Your ticket to vitality is to continue caring for yourself, seeking more ways you can help lift others, and to cultivate and express your own creativity and talents that connect you while inspiring others. The world needs you, will you give us what you’ve got? Join us as we talk with CC Young, whose mission is to curate whole-person wellness, empowering mature adults to live out their dreams and interests, changing the paradigm of senior living to one of thriving and discovering new passions.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The topics and opinions express in the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not
those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We
make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No
liability explicitor implies shall be extended to W FOURCY Radio
or its employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should
be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing
(00:21):
W FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
What's working on Purpose? Anyway? Each week we ponder the
answer to this question. People ache for meaning and purpose
at work, to contribute their talents passionately and know their
lives really matter. They crave being part of an organization
that inspires them and helps them grow into realizing their
highest potential. Business can be such a force for good
in the world, elevating humanity. In our program, we provide
(00:51):
guidance and inspiration to help usher in this world we
all want Working on Purpose. Now, here's your host, doctor
Elise Cortes.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Welcome back to the Working on Purpose program, which has
been brought to you with passion and pride since February
of twenty fifteen. Already, thanks for turning in this week.
Great to have you. I'm your host, doctor Elias Cortes.
If we have not met before and you don't know me,
I'm a workforce advisor, organizational psychologist, management consultant, local therapist,
speaker and author. My team and I at Gusto now
help companies to unlivenen and fortify their operations by building
(01:25):
a dynamic, high performance culture, inspirational leadership, and nurturing managers
activated by meaning and purpose. And you know that inspired
employees outperform their satisfied peers by a factor of two
point twenty five to one. In other words, inspiration is
good for the bottom line. You can learn more about
how you can work together with us at Gustodashnew dot
com and my personal site at Leascortes dot com. Before
(01:47):
we get into today's program, I am thrilled to announce
that registration has been open for a fabulous, brand new
conference for women for which I'll service the MC. It's
called Thriving twenty five and it's jam packed few days
in Chicago, June twenty fifth through the twenty eight. Twenty
twenty five is designed to develop women as whole selves,
from bolstering your mindset to your financial acumen, to leadership,
(02:07):
to incorporating nature and art into your life to raise
consciousness and much more. Visit thridan twenty five dot com
for information and to register. Use my promo code of
Gusto Gusto all caps to gain access to the free
books and programs I'll be given to registrants. See you there,
get in today's program and have something for you very
very special. We have a dynamic trio from c C Young,
(02:29):
a senior living and care community. Jennifer Griffin serves as
the vice president of Community Outreach and Engagement and is
dedicated to shaping engagement and hospitality across the campus, ensuring
every resident, family member, and staff individual experience is the
true spirit of CC Young. Brian Parman is the director
and Angela Castillo the assistant director of the Point and Pavilion,
(02:49):
where they direct the vibrant activities and events and direct
and operate th writing hubs, curating a robust calendar of
engaging opportunities for both residents and the wider community. Today,
we'll be talking about the aging demographics in the US
and how CC Young serves this community. The Spirit is
Ageless contest for writers and artists. They host each year
and celebrate some of the winners of past years. We
(03:12):
four are here on site at CCONG in Dallas, so
you can experience some of the atmosphere and art created
by contest participants, some of which is directly behind us. Jennifer,
Bryan and Angela A hearty welcome to Working on Purpose
by thank you so great to be here. And this
all started, ladies and gentlemen, listeners and viewers as we
were talking about this contest coming up and I'm getting
(03:34):
to service as a keynote, so we wanted to further
evangelize what they're doing and help you in on what
is happening with the aging community. So we'll start there.
So I was surprised to learn about some of the
things that I learned from you about the aging population.
So let's help our listeners and viewers understand the state
of today's agent population.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
Absolutely well, I'm going to jump in on this one
alas we are as a country facing a silver SIGNAMI
many have heard of that. I've got some statistics for you,
and it's all based on the year twenty thirty so
by the year twenty thirty, which is right around the corner,
we will have seventy I know, it's so crazy, it's
so close. Seventy three point one million adults, or twenty
(04:19):
one percent of our population will be sixty five or older.
