Since most of AgeSong at Bayside Park residents have memories of World War II, this period of history had a major influence on their lives. George and Lily were married in a camp during the Japanese-American internment. Ida, Lily, and Phyllis were either working in the armed forces or raising children while their husband were enlisted. At the age of six, Harriet “took care of her father’s Good Humor Ice-Cream Truck” when he was serving in the army. These elders are survivors – sturdy, resilient members of society, with rich histories of contributions to their families and communities. They honor their past, at the same time living actively in the present. Lee composes original tunes on Bayside Park’s piano; Mary, Ida, and others learn the fine art of hat making; Bea and Ida write poems; Mariola crack jokes a mile a minute in her sweet voice.
The rich environment of AgeSong at Bayside Park is captured each month in the community’s newsletter, distributed to residents, family and staff in hard copy and available to the public through the attached, downloadable PDF file. View recent activities and read engaging stories about the lives of the creative, resilient Bayside Park residents. Preview upcoming March events on a range of topics from tax deduction considerations for assisted living to rock art on Mt. Sinai to Bayside Park’s Second Anniversary celebration. Bayside Park swings into spring!
Presenter: Nader Shabahangi, PhD, Founder and CEO of AgeSong
Date: Thursday, June 28
Location: Moscone Center, San Francisco
Time: 2:30pm–3:30pm
As a culture and people we are ready to move beyond the nonsensical notion that the later and last years are declining years – years that are supposedly less valuable than those before. Too often, the “decline-metaphor” has permeated our culture; often visible to us, at other times entering our awareness in more subtle ways.
Dr. Nader Shabahangi offers a new, more complex and rich understanding of life and aging – a radical departure from the dominant paradigm that life is “fulfilled” the prime of life, at the highpoint of a career, or at the peak of one’s power. The Poetics of Aging recognizes that the poem called “life’s poem” finds its final stanza, its completion, only at the very end of life. Aging understood as such is an active process of becoming, learning and growing. We do not get old but grow old. Eldership is the apex of a lifetime of learning and experiencing, of struggle and concern, of being courageous and creative.
This fascinating session will move beyond the superficial, surface layers of what we perceive of “older consumers,” offering a more comprehensive view of aging and refreshing, new perspectives on community development and operations.
AgeSong at Lakeside Park will celebrate its Tenth Anniversary Thursday, April 26th, 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm.
In honor of the occasion, each guest will receive a special gift: Elders Today: Opportunities of a Lifetime, by Nader Shabahangi, AgeSong CEO and President, AgeSong Institute.
The 10th Anniversary symbol is tin or aluminum.
The pliability of tin and aluminum is a symbol of how a successful marriage (or in this case, successful elder community) needs to be flexible and durable and how it can be bent without being broken.
The 10th Anniversary flower is Daffodil.
Trumpet-shaped daffodils represent joy, cheerfulness, and happiness.
You are welcome to celebrate this joyous occasion with AgeSong residents, family, and staff!
Anna Halprin, world-famous post-modern dancer, highlights Women’s History Month with a performance of The Courtesan and the Crone at AgeSong, at Lake Merritt, 1800 Madison Street, Oakland, CA 94612, Saturday, March 24, from 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm, followed by a discussion led by Nader Shabahangi, AgeSong CEO. She first performed this dance for AgeSong to a standing ovation crowd at the Poetics of Aging Conference , November, 2011. The upcoming free performance is open to the public. Attendees are welcome to get together with friends earlier for Saturday brunch and join Lake Merritt residents for the 3:30 performance.
RSVP at 510-903-3600
Nonogenarian Halprin has written several books, including Movement Rituals, Moving Toward Life: Five Decades of Transformational Dance and Dance as a Healing Art. She currently does research in connection with the Tamalpa Institute, based in Marin County, California, which she founded with her daughter, Daria Halprin, in 1978. She co-created, with her husband, the late landscape architectLawrence Halprin, of the RSVP Cycles, a creative methodology that can be applied broadly across all disciplines. A documentary film about her life and art, Breath Made Visible directed by Ruedi Gerber, premiered in 2010.
AgeSong at Bayside Park is celebrating its second anniversary by swinging into spring with the William Beatty Trio, plus dancing. AgeSong at Bayside Park Rocks!
About William Beatty
Born in Berkeley, California, William was raised in a family where music was loved and played. By the age of nine, William began composing his own pieces for piano. While still in high school, William was invited to join the back-up band for a local soul group, the Numonics. Since then he has continued on his musical journey, studying and playing a wide variety of music, from classical piano repertoire to blues, R&B, gospel, and jazz. William’s experience as a touring musician is highlighted most recently by four years’ traveling with the band Indigo Swing. From 1996 to 2000, the band recorded three CDs, with William as the principle composer and arranger. Indigo Swing toured throughout the United States, Canada, England, and Europe.
