A Vital Life Community has participants that are gathered together because they share core values, ideals and life goals that the community is geared to support. The primary goal is to achieve maximum personal wellness and living an active life!
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Beyond the basic obvious needs of safety, shelter, services and socialization what is it that makes one community better than another? What is it that allows people to live in safety, comfort and joy? Is it possible for people to enjoy vitality in their lives, while living a quality life that is affordable?
Following Maslow’s hierarchy of Needs, it is assumed that all humans desire physiological care, safety, nutrition and self-esteem, with the later only being realized in a social construct that we call “Community.” But while all communities share similarities, they are each different. Each has a brand identity specific to relevant climate, geographic position, and relationship to transportation confluence.
Often, existing communities “reinvent” themselves to attract new migrants. They will focus on life quality; the specific components that they think will attract the type of people they would like to have as neighbors.
And for those people who are easily mobile, they WILL move, if necessary, to find that place that will give them affordable safety and a quality lifestyle. If they move to a specific community because they share similar values and specific goals, then the community is identified as an “Affinity Community.” A Del Webb retirement community is an “Affinity Community” –as the residents all have retirement needs in common.
In today’s mobile society, the nuclear family has been under siege, and often times has been split up as each generational group moves to places that they feel will give them the greatest opportunity for successful jobs. This may be in one instance a positive thing, but jobs are perishable for the most part and the family social support when all else fails is another factor that is all too often undervalued. The less support structure we have, the less options are available.
The Vital Life Community can become the extended family unit that replaces the genetic family that has often moved away. Participating individuals are afforded the hope of a better life and the potential of reversing the trend towards abject poverty and severe chronic health problems. To know more about these potential threats, read on.
The experiment of the Great Society has come and gone, leaving some recipients of the political and social largess quite satisfied. However, too many others have to pay debts they did not incur for services they never received, and are left quite bewildered.
In the land of plenty, it was deemed, there is more than enough to go around. However, program after program has been touted and abandoned by the Federal Government. Our political leaders want to be known as a “safety net of first and last resort,” but in actuality, often times their sole purpose is doing what it takes to get our votes. But all the while – Republican and Democrat alike – pile up excessive national debt and the poor still remain so, though in larger numbers than before.
And now in 2006, we find that the “poor” take on a new meaning. Those who thought they were middle-class, are increasingly becoming the “latent poor” – they just are not aware of it yet.
THE NEW EMERGING CLASS OF THE POOR – ONCE MIDDLE CLASS
Are we approaching the era of the disappearance of the American middle class? Will we be left with only the super rich and super poor?
In the Frontline PBS presentation “Can You Afford To Retire?”1 an epiphany was delivered to the viewing nation; the boomer generation is predicted to have a long life span, but be short on retirement funds. Stunned viewers watched a financial CATscan of their future and discovered a latent morbidity that will dramatically change their lives forever.
The specter of living without income in the years between the date of retirement and the ultimate life expectancy destination is now sending shivers of anxiety throughout America. The vision of twenty to twenty-five years of unfunded life bodes ill for our anticipated retirement lifestyle, let alone the critical components of survival – healthcare.
The well-being of the middle class of America is now threatened as the promises and entitlements promulgated during the good times are silently being restructured by both governmental agencies and corporate America as they brace for the bad times.
Those who sold the nation a bill of goods to get votes or recruit employees, whether sincere or sinister, are now long gone, and their progeny are left holding the collective bag.
“I would say, unless you're fortunate to be in the upper-income quartiles, that you're probably going to be in for a very rough ride," says Jack VanDerhei of the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). "You're not going to have sufficient monies to pay the predictable expenses -- your housing, your utilities, your food -- plus the potential catastrophic medical care costs." 1
The fact is that overreaching demands were made by society and unrealistic promises were proffered throughout the entirety of our national and societal entitlement construct. This reveals the inadequacy of a “big brother” safety net guarantee system versus that of self-reliance.
