ecologyofcaringblog.com

So often in life it’s simple little steps taken by many that produce the greatest results.  I have to wonder if this isn’t one of them.  Various sources are more frequently reporting on the impact of prescription & non-prescription medications, as well as personal care products on our drinking water.  Less is known about the direct impact on human health at this point in time, but in a recent University of Colorado study, Dr. David Norris reported finding male fish turning into females as a result of estrogen in our rivers - five times more females than males in certain species.  How many people could be taking estrogen?  Well, as it turns out, it’s not only estrogen itself, but it’s certain chemical compounds in soaps and detergents that can mimic estrogen.  So they pass through our waste water treatment plants, which can’t remove or treat them, and back into our rivers and our drinking water.  Eighty percent of streams tested in 30 states in the US tested positive for estrogen or it’s mimicker.

I’m not an alarmist, but I tend to think about the what if’s?  If there is something I can do that’s simple, but effective, just in case? What if those same results do prove, over time, to have the same impact on the human population?  And this particular study talks only about estrogen, although others have identified the presence of anti-depressants, cholesterol, aspirin, etc in drinking water, in fish species, etc all over the globe.  For most things like this, the impact over time is the unknown element.

So let’s just say - just in case - that we want to take some simple steps to reverse this possibility?  What can we do?  Well first:

Disposal - no more flushing or putting prescription or non-prescriptions drugs in the trash as once was advised.  The Harvard Heart Letter offers these suggestions:

1. Ask your pharmacist if he or she can take back medications.
2. Call your city or state to ask about disposal programs like those mentioned above.
3. If you need to put your medications in the trash, keep them in their original childproof and watertight containers. Leave the label on, but scratch out your name to protect privacy. Add some water to pills, and put some flour in liquids. Conceal the vials by putting them in paper bags before throwing them out.

Yes, I know it might take a phone call or two, but once you have the information, it’s a simple matter of changing the habits we have around medication disposal.  Not any more difficult, just different. The other thing we can do is to rethink the purchase of personal care products and cleaning products and switch to products that don’t contain toxic chemicals.  You can even same money by making your own.  Again, once you start doing it, it doesn’t take more time, other than taking the time to develop a new habit.

But even more intriguing to me, and much more effective, would be if we reduced the amount of medication we needed.  Not used, but needed.  There’s a distinction here.  I’m not suggesting that people who are helped by certain medications should not take them, I’m suggesting that we seriously consider lifestyle changes that prevent us from needing the medications in the first place.  One simple strategy:  Nature.  Researcher Roger Ulrich, in a landmark study in 1984, found that hospital patients recovering from surgery, showed faster recoveries and less use of pain medication when they simply had a view of nature outside their hospital window as compared to those with non-nature views.  Over 100 studies show a connection between Nature and reduced stress as well as nature and reduced depression.  So what if the prescription your doctor provided was to spend an hour out in nature?   Wouldn’t a small simple step like this, done by many, reverse the trend in our drinking water?  Yes, I’m not naive, there are certainly more issues with agricultural chemicals, etc.  but adopting a healthier lifestyle by connecting to nature, causes you to rethink other consumer and lifestyle habits. More on that later…

Check out this great website www.prairiechickenviewing.com. This farm is located within miles of EarthWonders and offers an opportunity to see the prairie chicken dances up close and personal. He’s built blinds, including one for people with disabilities, and says the hens are sometimes only 4-5 feet from the viewing platforms. What an incredible opportunity for the rest of us, and how great that Carl and his family are keeping the land intact so it stays just perfect for the prairie chickens to return year after year. It would make for a great family trip. I am working on arranging a trip for some of the individuals at an assisted living home near me. Check back and I’ll let you know how it went!

The concept of creating a culture of caring is BIG.  It’s big because it’s an intrinsic part of who we are - as an individual, a family, a community, a nation, a world.  We can look at the nature of care as an individual.  Do we care enough about ourselves to do the things we know can improve our own lives?  Do we recognize the importance of caring for ourself so that we have the energy and well-being to reach beyond our own little world and care for others?  How does that play out in the world?  I love the commercial for an insurance company that shows someone doing something to help another person.  A bystander notices the caring act and intentionally decides to repeat it by doing something for someone they see could use some help, and on and on it goes.  You sense that in this string of simple events the world becomes a kinder, more caring place to be.

