Posted in N&V

Big, Borrowed, or Both — June

Sometimes we come across interesting things that have been produced elsewhere or don’t quite fit in our format.  Why should that stop us?

 

Toward a Planet-Wide Culture of Non-Violence, by Russy Sumariwalla
     -a reprint of an article published in the UN Chronicle, 10/2/2018

3550:  the Portland Mirabella quarterly magazine (most recent issue)

Mirabella Monthly, Newsletter of the Seattle Mirabella (most recent issue)

 

Our Celebrity Costa’s Hummer

 

Editor’s note:  Since this article was written, enhanced COVID protective measures mean that ONLY RVM residents may visit the Penthouse

 

by Connie Kent, photos by Fran Yates

Thursday 30 December 2021: I just escorted a couple from Davis, California, up to the Manor Penthouse to see our celebrity, the little Costa’s Hummingbird. First spotted in mid-November by Purk Purkerson, he has been a regular visitor since then, attracting birders from afar.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

On 29 November, Carolyn Auker and Dave Guzzetta sent out the following to the hundred and  some odd member RVM birding group: “The Big Guns, or should I say, the Big Cameras, showed up yesterday. The Costa’s Hummingbird has caused a commotion with the Rogue Valley birding community. Gary Shaffer called us yesterday morning saying the bird was still at the Penthouse Garden and asked us to make sure there was enough food to try and keep it there. He had notified some of his birding buddies about the bird, and when we got to the Penthouse, two of them were sitting there, visiting and taking pictures of the Costa’s. One of them was Norm Barrett, Carol’s son. We were very excited to see the bird – he is a lifer for us!”

Costa's at feeder

Costa’s at Penthouse feeder

The Anna’s Hummer is a regular here at our feeders. The Costa’s is distinctly smaller. His distinguishing feature is his striking drooping purple mustache-like gorgette. Normally wintering in Mexico, he is rare in this area even in summer. In his Southern Oregon’s Bird Life, John Kemper (former RVM resident) says, “By all rights, this bird shouldn’t be in our area at all, because it is looked upon as a resident of the desert southwest” (168).  For most of us, he’s Life Bird.

Costa’s going after bug

In early December, Guzzetta and Auker wrote, “The Costa’s Hummingbird continues to attract birders both locally and from across the state. On Sunday, Joanie Oliver and David [Guzzetta] escorted two birders to the Penthouse Gardens. One had driven all the way from Portland to see our celebrity bird and get a photo. . . .

We had another birder earlier last week from Springfield and another one from Corvallis.  Everyone is taking a picture, checking the bird off their list and, after a few minutes, continuing on to another birding hotspot. The RVM campus hotspot now has over 20 beautiful photos of this little hummer on eBird’s website. Yes, he is quite the celebrity. Even Stan plans to go to the gardens to check this guy out!

Joanie Oliver, who is in charge of the Penthouse Gardens, is delighted with the attention that the garden has been getting from all the birders. She has been escorting the non-resident birders to the Penthouse and now she has help from eight residents who are on a list for the Manor receptionist and/or COVID screeners to call if a non-resident birder finds their way to the Manor and needs to be escorted to the Penthouse.”

On 18 December Diane Chance reported that she escorted four representatives from the annual Audubon bird count group to the Penthouse and that “our” Costa’s performed and posed wonderfully for them.

The same thing happened to me this morning, when I escorted the Davis couple. There was the Costa’s, atop a bluntly pruned rosebush stem, one of his favorite spots, posing as if he had been expecting us.

5 January update: Outside visitors, or course, will no longer be allowed. But we can still go up to the Penthouse and check on our visiting celebrity.

A Few More Health-Care Questions

. . . and some opinions

by Bob Buddemeier

Connie Kent’s article highlights a number of questions about health care requirements and procedures at RVM. Coincidentally, I underwent an experience that raised some different but closely related questions.

