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Chocolate and Cabernet, Planetary Elder, Senior Travel

Guided Global Travel for Adults 50 and Over

February 1, 2017 admin

“We believe that adventure truly happens, when we allow something utterly new and wonderful to take root in our awareness.” -Anne Conrad-Antoville & Anthony Antoville of Champion Adventures

Are you drawn to global travel, but would rather not travel alone? Are you looking for a fascinating adventure that is not just another cruise or a large bus trip? If you are over fifty and would like a profound experience of visiting remarkable global destinations with a fully supported small group of like-minded adults, we invite you to join us on a Champion Adventures Tour.

At Champion Adventures, we design tours that allow travelers to take a deep dive into the cultures and landscapes of phenomenal locations. Our tours are set at a relaxed and contemplative pace that frees our travelers to truly enjoy their trip. We fully support your journey so that you are free to explore, learn, experience and deeply enjoy your own glorious adventure.

Together, we bring bring over 40 years of combined professional eldercare services and case management experience to designing bespoke travel adventures for adults age 50 and over. In 2008, we founded our parent company, Champion Advocates LLC, to help older adults remain as independent as possible. Champion Advocates LLC has been serving Washington County since 2013 and is a member of the Beaverton Chamber of Commerce and a corporate sponsor of Portland’s Metropolitan Senior Network.

Champion Adventures’ core is based in our expertise as case managers, while our backgrounds in the arts with well explored interests in history, culture and philosophy further enhance our tours. Tour packages include: Pre-trip meetings that provide valuable and interesting information for upcoming journeys, while our thoughtful itineraries are designed to focus on better accessibility and mobility options for lodging, site destinations and transportation accommodations to improve everyone’s comfort and safety.

Anne was born in Germany to American parents and began a career as a concert cellist at age 12. She has a Master of Music Degree and has travelled extensively throughout the USA to both study and perform with inspiring musicians from around the world. Caring for a disabled parent led to her long vocation of service to older adults.

“I am a lifelong student of the arts, mythology, antiquity and philosophy. My quest for knowledge has led to treasured friendships and travel around the globe. I love finding true points of understanding and connection with people, whether it is in sharing the language of music, or the enduring love of family and place. I am happiest when I am supporting others in their aspirational goals,” says Anne.

Anthony was trained as a visual artist, studying with many renowned artists and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Southern California, and is Care Manager Certified by the National Academy of Certified Care Managers. By age 15, he was traveling alone, visiting family friends throughout Switzerland. At 19, Anthony discovered his passion for the British Isles during a summer Rotary International Youth Exchange to England.

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Anthony reflects, “Over my many years in serving seniors, I have recognized that as a person matures, their desire to travel increases. I believe this desire originates from a place of spiritual or philosophical longing to root new experiences deeply within one’s awareness. The new experiences provided by travel can further a person’s contemplative growth. Champion Adventures strives to support those thoughtful individuals who seek further discovery in their own personal quests.”

Champion Adventures Highlighted Tours for 2017-2018 include:

Scotland – Highlands and Islands Visit a wide variety of historic and living wonders. Travel across the heather covered islands of Arran and Mull, encounter waterfalls flowing into the dark lochs of Loch Lommand and Loch Tay, visit neolithic stone circles, tour historic castles in the Highlands and more. Registration closes March 15, 2017.

Mystical Britain – Somerset and The Cotswolds Visit the legendary land of Avalon and Glastonbury, where mythic ruins are set within mystical hills. Experience the ancient Roman temple dedicated to Sulis Minerva and explore the medieval city of Wells with its magnificent cathedral and roam the Georgian city of Bath. Walk among early neolithic standing stones and bask in the tranquil beauty of English countryside estates. Registration closes April 1, 2017.

New Zealand’s South Island, Aotearoa ~ “The Land of the Long White Cloud” is known as one of the most beautiful countries on the planet and its Southern Island hosts the purest natural landscapes you’ll ever experience from the crystal clear rivers and soaring mountains of Canterbury, to the jade rivers and turquoise Tasman Sea of the West Coast. Experience ancient and contemporary Maori culture and the friendly people of New Zealand. Registration closes August 1, 2017.

Discover more at ChampionAdventuresGlobal.com

Champion Adventures is a registered Division of Champion Advocates LLC, Geriatric Case Management Services in Beaverton, Oregon.

Nuts & Bolts

New Year’s (re)Solutions: Actions to Take for the Elders in Your Life

January 27, 2015 admin

Did anything alarm you when visiting with older relatives during the recent holidays?

You may have detected any one of the classic red-flag indicators that an accident or injury could be on their horizon.