By twenty thirty, the same year we are going to have,
the youngest baby boomer will turn sixty five. Like what,
And in twenty thirty nine, the youngest baby boomer will
be seventy five years old. So that sort of puts
it in context a little bit. So of course that's interesting.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
You know, if we relate that to what the size
of today's population is, what is at three hundred and
fifty million or something? Is that right now? That's five
years out for what you were just sharing. But then
of course we have to ask then, what's contributing to
this increasing size of the population.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
Well, better healthcare throughout the country. We've got better information
now on nutrition and lifestyle and stress and all those
things than we've ever had. So people as a general
rule are living longer, living hopefully better lives. That's our
goal is to make sure people live better, longer, and
(05:17):
anything else you want to add. I mean, it's just
the evolution of society as a world.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
We're living longer now.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
I mean people used to die at forty.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Right, yeah, so actually your founder died at what was
at forty three?
Speaker 4 (05:28):
Yeah, yeah, very young.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
So now let's talk about what kind of challenges does
you know present themselves as we age.
Speaker 5 (05:36):
Sure, I think there's a lot of stigma or people
around what senior living looks like. I mean, many of
them have a perception of it being very lonely or
maybe kind of a sad time in life, and I
have found that to be completely the opposite. I'm about
to celebrate my tenth year here at cc YOUNG and
you know, truly this is a place where you come
(05:57):
to live, and a lot of people when I've talked
with them, especially when I first got here, shared that
they were really sad that they hadn't done it sooner.
You know that they really had very sooner to have
like less stress, but to have all the different choices
of the activities the community, the opportunity to find purpose
and to be able to have the safe space to
(06:21):
play again, that's something that you have to learn again,
I mean, to be.
Speaker 6 (06:25):
Like a child.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
I mean, well, as a general statement, the industry itself
has changed a ton since the beginning of time. I
mean starting in the early twenty early two thousands, there
was a big move from just standard old traditional nursing
home care to person centered care. And everything we do
here is directed around what people's interests and passions are.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Sounds good, safe me and seat I'm right now one
point two miles away, wouldn't be hard to move in. Well.
The other thing that we talked about along those lines
that I'm terribly interested in helping you do, is you
are interested in changing the way people relate to aging.
And I was perceived by people inside and outside of
the community. So if you can juxtapose you how it's
generally talked about and perceived today and where you're trying
(07:12):
to get it to.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Oh, this is a big one.
Speaker 6 (07:15):
Who wants to jump in, well, I mean Colin Milner,
it's wellness.
Speaker 5 (07:20):
Yeah, yeah, Colin Milner is the founder and the president
of the International Council and Active Aging and Jen if
you want.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
To well, went to that conference a couple of years
ago and I came back with my head exploding, actually
because it was it's something you hear all the time,
and I guess I will say that I was stuck
in the paradigm of wellness is fitness, and it's really
not just that that's a component of it. So I
came back and looked at what we're already doing here
(07:48):
on our campus and thought, my gosh, we're doing so
much already, especially these two in this building. Is what
it's dedicated to. We just need to change our life
lguaging around it. We need to change the way we
talk about wellness.
Speaker 6 (08:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (08:04):
Well, and one of the things is a lot of
people still think about senior communities and seniors in general
as oh, they just they play bingo, they sit around,
they don't they don't get out. But with the population shifting,
they're staying. They worked longer, they want to stay active longer,
they want to learn new things. And that's what we
try to do here is present them with opportunities to
(08:25):
learn new things, new technology, take art classes, writing classes,
we have an acting group that puts on place all
kinds of things that that's not what people think about
when they think about the senior community and what they
can accomplish.
Speaker 5 (08:38):
Superjecative well, as you think about some of the celebrities
that are out there share and you know, but like, uh,
you know that there have been Martha Stuart living on
this on the cover of Sports Cemetery magazine and other
you know, other images haven't just been about the young
the young person. And I think that people have woken
(09:01):
up to the fact that, you know, this demographic has
a lot of time and they have money to.
Speaker 6 (09:06):
Spend and people are marketing to them.
Speaker 5 (09:09):
I mean, the folks here are definitely prolific in Amazon
as am I It wasn't until I started because of
this one, but like the boxes are coming in every
day and they are making it happen so funny.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
I think that's wonderful. I love that Barbanca. In fact,
you know why did we call this episode. It's related
to crescendo Live life and crescendo your best years are
ahead of you, which is something I want to credit
to Cynthia Holler Covey who was on my podcast a
couple of years ago, and that's part of the title
of her book.
Speaker 8 (09:36):
But I love it for what we're doing here at
title right, I love that title. So let's just briefly
introduce CCNG to our listeners and viewers so they have
an idea of the kind of what you do here.
