such an event by means of executing a turning point.

Our outdated world view that we have embraced up to now has substantially lead us to where we are. It is a story of separation and competition amongst us all that had it’s origins along with the birth of modern science approximately 300 years ago. Charles Darwin’s 19th century theory of  life being a struggle and a contest of survival of the fittest has also reinforced the mindset of competition among people and nations for mineral resources, currency and power.

The counter to the above is Nature’s world view model that has begun to gain traction:

Nature exemplifies cooperation. The natural world is widely recognized as a proving ground for experiments in unity, cooperation, and survival among insects and animals. From nature’s lessons we’re shown, without question, that unity and cooperation are advantageous to living beings.

Gregg writes, “The latest discoveries in the fields of biology, physics, archeology, and genetics are forcing scientists to rewrite the story of who we are and how we fit into the world. In biology, for example, the publication of more than 400 studies showing that nature is based upon a model of cooperation, rather than Darwin’s “survival of the fittest,” has turned the thinking of evolutionary science upside down.”

Becoming  collectively resilient in order to adapt to the changes we must make, a study funded by the Rockefeller Foundation came up with the following elements:

Spare capacity 

The notion of being supplied or stocked up with food and other basic household items to counter when the power is knocked out, a freak storm arises or fewer stocks of available goods arise causing shortages.

Flexibility 

The ability to change, evolve, and adapt in the face of disaster 

Limited or  “safe” failure, which prevents failures from rippling across systems

Rapid rebound 

The capacity to reestablish function and avoid long-term disruptions.

Constant learning, with robust feedback loops

What I liked about this book.

It appealed to my interest in science and  history. Gregg’s disclosures and arguments are set forth in a logical order, and, backed with scientific research studies and citations, are very credible and compelling. It is not a gloom and doom prophecy offering. Neither is the book a contrived ‘survivalists’ manual.

This latest book of Gregg Braden offers a detailed in-depth look at the multiple global problems we are collectively facing all at once.  He then sets forth a novel but achievable  series of common sense steps we all need to embrace in order to execute a turning point away from where we have been headed.

If you are a citizen concerned about our planet including it’s global weather changes, the escallating cost of food and the energy required to grow it, and, how our countries have struggled with natural disasters in recent years, then you’ll want to grab a copy of this book. Become informed about  the kinds of choices we all need to be contemplating then acting on.

Jeffrey Dodson

March 20th 2014

FTC Disclosure:  I received this book for free from Hay House Publishing for this review. The opinions expressed in this review are unbiased and reflect my honest judgment of the product.

Five Cultures That Revere Their Elders

image: islandandcities.tumblr.com

So just what are some of the cultures today that show reverence and respect to their elder citizens? Are they any at all? Why do I even bring this topic up?  

As a caregiver, I was faced with having to place an aging demented parent in a skilled nursing facility. Three different parents, three different times. All of them are now passed. God Bless each of them. They all went home within a nine month period. In each nursing facility I was able to observe just how many seniors actually received visits from close family members. On a scale of 1 to 100, perhaps 8 to 10 percent received regular visits from a family member on a weekly basis. Another 20 percent received visits maybe once a month. The other 70 percent received a family member of friend to visit them at maybe their birthday, at Thanksgiving, or at Christmas or not at all.

American Culture, the one that I was brought up in, seems to be skewed one way. It worships independence and youth. It appears to be infatuated with overnight fame, immediate gratification and a preponderance of activities that glamorize the young along with products that claim to stave off aging or the appearance of growing old.  

We are enthralled with “selfies,” (self-shot, cell phone photos), building ‘personal brands,’ and spending enormous amounts of time texting and posting upon Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Pintrest,  etc. Who bothers to just sit down and talk face to face with another person anymore without the presence of a vibrating cell phone or I-Pad in their hand? And when was the last time you actually talked to a grandparent or aging parent face to face or visited with them?

American culture devalues and marginalizes it’s elderly and seniors.

Some writers attribute the decline in how we view our seniors and the elderly to the so called Feel Good Generation of the 1960’s - 70’s. A period that sensationalized youthful self centered and self-indulgent activity. 

