Ring in the Holiday Season with a Trip to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts

What better way to start off the holiday season than a trip to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

On Friday, December 4th CAH members traveled to Boston to tour the MFA's new exhibit -- The Secret of Tomb 10A Egypt 2000 BC , stroll through the endless galleries, jump start their holiday shopping at the museum shop and enjoy a delicious lunch at Bravo, the Musuem's signature dining destination. Daniel R. Spirer Jewelers sponsored the holiday lunch for CAH members. Everyone enjoyed the good food, wine and conversation. Toasts were made as we celebrated another year of CAH. It was rewarding to see members connecting on issues of politics, family, holiday traditions and more. Happy Holidays to all!

Cambridge At Home - HELPING

Edgar H. Schein, a Cambridge At Home (CAH) founder and Trustee, has recently written a book called HELPING. The book focuses on how to offer, give and receive help at any age. "Using examples from many types of relationships-doctors and patients, consultants and clients, husbands and wives-Ed Schein offers a concise, definitive analysis of what it takes to establish successful mutually satisfying helping relationships."

CAH recommends this book to readers of all ages.

A Cambridge At Home membership is all about helping. Many members use our services regularly for help with grocery shopping, volunteer rides to medical appointments, or home health care. CAH social events help members reconnect with old friends and meet new people who share their interests. Those members who do not need all our services yet join to take advantage of free exercise classes as well as discounts from both retail merchants and service vendors. They also access our professional staff for help locating products or services which frees them to do other things with their time.

CAH is a community of residents creating the means to remain at home as they grow older. Membership insures that this valuable community resource will be here to serve residents now and in the future. We invite you to join us!

Twilight Tipple

CAH members have many opportunities to connect with old friends and meet new ones through a variety of activities. A new favorite among members is our Twilight Tipple held at Legal Seafoods in Charles Square, Cambridge. Members started meeting on summer evenings to share a glass of wine and a few appetizers outdoors. Tipple was meant to be a summer activity, but continues on indoors among a growing group of members who enjoy sharing a light evening meal and conversation with friends.

Members explore the city on foot

A small but dedicated group of CAH members have been walking together, twice a month for the last two years. Walks have ranged in type from the historic like the Battle Road Trail in Lincoln, to convenient and familiar like Fresh Pond, to a little more creative like retracing Obama’s steps as a student in Cambridge. A few weeks ago one of our members along with a friend from Beacon Hill Village’s walking group joined forces to show us around the South End. Arguably our most beautiful walk, we passed by thriving vegetable gardens, beautiful parks and quaint neighborhoods. We also recently explored the great works of art found on the MIT campus making sure to stop inside to view pieces like the brightly colored floor by Sol Lewitt. Like last year, we plan to continue walking throughout the winter. For now, we are soaking up the fall weather and enjoying the spectacularly colored trees!

HILR publishes book entitled New Pathways for Aging

Cambridge At Home Recommends: New Pathways for Aging


Editors: Peg Senturia, Stan Davis, Hy Kempler, Prudence King, Rhoada Wald


In Their Own Words: Coping Successfully With Retirement and Aging.


Getting older can be a downer. Not for this group, members of the Harvard Institute of Learning in Retirement (HILR). New Pathways for Aging is a collection of personal stories, interspersed with poems and theoretical insights, about their lives. Twenty writers look back on their lives and tell stories of loss and hope. The book is a testimony to the various routes thoughtful people have followed as they tackle retirement, loss, illness and relocation with resilience, courage, creativity and hope. This book will get you thinking differently and offer wisdom about these important life issues.

The authors draw upon a wide range of experience in the business world, in social services, and in academia. Their concerns are the concerns of everyone in an aging world – social connections, self-esteem, an intellectual life, creativity, and mortality.

For more than 30 years the Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement has helped seniors discover new intellectual interests and make new friends . From the 550 members of the group, editors Peg Senturia, Stan Davis, Hy Kempler, Prudence King, and Rhoada Wald recruited the 20 writers for their pioneering volume.
Also check out their website PathwaysforAging.org. Questions, reactions—the email address is -- pathwaysforaging@googlegroups.com

The book is available at the Harvard Coop in Cambridge (Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement; Cambridge, Mass. 2009; 180 pages; $14.95).

CAH Lecture Series

Interested in meeting CAH members, Trustees and staff in an informal setting? Join us at one of the CAH Lecture/Receptions this year. The speakers are outstanding, the wine and appetizers are delicious and the charge for non-members is just $10.00.

