Using Healthy Touch to Support and Nourish our Elders & Care Givers – A New Civilization Network (NCN) Project

I am proposing that we develop a partnership for introducing Healthy Touch Programs for our Elders and Care Givers on a global scale. This initiative will include using our 15 Minute StressOut Program & DVD with elders and care givers in nursing homes, home-based services, outreach services, border programs, day care, shelters, hospice, hospitals, assisted living arrangements, and other resources for the aging population.

Health, wellness and disease prevention is an ancient approach to medicine that was introduced over 2,000 years ago in China. According to Eisenberg (1993), “Millions of Americans are already using massage, meditation, acupuncture, and herbal remedies of all kinds, without their doctors’ recommendations.” These alternative health practices are used not only for stress reduction but also for relief of pain, heart disease, anxiety, and inability to sleep. Furthermore, in his dialogue with Bill Moyers in Healing and the Mind, Eisenberg suggested that in the Chinese culture, it is believed that how you live ultimately influences your health: “It’s not just diet or exercise; it’s also a spiritual or emotional balance that comes from the way you treat people and the way you treat yourself. And, since that’s the basis of their culture, it spills over into their medicine.” (Eisenberg, D. (1993), “Another way of seeing;” B.S. Flowers & D.Grubin (Eds.), Healing and the mind: Bill Moyers, NY: Doubleday.)

Our elders are perhaps one of the most abused, neglected and forgotten groups throughout our country and beyond. Our aging population is often considered the ‘throw away’ generation as they are considered non-productive and of little value to a society that bases its success, worth and values on “the bottom line” and on “winners and losers.” Of course, this is a short sighted, limited view of human worth, dignity and self-respect; yet, many of our elderly are continuing to suffer from stress, anxiety and Depression and are barely surviving while struggling to meet their basic human needs.

The world population is growing, and it's also growing older. Researchers say birth and death rates are gradually falling worldwide, increasing the number and overall proportion of older people. For many societies, caring for all those aging citizens could be difficult.

The United Nations estimates that about one out of every 10 people on the planet today is at least 60 years old. By 2050, it's projected to be one out of five which means that not only will there be more people, there will be relatively fewer young people to support them. ("Aging World Populations Presents Challenge for Future Young," Barry Newhouse)

Furthermore, Mr. Newhouse notes:

Some governments see family support systems as a way to avoid the financial problems that industrial nations face with their publicly-funded safety nets. But he says history has shown that familial support systems are generally weakened when nations become more prosperous -- as fewer children live with and care for their parents. And he says if the nations wait too long, it may be too late.

It is for these reasons and because of our compassion for others, especially our elders that our international community can begin to awaken to this dilemma and develop collaborative support systems and networks such as NCN to promote universal health promotion and wellbeing with our aging populations and care givers.

I would like to introduce a beginning Action Plan - An Outline for Advancing the use of Touch with Our Elders in my next NCN News Log. We can help ease the pain, suffering and neglect of our elders and support our care givers throughout our World. I believe that together we can design a plan that has a chance to be realized when each person or individual interested in contributing to the wellbeing of others understands and appreciates that physical interaction or human touch is a BASIC HUMAN NEED or REQUIREMENT for living a meaningful, dignified and healthy life. Beyond this is the fact that when humans do not interact physically, they become angry, depressed and become isolated and alone in the world. This is far too evident in our American society today. In a recent visit to a nursing home, one of the residents told me--“There must be something wrong with me – no one wants to touch me!” How sad is this?



The languages of the senses, in which all of us can be socialized, are capable of enlarging our appreciation and of deepening our understanding of each other and the world in which we live. Chief among these languages is touching. [Touch is] “The powerful means of establishing human relationships, the foundation of experience. (Ashley Montague, Touching: The Human Significance of the Skin).

In an article our health team published using “Alternative Health Practices in Ethnically Diverse Rural Areas: A Collaborative Research Project,” (1997), we discovered that our touch program was successful in alleviating pain and suffering and reducing the blood Sugar levels with diabetic patients in rural health clinics. We also did a successful follow-up program with persons diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease living in nursing homes in southern New Mexico.

I believe that, with your help, we can use “safe, skillful and appropriate touch” with all populations and especially with our elders who have been neglected, disrespected and abused for far too long. Let’s give TOUCH a chance to heal and to nourish our human family.

Do visit my website for further details. http://pages.zdnet.com/jerryvest

Comments and New Partners

Nov 2005 @ 16:44 by azangel : Count me in...
I would graciously accept being a part of your team ..As you know, I currently work in a assisted living facility. There are 34 residents that live inside the facility and then there are over 150 residents that reside on the property in their own apartments. I work there as a Massage Therapist, with my own "healing room" and I also work as a certified nurses aide on the floor, assisting the residents with their daily needs. I offer a 50% discount to my senior clients because I truly want them to reap the benefits. I love being in this environment and feel it is where I am supposed to be. My goal is to educate the seniors that live in this community on the benefits of not only therapeutic massage but also make them aware of the beauty and healing powers of the human touch. I also have 15 years of Hospice experience and I truly believe in its mission in caring for the dying. I embrace your vision and would love to contribute in any way that I can. Keep me posted..