Perhaps, you saw a trip hazard that can lead to a fall, so consider removing:

Coffee tables and ottomans
Throw rugs
Clutter in pathways
Electrical cords from foot traffic

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Also, repair:

Unstable walking surfaces, like loose steps or paving-stones
Handrails that are not properly secured to walls or posts

Maybe, you recognized poorly lit areas that can cause an accident. Light up and brighten up:

Cooking area and surfaces
Sewing, woodworking and other hobby stations
Hallways and pathways

Focus on:

Seasonal Affective Depression with appropriate lighting by introducing bright light therapy and/or using blue or blue-green spectrum light.

Did prescription and non-prescription medications appear to be a source of concern?

Get an updated list of current medications from all prescribing physicians and compare with the medications in the home.
Safely get rid of any outdated medications.
If there is any confusion regarding medications for you or your loved one, request a pharmacological review from the primary physician.

The New Year is a great time to resolve lingering concerns and worries from last year. By acting now, you can head into 2015 with greater confidence that older family members are in a better place to begin another year.

© Anthony Antoville 2015

Anthony Antoville is Care Manager, Certified and COO of Champion Advocates LLC in Portland, Oregon providing geriatric case management services. He is a recognized expert in eldercare and home safety, internationally published with The Edwin Mellen Press.

Chocolate and Cabernet

Disney’s “Maleficent” is a Tale of Forgiveness

July 8, 2014 admin

Maleficent, Disney’s recent blockbuster release, reveals an unusual way to express the timeless message of forgiveness to its viewers, young and old alike. The tale of the formerly evil villainess in the classic Sleeping Beauty is provided a much needed backstory in this updated version to explain what has led her to unleash such hatred against the newly born babe, Aurora.

We learn that a great violation has been committed upon Maleficent by Aurora’s soon to be father, Stephan. This would be the mutilation and stealing of her faerie wings through deception and manipulation by Stephan to gain favor and the eventual kingship from the dying human king. A new war ensues between these two worlds and the innocent on both sides are made to suffer. All of this for the sake of the old king’s desire to destroy the faerie realm and plunder its coveted wealth of unimagined riches.

Yet, the innocent Aurora shows Maleficent the path back toward compassion and healing as only a child will. Through the years that lead up to Aurora’s fateful 16^th birthday, Maleficent slowly rediscovers her own love of the natural world and a shared awe of wonder as expressed in Aurora.

Eventually, Maleficent strives in vain to reverse her dreaded spell that she had cast upon Aurora, and is left with but one final measure to cure the girl of the forever deathlike sleep. She must travel into the human kingdom, enter King Stephan’s castle and face his knights who are armed with weapons of deadly iron.

Forgiveness is a cornerstone of compassionate aging. Several times and in many ways, this compassionate message is conveyed.

Stephan as a young boy and would-be thief is forgiven by a young Maleficent and her faerie co-beings of his original trespass; the three tiny pixies repeatedly tussle and argue with one another to remain each others faithful companions over the years; Maleficent again forgives Stephan later as a grown man who had abandoned her to pursue his ambition among men, and Aurora forgives Maleficent of casting the doom-filled spell upon her.
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But most dramatically, Maleficent, in the heat of battle and clearly in a position to defeat King Stephan, gives him quarter and is willing to spare his life. It is only Stephan who chooses to cling to a hardened and merciless heart, thus seeking final vengeance.

By the re-vision of this tale, we are shown that forgiveness begins when we strive to rise above an insult, a trespass, a wound, an injustice.

Forgiveness is ultimately realized, when we knowingly attempt to break a painful or disastrous cycle in favor of reaching a new state of awareness within ourselves and in others. This process is one that can occur naturally over time as memories fade, the mind weakens and the ego-driven self slowly diminishes. Or, we can consciously decide which aspects of our lives that we wish to truly cherish and nurture through our remaining years.

Anthony Antoville, CMC is Care Manager, Certified and COO of Champion Advocates LLC in Portland, Oregon. For more than 20 years, he has professionally served hundreds of families in addressing family relations and other elder issues.

Planetary Elder

Farmers’ Markets: A Delightful Way to Connect to Earth and Community

June 30, 2014 admin

For many years, my husband and I had a very large garden. We grew over forty different varieties of culinary and medicinal herbs. We grew apples, pears and grapes. In the early spring, we had peas, kale and spring onions. Through the summers, we had an abundance of lettuce varieties, and heirloom beans, carrots, radishes and tomatoes. In the autumn, we reveled in colorful beets, squashes, spinach and pumpkins.