What’s it like to lead one’s life as a teacher of the practice of Yoga and meditation? Meet Wesley Zineski, a Yoga practitioner who has spent his entire adult life in this practice.
Swami Suryadevananda and friends will offer a tribute to Wesley, 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm on March 4 at AgeSong, Laguna Grove, 624 Laguna Street, San Francisco. AgeSong Institute and AgeSong Elder Communities are pleased to sponsor this presentation, the second in a series of spirituality workshops this winter/spring (see Introduction to Passsage Meditation, February 25).
In a recently published book, The Quiet Yogi, Swarmi and other practitioners share remembrances of their friendship with Wesley through letters, prayers, notes, clippings, photos, and even recipes. The book was obviously a labor of love.
Wesley was a Holocaust survivor who earned a living initially in the auto industry and later by running Launromats. During the 60s, and for the next 40 years, he would draw together friends throughout the world to share Yogic practice.
Swarmi, a poet, songwriter, and contributor to The Quiet Yogi, offers the following comment on Real Friendship:
Here is such a beautiful picture: Real Friendship with all – a taxi driver in Japan sharing his lunch with a pigeon. They always dress very nicely and are well groomed and courteous. Look at the other one waiting for his meal. We worry about so much unnecessarily! Some talk about brotherly love, some just live it…
You are invited to a free workshop by experienced Elder Care Professionals, who will provide tips, suggestions, and resources for adult children concerned about their aging parents. All are welcome!
Same content, three locations to choose from
Tuesday, March 13, 2012, 5:30 to 7:00 pm, AgeSong Lakeside Park, 468 Perkins Street, Oakland
Tuesday, April 10, 2012, 7:00 to 8:30 pm, Temple Isaiah, 3800 Mt. Diablo Blvd, Lafayette
Thursday, May 3, 2012, 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm, JFCS/East Bay, 2484 Shattuck Avenue, Suite 210, Berkeley
RSVP rtufel@jfcs-eastbay.or or 510.558.7800, ext 352, and indicate which workshop you will be attending.
Presented by:
Jewish Family Services of East Bay, www.jfcs-eastbay.org
AgeSong at Lakeside Park, www.agesongLSP.com
The Reutlinger Community for Jewish Living, www.rcjl.org
Access the must current information on medical tax deduction considerations for Assisted Living. Jim Moore, a senior housing and health care industry leader, will present an on-site complementary talk, open to the public, at AgeSong, Bayside Park, 1440 40th Street, Emeryville, Thursday, March 1, 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm.
You mention six main planning concerns when families are looking into assisted living options for a loved one or thinking about a future need for assisted living for themselves? What are these concerns? (Slide 3)
You say, ” The full monthly service fee (shelter, services) may be a tax deductable medical expense above the exclusion of a 7.5% of a Seniors adjusted gross income.” For someone who has not thought about this yet, what is the 7.5%? (Slide 4)
Who might be able to qualify to deduct more than the 7.5%? What is their minimum income? (Slide 4)
What does the IRS say might be included in medical expenses? (Slide 5)
What does IRS define as chronically ill to qualify for the tax deductions? (Slide 6)
What is a typical assisted living service fee? What do the tax savings add up to depending on the cost of the monthly service fee? (Slide 7)
What might one conclude about financial planning for assisted living? (Slide 8)
Bio
Jim has over 45 years of industry experience. His company, Moore Diversified Services, Inc, has served thousands of national and international clients. Jim’s company conducts market feasibility studies, detailed financial pro forma analysis, strategic planning, operations analysis and investment advisory services. Jim has conducted over 2,000 major Senior housing and health care consulting engagements in over 750 markets in 49 states. He has also conducted over 40 major international consulting engagements in Japan, Australia, China, Canada, Europe, Central America and Mexico.
For over 14 years he has authored the monthly column entitled, “Senior Housing” forContemporary Long Term Care Magazine – a leading industry trade periodical. Jim also writes on a regular basis for three other leading Senior housing and health care publications, including the “Assisted Living Executive”, the“National Investment Center’s Key Financial Indicators” and “McKnights Assisted Living” periodical. Moore also writes a nationally syndicated Senior housing and health care column provided directly to Senior living communities and for inclusion in major state association newsletters and periodicals. Moore also publishes a monthly email newsletter that is distributed to industry CEO’s, CFO’s and COO’s.
