Never did anything with elder care communities -- but something pretty close. About 8 years ago, the Northwest Regional Advisor Council for the AARP (American Association of Retired People) decided they needed to focus their mission, purpose, and program. Open Space was the chosen vehicle. The council consisted of some 150 people with an average age of 70+ (actually more on the plus side.) Space opened, and everything happened as usual, but I was a little worried about the reports. We were using computers, and for many of the people involved, a computer was a new and different thing. Most could type, but a computer....????
Anyhow the reports started to come in, and I passed by the Newsroom. There a wonderful lady, obviously in her early 80s, confronted the machine, surrounded by mounds of flip chart paper. Not only was this her first time out, but she happened to have posted *THE* issue, and many people had lots to say. I wondered, and passed on my way. Sometime later I came back just to check. She was obviously making progress, but in a way that pained me. Using a large magnifying glass to see the screen, she punched in her report, one finger at a time. I watched for a moment, and then did what I never would do ordinarily. I came up to her and offered to help. She didn't quite hear me at first, but when she did -- her response was surprising. She turned on me like a mother guarding her children and said, "No young man. I will type my own report!" I tipped my hat and went on my way. And John, No worries! Works just wonderful. Harrison Harrison Owen 7808 River Falls Drive Potomac, Maryland 20845 Phone 301-365-2093 Open Space Training www.openspaceworld.com Open Space Institute www.openspaceworld.org Personal website http://mywebpages.comcast.net/hhowen/index.htm [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives Visit: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html -----Original Message----- From: OSLIST [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of john engle Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2005 9:02 AM To: [email protected] Subject: os with elderly care communities hi again, os listers. i'm talking with leadership at an elderly care community. the president really believes in the power of dialogue. they have about 1,500 people in their community which include several hundred staff and care-givers and nearly 1,000 elderly persons. some of the elderly own their homes which are part of the community and do not need daily care. others live in a special place where they have constant care. leadership's challenge is to foster a cultural change in their community from one of medical care to one of overall social care. they want to engage everyone in conversations about this and are considering organizing one or a couple of day-long open space events during this summer. we're interested in learning about any os events specifically in elderly care communities. thank you for your time and consideration. john engle http://JohnEngle.blogspot.com - Reflections about life and our work. http://JohnEngle.info http://TheExperiment.info _________________________________________________________________ MSN Hotmail : antivirus et antispam intégrés http://www.msn.fr/newhotmail/Default.asp?Ath=f * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist * * ========================================================== [email protected] ------------------------------ To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options, view the archives of [email protected]: http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html To learn about OpenSpaceEmailLists and OSLIST FAQs: http://www.openspaceworld.org/oslist
