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‘Re-Creating Neighborhoods for Successful Aging’ – Excellent New Book

December 14, 2009 | by Naomi Sachs

This from a recent New York Times article:

“In two years, baby boomers will start to retire [if they haven’t been forced to already due to the recession!], and by 2030 the number of American’s elderly is expected to reach 72 million, more than double the number in 2000. Demographers expect the suburbs to age particularly quickly, as residents retire close to home, or as those who have already moved to the Sun Belt return to live near relatives as they grow frail.”*

Those are some pretty astonishing numbers. It’s what some people have referred to as “the baby-boomer tsunami,” and we as a culture need to start planning and designing now. Luckily, some people have been already.

Re-creating Neighborhoods for Successful Aging edited by Pauline S. Abbott, Nancy Carman, Jack Carman (who serves on the Therapeutic Landscapes Network’s Advisory Board), and Bob Scarfo, is a timely new book that addresses these issues and highlights interesting and creative solutions. Drawing from the fields of gerontology, health sciences, community planning, landscape architecture, and environmental design, the book provides an in-depth examination of current elder housing practices and strategies, alongside goals for the future.

Housing models, such as continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs), shared housing, and co-housing, are evaluated, and best practice recommendations are presented. Expert contributors also incisively explore interdisciplinary issues including

the causal relationship between health and the environment
challenges posed by America’s automobile-dependent suburban communities
elder-friendly design principles, including universal design and defensible space
restorative benefits of nature and green environments
assistive technology that can support older adults’ independence
retrofitting of naturally occurring retirement communities (NORCs)

The book closes with an inspiring look at opportunities for future collaboration of the health sciences and the planning and design professions for the realization of supportive, life-affirming communities that will result in healthy aging, active living, and continued social participation for older adults.

*”Suburbs See a Challenge as Residents Grow Old,” New York Times ‘Metropolitan’ section, December 6, 2009, pp. 1 & 8.

A New Way to Improve Quality of Life for Seniors: Excellent DVD Series (with a discount for us!)

December 10, 2009 | by Naomi Sachs

Five years ago, Susan Rodiek embarked on a project to create a series of DVDs about providing better access to nature for older adults. Rodiek, a professor at Texas A & M University’s Center for Health Systems & Design, specializes in senior populations, and access to nature has long been a focus for her research and teaching.

Those years of hard work have paid off. I received my “Access to Nature for Older Adults” DVDs last week and I’m truly impressed. The three-DVD series is not just instructional – it’s downright inspiring. With beautiful imagery, compelling research and interviews, easily digestible information, and a lot of real, practical solutions to common problems, it’s a must-watch and a must-have for architects, landscape architects, planners, educators, and any care provider who works with seniors in continuing care retirement communities, assisted living facilities, nursing homes, hospices, as well as acute care general hospitals.

Session One, The Value of Nature, describes how access to nature may benefit the health of seniors, from the perspective of experts and available research – addressing the role of programs, policies, and design issues.

Session Two, Improving Outdoor Access, explores how the layout of the building itself can either encourage or discourage outdoor access, and how specific areas – such as indoor-outdoor connections – can be successfully developed.

Session Three, Safe and Usable Outdoor Spaces, highlights the main outdoor features that are reported by residents to impact their outdoor usage, and how these can be improved. Seating, shade, and walkways are among the outdoor elements illustrated.

The Access to Nature website is also chock-full of good information. Some of it is accessible to everyone, and some of it is only accessible if you have the DVDs. So go ahead and buy them! You won’t be sorry.

Receive a 10% discount: Between now and the end of January 2010, Therapeutic Landscapes Network members and readers of this blog will receive a 10% a discount when you buy any or all of the Access to Nature DVDs. Just enter this promotional code in the checkout section on the Access to Nature website: TLNA2N.

The TLN Store is Now Open!

December 8, 2009 | by Naomi Sachs

The TLN Store is up and running!

The virtual doors have been flung open, the shopping carts are waiting to be stuffed, the products are poised to fly off the shelves. So stop in, do your holiday shopping, and tell a friend or two or three. All proceeds go to the Therapeutic Landscapes Network. Thank you, and happy shopping!

Our beautiful echinacea “mascot” is courtesy of (and copyright) Henry Domke – many thanks, Henry.

Upcoming Conferences on Environments for Aging

December 3, 2009 | by Naomi Sachs

Image courtesy of Henry Domke

Though they’re about 4,000 miles away from each other, both of these upcoming conferences look really good. If you’re looking to learn more about this subject, connect with others in this field, or earn CEUs, here are two excellent opportunities.

Elderly Care By Design International Symposium and Workshop
London, England, Feb 18, 2010

“Examining how investment in the design of environments for older people, from hospitals to residential facilities, nursing homes and facilities for the end of life, can support independent living, health and wellbeing, the event will be attended by an interdisciplinary mix of researchers and practitioners from government, academia, health and social care providers, and private industry.”

