National Conference on Aging: My Final Thoughts
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Comments (2)What a great trip to Chicago and what a successful conference. My last day there was a full one. Here’s the rundown:
1. Had a great meeting with James Huysman, the executive director and co-founder of The Leeza Gibbons Memorial Foundation. If you haven’t heard about this organization, I urge you to check it out. It all started when Leeza’s mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. The frustrations and hurt in dealing with this disease drove her to develop Leeza’s Place—a safe place where caregivers can receive support and resources to cope with caring for their loved ones. The foundation provides:
- Education through memory screening, caregiver courses and mentoring
- Empowerment through journaling, scrapbooking (she has a whole software program to help with this), rubber stamping, support groups and Leeza’s Memory Television (definitely check this one out!)
- Energy through alternative health, stress management techniques, nutritional programming, exercise classes, massage and yoga
And the list really goes on and on. Visit http://www.leezasplace.org/ to get more information. Both Leeza’s and James’ goal is to have a Leeza’s Place in every county across America. We look forward to working with them in the future.
Also, check out Leeza on “Dancing with the Stars” on ABC tonight at 8:00 (PST). Leeza is dedicating her performance on the show to her mother, and she’ll be dancing on behalf of Leeza’s Place. While watching the show is its own reward, I hope that Leeza’s efforts will bring more awareness to Alzheimer’s and the prevalence of this devastating disease.
2. Had a luncheon roundtable. The topic was “Rethinking Long Term Care Marketing: A Different Approach for a Different Generation,” led by Shari VanderGast, executive director at Intervention Associations in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania.
Our table was full of really interesting and diverse people within the senior care industry. We spoke about the necessity of having a variety of choices in finding the right place to live. Choices give you peace of mind. Shari quoted one of her clients, which really summed it all up: “We want what we want, when we want it, how we want it and where we want it.” I couldn’t agree more.
I think we are luckier than previous generations in that the selection of long-term care options is more varied and information is more readily available than it used to be. Thanks to the Internet, we can find out about ALL of our choices and pick the best ones to suit our needs. Lucky us—although now we need to be able to detect quality in the midst of all this marketing information. It’s always reassuring for us here at Gilbert Guide to know the importance we play in delivering quality information.
3. This conference really got me thinking about the direction of Gilbert Guide, and how we can extend the scope of our offerings. Here are some highlights:
- Gilbert Guide is working with McKnight’s Long-term Care and Assisted Living Magazines to provide information to its subscribers. We will be highlighting a facility each month that shines in various categories of care, explaining why they were picked and what kinds of things they’re doing that makes them excel in a particular area—such as Alzheimer’s care, activities, etc.
- Gilbert Guide is launching a completely new Web site in the coming months—the date is still to be determined. This conference really helped me in recognizing the needs of our audience and we will be designing our new site with all of that in mind.
- Gilbert Guide will be attending the AARP “Diversity & Aging in the 21st Century Conference in June (in sunny LA!).
So we have lots of work in the coming months. Please chime in and let us know what you think would be helpful—after all, we are here to help—I, for one, look forward to always doing a better job!
Back to work...Jill
Posted in: Alzheimers & Dementia Care, Gilbert Guide News
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I saw Leeza on Dacing With THe Stars!! I wish they mentioned her charity, though, because it is a very good cause. I am personally a caregiver for my 88 year old Mom who has advanced Alzheimers. Im anxious to learn more about Leeza’s Place. Thanks for the great info.
I was thinking the same thing. A little disappointed she didn’t mention Leeza’s Place. Maybe she was just nervous. Hopefully in the coming weeks she’s talk about it a little more. It would be great to give some attention to such a worthy cause.
Definitely check out their website. We plan to work with them in the future and think it’s quite a worthwhile venture. I love the TLC she has brought to the world of caregiving!
Looking forward to next week.