Without the benefit of accountability no contracts can be mutually assured. How do you hold a congress who promised an entitlement, accountable, when the congress that has to pay for the entitlement two decades later has inherited a legacy of campaign promises that have no safe bonds?
How do you hold a corporation accountable for retirement programs when the corporation is no one in particular? Corporations change in context and org chart from month to month, and year to year. The word “corporation” stems from the Latin “not of one mind” – and we see thousands of workers holding accountable in the end… – just who?
Who will pay when Enron folds, and United Airlines restructures? Where will the money come from?
When you are walking the high wire and someone takes away your safety net, then balance becomes critical. This paper is about balance, keeping our balance when all those around us are losing theirs. But make no mistake, even if we get our act together, we WILL PAY for those who have not or won’t.
But we can only do the best we can do. And the best we can do now is to make an investment into the most critical mutual fund that we can find, and I suggest to you that this would be The Vital Life Community Preventative Wellness Program!
JUST WHAT IS A VITAL LIFE COMMUNITY?
To communicate simply, The Vitalife Community is any entity of individuals with shared affinity values who have gathered together for their common good – in this case to advance the potential for their highest and best health forevermore – employing a program designated as The Vital Life Community Preventative Wellness Program.
These communities can be individual or a collective of:
- Schools or colleges
- Small towns
- Community Homeowner Associations
- Small businesses
- Corporations
- Retirement Communities
- Resort Communities
- Or any other affinity organization that is dedicated to advanced pursuits of long-term wellness with an emphasis on prevention. An additional emphasis would be the eight bands of the spectrum of whole and vital health – those being:
- Social
- Spiritual
- Physical
- Intellectual
- Vocational
- Emotional
- Environmental
- Nutritional
THE FUNDAMENTAL FOCUS
The fundamental focus of the Vitalife Community Preventative Wellness Program (VCPWP) is the marshalling of the discretionary resources of time, talent and treasure, towards the activities and programs that will garner the greatest benefit for the least resource expenditure. This is in terms of promoting good health and realizing a reduction of the incidence of morbidity within a closed social organization.
This would be no different than simple decisions a couple might make about promoting their own good health within two dimensions:
· Prevention: they may take daily walks, and plan carefully what they eat
· Intercession: upon one partner finding out they have been diagnosed with the high bad cholesterol, they increase their amount of exercise and modify their diet. He or she will target the foods that will have an intercessory impact on the malady discovered with hopes of reversing a negative trend.
The partner diagnosed with the high cholesterol could either ratchet up the focus on what they eat, as they are the one with the diagnosed problem, or the other partner could see the wisdom in joining the modification of their diet as a precautionary measure.
To ensure that they are accomplishing results, they might start with a whole body health analysis, and periodically measure results against personal and national benchmarks. Special emphasis could be placed on the cholesterol issue. Quarterly testing would determine if their program is working and having the desired effect.
They may also measure blood pressure, heart rate/pulse, weight, body fat, and clothing size every month as near-term feedback indicators. This would enable them to modify their health/fitness regimen, to ensure the desired results.
Extrapolate what an intelligent forward thinking couple may do in their own personal domestic program and then add community support and involvement; you will have something very vibrant and positive.
The key is sustainability. Sustainability requires a program with:
- A focused need: how about good health and reduction of healthcare costs to avoid poverty?
- Benchmarking to a norm of determinants that will help define target goals and indicate the degree of progress that is being achieved against parallel cohorts.
- An easily communicated targeted (wellness) program with goals, rules, language, and defined targeted outcomes .
- Accountability via the sharing of outcomes and mutual celebration of success.
- Proclamation of benefits via measuring reduced costs of expenses and other resources that are devoted to health maintenance and intercession
WHY NOW?
One might ask, “why now?” Americans have known all along the importance of good health and yet our national health profile is a national disgrace. Why now would we as a nation decide to change our ways?