And we don't have time to go into a lot
of history and such, but just introduce institution.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
I'd be happy to We are a faith based organization
and nonprofit faith based. We're one hundred and three years old,
driven part of East Dallas since the early early sixties,
so we're rooted here. We are what they call a CCRC,
a continuing care retirement community, and we've been known all
(10:13):
this time for our stellar care. Our campus is catching
up to the level of the care we provide. And
let me define a CCRC. I went a little too
fast over that, as CCRC is a continuing care retirement community,
and that means we have several different level of care,
starting from independent living, assisted living, memory support, skilled nursing,
(10:34):
short term rehab, all the weight of end of life care.
And we do that not only for our residents here
on campus, but also out in the community.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Okay, that helps tremendously. And I know you have more
than five hundred residents here, right, and so a lot
of people is to take care and keep track.
Speaker 6 (10:48):
Of we do.
Speaker 5 (10:50):
In addition to those five hundred residents, we have more
than one hundred and fifty non resident members, members from
the local community to engage in the programming and the
events and the contests and all the things that happen
here every day.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
That's wonderful vibrancy. So as we as I've gotten to
know you better and I've considered you know, I'm a
single person and I can well imagine myself in your community,
and yet we know that many people don't consider joining
a community like this. So now it makes sense, I think,
to contrast the experience of people who live in a
(11:24):
community like yours versus those who choose to live separately
or independently. What's the difference.
Speaker 5 (11:29):
Sure, well, you know, a lot of people focus on
the care that's provided in a place like this, and
it is a huge part of what happens. And oftentimes
it's either the person or the loved one with that
person that needs care, and that might be why they
make that entry. But as we move into this time period,
a lot of the focuses shift from being a care
community that provides some wellness to being a wellness community
(11:54):
that provides care. And as Jen said earlier, wellness is
everything from the aesthetic of the environment and that you're
in to you know, the physical activities that you would think,
but it's also you know, vocational.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
And other community and sense of belonging yes.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
Yes, and emotional meeting emotional needs and all of those things.
Speaker 6 (12:14):
And so it's just it's a different vibe, and I
think when people finally come see.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
It, they're like, oh my gosh, I had no idea.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
So what's very interesting for our listeners and viewers who've
been hearing this show for quite a while now, I'm
going to tell you that several of them that you
are listening right now, would be like, can I have
that in my workplace? And I have all those futures
in my workplace?
Speaker 4 (12:35):
And that'd be awesome.
Speaker 7 (12:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Right, that's when we're going on, ladies and gentlemen. We're
trying to get more destination workplaces, and so now I
would pull us a destination live place. But that brings
me of course, since this show is so rooted in
an experience of work and the experience of giving back
and be being enlarged by work, you know, I couldn't
let you come on without asking each of you to
share just briefly, why this work, what does it mean
(12:59):
to you?
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Well, I'll start, since I'm the age of one in
the group. I haven't had a broad and triggered career
and all along the way, I mean, I've loved, I've
had success, I've loved what I've done. It's been it's
been good. But I've always had a lacking sense of
what I was doing was actually making a difference. I
never anticipated joining a senior living community, and in fact,
(13:24):
I've lived a mile away all these years since I
owned the House of eighty eight. But I came here
and immediately recognized and felt, I felt that what I
do makes the difference. And that's the huge difference for me.
And the long you know, it does take long to
really realize you've got a passion for this and changing
(13:45):
the paradigm and starting our own TV. I mean, there's
so much we want to do, and it's the world
is coming along the way with us.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
It's so wonderful, Jen, And you know, anybody who's been
listening to the show for any period of time knows
how much we talk about how we can help create
workplaces where people know they matter, and that's what you're
talking about.
Speaker 7 (14:05):
Yeah, I would definitely agree, But unlike Jen, who's had
a lot of different experience, like She says, I didn't
have a lot of different work experiences, and I started
here at CCM twelve and a half years ago.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
When I came in not.
Speaker 7 (14:18):
Knowing what to expect, only knowing that I want some hospitality,
you know, work. But within the first year of working here,
I had a resident or appoint member come and tell me,
you know, I appreciate that you always have a smile
on your face because you don't realize that some days
the only people that we talked to as seniors are y'all.
We don't see our family, we don't see anybody else.
(14:39):
To have someone smile at us every day makes a difference.
And it was I think that moment that I was like, wow,
like just my smile is making an impact on somebody that.
Speaker 6 (14:47):
I would never have thought. And over the years I've.