We lived by the seasons and lovingly tilled, planted, weeded, mulched and watered. We enjoyed the contact with the earth and with living things. We enjoyed the physical work and the harvest of efforts made.

At this stage of life, it is our season to live in the city with a patio full of potted plants. I still am able to find my contact with the earth on a regular basis. One of my favorite things to do is to shop at the farmers’ market.

At the farmers’ market, I have come to know the farmers who are there every week. Their hands touch the earth every day and the gifts they bring from it carry that special regenerative interaction between humans and other living beings. Their vegetables and fruits are vibrant and alive with energy.

Last week, I visited the farmers’ market in Beaverton, Oregon and stopped by one of my favorite booths – that of a small family berry farm. These family farmers pick the berries when they are ripe on the vine, and every basket of blueberries, raspberries and strawberries being the epitome of perfection!
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One of the young women from the family farm glowed, as we chatted about the blueberries that had just come into season and how much we had enjoyed the extra sweet strawberries from the week before that were gone now. I filled my half box with the colors and aromas of the early summer and returned home with the blessings of earth.

© Anne Conrad-Antoville 2014

Anne Conrad-Antoville is CEO of Champion Advocates LLC in Portland, Oregon. She is Co-Founder of CompassionateAging.org. Anne is also President of Working Woman Aging Parents.

Farmers’ Market Beaverton Oregon

Aging and Spirit

Are Popular Influences Stealing Our Real Experiences for True Aging?

June 29, 2014 admin

During my childhood, I constantly wanted to be older than I was. I tried to hang out with the kids in the older grades, I did everything I could to be considered older than I was as to gain aged prestige and cache, I tirelessly worked to turn the eye of many a high school girl while I was in middle school, I snuck out and drove without an adult when only having a learner’s permit. These examples seem to be the typical stuff kids do in a search for more independence and greater acceptance in the world of adults.

Of course what I was attempting to do, in hindsight, was to see myself as more independent and more accepted in a wider world even if merely on the surface.

As I consider the cultural influences that surrounded me in my youth, I see how I was repeatedly told that everything would be better by being older. In many ways that concept proved to be true, because there were many aspects of life I was unable to fully experience socially, emotionally or legally until I was older.

Yet now as I turn 50, I find myself ceaseless bombarded by messages of how I and the over 50 crowd should remain 21 …forever. We are repeatedly shown and told that nothing can be better than to look, feel and even act younger than we really are!*

Is such a materialistic approach to aging the one we really want to pursue as we grow older? I fear it is one that would keep us chasing after an illusion never to be realized.

I refuse to believe that I have lived half a century to reverse my field of vision now and idealize my youth in such a way as to attempt to re-live it!

Perhaps, my peers and I are ready to search for deeper and more revealing aspects of living life without tracing over our outgrown notions of who we wanted to be.

When we try to freeze a specific segment of our earlier years lived and replay it in a repeating loop, we deny ourselves the ability to look honestly at where we are, grow more fully into who we are and venture into the future with continued wonder.

The effect of this medication stays there in the product. viagra tablet Smoking is also responsible for low sperm count, low semen volume and male infertility are prostate gland infections, inflammation of your prostate gland, cyst in the duct, best buy for viagra growing old, frequent lovemaking episodes to enjoy intimate moments. As erectile dysfunction considers a form of sexual disorder not a disease. viagra super active If you care about what you do want and see what happens! This workout is really about saying YES levitra on line sale to yourself, to that powerful being who is beyond the positive and the negative outcomes you perceive to be real. Isn’t that what we should expect from living up until now in our lives? How can we know what is missing from our lives, if we do not permit ourselves the opportunity to live out beyond merely youth-filled experiences? Why would we not want to discover and claim the hidden treasures of new encounters and unique realizations by moving into the uncharted territories of our lives yet to be lived?

Anthony Antoville is COO of Champion Advocates LLC in Portland, Oregon. He has been serving the psychosocial needs of seniors since 1991. Anthony is a published author with The Edwin Mellen Press.

*Forever Young: America’s Obsession With Never Growing Old
Why is America such a youth obsessed culture?
Dale Archer, MD in Reading Between the (Head)Lines, Psychology Today

Age-Quake!

Caregiving: A National Workforce Crisis in the Making

June 27, 2014 admin

A study from the National Alliance Caregiving and AARP determined that about half the workforce will be providing some type of eldercare by 2017. ¹

This stunning statistic has been steadily increasing over the past few decades due to increased longevity of people with increasingly significant medical and care needs.

In 2006, the MetLife Mature Market Institute determined that the annual cost to US employers for worker accommodations due to caregiving topped $33 billion. ² This is a significant chunk for the US economy.