I believe that this nature of caring rests within us.  We intrinsically follow nature’s innate sense of caring for other living and non-living things (biophilia).  As we grow, this trusting nature experiences setbacks - times when someone hurts our feelings, betrays us, hurts us, frightens us, doesn’t respond with the same measure of care.  We hear messages about being careful about trusting others, it’s not our responsibility, we’re not worthy of care, no one likes us, we’re too fat, we’re not smart enough, that’s only for rich people, and on and on.  For a time, as a child, we don’t heed those messages.  We talk and smile at everyone.  We do silly things and everyone laughs.  We let people know what works for us and what doesn’t - sometimes very loudly. We are curious about every plant. animal and person that comes into our world.  We pet things because we want to know not only what it looks like but how it feels.  We try to eat it, again because we want to know how it smells and tastes - we assume everything smells and tastes good.  We sense joy and possibility in everything we see.  We love and care about everything - we want to know more.  It’s a part of our nature.  And it stays a part of our nature until others tell us otherwise.

What’s the message we send to our children and grandchildren each day?  How do we exhibit our nature of caring in the ways we care for ourself, each other, our community, and our planet?  The people who will live with the impact of the nature of our caring are not even born yet.  They can’t rise up in protest to the world they are inheriting.  But we still have time to rise up in protest of the world we’re leaving for them.  We can dig deep and analyze our nature of caring, go back to our roots, look to nature, conjure up memories, and learn from children.  We have the opportunity to shape the nature of care in a new way…if we choose.

The Canadian Press, January 4, 2009 reports new startling data on Alzheimers. In a study by the Alzheimer Society of Canada, 15% of Canadians affected with Alzheimer’s are under age 65 (approximately 71,000) and 50,000 are 59 or younger!

Yesterday, Maria Shriver testified in Washington on behalf of her dad and her family.  In personal and emotionally moving words, she highlighted a report by the Alzheimer’s Study Group that projects Alzheimer’s related costs “could very easily surpass even the current economic crisis in the damage it inflicts on individuals and our economy.”

I haven’t been able to find comparable data on the numbers of people under 59 or younger afflicted in the U.S., but I’ve no reason to suspect it wouldn’t be similar.  While we are beginning to clearly see the overwhelming economic impact we are currently facing, the possibility of a growing number of people being affected by dementia at even earlier ages could elevate this economic impact considerably.  People with dementia in their 50’s face limited earning power, businesses lose the talent of experienced people, and someone has to assess the impact of even longer spans of increasing lifetime health care costs.  We’re already questioning whether it is financially feasible to retire at 65 given we may have 30 or more years to financially support ourselves.  But if our health takes us out of the workforce in our 50’s and we continue to live long lives (Sargent Shriver is 93), the call for more dollars for research has got to be a clanging bell - a piercing alarm - a warning siren - Incoming! Incoming! Incoming!

In our work at EarthWonders, we study nature-health connections and environmental wellness and how they impact aging and chronic illness.  There are various research studies that show how nature can potentially have a positive impact on memory, stress, anxiety, etc.  All these have some opportunity for deeper investigation in Alzheimer’s and dementia related disease.  But in addition, we also look at environmental factors that may play a role.  In an October 2008 report, Environmental Threats to Healthy Aging, (published jointly by Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility and the Science and Environmental Health Network) we are provided with “the most comprehensive review of the currently available research on the lifetime influences of environmental factors on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.”  It studies various components in environment and their identification of specific environmental risk factors including lead, air pollution, pesticides, dietary risk factors, dietary protective factors, and physical activity.  EarthWonders Communities incorporate research and recommendations like this as a foundation of supporting healthy living at all ages.  There appears to be no one cause of Alzheimer’s disease but possibly a myriad of things, including genetics, that escalate and contribute to the onset and progressive development.  Environmental factors are issues we can control or at least minimize if they have negative implications such as toxins and optimize if positive such as pesticide free food, and eating more omega-3 fatty acids.  The EPA estimates that our indoor environments are 5 times more polluted than outdoor environment.  Providing healthier indoor air quality, focusing on eliminating toxins in our air, food, and surroundings is just one step in moving towards an environment that is healthier for people and our planet.  We can make active living a part of the culture of care and support social in a variety of ways.  More research - yes!  And more adoption of recommendations of research that already exists from very respected sources.

There doesn’t seem to be an answer to the economic reality of caring for ever increasing numbers of people with Alzheimer’s or dementia-related illness.  The level of care, the length of years increasing with earlier onset, decreasing ability of families to provide care, a shortage of health care workers, rising health care costs seem like they are all coming together to finally force us to face the reality.  The reality is not in managing the costs or the disease - the answer is in prevention and cure!  And that will come only from investing in research.

I read a piece by Mark Nepo today.  He talks about how birds don’t understand holding back or guaranteed return on investment.  Humans alone hold out for guarantees and as a result we “snuff the spark that is discovery”.