Speaker 7 (14:51):
Seen it over and over again, just the impact you
have directly on people. They appreciated and it validates what
we do, you know, im planning our events or and
doing any service that we do for the residents. So
it's I know that that really helped me decide that
this is where I should be, where I want to be.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
I love the circularity of what you just described there.
It's beautiful.
Speaker 6 (15:15):
Gosh, I don't know. For me, I think, let me
put you back in on you guys.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
I think that I get a real joy when I
see a light bulb go on for someone where they've
discovered something that they didn't know that they had an
interest for.
Speaker 6 (15:27):
Or a knack for.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
And whether that be like somebody in a writing class
and see an article and being published in one of
our lifestyle guides or the magazine or something, or just
even watching a group of people who were in this
very room with a horticulture therapist. They didn't know each other.
They came out of that after about four weeks learning
(15:48):
about the plants, talking about them, but actually doing some
greet therapy and walked out of here but just different
and their backs held upright. And it just made me smile,
and it just makes me enjoy coming to work.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Oh, that is so beautiful. A lot of the reason
why I like doing the work that I do developing
leaders and organizations. To Brian on that, Let's let you
contemplate what's been discussed so far and how these people
are connecting to their work, and we'll take our first break.
I'm your host, doctor Elise Cortez. We've run there with
Jennifer Griffin, Brian Harman, and Angela Castillo of c C Young.
We've been first in this segment talking about the state
(16:20):
of the aging demographics in the United States and how
cc young is serving them. After the Raak, we're going
to get into the Spirit is Ageless celebration of artists
and writers.
Speaker 6 (16:30):
We'll be right back.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Doctor Elise Cortez is a management consultant specializing in meaning
and purpose. An inspirational speaker and author, she helps companies
visioneer for a greater purpose among stakeholders and develop purpose
inspired leadership and meaning infused cultures that all of fate, fulfillment, performance,
and commitment within the workforce. To learn more or to
invite Elise to speak to your organization, please visit her
(17:07):
at elisecortes dot com. Let's talk about how to get
your employees working on purpose. This is working on Purpose
with doctor Elise Cortes. To reach our program today or
to open a conversation with Elise, send an email to
Alise A Lise at eliscortes dot com. Now back to
(17:31):
working on Purpose.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Thanks for staying with us, and welcome back to working
on Purpose. I'm your host, Doctor Release Cortes, as I
am dedicated to helping create a world where organizations strive
because there are people thrive like these people do here
at CCONG and are led by inspirational leaders that help
them find and contribute their greatness. And we do business
at Betters the World. I continue to research and write
my own books. So one of my latest came out
is called The Great Revitalization. How activating me and purpose
(18:00):
can radically inliven your business. And I want to tep
leaders understand the nature of today's very discerning workforce. What
do they want and need to stay with you and
give their best, and that I offer twenty two best
practices to help equip your organization to provide that for
them through your leadership and your culture. You can find
my books on Amazon or my personal side at least
quotest dot com if you're just now joining us. My
(18:21):
guests are the Dynamic Trio from CCONG, a senior living
in care community. So let's talk about this contest that
I'm so excited to be part of. So let's start
with the history and purpose of the Spirit is Ageless Contest,
a celebration of artists and writers. What a great idea.
I know it started in nineteen ninety nine, but tell us.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
A bit, you know what, I think the contest really
started with a group of visionaries who envisioned the point
well before it was here. It was like the early nineties,
and part of their mission was really like ours to
change the paradigm of senior living and what that looks like.
And so through a community outreach program like this contest
that was started by the Texas Homes and Services for
(19:03):
the Aging Association, which is now called Leading Age, which
is actually how we met officially first time.
Speaker 6 (19:10):
You know, that group had an art show like this.
There was a statewide competition. It still exists today.
Speaker 5 (19:15):
That gave an opportunity for people fifty five and better
to submit and to maybe be selected to be featured
in an art show that might go to the Capitol
or be featured in Austin. And so that group of
people who envision this building thought, you know, let's let's
do something like that here started it and it's been
since nineteen's.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
Started small and has grown and grown and growth.
Speaker 5 (19:39):
The show actually traveled through churches before it actually came
here to this building. But we're celebrating our twenty fifth
year this year, so it's just been a real labor
of love.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
And one of the things I appreciate about it, and
if you want to just time in Angela, is that
I love that you opened the contest not just to
your own residents and those are condital, but the whole
Dallas Fort Worth Metropolitan I think that's really generous and
it's just a beautiful thing to host something that for
the whole entire metroplex.