The answer is, unfortunately, the most valued assets of lifestyle we Americans seem to worship are our time and treasure. If you want to know what is valuable to a person look at their calendar (where they choose to spend their time and doing what) and their check book (what they spend their money on).
Time and Money – this is the national currency and both are diminishing rapidly and for many both will disappear.
"The nightmare I have," says pension expert Brooks Hamilton, "is the vision of people … outliving their retirement income and being down to Social Security." The shock waves may reverberate through the entire economy. Hamilton continues, "what holds up our economy is consumer spending. When retirees are 20 percent of the population and out of money, then 'poof,' there goes the economy."1
The tragedy that is envisioned is that of a life with only Social Security funding.
What, do you imagine, what will life be without Social Security?
A NATIONAL CRISIS THAT MAY BE INEVITABLE!
The tea leaves are already in place to read, and they read for the “reactive” segment of our society, the crisis of unbridled impact is heading our way like the perfect storm. Only those that leave town now (abandon our current lifestyle) and move from harms way (a new approach to living) have a chance.
If you are wealthy and money cannot buy the goods and services you need (healthcare) then what is the benefit of being wealthy? If you have saved money and there are not enough care givers to go around (two day wait at an emergency room if you could afford it) what difference does it make?
The only sane policy is prevention.
Lacking that ability, the required policy is intercession.
The time line is now.
WHAT SHOULD BE OUR FOCUS?
If the single largest struggle we have to face in only just a few years is the astronomical cost of living led by skyrocketing healthcare and energy costs, then doesn’t it make sense to symbiotically align ourselves with others for protection? By creating lifestyle curriculums where we can leverage mutuality, and implement support programs through a social format; this is the way to not only survive but to thrive!
Energy costs- When was the last time you saw in a newspaper an article about a solar house? Why aren’t the bulk of Americans driving cars that average over 30 miles per gallon? As an architect, I have not had a client ask me to design a energy efficient building since 1975.
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Healthcare costs: When was the last time you ate in a restaurant that served reasonably sized portions? How many people do you know that center their lifestyle around and healthy living?
The bulk of Americans will not exercise; will not even take a walk – and if they do, it will certainly not be alone. But they might be coerced into changing habits and lifestyles if nudged by supportive friends, family and neighbors that they care about.
In our mobile society there are too many isolated people who cannot join with their family to take advantage of the social leverage that the group can offer. They, often in silo’s of desperation, have slimmer margins and resources with which to survive.
Only a regeneration of the power of family, via an extended family in the ACT of Community will prevail and provide sanctuary in the near term.
For many communities there is an “ideal” size. Too large and it becomes too impersonal. Too small and it becomes too limited. But for any affinity social group from 50 to 3,000 the Vitalife Community construct can be applied readily.
THE ACT OF COMMUNITY – A DECLARATOIN OF INTERDEPENDENCE
Americans have prized “Independence” over the years, and yet that very independence was achieved by great acts of “Interdependence.” In our major wars, specifically the Revolutionary War, Civil War, and WWII, millions gave their lives “inter-dependently” so others could live free and independently.
Many of us utilize interdependence in our own lives. Interestingly, studies have shown that those who are married, even unhappily married have better health indicators than those who live alone. As we retire we will see a new paradigm – different from that of our parents. New conditions will require new constructs.
The constructs that pertain to the Vitalife Community Concept is especially relevant to women. In today’s age, we now have more divorces, and in addition, statistically women live longer than men. These two factors suggest the possibility that many women in their later years will retire living alone. Wait – did I say retire?
"What is the meaning of retirement if the only way you can live is to work?" asks Notre Dame professor Teresa Ghilarducci. "The answer is there is no meaning to retirement anymore. We are now shifting from lifetime pensions to lifetime work. It's the end of retirement."1
If professor Ghilarducci is correct, and we will not ever be able to stop working because we cannot afford not to – then doesn’t that make another paradigm shift a necessity?