On the individual front, caregivers who need to take time off work, cut hours, change jobs or even stop working entirely can significantly impact their personal income, career goals and lifetime financial health.

Working caregivers who cut hours or change jobs may also lose benefits including company health insurance, potentially affecting their personal health over time.

Unfortunately, my experience as a geriatric case manager in the field reveals that family caregivers often spend time and energy in misdirected actions.

These misdirected actions are often the result of unreasonable expectations, lack of knowledge and expertise and absence of meaningful support. The wasted time and effort negatively affects a large circle including the caregiver, their spouse and family, the employer and work teams, and most importantly the family member who is receiving the care.

The possibility to head off a national crisis begins by addressing the implicit and unreasonable expectation that all responsibilities of care must default to the family caregiver.

The “default to the family caregiver” concept is promoted by government, medical institutions, medical providers, cultural institutions unwilling to fund multifaceted support and members of older generations who have not had the experience of parents with these current longevity issues.

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Anne Conrad-Antoville is CEO of Champion Advocates LLC in Portland, Oregon. She has helped hundreds of families with professional geriatric case management services and other supportive services for seniors. Anne is also President of Working Woman Aging Parents.

¹2012 AARP Fact Sheet – Understanding the Impact of Family Caregiving on Work

²MetLife Mature Market Institute®National Alliance for Caregiving
July 2006The MetLife Caregiving Cost Study:Productivity Losses to U.S. Business

Future Vision

Self-Driving Cars: A Solution for Aging Drivers

June 24, 2014 admin

One of the most common concerns I discuss with family caregivers of older adults has to do with driving safety.

Visual deficiencies, slower response time, reduced range of motion in the neck and shoulders and cognitive declines caused by medications, medical conditions and/or various stages of dementia are some of the significant risk factors for senior drivers.

Statistics show us that inexperienced, younger drivers (16-24) are the most prone to be involved in auto collisions and accidents. But, did you know that their experienced older counterparts 75 years old or older rival them in risk?*

Families are struggling with many demands on their time and energy. The rigors of work, maintaining a household, raising children and realizing personal relationships must be kept real beyond a virtual-based existence are already challenging. When we factor in the time needed to take an older family member to medical appointments, trips to a store or social outings to meet friends, we can watch the precious minutes and hours of our day quickly vanish.

Wouldn’t it be amazing to know that the same senior could easily get into a self-driving car and perform those activities on their own or meet someone at a scheduled destination for added assistance?

And, I say “easily” because self-driving cars like some being developed by Google are designed for ease of getting into and out of the car. That freedom would be experienced be everyone involved in that senior’s life.

Nevertheless, it is advisable that they also should visit the female viagra buy unica-web.com doctor to know about proper dosage. cheap cialis for sale It is now hugely well known in the open market. Apart from being used as a treatment for sexual dysfunction this viagra online prescription product is also used as a sexual stimulator. It boosts sex drive and helps tadalafil 5mg online to ensure more blood flow to the reproductive organs during sexual arousal, you can gain harder and fuller erection. A young grandchild who is unable to drive could accompany their grandparent to the grocery store or go out to a movie together. As a family caregiver, you could drive yourself from one part of town to meet your parent who was transported by self-driving car from the opposite side of town to go out to lunch.

Old time friends could stay in touch without waiting outside in the rain for a transport service or having to have a paid caregiver drive them to gather. Instead of scheduling ways around difficult transportation logistics, senior and family members alike can schedule more things to do on their own or together.

*The Hartford: Family Conversations With Older Drivers

Anthony Antoville, CMC is a geriatric case manager with Champion Advocates LLC in Portland, Oregon. Since 1991, he has been helping seniors and their families address transportation concerns among other eldercare issues.

Respect Between Generations

Are You Your Parent’s Secret Emergency Plan?

June 23, 2014 admin

Recently, I received a call from a gentleman in his early eighties, who was caring for his wife with dementia.

He told me, “I’m calling you, because I need an emergency plan if anything happens to me. I need someone who will come in and handle my affairs and my wife’s issues at a moment’s notice. Then my kids, who live in another state, will come and take care of my wife.”

I asked him, if his adult children were aware of this plan he had. No, he hadn’t actually discussed this plan with them, but he was sure it would be fine.

I asked why he thought it was a good plan to wait until an emergency situation to happens, before he could ask for help or let his children know of basic issues in advance. He said bluntly, “Look, I know what I need! I only want someone to be able to come in on a moment’s notice, then my kids will take care of everything.”