Speaker 7 (20:07):
Yeah, definitely, we have it's a very good mix of
residents and then our point members, but just the general
community at age fifty five out and over have come out.
We usually have about fourteen different categories, and there's a
big group that have never entered a contest before, but
they've seen the art and they say, oh, I think
I can do something. And then there's people who have
been doing art all their lives but didn't realize that
(20:28):
it was art and said, oh, I can put in
my tablecloth in this category. I can you know my
shawl that I needed to be in a category, and
it's amazing. Then you see them when in one of
the entries and it's you know they're an artist. They
see them there art on the walls, and it's.
Speaker 5 (20:46):
Probably one of our favorite days because we never know
what's going to come the day that art is intaken,
and we just know there's a list of names, and
so when they come, you get to meet the people
and the faces. But then you get to hear the
stories behind the work that they're actually bringing and maybe
that they made this for their granddaughter or their grandson
or whatever the story might be, and the stories are
(21:06):
just heart.
Speaker 6 (21:07):
Tugging, you know.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
Yeah, that's part of it in the One of the
joys for us and doing it every year is that
you never know what you're going to get. You never
know who it's going to show up, or what they're
going to do this year, and their people are different,
it changes, and then they spend hours putting it up
around the whole building so we can see it and
it's just there's something everywhere to see and grows every year.
Speaker 6 (21:30):
It does grow every year.
Speaker 7 (21:31):
I think my first year twelve years ago, we had
maybe eighty total entries from about fifty people, and then
last year we had over two hundred entries from about
a little over one hundred different people to enter it,
and we were trying to scramble for our wall space
for display, because every piece that's brought in is showcased.
Speaker 5 (21:51):
So it's truly a labor of love for us. I mean,
it takes a group of probably about one hundred people
to pull this contest together from soup to nuts, and
it's through collaborative partnerships with organizations like the Dallas Area
Fiber Artists, the hand Leavers and Spinners Guild, the Beat Society,
and tons of residents and community members who come help us.
Speaker 6 (22:11):
Make this happen.
Speaker 7 (22:12):
Yeah, but also from we have art workshops throughout the
year and people come and they take an art workshop
for the first time and they realize, oh, I made
something that I could put in this contest, and you
have those pieces, and then you have pieces for people
you know, have you been doing art longer. So it's
just amazing to see the different varieties of things that
come through.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
So a couple of things, Uh, I'm wondering, am I
going to get carted when I come to this.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Age?
Speaker 3 (22:39):
The second thing it course, you know, I have to
ask about the why behind the celebration, and I know
that part of it is to change the paradigm of
aging as we've been talking about so far, and I
love the playfulness of it, and I love what you
were saying earlier, Brian, about you know, watching people like
literally stand a little tolerance stuff on their son to
realize I've created something beautiful and it's also appreciated by
(23:01):
many other people in this contest.
Speaker 6 (23:03):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
We have so many visitors to this building throughout the
month that the shows out for two months, and it
gets a lot of activity and conversation, and it becomes
a destination for families too to come pick out their
favorite thing and make comments about what they're seeing this
person did, and we post the rest the participant's name
and their age at time of completing the.
Speaker 5 (23:27):
Piece and the really I mean we were joking about
the age piece and charding people, but that's truly a
hallmark of the contest, Yes, because and you know every
life that every age is valued and enriched here. That's
part of our mission. But it's part of the mission
of the contest to let people know, you know, this
might be something that you just started doing and we
want to celebrate the fact that you're doing it today
(23:49):
and be proud of your age.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Absolutely, that's one of the reasons.
Speaker 7 (23:53):
We also also award and acknowledged the person who was
the oldest to have entered the contest. We have a
special category just for to say, you know, anybody at
any age can do art, and even up until one
hundred and two.
Speaker 6 (24:05):
I believe is what we've had before.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
Oldest was one hundred and two.
Speaker 7 (24:09):
So you know, it's just amazing to see, especially if
it's writing, where they've written something that's about their life
throughout the years and to learn about that.
Speaker 6 (24:17):
It's just really good to see us to read.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
You know, we are a juried show, and sometimes that's
a bit contentious. We don't let anyone know who the judging.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
The way competition doesn't fade as you age.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Person big it's stung right.