In late May, what had started out as pain in my right hip progressed to pain throughout the leg and weakness that required the use of a walker to get around safely. I had already signed up for an hour a day of help through the RVM Home Care office. On hearing about the latest symptom developments, my daughter Stacey drove up from Folsom on May 26 and had me taken to the Asante Emergency Department. Stacey is a retired firefighter-paramedic who has had several spinal surgeries. She knows the medical system from both the inside and the outside, and is an excellent patient representative.

After two days, we had been seen by five MDs, as well as other professionals such as therapists, and I had had an MRI, a CT scan, and multiple blood tests. No procedures were done and no treatments were initiated. There was no consensus on diagnosis, and my overall condition was little changed.

Discharge with follow-ups was the proposed action. However, late Friday afternoon we were told that the discharge might not occur because they could not get in touch with RVM to insure that I would be discharged to an appropriate level of care. At the time I did not learn whom they were trying to contact, or what the requirements would be.

[After the fact, we saw that the Asante medical report notes have a standard format including the requirement that the provider specify discharge conditions. All had recommended discharge to a “Skilled Nursing Facility,” and had noted Stacey’s presence.]

Friday evening (ahead of a 3-day weekend) it was decided to release me without RVM involvement on the grounds that Stacey would be able to look after me.

Questions:

Whom were they trying to contact at RVM, and why couldn’t they? (Security and Licensed Facilities are staffed 24/7)

What were they seeking? (Admission to the HC? Could they have gotten that off-hours even if they did make contact?)

How flexible are discharge care requirements? Is discharge to the care of another individual rather than a Skilled Nursing Facility generally an option?

Opinions:

If Asante and RVM need to communicate about the welfare of patients/residents, then the communication channels and procedures need to be robust, reliable, well-understood, and accessible to the patients/residents.

There needs to be better specification of the actual post-discharge care needs and how they might be met; admission to a skilled nursing facility is overkill in many cases (such as mine).

Well-intended requirements such as the one described can be counterproductive if they discourage people from going to the Emergency Department when they need to.

Dealing with Health-Related Crises

by Connie Kent

For a medical crises, we know to dial 9-1-1. But what about medically related crises that aren’t emergencies? In January I approached Father Joel to discuss a perceived need. A couple of residents I knew, both living independently in cottages, were recently unable to get the care they thought should have been available to them from the Manor following medical procedures which left them temporarily disabled. My question to Father Joel: Who should residents turn to for help in dealing with such a crisis? These residents felt they were abandoned when they had been led to believe the Manor’s promised “Continuum of Care” would provide the services they needed. Other crises that might need such a resource are a devastating diagnosis, the need for help for a spouse whose health is failing, or the sudden death of a partner.

How can we help each other, living together as we do, at this point in our lives? One way is to offer our support when we see someone in need. Please see Need Help?

Another way is to develop systems for dealing with our concerns and to make them known. Following the Residents’ Forum Zoom meeting in February, a small Residents Council Ad Hoc committee was formed to address some of the health-related issues I had brought up with Father Joel. Failing to come up with a name for our new committee, we call it The Unnamed Committee. Members include Gary Crites, Gini Armstrong, Dan Wagner, Jan Rowe, Jim Ellis, Joni Johnson, Bob Carter and me. We’ve met several times via Zoom. Here are the topics we have addressed.

1) Issue: One of our residents spent months after he moved in, going from office to office here at the Manor, collecting information about how to help his ailing wife. 

Q: What single person or agency here at the Manor should residents turn to in a crisis?

A: In May, at the time of this writing, Debi Watt has told the committee that Resident Services is the office residents should consult when they’re in crisis.

2) Issue: medical transportation. More and more medical procedures are conducted in surgery centers rather than hospitals, and frequently they are scheduled early in the morning, before regularly scheduled Manor Medical Transportation is available at 8 o’clock.

Related is the issue of transportation back home. Following in-hospital out-patient procedures as well as surgery center procedures, patients are routinely discharged while still in need of round-the-clock care. If I am such a patient, I may well be woozie from anesthesia and need help navigating. 