Environments for Aging .10
San Diego, CA, March 21-23, 2010
Founded and produced by Long-Term Living magazine and the Center for Health Design.

“Environments for Aging is a comprehensive, three-day experience to explore new ideas for creating appealing and supportive places for people as they age. The program will enable you to share common goals, innovations and best practices, and to gain inspiration through a gathering of like-minded individuals who have a vision for the future and who will be instrumental in shaping it.”

If you register by 12/31, you save $440.www.efa10.com.

Know of other good conferences that our members would want to know about? Leave a comment, or contact us through the TLN website.

Upcoming Conferences on Environments for Aging

| by Naomi Sachs

Image courtesy of Henry Domke

Elderly Care By Design International Symposium and Workshop

London, England, Feb 18, 2010

“Examining how investment in the design of environments for older people, from hospitals to residential facilities, nursing homes and facilities for the end of life, can support independent living, health and wellbeing, the event will be attended by an interdisciplinary mix of researchers and practitioners from government, academia, health and social care providers, and private industry.”

Environments for Aging .10

San Diego, CA, March 21-23, 2010

Founded and produced by Long-Term Living magazine and the Center for Health Design.

“Environments for Aging is a comprehensive, three-day experience to explore new ideas for creating appealing and supportive places for people as they age. The program will enable you to share common goals, innovations and best practices, and to gain inspiration through a gathering of like-minded individuals who have a vision for the future and who will be instrumental in shaping it.”

If you register by 12/31, you save $440.www.efa10.com.

Know of other good conferences that our members would want to know about? Leave a comment, or contact us through the TLN website.

Therapeutic Gardens Bloom in Senior Living Communities

December 2, 2009 | by Naomi Sachs

Intergenerational gardening at Glacier Hills Retirement Community

Continuing our discussion on “aging in nature,” here’s a great article from Assisted Living Success. I’ve cut and pasted the first section here, but I strongly encourage readers to click on the link to read the full article. Full of all lots of good information and inspiration about gardens for seniors, including some great “how to” tips.

Therapeutic Gardens Bloom in Senior Living Communities

By Mona Del Sole

Drifting through the garden at sunset is the aroma of just-picked basil and tomatoes mixing with the perfume of lavender. My grandmother clanks down her garden tools brought from home, gathers her harvest and shuffles along the winding pathway. Pausing to remember her way, she’s guided by a specially designed walkway and soothed by whispers of a poetry reading nearby. She places one foot in front of the next toward what seems an uncertain destination. Soon her journey safely ends at the patio where she began, greeted by friends and iced tea.

Perhaps you’ve heard them called restorative, healing or memory gardens. Or maybe you’ve not heard about the therapeutic garden before now. Yet there is mounting research on the benefits of these specially designed gardens and an increase in their establishment within senior living communities.

Want to boost staff retention? Some say that you should consider the therapeutic garden. Reduced resident stress, improved satisfaction and better health outcomes are being reported for residents. And, for families who are dealing with the transition of a loved one from home to facility, the garden is an attractive feature. After all, it is likely that gardening was once a favorite hobby.

Meander through a therapeutic garden and you’ll find carefully selected flowering perennials, annuals, shrubs and trees. Containers and furniture are strategically placed to create spaces that are inviting and enjoyable. Discover sitting areas with specific themes such as a butterfly garden, sensory garden, vegetable garden, fragrant garden and shade garden. Safety, comfort and meeting the needs of the senior population are key elements of the design.

To read the rest of the article, click here. You can also order reprints from this site.

In the above photo, a resident of Glacier Hills Retirement Community in Ann Arbor, MI gardens with students from the Go Like the Wind Montessori School through a project called GRO – Generations Reaching Out. To learn more, visit the ElderTree Network. Many thanks to Suzanne for sending the image and links!

Aging in Nature – It’s Never Too Late to Play Outdoors!

November 21, 2009 | by Naomi Sachs

“Mac” in his garden in Santa Fe, NM

In my next few posts, I’m going to focus on the over 60 set, as there’s a lot of great research and design about therapeutic landscapes for seniors. This is such an important area of our field. Having access to and being active in the outdoors is good for everyone, but I would venture to say (backed up by research) that it’s especially critical for the youngest and oldest generations.

Young kids need fresh air, sunlight (remember rickets? It’s coming back because kids aren’t getting enough Vitamin D!), exercise, and the sense of discovery that only the natural world can provide; it’s essential for physical, mental, and emotional development.

And much later in life, as getting out and about becomes more difficult, interaction with nature becomes all the more important – perhaps even more so than in between youth and old age. Exercise maintains health by stimulating blood flow, keeping muscles strong and ligaments flexible, and by maintaining bone density and strength. Staying interested in the outdoors provides continued sensory stimulation, which keeps the mind as well as the body active and strong. Getting outside also facilitates social interaction, a critical factor in maintaining well-being. More specifics on all of this, and mentions of good resources, in the next few posts.