Speaker 5 (24:34):
In fact, they're pretty sneaky about it. But so we
we have, you know, people who are academics, we have
people who are professional writers and different folks from the
community who help us with the judging, and we do
give away awards in those different categories. But everyone is
in the show. It doesn't matter. I mean, you enter,
you're in, you're hung and you get to see your
(24:55):
work in a professional show.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
That is so beautiful. Okay, now, of course, having heard this,
listeners and viewers, don't you want to be involved? So
how can they participate? I mean, is there they must
do the apply? How what's the process of entering the content?
Speaker 7 (25:11):
We have information up on our website currently, but registration
opens August first, and so you can pre register, send
all of your information through a digital format, and then
in mid August August nineteenth and twentieth, you actually bring
in your art and we just kind of review and
make sure that you have all your contact information on
and make sure it's listed in the correct category, and
(25:35):
then we hang it later that week, it gets judged
and the show is up for two months, and then
we also have the big celebration to go along with it,
where we honor anybody who has won those awards.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
So that's true, you'll be speaking, okay, that's speaking definitely.
Speaker 7 (25:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (25:49):
Yeah, And if you're curious about that, it's ww dot
cc on dot org slash events and you'll see all
the information about the contest there for you.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Yes, so great, and talk a little bit about that
celebration here. What is that about? Who shows up?
Speaker 4 (26:05):
Well, it's a huge it's one of our anchor events
annually and it's a huge celebration. The families come, the
residents come, the wider community of artists and whatnot. We
have quite a few staff that attend this thing this
year because it's our twenty fifth anniversary. Well we usually have.
We like to throw a good party here, so we
(26:27):
like themes and we like parties, but this is all
about the art, and so we'll have encourage people to
come early and stroll through the gallery. We'll probably have
a reception for sure. For the twenty fifth we'll have
a champagne reception and then have our speaker and everybody
gets their picture and their trophy if they've won. So's
(26:47):
it's just a love fest the lazy it really is.
Speaker 6 (26:50):
The event is really the gift to all of the
participants and the speaker each year is our gift to them,
I mean really to motivate them and inspire them.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
To and validate what they done.
Speaker 6 (27:00):
It seth right, Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Well, And I can see just looking at your history
here you've had some incredible prestigious people Dallas icons and
thought leaders, including of course the legendary Ebbie hot Holliday.
Esteemed members of the art community like Lily Vice from
the Dallas Arts District, Amy hoff Hoffland from the Crow
(27:24):
Museum of Asian Art and Dallas artist J. D. Miller.
And these are amazing humans that are that have been
a part of us here. So I think it's really
impressive what you attracted to you through this effort.
Speaker 4 (27:37):
Yeah, thank you are. And you're joining that club.
Speaker 6 (27:42):
You are joining that club.
Speaker 7 (27:43):
And it's all of these connections that we make with
just these speakers that and the artists.
Speaker 6 (27:49):
But they keep coming back.
Speaker 7 (27:50):
Oh, I spoke there, and I want to now take
a class there.
Speaker 6 (27:52):
I spoke there.
Speaker 7 (27:53):
I want to teach a class. Their families come out there,
you know, their friends, it's you know, the community just
continues to grow and grow.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
We just looked Amy to come back in July to
talk about the new Crow Museum at the University of Texas, Dallas, Texas.
Speaker 6 (28:08):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
It just as a real quick side note, since this
is going to be a lot of people, I have
got to assume that you have an orchestrated effort to
bust people in or park people or what. I've got
to believe that happens. Because they have this beautiful campus.
We're on it here and by the way, there's there's
bunny rabbits out there hop and around and they have
deaflings that were crossing the street and shepherded by some
(28:30):
of the residents. It's just beautiful.
Speaker 4 (28:33):
It's a beautiful campus Ford.
Speaker 7 (28:35):
We've definitely learned how to have a party here, how
to throw an e vent here, so from the smallest
details up into the parking exactly.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
And I appreciate that you say it takes a village
literally to put the contest on. Over one hundred people
you said are part of putting it on, Brian, Is
that what you said?
Speaker 6 (28:52):
Correct?
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Well? And I want to make sure everybody listening understands
what rock stars are here that I have the pledge
of working with these two do the heavy lifting and
doing all the art cards and making sure it's hung beautifully,
and the planning and even the marketing, and even though
that's several other people involved, their vision is really what
(29:14):
makes it happen here.
Speaker 5 (29:15):
So you know, including a production much like today's experience.
For us, this is different being on the other side
of the camera. We have a TV studio run by
seniors for seniors. We're able to broadcast the program, the
awards program for all of those on our campus some
of those who can't be here for any number of reasons.
