Speaker: Tanya Ahern
This year, the Rotary eClub of the Southwest USA has presented a number of programs about innovative efforts to help those in American society who are among the most vulnerable. This week, a Rotarian from the Rotary Club of Santa Clara (California) tells about a program at the care facility where she works that was inspired by and is helping the residents there, a story that speaks to the power of life and livelihood on multiple levels.
Our speaker, Tanya Ahern, is someone I got to know in that Rotary club, where I served before my work schedule changed and I moved to our online club. In Santa Clara, I came to admire Tanya's dedication to getting a job done, her heart for others, and the kindness of both her words and actions. It is her hope that what she presents today might work as a model for other care facilities searching for ways to bring purpose and hope to their residents.
(written by Rushton Hurley)
This week comments: 103, this week visitors: 98
Great Meeting, Thanks So much.
Excellent Program
It always amazes me (and not in a good way) that our most vulnerable citizens - seniors and children - are fed the worst elements of the American diet (overly processed food that has little nutritional value) in care facilities and schools. Congratulations to Tanya and Idlywood for improving this most basic of human necessities for their residents.
Loved the program and the SAA story - I do miss growing a small garden but in Arizona, it has to be tended each day and I travel weekly for work (why I'm an electronic Rotarian doncha know?)
However, the musings on disappointment really resonate with me as I'm suffering one this week myself. (Besides the one of discovering that the installation was last week and I didn't know. It's the first installation that I have ever missed as a Rotarian.)
Natural approach to live is gradually finding more acceptability. FAVA Beans ? Never heard of it!
Insightful staff. Good article.
Excellent program about the garden project at the ALF. That's something I'd like to see in this area.
A great way to make up a missed meeting. I truly enjoyed the Idlywood program.
I especially recieved inspiration form the article on disappointment.
I could not download this program either. Must be the user here. HELP!!!
"The Gardens of Idylwood" story is interesting and inspirational. Great program. Thanks. DS
Harvesting Health at the Gardens of Idylwood...fantastic! How old to we have to be to get in? Brilliant way to improve physical, mental and spiritual health!
I also loved the work being done in Guatemala! This is a great boost for those Guatemaltecos! I would love to hear how their library is doing.
Terrific idea and story!
Excellent program on involvement of caring for others.
I enjoyed this program. I liked reading about the gardening program at the nursing home.
Especially enjoyed article about Disappointment from Sgt. Of Arms. How true!
I loved the fava bean story. What a wonderful way to help the elderly and let them have a part in their health.
I also want to add a note about the Sierra Norte Rotary villages. I was SO SURPRISED to find my e-mail in the beginning of this meeting. I just wanted to let everyone know what prompted that e-mail. Following is the message I received from my Rotarian counterpart in Puebla that prompted my response:
Hi Norma i hope you are doing just fine!Last weekend I went to the village, and we were thinking about you, hoping and praying you were just finePeople have improved their way of living a great deal, and Pahuatlan has also changed a lot, now they just haveinstalled large antennas for phones, so now you can use your portable phones.The road from Pahuatlan to Cuauneutla (where the village is), and to Tlacuilotepec (where they offered us a great parade once), (and where we left the ambulance) is also been paved Modernity is coming along!!!! RegardsALEJANDRO GOMEZ LEALDIRECTORINVERNADEROS COMERCIALES S.A. DE C.V.KM 21.5 CARRETERA FEDERAL PUEBLA ATLIXCOSANTA ANA ACOZAUTLASANTA ISABEL CHOLULA, PUEBLA75440
IT WAS A WONDERFUL MESSAGE TO RECEIVE. MADE MY DAY!
I was interested in hearing about the housing being built in Mexico and the changes the housing brought about in the community.
Thank you for this eprogram meeting and on the generousity that was done for others.
Good way to make up.
Another fascinating story of how much someone's well-being or recovery from an illness is tied to their involvement in activities which are meaningful to them.
I loved the emeeting! The sayings about Disappointment were great.
Very good program, the culture of making useful the people that has to live in this kind of facilities like the Brookwood Community helps very much in their quality of life.
Congratulations.
I alwasys find the meeting information educational and informational and today I especially enjoyed the humor.
