Courtesy/MRM
MRM News:
The Millicent Rogers Museum presents Millicent Unplugged: Creative Aging: Supporting Vitality through the Arts 6-7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2.
As the museum sector gains momentum in bringing awareness, conversation, accessibility, and collaboration to the forefront of consideration in developing programs for older adults, this month’s Millicent Unplugged features the diverse voices of four program specialists in elder care and advocacy. Through community dialogue we hope to understand the unique needs of an aging population and explore the ways in which arts and culture contribute to vitality and mitigate some of the challenges of aging.
Amber Carroll is the Senior Director of the Front Porch Connection Programs that include: Well Connected, Well Connected Español, and Social Call – virtual creative aging programs that aim to decrease loneliness and social isolation for older adults by increasing the opportunity for meaningful social connections. These programs welcome older adults as participants and/or volunteers to learn, chat, teach, and share – all from the comfort of home. Before coming to Front Porch in 2015, Carroll led the San Francisco Transitional Care Program, a CMS-demonstration project that successfully decreased hospital readmissions for Medicare recipients. Her career in aging services began at the San Francisco Aging and Disability Resource Center which provided information, referral, and assistance to nearly 10,000 seniors and adults with disabilities each year. Before finding a home in aging services, Carroll was a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with a MA in Counseling Psychology from the University of San Francisco.
Marj Becker is a Colorado native, a wife, a parent (three daughters and two grandchildren), and an educator. She is also an artist (watercolor and book maker) and a poet. Before and since retiring, she’s had opportunities to volunteer at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico with Pomona Hallenbeck, the Watercolorist-in-Residence. Working with Pomona enhanced her ability to paint, and it was there that she began to write poetry. So, she found herself writing and painting. She has been so pleased to also have had two other artist mentors – Marie Siano Ungemah (Littleton, Colorado) and Henry Fukuhara (California’s School of Watercolorists). Her art is considered abstract expressionism; a not-so-easy task for a watercolorist; although, realism is also available to her. “My writing, as I have said, involves poetry, as well as children’s stories and adults short stories. I write a blog – crankycronenews.com – that is published every Wednesday.” Carroll said.
Léonie Rosenstiel’s passion for helping people navigate the maze of the elder care system began when she watched several of her relatives become incapacitated. She has spent over 19 years researching the problems within the system in order to help herself and her clients create positive outcomes. She is the author of Protecting Mama: Surviving the Legal Guardianship Swamp. She also created the Dayspring Empowerment Summit and the Dayspring Empowerment Course. Léonie has a Ph.D. from Columbia University, and six master’s level degrees, in subjects ranging from pastoral counseling (The New Seminary) to Acupuncture (Tri-State College of Traditional Chinese Acupuncture), to public health (Walden University). Regardless of what and where she studied, no program came close to mapping out the real-world options or explaining why family members often seemed to be shut out of their loved ones’ lives at crucial moments.
Kathleen T. Burg, Director of Artstreams: From the Well of Memory received her M.A. from Goddard College 1978. She brings her extensive background in non-profits, program development, advocacy and cross-pollination to her work for an underserved segment of the aging Taos community. She developed Artstreams: From the Well of Memory as an innovative program for family caregivers, usually seniors themselves, of those with memory impairment that offers an immersion in art and creativity not only for them but also for their loved one. In collaboration with Taos’ museums, the power of art collections is used as a tool to engage minds damaged by dementia in ways that are both meaningful and educational.
As Director of the Taos Jewish Center’s Chesed Program for Taos County Seniors, Kathleen co-developed Apoyos Para Los Cuidadores, a 2008 recipient of the national Rosalinde Gilbert Innovations in Alzheimer’s disease Caregiving Legacy Award, Diverse/Multicultural Communities.
Kathleen has written more than two dozen published articles on aging. See www.artstreams.com.
Register here for Millicent Unplugged: Creative Aging: Supporting Vitality through the Arts.