Q: How can I get to early morning medical procedures? And will Medical Transportation pick me up and see me safely back to my unit?

A: This issue has been turned over to the Health Services Advisory Committee, which is currently evaluating the extent of the need. Their assessment should be available in 60 days.

3) Issue: If I am discharged to a nursing facility and there is room and sufficient staffing in the Health Center, I will be given a bed there. But then there is the issue of cost. In the past, one had to have been hospitalized for at least three consecutive nights in the hospital for Medicare to cover the expense of skilled nursing care.

Q: With more and more out-patient procedures and short or non-existent hospital stays, will Medicare cover the cost of skilled nursing care?

A: Melissa Preston, Health Services Administrator, says that this past year, due to the COVID 19 pandemic and the need to relieve the burden on hospitals, CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) has authorized hospitals to activate waivers that allow for the 3 midnight stay qualification to be waived. She says we have seen it happen several times with our local hospitals, where individuals have been discharged to the skilled nursing facility under this waiver and have qualified for skilled services without a 3 midnight stay. However, the ability to activate those waivers expires soon, unless it is renewed at the Federal level. Ed. note: please refer to Hill Topic‘s “Home Health, Home Care: Support for Vulnerable Times” in the May 2021 issue and “Continuing Care Levels Explained” in the April 2020 issue.

4) Issue: in-home services. Tremendous confusion has existed around what services the Manor provides, in part because of the similarity between the terms “Home Care” and “Home Health.” 

Q: If I am returned to my unit, what services are available to me?

A: Melissa Preston gave a very helpful presentation on the difference between Home Care and Home Health. Her presentation is available on the Health Services page of myRVM. Here is a brief summary.

The Manor provides Home Care, primarily to those in Residential Living on an on-going basis but to Independent residents also, for short-term needs, depending on staff availability. Home Care includes help with activities of daily living, meal preparation, companionship, and running errands. It does not include health care. The cost may or may not be covered by one’s insurance.

Home Health services are not provided by the Manor but rather by any one of several outside agencies. Home Health services are typically prescribed by a doctor and provided by licensed personnel such as RNs and therapists. They include such things as administration of medications, wound treatment, IVs, and so on. The cost may be covered by one’s insurance.

5) Issue: end of life planning. If we die without having left information about our affairs and instructions for what to do next, those we leave behind face not only grief but aggravation as well. Even though our own death is a topic we might prefer to ignore, most of us living here can expect to die here. We would do well to prepare for the inevitable while we are most able. This will save our families, friends and the Manor a whole lot of stress.

Q: What do I need to do to ensure that my family and/or my executor knows how to handle my affairs after I die?

A: The Unnamed Committee is currently compiling a document with information your family and/or executor will need. This information includes details about your medical, financial, insurance, and legal contacts and documents as well as a checklist of people and agencies that will need to be contacted at the time of your death. Of course, the information will need to be reviewed periodically and modified as necessary. But the time to take care of it is now.

A-2: Resident Services Director Cynde Maurer and Debi Watt, Resident Services Coordinator, have invited Beth Knorr, Director of Trust Services for Oregon Pacific Bank and member of the RVM Foundation Board, to address residents on “Implementing Your Estate Plan,” which will air on Channel 900 on June 23, 2021, at 10 am. A document listing appropriate information to include in such planning will be made available in advance of that presentation.

6) And now there’s a new wrinkle: Issue: what happens when you’re discharged from the hospital on a weekend, you live in a cottage, and you need at-home care? This issue has not even been brought to the committee yet. Click on the link to see Bob’s Story.

Father Joel is movin’ on!