If we can’t afford to stop working because we are without adequate resources, then doesn’t it stand to reason that our personal health is prioritzed so we can continue to work, so we can afford to live? Shouldn’t our whole focus of our work place and the community in which we live be centered around optimum health and wellness?
Shouldn’t recess, athletics and nutritional education be mandatory in programs of grade schools? These key components of life skills also needs to be taught in high schools and wellness programs. They should be not only taught, but nurtured, measured, rewarded and celebrated be the norm in colleges and the workplaces.
Shouldn’t the nation be obsessed with good health and wellness that only a vital community can provide?
We can’t afford not to do otherwise! So the question is how?
Ladies and Gentlemen – I offer you the Vitalife Community Preventative Wellness Program.
It is important to answer the question, “Why focus on this program – why not another?”
The answer will be evident if you will invest one half hour of your time to conduct research that might modify your thinking and change your mindset.
Go to “Google”. Type in any one of the following search or key words:
- Health
- Wellness
- Vitality
- Prevention
How often can you find ANY program, which will provide you with the following benefits or constructs:
- A simple easy to understand personal and community wellness construct
- Simple language, logical categories, and an easy system with which to build your own program. This can be as simple or complex as you deem appropriate. You would be able to COMPARE IT and SHARE IT with others.
- Straight forward targeted goals backed up with extensive benefits research
- A non-technical means of measuring success in both: Objective Means ( Using already established national standards ) Subjective Means ( Using simple user feedback surveys )
- Full Spectrum application in the INCLUSIVE critical life dimensions.
- A program that can begin immediately with no expenditure of funds for facilities, or equipment (other than a pedometer)
- A program that tells you how and what to do to change a normal community into a Vital Life Community with a powerful Preventative Wellness Program
- A program that is free to all Americans or anyone in the world
- A program that has “open architecture” which will allow any and all to add to the program, share results, and strengthen each other through a national data base and web-based sharing system
- Or a program that will tell you how to plan your communities and the supporting architecture to enhance the opportunity for better health and intimacy.
- No fees, no membership requirements other than SHARING
- SHARING AND CARING – LIVING WITH DIGNITY
If you are convinced that there is too much static, too many offerings that sell equipment, supplements, or complicated programs in the marketplace today, then consider joining a movement in which the word SELL is replaced by the word SHARE and FREE!
Become a member of the Vitalife Wellness Corps and help SAVE AMERICA.
Footnotes:
“Can you afford to retire”, by FRONTLINE as seen on PBS – review the entire show by linking to:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/retirement/view/
or go to http://www.pbs.org/ and link to FRONTLINE to find the above named show. It is a show you cannot afford to miss, whether or not you are interested in the Vital Life Community.
Bill Witte
CEO, THW Design
12 comments:
Q:Who is the initial target audience and does this audience differ from a long term audience?
A:
I see this process as a medical triage. The initial target audiences will be the seniors in the 85-100+ age group. They are the most at risk and will be responsible for stressing the healthcare system like no other age group. And soon, the “Baby Boomers”, like no other cohort group.
You are insightful if you suspect that eventually what we learn from this will be modified for all other generational groups, including grade school aged children. If we don’t instill in our youngsters a culture of good health practices now, then the rest of their lives will be a reactionary battle.
The initial target is individuals living in CCRC’s (Continuing Care Retirement Communities), because they possess three attributes that will make for a good study and control group. These attributes are:
1. A CCRC is an affinity community with fairly tight operational and contractual constraints, and they serve the target age group desired.
2. A CCRC has a core staff skill set and established culture that are accustomed to care and health oriented issues, (IE: taking vital signs, keeping records, and observations).
3. Few of our national population can afford the luxury of a CCRC, as the expenses are not affordable for most. To elaborate, residency in assisted living and Skilled care nursing can cost, in extreme cases, a million dollars or more due to length of the duration. CCRC’s would be joyous if we could cut the stay in these expensive venues by a third or one-half. It would mean that they could expand their market reach and it would help to ensure their longevity, sustainability and security.