In the meantime, a personal story: Above is a picture of Mac. He was my neighbor in Santa Fe, before I moved to the Hudson Valley, and he hired me to design a garden for him and his wife. They both had loved to garden in their younger years, but due to her very limited mobility and his near-blindness (that’s black tape over his glasses lens, before he got an eye patch), they had stopped. Their back yard was a wasteland of weeds and gravel that was impossible to navigate. We worked on a plan that would provide a smooth walking surface (colored concrete) with several places to stop along the way, as well as destinations to move toward; plants that provided shade, seasonal interest, sensory stimulation, and that attracted wildlife; and a design that they could also see and enjoy from inside the house, and that would entice them outside (in sight = in mind).

And we were pretty successful. The week that the garden was finished, Kay – who had not been in her back yard for years, and who hardly went outside period – ventured out with her walker, with Mac by her side. After that, they walked through the garden every day, several times a day. In good weather (which in Santa Fe is most of the time) they walked to “their” apple tree (they had planted it as a sapling decades ago), the farthest place from the door, and sat side by side in its shade, gazing out, commenting on the darting hummingbirds, or what was blooming, or how much water the mossrock boulders had collected in the afternoon’s rainstorm. After a few months, I started to see them walking up and down the sidewalk on the street as well – Kay had gotten strong enough to venture out of their small back yard garden and take on the more challenging slope of our street. This was especially encouraging because it meant that she had the opportunity to interact with neighbors, thereby broadening a social circle that had gotten pretty darn narrow.

So, this is but one of many, many examples of the power of one healing garden to change and improve someone’s quality of life. It’s never too late to play outdoors, and it’s up to us to help make that happen. Do you have a good example that you’d like to share? Please leave a comment! I would love to start gathering more of these stories, because as convincing as the quantitative research is and as much as we need it, I think it’s the personal stories that resonate and motive individuals. If you can share images, too, all the better.

Photograph by Lee Anne White

TKF Foundation Seeks Firesoul Guide & Office Manager

November 17, 2009 | by Naomi Sachs

Image courtesy of Robert Rodriguez Jr.

The TKF Foundation, a wonderful organization based in Annapolis, MD, is seeking a “Firesoul Guide” and Office Manager.

Firesouls are the “sparks behind the creation of sacred spaces. Their energy, enthusiasm, patience, and persistence inspire communities to come together around the creation and use of public greenspaces.” The TKF foundation is a private grant-making foundation whose purpose is to create “Open Spaces, Sacred Places.” It partners with organizations to create sacred places which increase a sense of community and contribute to a deepening of human connections.” They do excellent work, and they’re looking for the right person to help.

For the full job description and contact details, visit the TKF website.

Other TLN blog posts about the TKF Foundation include a review of their book Open Spaces, Sacred Places, and a link to a good article by Anne Raver in the New York Times.

The Seeds That Are Watered Frequently (Thich Nhat Hanh)

November 15, 2009 | by Naomi Sachs

Image of bur oak courtesy of Henry Domke Fine Art

Your mind is like a piece of land planted with many different kinds of seeds: seeds of joy, peace, mindfulness, understanding, and love; seeds of craving, anger, fear, hate, and forgetfulness. These wholesome and unwholesome seeds are always there, sleeping in the soil of your mind. The quality of your life depends on the seeds you water. If you plant tomato seeds in your gardens, tomatoes will grow. Just so, if you water a seed of peace in your mind, peace will grow. When the seeds of happiness in you are watered, you will become happy. When the seed of anger in you is watered, you will become angry. The seeds that are watered frequently are those that will grow strong.

– Thich Nhat Hanh in Anh-Huong & Hanh, 2006, 22

Tomorrow! Making Space for Therapeutic Horticulture

November 12, 2009 | by Naomi Sachs

Image courtesy of Anne Dailey

If you are a horticultural therapist or a designer of healing gardens and other restorative outdoor environments and you live in or near NYC, don’t walk – run – to this tomorrow:

“Making Space for Therapeutic Horticulture”

Therapeutic Horticulture Network Group Meeting

Friday, November 13, 1-4 pm

“Making space for therapeutic horticulture – at our institutions, on our grounds, and in our busy schedules – can be a challenge. Come prepared to share your stories about making space for therapeutic horticulture in your work. There will be lots of time for networking, so don’t forget to bring your business cards!”

At the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 1000 Washington Avenue between Parkway and Empire Blvd.

The afternoon will feature networking activities and will include brief presentations on local therapeutic horticulture projects. Refreshments will be served throughout the meeting.

Thanks to Anne Wiesen, the beautiful brains behind the Restorative Commons, for sending information about this meeting.