By Joni Johnson

On May 14, 2021, after being at the Manor for 9 years, Father Joel has left us in body but not in spirit!  During his time at RVM, he has had an enormous impact on its residents. He has created an abundance of programs here that crossed all sectors of the campus from the religious to the not at all religious.  To name but a few of his coordinated efforts: the 19thHole, Speaking of Faith, monthly Shabbat services and dinners (pre-Covid), The Chanukah Party, Secular Conversations, Socrates Café, Two Beards and a Cup of Coffee, Story Corps, and a series of Education seminars both on campus and in the Valley.

                   Father Joel’s Last Day

When I asked residents what qualities they saw in Father Joel, this is what they said.  He was compassionate and open to all. He was accepting and had an ability to connect with everybody. He was ecumenical.  It didn’t matter what your religion was or whether or not you were religious.  He was there for you.  He had a wonderful sense of humor.  His friendship with other religious leaders of varying faiths in the valley brought our residents a depth of experiences both on and off campus. He appreciated having deep philosophical discussions that were not necessarily based in religion and realized that there were many residents here on campus that saw themselves as non-religious and even agnostic or atheists who wanted and needed a place to congregate and speak about important spiritual and intellectual issues.  He made everyone feel that he liked them, regardless of background.  And as someone said when they talked about his replacement, we certainly need someone who likes old people. Father Joel certainly did.

Transition

by Joel Maiorano (written Sunday, May 16)

As change enters our body,

our bones question – is it time again?

We shed, like seeds dropping from a tree

announcing out loud … “part of us is dying,

while proclaiming we are alive!”

Unwelcoming, most often yes

not unlike aging, yet inviting us

to alter ourselves

like a spring caterpillar…

unsure if this is our end

or a new beginning.

When he first came to the Manor in 2012, he came as a replacement for Don Hildebrand, who was well liked.  Father Joel said that it was the respect that Hildebrand engendered that allowed him to confidently engage in producing the programs that he did.  And of course, he gives much credit to the residents and their leadership, service and insight that created an opportunity for his leadership. He claims it was residents and their involvement that created his effectiveness.

   

He said that leaving will be very difficult for him.  He will miss engaging with the residents and having the intimate relationships afforded him through his experiences here – counseling, visiting those who have lost a loved one, or just living life together.   “Through my position here, I was both a minister of spirituality and a person who helped create belonging.

 “Leaving breaks my heart and it will take time for it to heal.  However, leaving was also my decision because I am moving into a position that I have wanted for a long time.

Father Joel with Barbara and Fred Moore and Becky Hyde

“I will be the Chief Mission Integration Officer at Providence Hospital.  It is more of a managerial role rather than working with patients.  I will be helping to shape and influence how the mission, values and vision are lived out in the daily life of the hospital. I will be the first non-Catholic or half Catholic in my position.    My plan is to listen to the heartbeat of the employees, study the rhythms of how the organism lives and laughs, so that I can best support the ethos of the sisters who started the hospital and celebrate Providence as a beacon of hope. My question will not only be what is universal “catholic” healthcare, but more importantly, how do we live it out to make it inclusive for all.”

We will miss you, Father Joel in so many, many ways.  But we wish you the very best in your new endeavor.

 

A Cautionary Tale

What’s New in June

Dear Readers: We don’t have archives by issue, but the Complement’s format has been revised so that you can view all of the past articles on any given page.  If there is a “Load More” link at the bottom of the page, clicking it will bring up the older articles — all arranged in chronologic order.

An added service feature — if you  would like to get a personal email when we put out the RVMlist notice of a new issue or new material, email us at openinforvm@gmail.com and we will put you on the mailing list

NEWS & VIEWS

Dealing with Health-Related Crises, by Connie Kent
      -The tangle of medicine and management

A Few More Health-Care Questions, by Bob Buddemeier
     -Even more tangles

Father Joel is movin’ on!, by Joni Johnson
      -Hail and Farewell — with an original goodbye poem by Fr Joel 

A Cautionary Tale — Anonymous
      -An unprepared-for death

The Experiment Continues — README Again!
–     -An invitation to sample an opinion page