Q:What are the expectations for outcomes of a Vital Life education program? (I.E: Community Vitalife Advocate/Administrator)?
Simple statement: Go into a host community and engage with all department heads and residents to ensure that everyone understands program goals and benefits. Nothing should start until this is achieved and all residents, administrators and employees are on board or at least involved and educated.
I see the kick-off meeting occurring with the participants as the administrators, department heads, and one or two key residents of the community. This brief meeting could be held at A.T. STILL UNIVERSITY - ATSU (the initial collegiate institutional charter legacy member), and then a follow-up meeting could be at the host community that includes the residents, if the ATSU location kick-off is cost prohibitive, both meetings would occur at the host community.
The outcomes should be the following at the Masters level – the graduate should be able to:
• Go into a host community and do a health and vitality SWOT analysis
o This would include (to the degree practical and possible)
Health status profile on every resident and employee – using existing documentation and or community vital sign, weight, height assessment.
Assessment of all programs now ongoing within that community categorized into the eight facet VLC Wellness Spectrum
• Begin assessments in each of the eight spectral areas
o Objective data gathering – comparing to standard benchmarks when appropriate
o Subjective assessment of resident satisfaction per the VLC 2.O methodology (see Handbook)
1. Immediately begin a walking program (if no regular one exists) and begin a campaign for the community to build a Vitalife Walking Trail that will contain:
o Walkways for ambulatory residents with walkers and wheelchair capability
o Par course exercise stations as soon as possible
o Set up teams to walk together to achieve socialization, mutual accountability and support
Begin measuring the difference, providing feedback, and modifying so that it is always active, generating results, measured and celebrated.
[The reason for beginning and emphasizing the walking program is that walking requires no capital expense, no equipment except legs – everyone has them; and a $5 pedometer. It’s a fairly simple program. It would be beneficial for there to be a celebratory group walk at least once a week in which the VCA would start with a pep-talk report on benefits and anecdotal evidence. Then, the VCA could lead and mingle with the residents.
2. Reinforce any social programs by the resident satisfaction survey and modify as needed so as to “build on existing” rather than introduce sweeping new changes. Maker better what is there, then add programs as the residents become involved.
3. Secondarily, initiate social programs starting with those affiliated with dining and discussing with the Culinary Services director the “expanded outcome expectations” that could complement the VLC program. This could impact the nature of the food delivery program, its content, and could work to create the desired effect. It is important to stress to the with the Food Service Director that “buy-in” should not “lead” the director where they may not want to go. Often, department heads are understandably suspicious of any new programs that impinge on their territorial imperatives until the impact source is understood and respected. A symbiotic relationship is required.
Once these three cornerstone initiatives are in place and operating, the rest of the spectral categories of the whole life are engaged and targeted. As time and resources permit, what everyone has learned, will be applied to the other spectrums.
Example: the Chaplin now can be the leader working in conjunction with the VCA to flesh out the programs dealing with “spirituality.” A resident could head up “vocational” by starting a Rewiring, Not Retiring volunteer cadre to help supplement activities in the host community and in the surrounding environs, such a schools, day care, soup kitchens, etc.
Could this program (with its various entry and exit points) be extended into the corporate environment and would CEO’s be willing to invest in their employee’s by sponsoring them into to the program?
Many corporations are enthusiastically engaged in wellness programs at all levels of scope and sophistication. Some are simple some are tied to remuneration rewards for participating.
THW Design designed the Healthworks for Coca Cola and along with other companies like Johnson and Johnson, they have recorded what they feel are the savings and benefits of the programs. The problem with these programs is that there is not a national language so data can be shared and programs compared and exchanged.
I think the VLC program will be attractive to corporations that are small because they will get the benefit of the “VITAL NATION COMMUNICATION SYSTEM” to share programs, results, and techniques. This would reduce their operational costs, and they would not have to start from scratch, or incur major costs until they tool the first “baby steps.”
