A Sage Idea? Notion Of A Saging Center Generates A ‘Groundswell Of Interest’

Millions of people travel to Las Vegas each year for its gambling and entertainment offerings. Could Spokane accomplish similar appeal with a saging center?

The notion of Spokane as a destination for people eager to learn how senior citizens can be engaged more effectively in their communities was introduced by nationally known health planner and futurist Leland Kaiser earlier this month.

Kaiser, featured speaker at the Spokane Leadership Forum on Jan. 13, described the concept as part of what he calls the “experiential industry.”

Far-fetched? Maybe, but Kaiser’s ideas have generated a “big groundswell of interest,” according to Dan Baumgarten, executive director of the Health Improvement Partnership. HIP will host a meeting on the saging center concept Feb. 6.

“It seems to be catching lot of people from various sectors of the community and exciting them, said Baumgarten.

At an earlier speech in Spokane last May, Kaiser encouraged the community to create a saging center, a place where aging citizens could have their needs attended to at the same time they turned their own energies and talents to community service.

It takes a person 30 years just to accumulate common sense and another 30 years to learn how to apply it, Kaiser had said. Then, about the time they conventionally retire, is when they’re ready to be sages.

But what does a saging center look like?

“There’s no road map for how we make this come together,” says Baumgarten. “I think part of what we’re going to do for probably a year is feel our way toward making this concept come alive.”

Baumgarten isn’t jumping to any conclusions about what form a saging center would take, or even that it would take just one form.

“The concept has many different potential expressions,” he says. “It may not necessarily need to be one building where all of this ‘happens.”’

Baumgarten said much of the interest is coming from people who are nearing retirement age and are wondering how to move from their current careers to the next stage of their lives without ceasing to be productive.

“We get people who call us up and say, ‘You know, this is what I’ve been dreaming about doing but I didn’t have a name for it.”’

Baumgarten sees it as graduation from the marketplace to what Kaiser calls the “gift economy,” a stage at which people donate their skills to giving back to the community, often doing what they’ve done during their years of employment.

“It’s people like that especially that we’re hearing from who don’t see themselves just going quiet when they retire,” he said. “They want a new vision for where their lives are going or how they can contribute and I think some of them maybe they’re still working on refining that kind of a commitment.”

Kaiser believes the potential for such a program is especially pertinent as scientific advancement drives human longevity upward.

In Spokane, meanwhile, the Health Improvement Partnership is organized around the idea of joining existing community resources in efforts to improve community health.

“Our challenge will be to bring together some kind of meaningful, coordinated dialogue which helps the concept grow and find its multiple expressions in the community,” said Baumgarten.

He said HIP is “ideally aligned” for that job.

“We’re organized around helping to put wind in the sails of new steps that may occur in a variety of places and ways.”

He said HIP will set the stage and help keep the conversation moving.

“But it will be up to the participants themselves to really give the concept life,” he said.

The notion of engaging retired people in community volunteerism is nothing new, of course.

“I think the difference may be that this concept is connected to a real radical elevation of the role of our elders,” said Baumgarten.

“It’s not just a vision of, ‘oh, we ought to honor our senior citizens.’ This has a certain tangible contribution that we see our seniors making in a new mixture of how we work together.”

In whatever form it takes, the saging center would combine services for seniors with service by seniors. And if Spokane can do it and do it well, in the vision laid out by Kaiser, the city could become the place where other communities come to learn about it.

Baumgarten hasn’t made up his mind how realistic the world-mecca part of Kaiser’s expectation is, but he says it intrigues him.

“I know that we have to become a global city,” he said. “I know that we have to distinguish ourselves not as just the biggest city between Seattle and Minneapolis. That is not an image that is going to motivate us to be all we can be.”

Baumgarten said he believes in Spokane’s capacity to become the kind of model community Kaiser envisions.

“Maybe it’s because of our geographical isolation and the fact we’re still sort of distinct and maybe it’s partly because of our size that we’re still able to work together as one unit. That has a lot of reverberation for me.

“When he (Kaiser) talks about we could become a model for 21st centrury solutions to how to live together in community, that just feels true to me - possible, real.”

But it won’t be HIP that makes it happen. It won’t be Dan Baumgarten and it won’t be Leland Kaiser.

“We have to do it as a community. It’s got so many dimensions to it that no one entity can control it.

“All we can do at HIP is help host it. That’s our role. It’s got to take its own life and there should be room for all kinds of people who bring different gifts to the process.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Knight-Ridder illustration

MEMO: The Health Improvement Partnership will host a two-hour meeting, beginning at 10 a.m. on Friday, Feb. 6, to discuss the concept of a saging center in Spokane. For more information call HIP at 742-3660.

This sidebar appeared with the story: SAGE ADVICE On Dec. 28, The Spokesman-Review published some of the comments Leland Kaiser made here last May about the idea of a saging center. Readers were invited to share their reactions. Here are excerpts from their comments: Marge Johnson, Spokane: “Best article I have read on aging! I jumped up and down! “I just quit my job as a medical transcriptionist and everyone said, ‘what fun, retiring.’ “I kept saying, no, I am not retiring, just rethinking what I want to do, and it kept going over everyone’s head! I would love to help out with a saging center.” The Rev. Paul Graves, Spokane: “I much appreciated the column you ran on ‘saging centers.’ The concept is a new and provocative one for me. “When I’m not writing my religion column, I am in geriatric health care, so the notion of offering senior folks a new opportunity to serve others is very appealing to me.” William R. Lassey, professor and director of health policy and administration, Washington State University Spokane: “I was intrigued by the Leland Kaiser article. It fits with some of the things Washington State University Spokane is trying to do in aging and quality of life. We may soon have a certificate available in gerontology at the graduate level. “We currently offer a graduate specialty in aging and long-term care as part of a graduate program in health policy and administration. “It seems worthwhile to consider linking the WSU Spokane effort with the idea of a saging center proposed by Kaiser. Ruth Dixon, Spokane: “We certainly need a few less bridge players and a few more workers in this community. I happen to be a guardian ad litem myself. I’ve been a newspaper woman and a radio commentator in California for 30 years. So we all need to get out and do more and we’ll be better for it.” Mae F. Schaeffer, Spokane: “My friends congratulate me for continuing as much volunteerism at age 83 as I do. Little do they realize the benefits I receive. They are amazed when they become aware of my age. Working with children and young people is a stimulation and I do celebrate life. Dr. Kaiser suggested using one’s professional choice as a volunteer. As a primary teacher for seven years, I used my training during 30 years of Girl Scout adult work, 17 years teaching (English as a second language), volunteer tutor for primary homeless children and adults in hot water therapy at the YWCA (20 years), to name a few. I feel I did recareer and reinvent myself. More seniors should try it.