In researching the web prior to composing this blog, it turns out that there are others out there with a much more scholarly background who are asking the same question.

Jared Diamond, UCLA professor of geography and physiology, recently lectured on this topic. His presentation was entitled, “Honor or Abandon: Why Does Treatment of the Elderly Vary so Widely Among Human Societies?” Jared Diamond is a Pulitzer Prize winning author of “Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies,” which also aired on PBS. Diamond is also a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “genius” award.

In the online newsletter, UCLA Today, I read a summary of Dr. Diamond’s address, a portion of which is conveyed here.

“Parents and children both want a comfortable life --- there are limits to the sacrifices that they’ll make for each other.” Those circumstances include life’s often heart-wrenching realities --- from the threat of starvation among indigenous tribes to the difficult choices posed by modern societies’ life-prolonging medical care.

The elders usefulness in a society plays a big part in determining their fate, Diamond said. While old people in traditional societies can no longer spear game or battle enemies, they can still gather food to care for children.  They are also often expert at making tools, weapons, baskets and clothes. In many societies they serve as “tribal elders” in medicine, religion and politics.

In those cultures that lack a written record of their history, song  and other forms of culture, older people are invaluable sources of information.

“The repositories of knowledge are the memories of old people,” Diamond said. “If you don’t have old people to remember what happened 50 years ago, you’ve lost  a lot of experience for that society.” from communal history to advice on how to survive a cyclone 

or other natural disaster.

So what cultures out there embrace, include and revere their older citizens today?

I was surprised to learn the following about these five different cultures.

African

There are more than five hundred tribes that occupy the African Continent. Common among them is that  elders are respected, obeyed and considered a source of tribal and family wisdom. 

To survive until and old age is often considered an accomplishment reflecting personal strength, resourcefulness and faith.

American Indians

Native Americans are known for referring to their elders as “wisdom keepers.”

The web site: www.sapphyr.net/nacodeethics.htm features a detailed list of behaviors shared by a number of Native American Tribes. The article is entitled, Native American Indian Traditional Code of Ethics. This code first appeared in print in the book, The Sacred Tree, published by The Four Worlds Development Project in 1982.

I’ve listed here those that speak to the treatment of older tribal members.

1.   Treat every person from the tiniest child to the oldest elder with respect at all times.

2.   Special respect should be given to Elders, Parents, Teachers and Community Leaders.

3.   Touch nothing that belongs to someone else (especially Sacred Objects) without permission, or an understanding between you.

4.   Speak in a soft voice, especially when you are in the presence of Elders, stranger or others to whom special respect is due.

5.   Listen to and follow the guidance given to your heart. Expect guidance to come in many forms: in prayer, in dreams, in times of quiet solitude, and in the words and deeds of wise Elders and friends.

Chinese

China owns some of the oldest cultural rituals dedicated to the reverence of their oldest citizens including these which are but a sampling:

1.  The oldest person in a family or an organization has the most respect, honor, and dignity.

2.  Young folks will call an older person “Ye Ye” (grandfather), and “Nai Nai” (grandmother), “Tai Tai” (aunt) and “Shu Shu” (uncle) as a sign of respect even if that person is not family by blood.

3.  When you arrive at a meeting or banquet you should always remember to greet the member with the highest seniority ranking at that occasion first.

4.   Whatever you do, you should not ever interrupt the senior member’s speech.

Japanese

The Japanese have a phrase for their elders: “Oji-San.” Translated, it means Venerable One.

In Japan, many of the small towns and older villages hold a parade for any of their citizens who reach their 88th birthday.

On the third Monday of each September, the Japanese observe  a holiday they call Respect for the Aged Day that dates back to 1947. It is called ‘Keiro no Hi.’

Hispanics

Latino elderly occupy a central role in the family group and are treated with respect (respeto), status (su lugar), and authority (su experiencia y sabiduria). Mexican American culture does not typically take advantage of the nursing home system that many Americans rely upon for caring for the elders.