Really enjoyed hearing about the progress on the village in Mexico and particularly liked the section on disappointment. A worthwhile makeup, definitely!
The whole meeting was great, from your "Rotary Minute" to the program. I have used eclubs for makeups and appreciate the convenience...this week is my 29th anniversary on becoming a Rotarian. Thanks again!
Bob Leith
Enjoyed the "quotes of Disappointment" also the Program.
Interesting program. My Aunt is 100 years old and refused to drink liquids so was so dehydrated she fell and wound up in the hospital. Her residents is in an Assisted Living center. I remembered she liked to drink Oolong tea at the Chinese restaurant I take her to every week or two and bought her some and told the staff to make sure that is on her daily medical routine check list, drink as much as she can hold. It worked.
Trying to get the elderly to identify what they want or need is often like working with kids who don't know the options. It is an eye opening experience, working with her, and understanding how to communicate. This program points how important it is for us to understand how to care for the elderly as our elderly population grows as a percentage of the populations.
Coming back from 3 weeks in Japan has brought back, through my friends, the time bomb they are facing; an increasing percentage of elderly to the total population and increased private and societal costs of taking care of these lovely people.
Bill
A 17,000 square foot garden is massive! What a great way to help those who are otherwise confined by physical limitations to become more active and to be able to accomplish something so useful.
That was a great program.
Very nice program! Love the idea of "plant therapy" for so many reasons.
Thank goodness there are those who work for the vulnerable.
Great story about the tomato garden!
Very interesting meeting. I enjoyed it. Thank you.
Wow, definitely a program worth trying out at some of our local hospitals and old people's homes (as we call them here - thank God they are not that many) and children's homes
I have enjoyed reading your articles and the work you do. When I have a need to make-up on-line again, I will visit your club.
It is a wonderful program for the people of Idylwood Care Center, congratulations.
Great Program and a great idea. An individual's mental participation in any program inspires better health through better attitude. Great idea.
FOUND THIS PRESENTATION VERY INFORMATIVE AND EDUCATIONAL !!
The article about building homes in Mexico was inspirational. The first step in improving people's lives is establishing security. The first step in security is knowing there is a safe place to lay down for the night, especially if you have a family.
I enjoyed the meeting, and it was exciting to see a WPF applicant being sponsored by your e-club. I plan to come back again.
I always enjoy the online rotary meetings. Very interesting and informative. Thank you.
Thank you for greeting me and thank you for a nice program.
A great way to include the elderly in their own care.
great reading....
love rotary and what we stand for...
scott schoen
What a marvelous idea this was - wish we could see it in more care facilities - it really seemed to give the residents something to care about
Thank you!
After going through an incredibly hard week, your comments on disappointment were right on track for me. The program was great, too.
The disappoints section was good, all shoule read. This makeup website really gives insight into REAL ROTARY.
Thanks. Talk to you next week. Tony
Good information about the program. I enjoyed.
Very interesting information on The Gardens at Idylwood. AS a former nursing home administrator, this was especially interesting how the residents thrived by being outside and participating in the garden project.
First time to use this site but I really like how it is laid out. I'll be back to join!
Great Nile
Your so right, " moods do improve outside" ,here in Australia ,s outback its a wonderful feeling driving around the wide open spaces on 'Cawkers Well Station " checking the cattle,cleaning troughs,repairing fence lines,yesterday laying new poly pipe lines
My first visit. It was nice. I work 1/2 of the time in Egypt so need to have sites where I can make up my meetings.
I liked the thoughts
Thank you
Charlie
The program on the nursing home was inspiring. Thank you.
Nice story about The Gardens at Idylwood. Everybody wants to feel like they contribute at some level.
Great joke in the humor section, too. One of my favorites.
The sense of lack of worth and purpose is a smothering killer to the human soul and is an insidious predator to the elderly in the United States. Tanya Ahern and this project have found a way to revitalize this essential need in human spirit to be needed and bring real life back to these older members of our community. What a great idea!
I appreciated the quotes on disappointment....great food for thought.
Also enjoyed the program on "Harvesting Health: the Gardens at Idlewild". What a wonderful project!
Really felt like I had attended a regular meeting. Thanks for your efforts.
