Not knowing how the elder would react, I waited. A few days later, I walked into my office and found the returned book along with a hand written note that read, " Tim, Many thanks for sharing this wonderful book with me. I heartily agree with the concept and ideas about cultural change. I pray for the brave souls working to accomplish a better life for all people, old and young!"
Wow! What a response. She got it! She liked it! We were doing the right thing. The very person that might one day live in The Cottages and be cared for by a Shahbaz understood.
That day I had an answer to "What Are Old People For?"
Shah What? (part II)
I tried to quickly think on my feet so I would look knowledgeable and said, " A Shahbaz is a universal worker that will be all by themselves in the house and will do everything." Having built up a great deal of trust in me, she said "Oh," politely nodded and rolled on to her room. Then I started thinking. I could have done better than that. With that description, I may have scared her to death. So I dug out "What Are Old People For?" and re-read the section on the Shahbaz. It made a lot more sense this time. Boy, was I off base in my explanation.
Dr. Thomas chose this word, Shahbaz, because of a mythical story he was familiar with. In the story, a falcon befriends an old man and becomes his protector, sustainer and nurturer. That is cool but the story gets better. Not only did the falcon take care of the old man, but the falcon received new found strengths, powers, and capacities. You see, the marriage of the falcon and the elder was new and beautiful. At the end of the story, everybody won. Life was better for the old man and the falcon. But that is not where the story ends; that is where the story begins. From the pages of a make believe, mythic story, the first Shahbaz came to life in Tupelo, Mississippi. I now had a deeper understanding and respect of the Shahbaz.
So now, when asked, I have a very different answer. A Shahbaz is, first and foremost, a compassionate, giving, selfless person who cares for and advocates for the elders. They work in The Cottages to protect, sustain, and nurture the elders. They plan and prepare meals. They make an environment that is safe and enjoyable. They know, truly know, and love the elders. They learn their habits. They ask the elders what they want and include them in the decisions of the home. They become family. They serve as pastor. They connect. They listen and learn. They soak up wisdom. They open their hearts to the elder which is in direct contrast to what many of us in long term care have done in the past......I will post more about this one day. It's a BIG job, but more than that, it is a calling.
The next day, I went to see the elder that had asked me about the Shahbaz. Knowing that she was an avid reader, I simply handed her the book with the pages marked that told the story of the Shahbaz.....(to be continued.)
Dr. Thomas chose this word, Shahbaz, because of a mythical story he was familiar with. In the story, a falcon befriends an old man and becomes his protector, sustainer and nurturer. That is cool but the story gets better. Not only did the falcon take care of the old man, but the falcon received new found strengths, powers, and capacities. You see, the marriage of the falcon and the elder was new and beautiful. At the end of the story, everybody won. Life was better for the old man and the falcon. But that is not where the story ends; that is where the story begins. From the pages of a make believe, mythic story, the first Shahbaz came to life in Tupelo, Mississippi. I now had a deeper understanding and respect of the Shahbaz.
So now, when asked, I have a very different answer. A Shahbaz is, first and foremost, a compassionate, giving, selfless person who cares for and advocates for the elders. They work in The Cottages to protect, sustain, and nurture the elders. They plan and prepare meals. They make an environment that is safe and enjoyable. They know, truly know, and love the elders. They learn their habits. They ask the elders what they want and include them in the decisions of the home. They become family. They serve as pastor. They connect. They listen and learn. They soak up wisdom. They open their hearts to the elder which is in direct contrast to what many of us in long term care have done in the past......I will post more about this one day. It's a BIG job, but more than that, it is a calling.
The next day, I went to see the elder that had asked me about the Shahbaz. Knowing that she was an avid reader, I simply handed her the book with the pages marked that told the story of the Shahbaz.....(to be continued.)
Shah what? (part I)
Three or more years ago when Terry first introduced us to THE GREEN HOUSE® Model , the thing I noticed right away was that they used funny words. It was like a cult that had it's own language. Now, having worked in health care for 18 plus years, I know we have lots of funny words. But they can always be found in the dictionary.....some of these could not. There began my skepticism. I secretly thought yeah, we may adopt (there I go using one of their words-adopt) some of this stuff but I can't see us walking around in Birmingham, Alabama saying words like eldertopia, convivium or shahbaz (plural is Shahbazim, pronounced shah-bah-zeem). And on top of that, I thought, who would want to be one.
This is where the transformation comes in. Terry had us reading books like "What are Old People For? How Elders Will Save the World", by William H. Thomas, M.D. We had conversations with early adopters, participated in conferences in San Francisco and later in Orlando and even invited Dr. Thomas to come to Birmingham to share his enthusiasm for his vision of where elder care should be. The more we were exposed to this new model of care, the better it sounded. Folks started talking and planning and dreaming and .......let me get back to the word Shahbaz.
I had a very basic understanding of what was going on and where St. Martin's was headed. Things like who the architects were and who the contractors were going to be and how many buildings we wanted to build and how much money we needed to raise. I was prepared to answer all the questions that I knew would be coming my way from my residents (ok, I said residents and I wanted to use it one last time) after the announcement was made that we were building the first GREEN HOUSE® in Alabama..... So one morning as if on cue, an elder rolls up to me and asks "What is a Shahbaz?" That was not on my prepared list of answers......(to be continued)
This is where the transformation comes in. Terry had us reading books like "What are Old People For? How Elders Will Save the World", by William H. Thomas, M.D. We had conversations with early adopters, participated in conferences in San Francisco and later in Orlando and even invited Dr. Thomas to come to Birmingham to share his enthusiasm for his vision of where elder care should be. The more we were exposed to this new model of care, the better it sounded. Folks started talking and planning and dreaming and .......let me get back to the word Shahbaz.
I had a very basic understanding of what was going on and where St. Martin's was headed. Things like who the architects were and who the contractors were going to be and how many buildings we wanted to build and how much money we needed to raise. I was prepared to answer all the questions that I knew would be coming my way from my residents (ok, I said residents and I wanted to use it one last time) after the announcement was made that we were building the first GREEN HOUSE® in Alabama..... So one morning as if on cue, an elder rolls up to me and asks "What is a Shahbaz?" That was not on my prepared list of answers......(to be continued)
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