The cultures that have been touched upon in this article all have been around for many centuries before the formation and growth of the United States of America. We on the other hand are still a relatively young nation grappling with a wide variety of social issues besides how we treat our seniors and elders. 

It seems to me that we have a lot to learn from some of these other cultures to add to our own in re-connecting and  improving our relationships with our older citizens. 

With regard to how we handle and accommodate our elderly, a quote from Mahatma Gandi comes to mind: “A society is measured by how it treats it’s weakest members.”

Viewing our country from Gandi’s point of view here, our mid-term report card grade leaves room for substantial improvement.

Want to learn some things you never knew but might appreciate and be awed about your grandparent or an older family member? 

Try this: the next time you meet one of them, sit down and ask them this question: “Hey grandpa, how did you earn all of those wrinkles on your face?

After the laughter, you might be surprised at what they tell you and what kind of memories and experiences will be rekindled that you never knew before. At that point consider  yourself  as having sipped your first taste from the “teacup of wisdom.” It is, by the way, a bottomless cup and there is no limit on how many refills you can go back for.

Jeff Dodson

February 24th 2013

Power Words: A Book Review

Sharon Anne Klingler is the author of this book and it is my first exposure to her writing. Sharon is also the author of Intuition & Beyond, and, co-author of Secrets of Success with Sandra Anne Taylor.

Sharon introduces us to the power and force within our words and language. In  her own words: “this book is about using the energy of precise words to lift your own energy and to stimulate immediate mental, emotional, and physical responses.”

I enjoyed reading this book and found that the premise of power and energy behind the words of our language tracks right along with the principles Dr. Wayne Dyer set forth in his book, The Power of Intention, by Hay House Publishing, 2004. As a blogger/writer I also found an attraction to Sharon’s book for how I might improve my word craft in what I present and write about.

Words carry the power to positively elevate, expand, empower and energize either individuals or  an audience. On the dark side, they also have the power to disenfranchise, spread fear and hate or marginalize individuals or groups of people.

Happily, Sharon's book is about finding the appropriate positive words and phrases that we can use on a daily basis to improve our behaviors, divest ourselves of limiting beliefs and habits and inspire us to take action towards goals and achievements that will bring out the best in us.

Sharon writes, “for those who seek change, their everyday language must resonate with a new purpose --not just at special times of affirmations, but all the time.” I interpreted this to mean that our everyday language must come into alignment and mirror what we wish to evolve into for the better.

I loved her statement, “Your language is the electrical current that moves through your life.” Thus it would follow, in my opinion, that one should endeavor to choose positive,high voltage words to identify ourselves and our everyday actions with. Words that reinforce “walking our talk.”

The author writes about two kinds of words, They are Trigger Words and Lifting Words.

Trigger Words are those that compel or ignite and action. Lifting Words are those that elevate one’s energy and creativity.

There are six elements of word energy. They are meaning, imaging, emotion, vibration, color and shape.

Sharon also writes about Power Words, Prayers and Invocations.

Invocations are words or phrases that mean to call or call upon. Prayers are meant to capture the attention of our God, a saint or spiritual force, often in time of great need or urgency. Turning words into a power tool involve six components. They are belief, emotional engagement, novelty and interest, focus and meaning, frequency and repetition, and, a call to action -- possessing the will and the intention.

In the process of changing your circumstance by improving your vocabulary with empowering, meaningful language, phrases and new words, Sharon offers these tips:

Make your first word your best word. The first word in a sentence can act like the locomotive at the front of a train. The right word offers pulling power.

Write a new language with words of power. Stop employing the dull edged knife of  everyday meaningless, overused words. Such words weaken you and lessen the energy around them.

Become a word warrior. Look for the deeper meaning of each word along with a positive emotional punch behind each.

Test your words and their energy. Which ones have the best effect on you emotionally and motivationally?

Take action with the words that you have chosen that lift.

A quote from Sharon Klingler at the end of chapter eighteen distills down what her Power Words book is about: “Live your life like you mean it. Your destiny is in your hands --- and in your words.”

