Translating LTC jargon to plain English

What is “14 Window”? I was at a nurse station, and heard people were talking about the “14 Window.” Is the window called “14 window” broken or something? I also found that there also was a “14 door” in this nursing home. Can anyone translate what this means? I thought I knew enough English to communicate with people without any problem these days… If you are working in LTC settings, you know what this means. We should stop using numbers and location to identify a “person.” How difficult is it to call “Mary” instead of “14 Window”? These types of insensitive foreign languages exist in LTC, which are not questioned […]

Am I naive?

The Ibasho team and our local partner in Ivory Coast strongly believe that we can create a multi-generational community where elders are valued as a vital asset in sustaining the social and cultural heritage of the community/village.We also believe that this is the right thing to do for elders. In order to make our vision into reality, we are suggesting that elders should have opportunities to teach at the school, educate local villagers about public health and environmental stewardship at the clinic and community center, work at the library, be a mentor for orphans, and stay involved in other functions that normal communities offer to elders in the Ivory Coast. […]

Who is appropriate?

We use the term “appropriate” often in long-term care settings. I wonder how I would feel if someone said: Emi’s mother used to be independent, but her dementia progressed to the point where she is no longer appropriate for the floor for alert and oriented residents. Because she disturbs other people, she should move upstairs to the dementia unit. She can be with people who have similar cognitive and care levels, so that she will be safe and better cared for. I might feel strong resentment toward whoever made this comment. Someone I love will always be appropriate for me, even if their behavior is not always pleasant due to […]

Learn the rules well, so you know how to break them properly

Learn the rules well, so you know how to break them properly. Dalai Lama This quote reminds me that we who are involved in culture change movement need to remember not to be too blindly critical of the current system. If we want to improve the system of long-term care for the elderly, we need to know about both the positive and the negative aspects of the current system, so we know what to keep and what to change. We need to follow the Dalai Lama’s wisdom in order to make effective changes. I would like to pay sincere respect to all the knowledgeable people who are working hard to change […]

Being helped by elders, as usual…

My husband and I had no idea where to go and what to do in the very early morning (5:30 am), when we walked into a local hospital for his surgery (he had broken his arm in three places). While we were trying to figure out what to do at the entrance, two elder volunteer women waved at us with a big smile, and said, “You must be lost. Come with us!”  They took us to the registration room and told us: “You two sweeties, make sure to come to us if you get lost again. We will be at the waiting area.” Their kindness made us feel so much […]

Liberating myself from worry

“If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it’s not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever.”  Dalai Lama XIV I was a bit overwhelmed by all the work that we would need to accomplish to make the Ivory Coast project into reality, and had millions of excuses not to take immediate actions to do something about my concern and worry. Yes, we have limited resources and time at this moment–which I cannot do anything about. However, we can take action to work on the tasks […]

My Ibasho

“What is Ibasho? ” Our conversation always start with this question, when I give my business card to someone. Ibasho is a Japanese term that cannot be translated into one word. It means “whereabouts,” but it also has a psychological meaning of “a place where you feel at home being yourself.” I always questioned the concept of “creating a home” in long-term care settings, because home means different for everyone. How can you build a group home that will feel like home to everyone who comes to live there? Also, the concept of home can be quite confusing to some people, including me. For instance, I was borne and raised […]

Innovation comes from within

Sitting in a design meeting for few hours one day, I was quite discouraged by how little we discussed about how we can make elders’ life better. Instead, 99% of the conversation focused on budget, materials, site restrictions, and how to fit public space and patients’ (not elders’) rooms into the square feet that had already been determined by a bank and a developer. Since I could not think of anything I could add to the discussion, I was quietly listening, trying to understand how people can get so fascinated by building a building, simply forgetting about the people in the building. Then one of the architects asked: “Do you […]

Learned helplessness

When working  in a country where you do not know the system, there are so many things that are out of your control. Throughout our visit in Ivory Coast, I needed to rely on local people for almost everything, such as transportation, food, setting up meetings, shopping, and so on. One of the most difficult challenges that I face in working with people from Ivory Coast is our different concepts of time. I was born and raised in Japan, where everything was structured and punctual, and then moved to the USA where people were rather relaxed compared to Japanese, yet the adjustment was relatively easy and sometime quite pleasant–I do […]

I am still learning

Here’s what my friend Cheryl George wrote about her experience of Ibasho activities in the Ivory Coast: “I am still learning.”  Michelangelo Thanks to Emi for the amazing opportunity to travel to Ivory Coast with the Ibasho team this summer.    The Ivorians I had the honor to meet are such beautiful people and they welcomed us into their lives.  I would like to share some of the things I learned. You can make new friends even if you can’t speak each other’s language very well (but I am looking into taking French classes this fall). We have so much to learn from those who have never created institutions for their […]