 

         in Big, Borrowed, or Both

Toward a Planet-Wide Culture of Non-Violence, by Russy Sumariwalla
     -a reprint of an article published in the UN Chronicle, 10/2/2018

3550:  the Portland Mirabella quarterly magazine (most recent issue)

Mirabella Monthly, Newsletter of the Seattle Mirabella (most recent issue)

 

ARTS & INFO 

Manor Penthouse Bonsai, a photo collage by Reina Lopez

Do Cats Grieve?  by Bob Buddemeier

Timely Word Playby Connie Kent

RVM May-July Event & Entertainment Schedule

June Library Display, by Anne Newins

Power Couple — (Book Review), by Bonnie Tollefson

Digital Currency Firm Eyes Manor Retail Location, by A. Looney
       –Our Nit-Wit Newz correspondent has returned!

PREPARE

‘Tis the Season to be…ALERT!, by Bob Buddemeier
      -Don’t put that mask away yet!

 

New Features and Services

We don’t have archives by issue, but the Complement’s format has been revised so that you can view all of the past articles on any given page.  If there is a “Load More” link at the bottom of the page, clicking it will bring up the older articles — all arranged in chronologic order.

 

An added service feature — if you  would like to get a personal email when we put out the RVMlist notice of a new issue or new material, email us at openinforvm@gmail.com and we will put you on the mailing list

THE EXPERIMENT CONTINUES — READ ME AGAIN!

THE EXPERIMENT CONTINUES

For the next one or two months the editorial team of The Complement will provide trial posting of VIEWPOINTS, an online resident discussion forum .

For our second VIEWPOINT, we move away from the theme outlined in the following paragraph.  Pratibha Eastwood’s essay War!?  Not Again is extremely personal, and insightfully addresses racism, war and politics.  It is more than we want to handle in the Complement, but not more than we think deserves a forum at RVM.  Comments and contributions solicited.

The intended topics started out as RVM community issues involving residents, Residents Council, and Administration.  These are normally considered taboo – to be ignored because of the potential for divisiveness or disruption.  We believe that a community of adults with undeniable common interests should be able to identify and work toward constructive resolution of issues of community concern.  In the interests of civility and accuracy the discussion is moderated and all contributions subject to editing.

RVMlist discussions and resident input to the editors have suggested a need for this kind of forum.  However this goes well beyond the role envisioned for The Complement, so we will see if the trial can develop an independent identity.

For VIEWPOINTS to continue beyond a trial period, we will need to have:

  • Significant participation in the form of contributed articles or substantive comments;
  • Expressed approval at least comparable in magnitude to expressed disapproval; and
  • At least two individuals willing to serve on an editorial board that provides selection of topics and moderation of discussion.

Comments on either the basic idea of the discussion page or the specific contents of the articles presented may be submitted by either of two pathways:  The Reply forms at the end of each posted article, or by email to myinforvm@gmail.com.  We will periodically summarize and post results; although we prefer signed communications we will honor requests for anonymity when we publish results.

The first topic is transparency in RVM/PRS decision making.  Mark Edy has initiated RVMlist discussions on this topic more than once.  The editors considered his submitted compilation reasonable, respectful, and indicative of as much effort to find answers as could reasonably be expected of an individual resident.  We worked with him to produce a briefer summary of the issues he presented, and have added brief notes from the RVMlist discussion of the freeway off-ramp project, and a brief history of key actions with respect to that project.

Please let us and your fellow residents know your views on this online forum experiment and on the issues raised by Mark Edy’s and Pratibha Eastwood’s essays.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The Manor Mart is Open!

ANNOUNCEMENT

The Manor Mart is now open for business on the lower level of the Terrace building, across from the Clinic, where the Pharmacy used to be. It serves RVM residents and employees between 10 am and 3 pm Monday through Friday.  The Manor Mart comes close to being a necessity for some of our residents, and can be a convenience for all of us.  We want it, we need, it and we should support it by using it when we can.