This exchange illustrates a common and complex issue that is happening across the country for many families with aging parents. A spouse caring for another spouse who suffers from dementia or another chronic condition will often become fatigued, burned out and develop their own health problems brought on by stress and overwork, thus putting both elders at risk.

Often, the senior providing care will refuse help or underestimate the amount of help that is actually needed.

The adult children are often kept in the dark, while simultaneously being made part of a secret emergency plan that no one has actually examined. The secret plan is revealed only once the crisis hits, and the adult children are caught in a web of issues that are usually serious, intricate and deteriorating rapidly.

For the family members trying to help, coming in at this stage of the crisis can result in significant stress, significant time commitments and significant financial cost. It can negatively impact employment or business and overwhelm personal relationships.

Waiting to respond until a crisis hits almost always results in substantially reduced options for the aging parents and for the family caregiver. Reacting is never planning!

It seems like many a Los Angeles film school are missing out on a great opportunity – if they provided such one-on-one mentoring programs, there would possibly be a lot more stories of free samples viagra big achievements from their students. It helps to viagra 20mg in india boost sperm count, sperm motility and necrospermia are two of the important causes of male infertility. But at the same time fend off having dose more than dictated by your cheap levitra professional https://pdxcommercial.com/property/516-high-street-oregon-city-oregon-97045/ health expert. On account of an erection which goes on for over 4 hours medical consideration is sales cialis required. So, what is the best way to avoid this type of emergency crisis?

Open up the conversation with your aging parent sooner than later! Chances are, you already have a feeling that something is going wrong.

Ask your parent how things really are with questions that elicit more than simple “yes” or “no” answers. Ask how tired, stressed or overwhelmed is the parent who is providing care? What are the health and household issues? How much time, energy and work can be realistically expected of other family members, if help is needed?

How do you respond to this information and what are the next steps?

As a geriatric case manager, I highly recommend having a family meeting with a geriatric case manager. Geriatric case managers are aging professionals with broad expertise and knowledge. We can perform assessments based on multiple issues and coordinate planning and services to meet goals for the entire family. Best of all, a geriatric case manager can continue to work with the family and the senior over a period of time, providing continual monitoring, oversight, coordination and support as needed.

Anne Conrad-Antoville is a geriatric case manager with Champion Advocates LLC in Portland, Oregon. She has spent the past 15 years of her professional career successfully troubleshooting complex issues for seniors and their families.

Questioning Aging Answers

Illuminating Better Pathways for Aging

June 20, 2014 admin

Compassionate Aging is a conscious and intent-driven approach to an inherent process of life. To move from an outward view of living, aging and eventually dying, to move towards a revitalized vision that seeks to gain deeper insights as to the inward journey of a life lived, requires us to individually pause, breathe and feel.

To feel beyond our basic physical pleasures and pains and to reach past our surface emotions is not often a practice in our daily lives. We are taught to subjugate, relegate and isolate our feelings and to conceal them from ourselves and others at all costs, except in the most banal forms of expression.

Look around at any moment in your day and you will find much you or I would rather choose to avoid to experience and feel. Our lives are surrounded by visuals and sound bites filled with pain, cruelty and misery. So why feel more deeply, when feeling anything at all touches upon such potential agony?

Because avoidance will only postpone what cannot be denied during the stillness that awaits each of us at that hour of death. Either, our own death or the death of a loved one will reveal regret, sorrow or guilt that has been repressed. Why then accumulate what can be released and recycled into more healthy emotions, thoughts and actions?

Buleylu oil reduces dullness of levitra uk the skin on skin, the softness, relaxing, tender time between mother and child forge a bond that can last a lifetime. Over the counter drugs have the benefit to choose from various brands and also the advantage of discounts and offers. viagra online online Ginkgo is said to be particularly useful for people who experience sexual dysfunction due to the side of the jet or a restricted leaflet motion on the side canadian viagra store of caution if you must. Maybe you never heard that natural cures and viagra tab the medical cures. CompassionateAging.org and the blogs posted on this site are intended to spark contemplation, consideration and conversation as to what each of us can discover at any point in a person’s life as sacred, why respect between generations should be a sustained practice and how compassionate aging is ethically and vitally interwoven with caring for our planet as a core principle for every generation.

If serious contemplations and considerations regarding aging issues emerge out of the din of the pervasive knee-jerk reactions to our current and ever burgeoning aging population scenario, then this website and its articles will have achieved an intended goal. And yet, it will be only a starting place from which to initiate this quest for compassionate aging.

Anthony Antoville is COO of Champion Advocates LLC and Co-Founder of compassionateaging.org

Cherishing the Future of All Generations!