Staying alive: three takes on today's senior living; Based on interviews with Judah Ronch, PhD, Erickson Retirement Communities; John M. Parrish, PhD, MBA, the Erickson Foundation; and Jamison Gosselin, Sunrise Senior Living

Nursing Homes, August, 2006

In my two years here I have seen this proactive philosophy work out well for residents, and there are some individual stories that are quite inspiring [see sidebars, p. 18].

For more information, please e-mail Dr. Ronch at jronch@ericksonmail.com.

John M. Parrish, PhD, MBA, Executive Director, The Erickson Foundation

We've been conducting research and development projects for the past seven years, in collaboration with top-drawer experts based at universities, academic medical centers, government agencies, or private businesses. Projects in our portfolio focus on such concepts as "active" and "positive" aging, with an emphasis on "aging with choices" in regard to residential housing, health and wellness, and social, educational, and personal development options. A sampling of our current original research investments in best practices advances for optimizing late life would include VIVA! (a resource center focused on wellness screening and health education), Fitness & Function for Falls & Fractures Risk Reduction (a multidimensional campaign in support of balance and functional mobility among active adults), and Interventional Field Trials Focused on Neurobics (curricula focused on methods to enhance brain health among those worried about memory decay). Past projects have included studies of brain-behavior correlates of physical activity in the oldest old, falls risk screening in the oldest old, effects of tai chi chuan on lower extremity strength and fear of falling, and participative ergonomics for resident and worker safety in skilled nursing facilities.

It has become clear in recent years that people are increasingly living through at least 25-year retirements. They basically fare well in the first 10 years or so, doing things they've always wanted to do but didn't have the time for. The next 15 years or so, though, are often fraught with challenges. How the person negotiates these challenges or, for that matter, even accepts them has a lot to do with whether so-called "successful aging" is achieved or not. We are very interested in learning more about the self-managed investments in health and wellness made by those adults who are most resilient in responding to these challenges.

Cognitive behavioral psychologists contend that a person's thought processes influence their emotions and behavior. A negative mind-set may lead to poor decision making, thereby contributing to a cycle of frailty. Preconceived notions of aging--marked by a passive acceptance of one's limitations attributed to one's age per se--can result in a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Of course there are well-documented changes associated with aging. But one key "success" is one's adaptability to these changes despite them, and the self-determination to leverage them for good. Many relatively healthy centenarians and nonagenarians have gotten there because of their capacities to exercise perspective, to cope, to adapt, and to be optimistic. For example, I have a close and very special relationship with a 102-year-old cousin who is doing remarkably well cognitively and emotionally, and reasonably well physically. She is a rich resource of both wise counsel and belly laughter, who is revered far and wide by family and friends as the "life of the party." She monitors the equity markets and invests weekly, has her own cell phone and laptop, and sees these as blessings. When asked to reflect on the good old days, she typically responds by saying "there are no better days than today."