The lectures take place in the Piper Auditorium at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, located at 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge. Here is the schedule to date:



October 18th - 3:00pm - Abigail Trafford
Abigail Trafford, author and columnist for the Washington Post spoke about the problems and opportunities of aging, about love and relationships in an age of longevity. Her latest book is My Time.


November 8th - 3:00 pm - Drs. Margaret Geller and Scott Kenyon Dr. Margaret Geller & Dr. Scott Kenyon, world-renowned astrophysicists at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory will speak about global warming from Venus to Pluto and climate change on Earth driven by human activity. Through lectures, interviews, films and television appearances Drs. Geller & Kenyon have taken audiences on journeys through the universe from the nascent solar system to the most distant young galaxies.


January 7 - 4:00pm - Dr. Howard Hiatt and Dr. Donald Berwick

Tough choices in health care will be the subject of a discussion between Dr. Hiatt and Dr. Berwick. Dr. Howard Hiatt, now Associate Chief of the Division of Global Health Equality at Brigham and Womens' Hospital, was Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health from 1972-1984. He is the author of Medical Lifeboat and A Measure of Malpractice. Dr. Donald Berwick is President and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and one of then nation's leading authorities on the quality of medical care. He is a professor at both the Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health and author of over 140 articles in scientific journals and co-author of several books.


February 7 - 3:00 pm - Professors Merle and Marshall Goldman

Professors Merle Goldman and Marshall Goldman will give us their insights into China and Russia as world powers. Noted scholars and authors who specialize in China and Russia respectively, both are frequent media commentators on events in those countries. They are both members of the Council on Foreign Relations.


Merle Goldman is Emerita Professor of History at Boston University and an associate of the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard. Her most recent book is From Comrade to Citizen: The Struggle for Political Rights in China.


Marshall Goldman, Emeritus Kathryn Wasserman Davis Professor of Russian Economics at Wellesley College, was Associate Director of the Davis Center for Russian Studies at Harvard. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has been a consultant to the State Department and the Ford Foundation. His latest book is Petrostate: Putin, Power, and the New Russia.

Call our office today to reserve a space! 617-864-1715

These lecture/receptions are FREE for CAH members through the generous support of : Blue Cross Blue Shield MA, the Mt. Auburn Hospital, Privatus and HouseWorks.

Mount Auburn Hospital's Chief of Geriatric Medicine and Chief of Geriatric Psychiatry Discuss Memory Disorders

Some 22 Cambridge At Home members who gathered at Mount Auburn Hospital on Nov. 2 were urged not to treat memory loss as something to expect as a necessary by-product of growing old, but to seek medical attention if forgetfulness affects their ability to get on in daily life. At a session on memory, Dr. Joseph P. D'Afflitti, Chief of Geriatric Psychiatry, emphasized that memory disorders can be treated, although often not cured. He mentioned various physical and neurological tests that should be performed to rule out any underlying physical illness.
Mount Auburn Hospital's Chief of Geriatric Medicine, Dr. John R. Anderson, spelled out categories of memory disorders and their suggested treatments. First is Benign Senescent Forgetfulness, in which previously experienced difficulties like trouble remembering names, or misplacing keys, become more frequent. Next is Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) in which forgetfulness is more pervasive. In neither of these stages is there serious disruption of a person's ability to function normally. Next is dementia, sometimes caused by Alzheimer's disease. Both he and Dr. D'Afflitti described Alzheimer's as a "terminal diagnosis" of a condition requiring treatment. Cambridge at Home members then engaged the speakers in an animated question and answer session.
The Monday morning meeting was the latest enjoyable and informative program staged for CAH by our strategic ally, Mount Auburn Hospital. Before seating themselves around the long table in the Lynch Board Room at the hospital, attendees selected refreshments from a breakfast buffet of fruit juices, muffins and pastries, and coffee and tea.
Introducing Drs. Anderson and D'Afflitti was Jeanette Clough, the Chief Executive Officer of Mount Auburn Hospital. She stated that the non-profit hospital finished its fiscal year in good financial condition and could thus plough back earnings into improved services for patients.
Also attending from the hospital were Kathy Howard, Director of Social Services and Neurology, and Betsy Gonnerman, Clinical Social Worker. Both work closely with Cambridge At Home, for whose members Betsy is the hospital's designated liaison.