So we're broadcast in an internal channel. We can actually
(29:36):
live stream as well, which is really cool, and so
it is a sophisticated and more than rebroadcast for later,
right and you know, for perpetuity, because those things are
so important. I think, I mean, we're going to talk
them a little bit. I think about some of the
people in the show, but listening to some of the
residents and the reactions about seeing their work on the wall,
(29:57):
it just is the thing that I go back to.
Speaker 6 (29:59):
It gives me a gooseb up.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
Yeah, there's nothing quite like watching the molecules of a
human being get it changed and elevated right before your eyes.
Witnessing that transformation, nothing like it. The best drug there
is in the world for me. Okay, let's let's did
you want to say something else now? Okay, Well, we'rebb
our last break here because we've got some really good
stuff for you. After the break, we've been on air
with Jennifer Griffin, Brian Parman, and Angela Castillo of c C. Young.
(30:23):
We've been talking about this Spirit is Ageless contest coming
up here soon in the Dallas Fort Worth area. After
the break, we want to showcase and celebrate some previous
winners and some of what's what's come out of the
contest before we'll be right back.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Doctor Elise Cortez is a management consultant specializing in meaning
and purpose. An inspirational speaker and author, she helps company's
visioneer for greater purpose among stakeholders and develop purpose inspired
leadership and meaning infused cultures that elevate fulfillment, performance, and
commitment within the workforce. To learn more or to invite
Elise to speak to your organization, please visit her at
(31:14):
elisecortes dot com. Let's talk about how to get your
employees working on purpose. This is Working on Purpose with
doctor Elise Cortes. To reach our program today or to
open a conversation with Elise, send an email to Alise
A Lisee at eliscortes dot com. Now back to Working
(31:38):
on Purpose.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Thanks for stating with us, and welcome back to Working
on Purpose. I'm your host, Doctor release Cortez. As you
know by now, this program is dedicated to empowering and
inspiring you along your journey to realize more of your potential.
If you want to learn more about how we can
work together and specifically about the Gusto Now Academy for
leaders and individuals on various journeys alike. Make your way
to gustodashnow dot com and then navigate to the training
(32:06):
tab to find the Academy. We'd love to have you
join us if you are just not joining us. On
today's program, my guests are the Dynamic Trio from CCO,
a senior living in care community. Okay, so let's dive
into celebrating some of the people. I mean, it would
be impossible. We could do like fourteen shows just celebrating people,
but a last focus on this last segment and celebrate
(32:27):
a few Where do you want to start?
Speaker 4 (32:29):
I wouldn't start because I have my favorite and this
was such a darling story. We haven't had a new
resident named Ruby who had moved in a couple of months.
It was in the COVID years and she as a result,
we did a whole month of State Fair of Texas
events around here and part of that was butter sculpting
(32:50):
and she was new and she saw it in the
Lifestyle Guide and was like, well, I don't know what
this is. This woman comes over that we really didn't
know at the time, and she had done a bust
ahead of money and it was frozen and she was
trying to figure out how to bring it over It's
literally on a tread and it has a cleaver in
the head or a nine broad cleaver, and I'm thinking,
(33:10):
this is deep stumble of them. I don't know what
she's talking about. And the honest truth was she couldn't
figure out how to get it over here without it
would happened. So Ruby came and we were just all
amazed by the way the piece was amazing. It was
so realistic, and it was butter. We give everybody five
(33:32):
pounds of butter. You wouldn't believe the things that came back.
But we learned through that that she actually is an
artist and has been for years and years. And she
did ultimately did a residence show that was remarkable and
she had never tell let's say, the cloth this gives
me chills each sure.
Speaker 6 (33:48):
Sure.
Speaker 5 (33:49):
She was in the hallway and she looked at me
and she's like, Brian, you know, I I've never seen
all of this work in one place in my entire life,
and you know, this is my life. I love it.
It was it was very special. Her family came in
and I mean, but it was it was a labor
of love.
Speaker 6 (34:06):
It was a lot. I mean, she worked on this
thing and.
Speaker 4 (34:10):
But by far she's well, I can't have favorites, like
my mother says, she has no favorites.
Speaker 6 (34:16):
But I forget.
Speaker 4 (34:17):
Wow, she was darlings. She still hears her favorite story. Yeah,
that's my favorite story of how that came to be.
Speaker 7 (34:23):
Well, you know, we not only do we have the
residents who participate. I mentioned, we also have point members,
so we have staff, we have families, and we had
actually have a father and daughter who have both entered
the contest before. But like Dick is a writer, he
is an artist. He paints, he works with the Woodies
the wood shop. He plays the harmonica in the talent show.
