In a singularly rare gift of academia…I recently started my year-long sabbatical. As is my tendency, I have so many goals for this year that it will be a miracle if I accomplish 1/2 of them.
All my goals could be melted down into one single goal: to evolve my work in using the arts and humanities to improve the quality of life of individuals and communities.
TimeSlips will launch a new website on Sept. 24th that will bring creative storytelling to families with dementia wherever they live. My dream is to replace some of the fear and sorrow that consumes families with dementia with play, joy, and connection.
The three partner organizations involved with the Penelope Project will work together to create a curriculum for an exciting 3-day summer institute to be held in Milwaukee in June 2012. The power of person-centered care, partnership building, and artistic collaboration are at the core of the institute, which invites attendees to bring and develop ideas for their own projects. We will also continue to work on the program evaluation and documentation of the project – including a documentary film and possibly a multi-platform “book”.
Finally, I’m READING, LISTENING, OBSERVING and LEARNING. For a whole year. What a huge, huge treat.
I’m reading a variety of angles that cross cut my overarching goal. Leadership theory/practice. Aging and Intergenerational programming theories/models. Models of cultural development that have specific goals to improve the health of individuals and communities.
My first read? A galley proof of the yet to be published Everyone Leads by Paul Schmitz, CEO of Public Allies. The book shares the stories of individual Allies and the organization’s development of its core values. I’m struck by how similar the language is to that used in “culture change” in long term care. Paul writes “At the heart of an asset-based approach are two fundamental principles: that every member of a community, no exceptions, has gifts and talents that can be contributed to the community, and that communities are places where all people are able to contribute their gifts and talents.” 134.
So much of the writing in the distributed, relational, servant (pick your word) leadership world can be applied to long term care. Because we so thoroughly see long term care settings as a place of MEDICAL care, and not one of DAILY LIVING…we have failed in large part to consider them (or improve them) as COMMUNITIES.
Many many people write about how seeing a person as a patient ignores their needs as a human being. It also ignores the community in which that human being lives, which can be a nurturing resource for that person.