Q: For students to become Vitalife Community (Program) Administrators, should a rotation at an established Vital Life Community be required of all students? If so, what should this rotation include? How long should this rotation be? How do or should these rotations interface with Community Health Centers?
A:
I had it in my mind to have two cadres initially.
a) CCRC CWA’s, (Masters degree graduate)
b) Vitalife Wellness Corps (certified training graduates) like the peace corps wherein students would be bid for and see service in high potential needy areas.
I could see this program being exported to community technical colleges so they could deal with their own home region, and participate within of the seat of learning, rather than get entangled into administrative politics of the external community.
The reason for this, is while much of college governing is by “tacit consensus”, ultimately the president has control and thus he or she can mandate the nature and scope of a program with more effectiveness than can a mayor who has a myriad of embedded bureaucracies. Many colleges do not have an established wellness program, therefore no existing “fiefdom” would be threatened.
In the case of smaller communities such as villages, towns, and corporations, the community would bid for their services. They could ask for help in various programs or in the general assessment and structure of the community-at-large to assure a broad spectrum approach
I think much of this will be created in multiple parallel programs that are the devises of creative people and talented administrators. After all, that is the reason that the Vitalife Program is free with open architecture.
You mention a Community Wellness Advocate/Administrator with a certificate or a degree. Is this necessary to lead a community and have a successful program?
No – the VLC program is free and was designed to allow any community entity to begin, and sustain their own program with the resources they have. The key is to have within your current community an employee base knowledge leader who can grasp, organize, and become successful with the program. Many communities currently have such people. You should take notice of these people and suggest a career change. One idea is to take an on-line course in VLC, such as the one that ATSU – A.T. Still University, is developing.
As in all endeavors, we cannot underestimate the capability and effectiveness of the benefits of targeted training to dedicated personalities that have been immersed in a targeted program. When you think of what is at stake in terms of monies in your morbidity program (dealing with non-wellness and disease) you are talking about easily a variable of $10 -20 Million dollars over time.
Just think if you were to intervene, and in a cohort of twenty years, and collectively reduce the time in skilled care nursing and assisted living by an average of just one year – in a population of 300 people –there would be realized a collective savings of $30,000,000 – that’s $30 million dollars!
That’s the equivalent of generating positive revenue for someone at the tune of $1,500,000 per year. What would you pay a person for the skills to allow you to invest less in the most expensive portion of your business plan in facilities and FTE’s, and equally to allow your residents a better life and to attract more residents for sign-ups because they know they can live better, longer, cheaper, in your community? To have the outcome of a $1.5 Million dollars a year would you pay a person annually:
• $50,000 ?
• $75,000 ?
• $100,000 ?
• $200,000 ?
• $500,000 ?
The reason major corporations have wellness program is that it pays off. For the larger, healthier communities, it probably would pay to either train a responsible, motivated employee to become a VCA through a university program such as ATSU. Or, hire a graduate with coop experience and a degree that can hit the ground running.
Simply put, what is the purpose of a CWA?
A CWA is to facilitate change by using the VLC wellness program in a methodology most appropriate for that host community within a closed and defined construct. The Vitalife Community Program focuses on critical and beneficial targeted wellness related outcomes.
The key purpose of this CWA (Community Wellness Administrator or Advocate) is to see the big picture, organize, marshal existing assets (such as found in the retirement communities),time, talent and treasure that is being unused. Like the martial art of judo wherein you use your opponents own force to your advantage, this is the strategy used to take assets in hand, using those assets in place to realize a bloodless coup and make a change that will make the world ask, “how did you achieve those outcomes?” Once buy-in has occurred, then changes will become positive and numerous over time and more aggressive programs can be installed and prosecuted.
In some communities, change will be desired as a core community goal, and they will be seeking professionals that are capable of administering a comprehensive wellness program. Many will prefer the Vitalife Community Wellness Program and a CWA with the training to fulfill a successful program outcome.
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