Portfolio Life .net

As I headed out for something to eat, I pickup a book I’ve meant to read for some time…. Titled The Shelter of Each Other by Mary Pipher. Its ten years old but the topic is current.

Her family story is similar to mine, folks having grown up in farm communities then raising kids in the new world of suburbs and not knowing the neighbors.

Actually, while I grew up, we knew the neighbors, but then…

more on where this goes later…. Safe to say her phrase “Thirsty in the Rain” is a key turning point in perspective. And her linking family to the Sioux word, tiospaye, is key. It is the bridge to the families all kids need to know to grow up well and alive to possibility.

tiospaye means the people with whom one lives… and means more than a nuclear family.

family trumps blogging at times like this

C/net news has an article - Elderly to benefit from ‘fuzzy logic’ research

…The technique has already been used in a number of applications, but Coupland said the project’s researchers will now focus on quality of life for the elderly.

he Centre for Computational Intelligence will work with the University of Missouri’s Center for Eldercare and Rehabilitation Technology, which has carried out extensive research on sensor technology.

Specially developed sensors can monitor people’s movements, capture sleep patterns, or measure pulse and respiration, making them useful in identifying medical emergencies or diagnosing health problems.

Using the information gathered by the sensors, for example, fuzzy logic will be able to distinguish between similar-sounding but disparate events such as someone falling over and a door slamming, therefore reducing the number of false alarms….

they go on to describe how the technique doesn’t use cameras or other privacy intrusive devices. It does include audio monitoring but is looking for key sounds like someone falling or a door slamming.

“One of the big things is to do this without impeding on their personal life,” Coupland said. “We’ve got to be careful how we use this.”…

Professor Robert John, director of the Centre for Computational Intelligence, said this kind of technology will play an important role in allowing people to lead more active lives in the future, with less dependence on social care….

It’ll be at least fives years before it is fully tested, approved and implemented. Sounds very timely given the boomer generation’s independent streak.

The blog Money, Matter, and More Musings has a post The Sandwiched Generation.
It begins with:

A few days ago, CBS Evening News ran an article titled “Caregivers Rise to the Challenge” which featured some families that were struggling to keep up with taking care of their aged parents (in terms of time and money)….

Then the commentary:

People who are struggling to maintain their own financial well being, in addition to looking after their parents and their kids, are what I call the “sandwiched generation”.

Notice the sort-of-treadmill effect in the above example? Stacy doesn’t have anything saved for her retirement - which effectively means that her children will probably have to spend their savings towards her post-retirement well being - which very likely means that they will probably have less for themselves in future. It’s an interesting cycle (played out all too well in most developing countries) - one which will not come to an end unless one of the generations takes the additional pains of providing for their parents as well as their kids.

continues…

I guess we would all ask these questions to ourselves at some point of time - whether our parents are in a good financial position or not. With what intensity you ponder over these question probably depends on your culture, temperament, and your personal relations with your parents, but most of you will think about this for sure.

It is an issue that tends to sneak up on most of us. Our parents are independent and our kids becoming so. It is a hard line to think about how you backfill for either.
I helped the younger as best I could.
Now turn to the older… less about finances than health and social support.
They are outliving their friends. A whole different type of sandwich.

A hospital impact blog post, Healthcare Complexity: The elephant in the room references and article that “despite all the good intentions of high-tech folks like us and our reliance and devotion to our digital tools, some of the most basic differences between groups of people continue to predict who does well and who does not when it comes to health care for older people.”…