If needed, use these links to increase or decrease the font size on this page. - Smaller Font | + Larger Font
April 2005
The Periodic Midlife/Longlife Update E-newsletter
The Periodic Midlife/Longlife Update E-newsletter is devoted to sharing information and enhancing excellence in ongoing faith and holistic formation for maturing adults from midlife through end of life.
Bill Prather, Founder and Director
Partners in Pastoral Care
Seeks to provide members with an ongoing flow of practical information that leader/models can use directly with adults of all ages, and by offering training through its educational arm . All opinions expressed herein are those of the author. Permission is granted to reproduce this issue in whole or in part as long as its source is identified.
8695 College Parkway The Renaissance Executive Building
Suite 327 Fort Myers , FL 33919 239 466 8664 Shepardscare@aol.com
In This Issue:
If only Terri had a "Living Will"
Interesting R esearch Shows Pet/Health Link
An Award Winning Publication You can Use, Free!
85% of Baby BoomersWon’t Receive an Inheritance
1. Tragic, terrifying, traumatic and travesty are just four words that describe the life of Mrs. Terri Schiavo since she collapsed in her home from possible potassium imbalance, temporarily stopping her heart and cutting off oxygen to her brain, February 25, 1990.
I can’t imagine the terrifying sense that must have enveloped every person who intimately loved Terri, when physicians testified her brain damage was so severe that there was no hope she would ever have any cognitive abilities.
Can you imagine the traumatic sense of responsibility that Michael must have had when he requested to have his wife’s feeding tube removed due to her expressed verbal wishes? I have been present with a spouse, child or family, on many occasions when this is done. Just thinking about it at this moment brings, a lump to my throat, chills and a gnawing deep within. My experience has been that on those occasions when a living will is being honored, the sadness and grief is not as pronounced and a real peace prevails knowing that the wishes of the loved one are being honored.
Can you imagine the tragic sense of loss that Terri’s mother and father had and still apparently have, never having heard or read Terri’s expression of her wishes about being kept alive with artificial life support? I only know how I responded, emotionally and physically, a few weeks ago when I read my daughter and son-in-law’s living will . I just can not bring myself to consider that my child should ever be in such a condition. I’m horrified to think that she would ever be in such a condition. I am sure that I would cry out also, “There is hope!” “Give her a chance!”
On the other hand, knowing her wishes expressed in the living will , I accept and would submit to them.
I am not about to hand out any judgment to any one or group of people that love Terri Schiavo. What a travesty to have a family torn apart! But I do know from experience that this travesty surrounding the issue of being kept alive artificially would not have happened if Terri had a living will .
It is estimated that 70 percent of adults have no living will. Of those over the age of 50, 87 percent have no living will.
A living will allows you to let your family and if you wish, friends and, importantly, health care providers, know what your wishes are in case you are incapacitated. Here are a few points you should consider in making a living will.
Act now: The biggest danger is waiting until it is too late, and youth is not necessarily going to protect you. What about the scenario where the youth pastor’s wife is brain dead due to an auto accident and her family, who lives 2,000 miles away, does not know her wishes about artificial life?
Make your wishes known: Sign a living will in front of witnesses so your decision won’t be a secret. If you don’t tell someone, nobody will know.
Give authority clearly: For example, if you have numerous children, make sure you make it very clear that one of them will make your wishes come to be.
Don’t fool yourself: Many people put off making a living will because they think they will be able to make a decision in time themselves. But we are not always in a position to do that.
Details: Be careful about saying exactly what you want. For example, set up a signal you can give your family if you’re no longer able to speak.
Get advice: PIPC offers a workshop and facilitates help in providing documents which address not only legal and medical issues but the emotional and spiritual concerns people face when terminally ill, incapacitated or dying.
My dear colleague, when we become involved in presenting issues such as this, we are ministering! If we do not do it in the church, where will it happen? In the media? In the courts? In the chambers of Legislature?
PIPC keeps on the cutting edge of death and dying issues along with each state’s required documents and directives, therefore providing seminars and workshops throughout the United States. This particular workshop title: Difficult Time – Difficult Decisions. If you would like to know more about this presentation of ministry you can contact me via the e-mail address, writing, faxing or telephoning. Don't wait any longer to provide your constituents with the opportunity to make their living wills come alive!
2. PAWsitive InterAction, a public/private partnership committed to promoting the human/animal bond, reports that pets are a good influence on the health of seniors.
The group has a report out — Pets and Aging: Science Supports the Human/Animal Bond — that highlights the health benefits of pets for seniors. The report confirms what many pet owners already sense: Animals can do more than lift your spirit, boost your energy and increase your activity level. They can significantly enhance your physical and mental health.
A cancer specialist from the Mayo Clinic says that seniors with pets have 21 percent fewer physician visits, lower blood pressure and better coping skills.
Many senior housing facilities now allow residents to keep pets. Some arrange pet-therapy visits or field trips. Social networks are crucial to seniors' well-being. The idea that pets are part of that network is enough to give anyone paws.
3. The Hartford Financial Services Group has received the American Society on Aging Business and Aging Award. Well deserved, I would say. Isn’t one of the BIG issues in later life, the issue of releasing the act of driving? This is the best program I have seen anywhere about older drivers and their families – how they can work together to prolong the safe driving span, and how families and their aging loved ones can have successful and timely conversations about the appropriateness of continued driving.
My fellow colleagues, this can be a powerful tool for ministry if a little creativity and prayer is given to it. And there is no cost! It’s been a long time since reviewing such masterful, meaningful, material that cost nothing. To order free copies, use the convenient order form under the “brochure” tab on their website: www.thehartford.com/talkwitholderdrives for We Need to Talk. Another wonderful publication that has been produced along with the MIT AgeLab is Crossroads which can be ordered free also from: www.thehartford.com/alzheimers . For you that minister in Spanish, they also will have a Spanish version by the fall of 2005.
4. It has been reported that some $10 trillion will be inherited over the next 40 years—but most of those assets will go to only a small number of people. Reason: Most boomers’ parents have a lot of income that is not transferable, such as annuities, pensions and Social Security.
Source: John Gist, associate director, AARP Public Policy Institute, Washington, DC.
This periodic e-newsletter is sent free of charge to pastors, leaders and interested individuals. If you have friends that would like to receive this newsletter, please have them e-mail Shepardscare@aol.com and we will add them to our list. If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter please e-mail Shepardscare@aol.com and put the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line."
The Periodic Midlife/Longlife Update E-newsletter Archives :