When I talk to people who have lived long lives or who have been told their days are numbered, the joy of their storytelling most often comes from the times in life where they played, worked, lived full out.  Their excitement grows as they share in the memories about how all their friends were afraid to ski down a certain hill, so they just had to take the risk and show them all how it was done.  They giggle with pure pleasure as they recall the bold moments of their lives. The memory of the fear, and also the courage, almost causes them to break out in a sweat recalling it still today.  But the smile on their faces as they recall the excitement makes everyone around them want to hear more.  You can’t help share in the joy as you  see that spark of mischief and the desire to do it all again today, if it were only possible! Rarely does anyone talk to me with any joy about the times they held back.  The times they let fear own their desire.  It is these stories they tell with regret and sadness and a desire to be able to relive those times and do it all again today - but oh so differently. Oh if they only could!

What we want at 80 is no different than what we want at 40.  We want the safety and security of a home, we want to love and be loved, we want to know our life has value and meaning.  We also want to sing & lift like the birds!  The safety and security of a home is being provided in many care settings today.  There are many wonderful people who work in these homes that truly love what they do and the people they care for and are loved in return.  But a sense of value and purpose comes from another place.  It comes from a place that honors and values all life.  A place where the curtains are wide open to welcome the light that allows us to sing and lift.  A bold place where experiencing life full force offers no  guarantees.  But a place where the return on our investment is measured by the joy we get from knowing our life matters and the fact that we’re having fun. It’s a place where everyone does their part because that’s how we get things done.  And where the harmony comes from celebrating each individual’s gift.

Risk is inherent in life.  Somehow the recognition of a measured time left here on earth brings a new sense.  This is the time when life truly affords us more courage.  Courage to be bold enough to do the things we’ve always wanted, knowing that it’s now or never.  The risk is outweighed by the reality.  This isn’t a time of life to resign ourselves to boredom or helplessness.  Just the opposite.  This is the time to take inventory - not in the traditional way of inventorying all the things we can no longer do, but inventory of all the things we can still do.  I think life would be  better if we all ask ourselves a question the musician Jana Stanfield (www,janastanfield.com) suggests:  “What steps would I take today, if I were brave?”  Whether you’re living, working, or investing in long term or hospice care, I think this world would look markedly different, more exciting and full of life, bold and beautiful, if we all take steps to shape the nature of care, as if we were brave.  Shaping the nature of care requires a bold movement.  Singing and lifting- ahhh… I think I can hear the birds.  And it is good.

Researchers have found interacting with nature to have similar effects as meditation. (Marc Berman, Univ of Michigan).  I don’t know about you but every time I try meditation to relieve stress or relax, I find myself more anxious than ever before.  “Stilling the mind” almost drives me mad!  I recognize that meditation takes practice.  I just personally don’t have the patience.  So when I read this research it really excited me.  It shouldn’t have surprised me because I regularly stare out into nature, watch the birds, ducks, deer or other wildlife outside my window when I’m feeling totally stressed or just can’t come up with a creative idea if my life depended on it.  And it rarely fails me.

The View from my window

Somehow though, to have those feelings validated through research causes me to want to intentionally acess nature more often.  Who among us couldn’t use a 20% increase in memory performance and attention span after an investment of just one hour?  I invite you to try it and share your results.  I’ll do the same.  (Just a note:  the benefits were the same when temperatures dropped to 25 degrees as when it was 80 degrees and sunny.)

There was a discussion on race and diversity this morning on Good Morning America. Robin Roberts ended the piece by saying “diversity begins with dialogue”. I liked that, so here goes. This message today isn’t about race, but about aging. Regardless of political persuasion, no one can refute that we took a giant step forward in addressing the racial disparities in this past election. I personally find that very exciting. For me, it meant we opened access to great innovation and intellect. People who either didn’t have the opportunity to participate or didn’t feel they had the opportunity, now were officially invited to the table! Like many others, I felt it was long overdue and was overjoyed to see a majority of voters move beyond the issue of race. God knows, we can use all the collective brainpower we can muster considering our current situation.

It also, however, left me feeling sad. In a country where youth and independence are valued almost to exclusivity, we have another group of people who are written off, “put away”, “placed” often out of sight. As we age or face end-of-life, there are almost always things we need help with, things we can’t do now that we could once do with ease. It may be things we can’t remember to do, things we physically can’t do, or things we choose not to do.  While we experience change and even some limitations in certain areas, those things don’t make us useless.  At EarthWonders we look for the lessons in Nature.  And in this case, the lesson is that Nature embraces life, death, and all the cycles and seasons inbetween.  Change doesn’t strip something of its purpose and value.  Why even in the decaying process, matter is not waste, but nourishment and fuel for others. In Nature, diversity = choice = sustainability.  I think this holds true in human nature as well.  Aging holds lessons critical to the next generations.  People who are facing the end of life often have insight not available to the rest of us.  The world is richer when we enjoy and embrace the knowledge and wisdom of all ages.  “Diversity begins with dialogue”.  What better place to start than on a blog?