Cambridge At Home Member Testimonials 2009


I never thought grocery shopping could be such fun - it is all so convenient - not to worry about parking - not to lift the heavy bags and most of all to meet some lovely people including our driver Dick who is a walking “Google” at Harvard - we have enjoyed all the events that we have attended - hats off to the staff -you are just great and we thank-you so much –
Rena and Walter

CAH has provided me with important services (shopping) and programs - lectures, museum trips all very enjoyable and well organized. The monthly calendar helps me plan available free time. The description of activities is efficiently presented with good follow-up. Meeting new people is fun; everyone is friendly.
Debby

So far, I have a very active life and have used Cambridge at Home more for their excursions and interesting events. If and when I must give up my car I will certainly be using their shopping programs. I hope to lean on them heavily as a provider of services when that time comes. I'm so glad they're here for me.
Betty

During the past two years at various times we have needed the services of a carpenter, a painter, an electrician, a tiler and a handyman. On each occasion the person or organization recommended by Cambridge At Home responded promptly, did a workmanlike job, was pleasant to deal with and made a reasonable charge.
Lee and Joe

My husband and I have been enrolled in Cambridge At Home since the beginning. We have called them for referrals for handymen, locksmiths and other help. We have not yet needed some of the many other services but consider them insurance for the future. The people have been prompt, kind and competent. Thank You Cambridge At Home!

Joan and Raymond

1. I not only get to get to go grocery shopping at my two favorite stores but I get help with carrying bags and get to meet interesting and charming people.
2. I have been able to get rides to doctors at the last minute with knowledgeable and kind volunteers.
3. I get to go to the ICA (which would be impossible otherwise) and have been to concerts and poetry readings at members' homes.
Teejay

I live in a duplex apt in the Harvard Sq. area. I have used CAH for many purposes: have found an excellent driver to take me to places and concerts at night: have used an excellent cook and plan to use them if I ever need more help for special needs. I also have attended several Museum trips, two of them included bus trips. I have found CAH to be an excellent resource and their representatives you talk to on the phone are helpful and resourceful. I recommend them highly for those of us in our later years (I am in my early eighties!)
Virginia

My wife and I have used CAH for grocery shopping, to find a hairdresser who will come to the home, to find a visiting nurse, to find a reading group. I have also been to an MFA exhibit in which the docent was actually the curator of the exhibit. No request is too big for Kathy, Kristen or Sarah. CAH creates a wonderful sense of community.
Sam

My husband and I toyed with the idea of giving up our membership until we really needed it…but before I could do so, I broke my femur and realized quickly that I wouldn’t be able to survive without help. Cambridge At Home found me home health care aides to help me around the house and drive me around town to do errands. It’s been a godsend!
Ann

Cambridge At Home Testimonial from a Member's Son

We are very happy with all of the great things that you set up for my 91-year-old mother. You have made it possible for her to live her dream of remaining independent and self-sufficient in her own apartment, while at the same time knowing that she is safe and well cared for.
John, son of Anita

CAH Members Enjoy Pioneer Valley Museums

The Five College Region of Western Massachusetts was particularly beautiful during CAH’s visit on October 27th. Members and guests visited the extraordinary art museums of Smith College and Mount Holyoke College, as well as the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, located near the campus of Hampshire College. Each of the museums had its own identity, and each maintained standards of exceptionally high quality, as evidenced in their permanent collections, as well as their special exhibitions. It was a glorious day in Northampton, South Hadley, and Amherst!

Welcome to the Cambridge At Home Blog!

A new option for senior living, Cambridge At Home, launched in 2007 is a membership-supported organization open to all Cambridge residents 50 and over. Cambridge At Home was founded to bring older members the benefits of a retirement community without having to move from their homes, but also offers younger members the convenience of vetted service providers, member discounts from local merchants and vendors, free exercise classes and a professional staff to assist them with just about anything. In addition to a wide range of services that support daily living – such as home maintenance, transportation, and home health care – members enjoy a variety of social gatherings , interest groups and a grocery shopping service. Cambridge At Home emphasizes choice, control and continuity of lifelong connections and activities. Over 200 Cambridge households have joined and recruitment will continue to a maximum of 350 households.
For more information or to attend a CAH Open House meeting please contact the office at 617-864-1715, visit our website at http://www.cambridgeathome.org/. or email us at http://www.blogger.com/info@cambridgeathome.org
Follow our blog to get an inside view of what our members enjoy.