As a recognized national expert, his courtroom testimony as an expert witness is frequently in demand across the U.S. He has provided expert witness support and testimony in over 60 cases at the local, state and national levels.
Publications
Assisted Living 2000 – Practical Strategies for the Next Millennium
Assisted Living Strategies for Changing Markets
Independent Living, Congregate Care and CCRCs
RSVP: Judy Vared, 510.710.0934
AgeSong Senior at Bayside Park | 1440 40th Street, Emeryville, California 94608 | 510-594-8800 | License # 015601452
A few days ago, I asked you to imagine if the Poetics of Aging Conference happened every day of the year. Today I am going to share an upcoming San Francisco AgeSong event that could have been a conference highlight. On Saturday, February 25, from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm, Passage Meditation, an eight-point program designed by Eknath Easwarn, will be presented by his students at AgeSong’s Laguna Grove community on the rooftop sunroom. There will be no charge for this event.
In Passage Meditation, you meditate on inspirational passages from the world’s great wisdom traditions. For more information, call the Blue Mountain Center at 800.475.2369 or visit www.easwaran.org .
Aging is usually viewed as decline. Imagine if it was viewed as something to look forward to? The Poetics of Aging Conference, sponsored by AgeSong Institute and AgeSong Elder Communities, promoted the unique view of aging as expansion and growth. Imagine if the Poetics of Aging Conference happened every day of the year! Well, I work at AgeSong and it does happen every day of the year.
Mostly I work at AgeSong’s Bayside Park assisted living and elder community in Emeryville. That place is alive and humming. Residents include former university professors, nurses, teachers, psychiatrists, and other professionals, photographers, artists – the kinds of people who attended the Poetics of Aging Conference.
For example, as I was finishing up an interview with one resident, a new resident discovered a piano in the dining room and began tinkling the keys. Turns out he is an accomplished pianist. He received several rounds of applause from other residents. When I asked, “What is the secret to your happiness?,” he replied, “I composed many songs to children.” Conversations like this happen all the time at Bayside Park. Then my new acquaintance entertained me for several hours with stories of his travels, life, and work. At some point, I suggested we move to the art room. There we joined others in a daily “Creativity Lab,” as it was called at the conference. In this sunlit room, everyone did his or her own form of artwork, some chatting, others quietly focused on their creations.
A couple evenings ago, a park ranger presented on Rosie the Riveter. Residents will visit the brand new Visitor Education Center for Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond when it opens later this spring. Most of the residents of Bayside Park had lived through World War II. Many of the women worked during the war, like Rosie, while the men were overseas. Everyone had stories to tell about that period of history.
Earlier that evening, before dinner, Andrew, a young techie, showed residents and their family members how to SKYPE. For many, it was like looking at the first television screens in the 50s. We chatted live with Andrew’s girlfriend through SKYPE. A resident said to me, in amazement, “They said we would be able to see the person we were talking to on the phone years ago. It finally happened in my lifetime!”
Another day this week I was in stitches sitting through a valentine-making project on the third floor of Bayside. When the instructor said, “We’re here to help you,” the sweet lady to my right said, “And I’m here to help you!” She looked at her neighbor’s valentine rendition, nicely filled with rosy dots, and said, “it’s got the measles.” The lady to my left was dozing off during the activity, until a former school teacher, sitting on her other side, said, “Go S…” and S started to color in her valentine. When her care partner said to the sweet lady to my right, “You can finish it up later,” my neighbor replied, “This is later.” The valentine-making activity was just a springboard for the delightful interactions among participants. It was such fun!
At a staff meeting, I talked about everyone designing his or her own aprons. ”That’s a great idea for an activity for residents,” a fellow staff member said to me. “Not just residents,” I replied, “for all – residents, staff, and administration. It equalizes the playing field. We all have a lot in common.” That’s what happened at the Poetics of Aging Conference last November – healthcare professionals, elders, and community members of all ages, from 16 to 97, participated in workshops and mingled socially with lively discussions, dancing, poetry, and singing. I wore an apron.
Highlights of the inaugural Poetics of Aging Conference are now available for public viewing. The conference took place November 16 – 19, 2011, at the First Unitarian Universalist Church in San Francisco.
If you were excited about the conference and would like to continue the conference throughout the year, you are welcome to visit, or even propose an activity to conduct at one of AgeSong’s six assisted living and elder communities. We love visitors and lifelong learning.
Whether or not you attended the conference, your feedback is appreciated.
Sally Gelardin, AgeSong at Bayside Park Journalist, sallyg@agesong.com
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