• HOME
  • About
    • Highlighted Initiatives
    • Selected Clients & Collaborators
    • Selected Presentations
    • Faculty
    • Coalitions Founded
  • Catalog
    • Workshop Titles
    • Continuing Education
  • Blog
  • Contact
Borrow My Glasses®

Three 20-Somethings Try to Understand the Older Generation’s Response to Coronavirus

4/24/2020

0 Comments

 

By Donna B. Fedus

With Reports from Lindsay Ross, Rebecca George, Lexie Evon

Just stay home, already! People seem exasperated with their older relatives who have trouble staying home to avoid coronavirus exposure. The common belief is that older adults either don’t get it, or don’t appreciate all the social distancing being done to keep them safe.
 
Assuming this is true, why would so many older people ignore sensible social distancing guidance put in place to protect them, and disregard well-meaning requests from their children?
 
As a gerontologist educator, I say maybe we should ask them. 
 
Seeking Intergenerational Understanding
 
In order to better understand older adults’ response to coronavirus, I worked with three 20-somethings, my former

Read More
0 Comments

Eulogy for Joan Blumenfeld

8/13/2017

1 Comment

 
​I first met Joan as a student. She was the student. I was in my mid 40s and she was in her mid 70s. Joan participated generously in the courses I gave even though she could have taught many of the subjects herself.
 
Over the years, Joan became a colleague, mentor and friend. Our relationship got much closer when we created a class together on PTSD and dementia. We exchanged ideas in flurries of emails and multiple meetings.
 
Once the class was over we continued to meet for dinner and lectures, and Joan invited me to join the networking group she hosted.She was so proud of the fact that as of the month before she died, the group had been meeting for 17 years – without an agenda, officers, minutes, or even a pot of coffee.
 
Then, last year, Joan allowed her photo and a few facts about her life to be used for a program I designed to challenge age stereotypes. Nearly 200 people attended the event where they learned that at age 84, Joan took ballroom, ballet and Pilate’s classes every week. She couldn’t attend because she had just returned the day before from a trip to Alaska.
 
We set up a lunch date to catch up after her trip – but never met. Little did we know what that week in October would bring for her. 

Read More
1 Comment

Joan's Journey: Teaching End of Life While Living It

6/16/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
​Most people have a lot to learn about navigating end of life issues. My dear friend/colleague/mentor Joan Blumenfeld, 85, is learning firsthand through her own end of life experience, and she is serving as a guide for anyone who hears her story.
 
Joan says, “I mention stage IV lung cancer whenever it is appropriate. I always feel I’m bringing some light to a big taboo that is good for others to talk about and see me talk about it without falling apart!!!”
 
More to the point, Joan is dying. We will all die someday, but Joan is aware that her days on earth are limited. She was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer in August 2016.
 
Joan is also living. 

Read More
0 Comments

Time to Reframe Senior Moments

10/26/2016

0 Comments

 
Guest blog for AARP Connecticut by Donna Fedus, Gerontologist & Founder, Borrow My Glasses

states.aarp.org/time-reframe-senior-moments/

0 Comments

Revolutionize Aging: Students for Aging

9/22/2016

0 Comments

 
Guest blog for AARP Connecticut by Donna Fedus, Gerontologist & Founder, Borrow My Glasses

states.aarp.org/revolutionize-aging-students-aging/
0 Comments

Dignity, Frustration, and a Caregiver's Dilemma

1/24/2016

1 Comment

 
The balance is slowly beginning to shift in a couple, with the husband at the very early stages of cognitive impairment and the wife taking on increasing responsibility for many aspects of their lives, including monitoring his health and triggering his memory during medical appointments. Women typically serve as the “Health CEO” of their family, but these days, the wife finds it especially important to attend doctor visits with her husband. He doesn’t always remember to tell her what the doctor said, and doesn’t usually ask all the questions the couple listed ahead of each appointment. So the wife has become the chief list-keeper, memory-sparker, question-asker, and record-keeper.
 
One major item on the list ahead of tomorrow’s doctor’s appointment is sleep quality, which the couple agreed has been problematic. Ever since hip replacement surgery a month prior, the husband can’t sleep. He’s up pacing at night, and dozing more frequently during the day. It’s disruptive for both of them. He’s been up every night for four weeks. Then, as luck would have it, the night before the doctor’s appointment, he sleeps all night.
 
The next day, the wife brings up the issue of sleep quality to the doctor, and the husband chimes in, “I sleep fine.” She’s shocked. He’s had restless sleep for 30 of the past 31 nights. She’s thinking fast. Does she push the issue? Would that embarrass him? Would he dispute her version of reality?

Read More
1 Comment

    Author

    Donna B. Fedus, M.A., Gerontologist & Founder
    Borrow My Glasses, LLC

    Picture

    Archives

    April 2020
    August 2017
    June 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    January 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.