I loved reading this book because I possess a fascination for language and how I might  use it  to  elevate my own word usage and to better communicate and inspire my own readers.

If you are the person who is looking for that transformational edge in how you negotiate your personal life safari, grab a copy of Power Words and get busy.

A web site link to this author is www.SharonKlingler.com

Jeff Dodson
January 14th 2014

FTC Disclosure: I received this book for free from Hay House Publishing for this review. The opinions expressed in this review are unbiased and reflect my honest judgment of the product.

Dementia Care Far From Home

In our local Sunday January 5th 2014 issue of the Sacramento Bee newspaper, an article by Denis D. Gray of The Associated Press was published under the headline caption, Some find Alzheimer’s care in far-off nations.

Denis’ article described a growing trend of Swiss citizens who are looking to place their elderly loved ones, suffering from Alzheimer’s, in nursing facilities overseas rather than within their own country, citing formidably expensive monthly rates in their own nation. Switzerland, by the way, was ranked No. 1 in health care for the elderly in 2013 in an index compiled by the elderly advocacy group HelpAge International and the United Nations Population Fund.

Swiss citizen Ulrich Kuratli placed his elderly wife, Susanna Kuratli, in Baan Kamlangchay, a residential treatment facility for dementia 5,600 miles away in Chiang Mai,Thailand. Dementia care in Switzerland at high end clinics costs $15,000.00 or more per month. Although the Swiss government would cover two-thirds of the bill for Susanna’s care were she to remain in Switzerland, that still leaves $5,000 a month or more that Ulrich would have to shoulder. By contrast, the Thai facility located in Chiang Mai, cost only $3,800 per month.

According to this article reporter, it comes down to basically this:

“Relatives in western nations are increasingly confronting Kuratli’s dilemma as the number of Alzheimer’s patients and costs rise, and the supply of qualified nurses and facilities struggles to keep up. 

Faraway countries are offering cheaper, and to some minds better, care for those suffering from the irreversible loss of memory. The nascent trend is unnerving to some experts who say uprooting people with Alzheimer’s will add to their sense of displacement and anxiety, though other say quality of care is more important than location.”

In my own opinion, though there are always exceptions, quality of care trumps location. 

Besides Thailand, the Philippines is offering Americans care for their dementia loved ones for rates between $1,500 to $3,500 a month. According to this article, approximately 100 Americans are currently seeking dementia care placement in  the Philippines.

I can personally vouch for the fact that this rate range is at roughly half of the rate we were paying for each of my now deceased parents in a local Sacramento, California skilled nursing home. The monthly amount we were being charged was at the daily rate of $245.00. Thus, a thirty-one day month would run $7595.00. Mind you, this rate that we were being charged was about average for what dementia care nursing homes are charging in California. There are higher end specialized facilities elsewhere in our state that can range anywhere from $9,000 to $10,000 per month.

Facilities along with active hotel and resort builders in Thailand see this trend continuing and are lining up building projects for dementia and Alzheimer’s care residents throughout their nation to handle the influx of Europeans and those Americans that they feel will also follow.

Citizens of Germany are already seeking dementia care outside the borders of Germany in eastern Europe, Spain, Greece and the Ukraine.

What does all this have to say about dementia care as we know it in the industrialized nations?

According to Alzheimer’s Disease International, there are more than 44 million Alzheimer’s patients globally and that figure is projected to triple to 135 million by 2050.

Dementia / Alzheimer’s care, whether provided to patients who remain within their own homes or for those whose continued care compels a skilled nursing facility, must become affordable for family members that are so often called upon to bear the burden of both the caregiving portion and the financial expense as well.

Our US  health care system has  grown up out of a landscape of separate grain-siloed cottage industry specialized professions that are paid and rewarded based upon offering activity rather than delivering corrective results. 

We are overdue for a topdown integrated healthcare system, affordable to all, that includes provisions for senior dementia / Alzheimer’s care. 

We needed it yesterday.

Jeff Dodson

January 8th 2014