I’ve learned to look to Nature for answers much of the time. That doesn’t mean I don’t read (books are my addiction), don’t seek others opinions, etc. It simply means that I’ve found Nature to provide the perspective for what I’ve read and often the practical application. The best way to explain this is to include a journal entry I wrote a long time ago, called Paths…

I’ve observed that living things in nature don’t often follow a straight path.

I notice how butterflies and moths flit about from flower to flower, trying one and then another, and often back to the first one, lighting then flighting then lighting again? I watch an ant, he seems almost confused, running several tiny steps in one direction than in another, back and forth, back and forth.

The grasshopper at my feet takes a long leap, sits awhile, then takes a couple more hops – two forward, one back, now one to the side and then on again – with measured time in between. And I notice a bird, floating from branch to branch, branch to feeder, feeder to feeder, now on the ground, back to the feeder, then back to the branch.

No, living things in nature don’t seem to follow a straight path. They don’t seem to be worried about finding the shortest and quickest way to their destination as I so often do. It causes me to wonder why I expect my life to follow a straight path, why I spend so much time trying to devise a plan that will get me to the end in the shortest, quickest way possible with the least disruptions.

Why is it we expect our lives to follow a straight line, a direct path? Or as in nature, are we possibly designed to experience more by going in one direction, then another, enjoying the trip even more than reaching the destination?

I observe again…

The butterfly, enjoying the sweetness in many different flowers, not limiting herself to just one. Delighting in her ability to flutter in the sun and masking in the full glory of her own beauty taking in the mounds of glorious colors and aromas and textures.

And that ant…he may be searching for food and have work to do. But he may also have found that the best nourishment, the most fulfilling work is under the fallen leaf, or around the next corner, or at the top of the next mound all which he may never experience if he limits himself to staying on the path.

And the grasshopper… as I observe more closely I see that she carefully selects the next spot to light. A spot where she can safely observe the scene, where for a moment or two she blends into the grass to check things out, ponder the next best leap, just breathe in calmly, and then joyfully springs forward enjoying the flight and the landing, not limiting herself to just one or the other.

The bird? Well, that bird is having more fun checking out the insects in the bark, experiencing both flight and foundation, making noises with and at his friends and foes, floating among the trees and the leaves, snacking in between his joyrides.

Ahh, not surprisingly, the straight path no longer appeals to me…

www.earthwonders.net

At EarthWonders, our Ecology of Caring is built on the foundation that “everything is connected to everything else”. Its core focus is on nursing, assisted, memory, hospice and palliative and in-home care, but it strikes me that this same concept is so visible especially in our economic market today. I’m not an economist, I’m not even a scientist, but what I know is when we look to nature for answers on most any level, we can find answers. Nature has 3.8B years of wisdom in creating life-affirming and life-sustaining communities. It’s why we use Nature as our model in creating caring communities. But the key to the success in those models requires that we care for ourselves, each other, our community, our planet and future generations. It appears that some people never got beyond taking care of themselves. And now there is so much angry energy in the world, it’s hard to find an opening for the positive steps it takes to begin to heal and move forward.

Sometimes, in organizations, you find this very same thing. A person, or group of people, decides either knowingly or unknowingly, that their interests trump the rest of the organization. It doesn’t really matter if it’s at the top of the organizational chart, on the front line, a customer group, or the public. Once a group decides their “health” (or wealth) is the priority at all costs, the natural state breaks down. So, while this group has determined they no longer need to be connected to anything other than getting their own needs met, the “system” can’t support the disconnect. In fact, the system stays connected and everyone pays the price. For awhile, those in the self-declared priority group fluorish, but as in nature, with a fully alive ecosystem, with a cycle of feeding, nurturing and connections, eventually everything begins dying out.

There are much more scientific explanations I’m sure. My point really is that the answer to the state we find ourselves in today, is to return to our Natural State. To reconnect to the land, the roots we share, the same air we all breathe, the same planet we all inhabit, the same desire we all have for safety and security, to love and be loved, to have a purpose and to know our life is meaningful. I’ve seen it work in organizations and I know it could work in the world. I also know that like an organization, the leaders of the world would have to be courageous enough to demand a culture of change - a culture of caring - a respect for “everything is connected to everything else” and an awareness of the consequences when we move away from our Natural state.

In caring organizations, we partner with visionary leaders who have big, bold dreams about shaping the Nature of Care in a new way. And our butterfly logo says the rest - we believe that if can shift our attitude, perception, behavior, condition by just a tiny, tiny bit - we can create dramatic shifts in the way we care. If you’d like to know about how EarthWonders is integrating nature-based solutions into nursing, assisted, memory, palliative, hospice and in-home care settings, we invite you to visit our website at www.earthwonders.net