Eldercare Anarchist slashed!

Final draft?

Support Your Eldercare Anarchist

Fact:  America’s traditional responses to aging don’t work, maybe never did.  All of us are invested in turning that around. 

Fact:  aging is minimalized by the medical profession because it can’t be managed, treated, or cured, with the final outcome always death. 

Fact:  more innovative leaps in elder care come from creatives – dancers, musicians, artists – than from traditional health care professionals. 
 

Fact:  Change is in the wind.  The question isn’t if our dismal culture around aging will ever change or even when, but how.   Help me be part.

A young friend of mine recently said, "Aunt Deev, you put a human face on aging."  Treasured compliment, spot-on description of my passion & purpose.

My unique brand of get ‘em out of home care produces results - the once wobbly spinster aunt who walks with a firm stride & shoots a look of fierce pride at a niece shocked to find her elderly relative at a Center City concert; the artist with profound Alzheimer's whose life light clicked on when my husband, John, put a drawing pencil in her hand; the grannie client still thriving in independent living, over seven years after a dementia diagnosis; the retired artist from a distant city, moving to his daughter's, whom John's helping create a new circle of painter & printmaker friends; the 93-year old darling of the Philadelphia jazz set who basks in their music, sets it flowing from her fingers - smile – eyes.  My older2elder blog* promotes engaged energized empowered living.  But I feel called to be even more revolutionary.
* http://thegrannielistener.blogspot.com

My goal for the next 12 months – think globally, act locally.  Help my little hometown become a Blue Ribbon community for expansive living.  Pair different ages to tape interviews with each other (think Story Corps);  form a writer's circle to get older friends blogging;  reconnect olders & elders with  core principles, then onto define & write their current life purpose;  work with local college service clubs on an “Adopt a 'Grand'” program; develop presentations that help all ages connect more easily & effectively.  Establish each locally, expand globally.  

 To get things rolling, I need to raise $20,000 to help fund:

• A reliable second used car.  My husband and I share a 1999 Concorde, which limits the number of clients either of us can serve
• Gail Larsen’s online Transformational Speaking training  http://www.transformationalspeakingonline.com/
• Autumn Omega workshops by Mark Nepo/The Endless Practice,  Pema Chodron/Making Friends with Your Mind, Caroline Myss/Navigating Changes in Your Life, and an Omega Women’s Leadership Intensive -  Become the Kind of Leader the World Needs Now
• Autumn Rowe Conference Center workshop by Christina Pratt/Shamanic Wisdom for Living – and Dying – Well  (sigh…  too late for Bedside Singing for the Dying)
• Copyright various business names
• Books that beckon 
• Upgrade computer skills & equipment 
• Get much needed professional coaching & personal counseling. 
• Additional monies would go toward attending late winter & spring workshops & seminars;  attend ones too far to afford - in Arizona, New Mexico, California & Oregon;  include John whenever possible.
• For more details, check “Looking Ahead…” postings at thegrannielistener.blogspot.com.

Fact:  I’m not a specialist.  Some people question my lack of credentials.  To answer, I brazenly steal lines from the film, The King’s Speech - “It’s true.  I have no credentials, there are no letters after my name.  All I have are my successes.”  The fiercely proud elderly aunt, the professor rebuilding a life, the grannie client with full freedom in her apartment, the artist whose life light was switched on by a drawing pencil, families having someone help them face the unexpected & unimaginable.  A human face on aging.

Call me an eldercare anarchist or revolutionary or solutionist  -  helping overturn then set right our country’s culture around aging is my grand passion.  You can help determine how well I serve its purpose – will I be in the vanguard or follow up in the rear? 

Whether you can contribute toward my goal or quietly send me your best wishes for continued success, thanks thanks & more thanks for your support.

One Final Fact – contributing toward my work isn’t just an investment in my future.  It’s an investment in yours, too.