This is an inspiring program and I could really relate to the success of such simple ideas.
Very interesting and pertinent for me as I'm in a nursing facility recovering from hip replacement surgery.
What a fantastic program. I run a shelter and I can see many ways to help those that live in our program benefit from doing some of the same tasks. Thank you. T. Murphy
That was a very inspiring program and reading the other information in your meeting makes me proud to be a Rotarian!
Great rewards from little fava beans grow. Because a single Idylwood Care Center resident expressed a desire for fava beans, a dish she enjoyed from her native Italy, the Idylwood staff, sparked by the Dietician's inquiry, began a fava bean garden. The resident's resulting joy ultimately inspired a greatly enlarged garden which now has over 30 varieties of fruits and vegetables in cultivation. In turn, the Idylwood cooking group began, and ""Soup of the Day", employment of a full-time chef, a cookbook, and regular food preparation instruction all followed. Unsurprisingly, the residents are more inspired and energetic - and all because a solitary dietician responded compassionately to an elderly woman's simple request for fava beans. Good program!
What a wonderful program. Wish my Mom had had this opportunity when she was winding down from a full life.
What a shame we have reached the point in our society where we can not identify people by their name, even in a feel good presentation.
Thank you, Tanya for yourpresentation
What a great program! My Dad was in a skilled nursing facility and they "baked" so cookies, cakes etc. I wish he could have been at this facility as he loved his soups. Almost every day, he said What about a bowl of soup? and when we were out and about, he would suggest a bowl of soup.
I also got to help put up a Shelter Box at the Dt. Conf for Dt. 5300. It was pretty easy and a great experience. YAY Maureen
The Mexican housing project is very interesting. Congratulations to all those who made it possible.
Inspiring program! My Dad was involved in his long term care facility doing the same - gardening, cooking - and his made his last years on earth warmer and happier. Good for these folks.
Like the reflections on disappointment
excellent program
very good program
What a wonderful program! The garden idea allows residents to recreate part of their youthful years by being involved in activities that reminds them of home. The more a nursing home resembles home living, the better it is!
The best therapy for all ages...being outdoors.
Another great meeting - how did Norma Taylor use DDF to build buildings? I thought TRF specifically excluded that use of Foundation funds.
Good to see old friends, getting older, but young in eClub spirit. Good joke today, followed by a second, excellent tomato story.
the resident participation in the production of ingredients and the kinds of dishes prepared would make the nursing facility a more attractive place to live.
It is surprising that we do not use all the senses when we are trying to motivate others to improve their lives. This story about starting a garden uses the keys of smell and taste to get people to move out from their physical and mental self-confinement, to embrace life and embrace the world of memories that they can make the present. We give classes in our schools to children and divid them into academics, physical eduation, the arts and extra activities (clubs). The secret for true education, how to make the learner the teacher, is how to take these and weave them into one fabric. At this Care Center, they have done that and it is a pleasure to read this story.
Can't think of fava beans apart from Hanibal Lector.
Hi everyone,
Good morning from Annecy France
very good meeting I enjoy it very much
especially this Ahernldylwood program
what a excellent program
it is the type of idea that you say when looking at it:"it is so obviously a good idea, why didn't we or I thought about it earlier??"
Gardening is good for everything:food quality,sense of ownership,makes you forget all other problems of life,keeps you fit,...fantastic
Also ..allows you to grow the plant that you exactly dream of(like the italians beans in this program)..good for the morale
we see here too aften elderly people abandonned in country side large houses,with no life around,in a lost village,...at least they could garden,or be helped for gardening
I lost my father two years ago;he had a nice garden with many fruit trees,a good earth,...he could no more produce anything from his vegetable garden too old ,,and he expressed it many times to me,just for say,not to request anything
one day in spring,I decided to plant for him,...and I saw the life again in his eyes when later he saw veggies from HIS earth..I had not understood what I was doing for him in spring...and this program proves it is a great program
thanks for this very good idea,it made me feel something,and I am going to think about it to apply it here locally,starting with some old neibourghs
I could offer that they use my garden,and halp them with hard tasks
enjoy your day
and many thanks for this monday meeting
Gérard EPIN(Gerry) from Annecy,France
