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People attending the Catholic Charities Aging Conference listen to one of two keynote addresses given during the day. (Catholic Herald photo/Kevin Wondrash) |
MADISON — As people live longer, they are certainly interested in how to live healthier and happier in their later years.
Catholic Charities Aging Conference provided many “Keys to Aging Well” to about 125 persons attending the third annual event held October 8 at the Bishop O’Connor Center.
Jackson Fonder, president and CEO of Catholic Charities, greeted those attending the conference. “We’re thrilled you chose to be with us today and learn about aging well. We’re proud to feature a wonderful slate of speakers. We always try to do better than the previous year,” he said.
Bill Hamilton, director of Aging Services for Catholic Charities, also greeted the attendees. He pointed out that Catholic Charities has six aging programs: the All Saints Neighborhood in Madison, the Adult Day Center in Madison, the Caregiver Training Program, the Elder Mentor program, CompanionCare, and Respite Care Team Ministry. “We offer as many different services as we can,” said Hamilton.
He also thanked the sponsors of the Aging Conference: ElderSpan, the All Saints Neighborhood, Oakwood Lutheran Senior Ministries, O’Gara Publishing, and Saint Jude Hospice.
The Aging Conference included two keynote addresses, eight different breakout sessions, and 16 exhibits with information on services provided to older persons.
How we see the world
Dr. David P. Rakel, director of UW Health Integrative Medicine, gave the morning keynote address on “The Science of Perception: How We See the World Can Make Us Healthy or Sick.”
His special interests include learning how the body self-heals, mind-body health influences, sports medicine, nutritional influences on health, and incorporating health and healing curriculum into medical school education.
Before he came to Madison in 2001, Dr. Rakel was a “country doctor” in Idaho. “We practiced womb to tomb medicine,” he noted. “My patients and the community taught me so much.”
Among the things he learned are how much we’re conditioned and shaped by our own experiences. People in the medical field need to understand the complete needs of their patients with an integrated approach to health care.
He observed that even eight years ago, things such as nutrition and spirituality would be considered “alternative medicine.”
Today, in treating complex health systems, he said that medicine must “integrate what works best” by treating the physical, spiritual, mind-body relationship, and the emotions.
Dr. Rakel emphasized that people’s perceptions play a major role in their health. As people age, “Most of our suffering is exacerbated by our own fears. Every person has beauty inside, but in time it’s affected by anger, hostility, doubt, and judgment.”
To reach the beauty, people have to recognize how they’ve been hurt. We have to get to a “place of balance,” he said.
Patient-centered care
In healing a person, those in the medical field must take time to understand the patient and provide “patient-centered care.” This means giving attention to the person, taking time to listen to the person’s story, and really be present to them.
Unfortunately, Dr. Rakel said many doctors today are too “harried” and don’t take time with their patients. They often just prescribe drugs, rather than try to understand all aspects of a patient’s situation.
There are many “non-specific variables” that influence healing, he said, including education, empowerment (the patient being part of the treatment process), connection, and empathy (this requires listening to the patient’s story and repeating it back).
Dr. Rakel told about a study of patients with a common cold. Those who saw a “good doctor” — one who had a more caring approach — were healed faster. Those who saw a “bad doctor” were actually worse off than those who stayed home and saw no doctor at all.
Positive attitudes
He emphasized the importance of positive attitudes in helping people heal. He gave three ways to change people’s perceptions:
• Pause — Get rid of the emotional clutter in your life and recognize how you have been conditioned. This can lead to a more accurate diagnosis of health problems.
• Be present — Live in the present moment without judgment.
• Proceed — Move towards an action that brings health.
One of those actions could be practicing forgiveness. “It’s such a powerful healing influence,” said Dr. Rakel. Forgiving does not mean forgetting, he emphasized. “We have the hardest time forgiving ourselves. We often create unrealistic expectations of ourselves. We can change our perception. We can choose to forgive.”
Steps to optimal health
The second keynote speaker was Dr. Zorba Paster discussing “Three Steps to Optimal Health.”
Dr. Paster is known to many as “public radio’s favorite family doc” from his work on Wisconsin Public Radio’s show, Zorba Paster on Your Health.
The three steps Dr. Paster outlined were optimism, knowledge, and action.
Optimism
Dr. Paster said the first step to longevity is “training” yourself to be optimistic and moving yourself higher on the “happiness scale.” He said that optimism is a talent that can be practiced.
Dr. Paster noted that optimists typically “do not take failure personally” — they see setbacks as temporary and are resilient. They also blame negative events on causes and they don’t blame it on themselves.
He told the story of a Holocaust survivor who was able to stay optimistic by not dwelling on the past and looking foward by moving to America, having a family, and building a business.
Knowledge
Dr. Paster said there is a “tremendous amount of health illiteracy” in the country today — almost one-third of the population do not have enough or correct information on health issues.
He used an example of a high school dropout having less life expectancy than someone with one to two years of post-secondary education. This is because the dropout is not a “life-long learner” and won’t pay attention to new information on health, such as studies on smoking and drinking.
Dr. Paster said health literacy helps you learn and take action to improve your health. Knowledge can be found by reading newspapers, searching the web, or talking to friends.
He also said learning more about combining prayer and meditation along with medicine and treatments can increase longevity.
Action
He emphasized “self-efficacy” or accomplishing things by overcoming adversity, risk-taking, and believing you can accomplish your goals.
He said the more optimistic you are, the more ability you will have to gain good knowledge, and the more good knowledge you’ll have, you’ll be able to take better actions to live a longer life.
After his talk, Dr. Paster met with the crowd and signed copies of his book, The Longevity Code: Your Personal Prescription for a Longer, Sweeter Life.