Speaker 6 (34:46):
And he didn't he wrote a song.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
I did poetry.
Speaker 6 (34:49):
He's so a super talent.
Speaker 7 (34:51):
He paid the trumpet for taps one year, and then
he got his daughter to enter the contest alone. As
soon as she turned fifty five, he made her enter
and it's led to her having her own one woman
show coming up in August. She's going to have her
own show here because her art is amazing as well,
and so you know, you just have those little stories
that lead to one from one thing to the other, and.
Speaker 4 (35:12):
It's a like the one the trio.
Speaker 5 (35:14):
Yeah, sure, well, you know, and this is tough, you know,
but this one jumps out at me. We had someone
here recently in rehab. She was here to have some
thes replaced and during her time like oh, surgery, like
her recuperation. So one of our sales associates had said, Brah,
you've got to go buy and visit Phoebe. She's got
these sketches. They're unbelievable, you should know. And that's how
(35:35):
we find artists, you know. I mean, I'm shameless. I
will go ask anyone. Got to her apartment and she's
in there and she just starts whipping out these sketch
pads and then they're intricate, crazy designs of Alice in
Wonderland and all this color and detail. And then so
I'm like, Phoebe, would you ever consider doing a show?
And how did you get involved in this? And she
had with a group of friends. Her husband was an architect,
(35:57):
and they all had this get together that cocktails and
they had an art off.
Speaker 6 (36:01):
It was an annual and Opra cocktails.
Speaker 5 (36:04):
They decided maybe one year that they had to do hedgehogs,
and like everybody had to come with some hedgehog art,
you know, and each year it got you a different theme. Well,
you know, they have a whole group of people who
still do art, and I was like, well, hey, could
you help me book some other artists, thinking I'm scoring here.
You know, it turns out that Bbe not only just
picked up her phone and started dialing, but the show
(36:27):
is on the walls right now here at the point,
and they're absolutely amazing women, each in their own right.
I truly thought I would be able to book three
individual shows, but no, they wanted to do it together
because that bond that they established through doing their art
off and through the years of working together, you know,
was why they do art and why they.
Speaker 6 (36:47):
Have joy about it. So I'd say the trio stand
out in my mind.
Speaker 4 (36:50):
Well, and that's a great symbolism of what the art
in general can do. And we we love the arts
here in every shape way, shapement and form, performing arts, dance, music,
creative arts because you just connect. You get that sense
of joy from just experiencing whatever it is you're doing
(37:11):
in idiotose formats.
Speaker 5 (37:12):
And you know that's true because really, Angela, at one
point we were talking about dance and she got in
touch with bruce Wood Dance and they teach here our residents.
Not only do they perform and collaborate with us, but
because of Angela's connection with them came and you know,
started teaching our residents to dance in us as well well.
Speaker 4 (37:30):
And that's a key point with not only this show,
but everything we do here is that it's collaboration with
people we meet, no matter where we meet them. If
we have people that use our space for meeting space,
and one of the trade offs is would you do
a presentation of some sort, would you help educate our residents?
Would you be willing to have a show, would you
be willing to dance for us? And that's where a
(37:53):
lot of this comes from. We've got local celebrities. I mean,
I could go on and on. Amy Martin, somebody that's
lived in Dallas forever, and she became a point member
and you know she now is also presenting some of
our educational classes. She's a naturalist and nature trailblazer in Dallas,
(38:15):
and gosh, there's so many we can't even keep it
down to the same. You know.
Speaker 5 (38:19):
One of our residents, Judith Baines, wrote a story for
her grandson about the ducks that you mentioned earlier and
feathers the duck the residents named them, and her ducklings,
and how the residents you know, watched over the ducks
and the eggs and then they hatched, and how they
got them down to the lake here at White Rock
and illustrated the book with the help of Aaron Schmidt,
(38:39):
who's on our team. He's a crazy, great artist, and
Angela used her mad skilled with Canva to put that
book together and find it and we used it for
a fundraiser, i think for our Benevolence Fund, which helps seniors.
Speaker 6 (38:50):
Outlived their income.
Speaker 5 (38:51):
And this turned into a bigger thing, and I'm thinking
we're going to have volume two since these get.
Speaker 7 (38:56):
That the shot, and she did, and she entered that
book into the contest last year and then she won
the People's Choice award did so there was one award
where everyone just got to vote on what they liked
the best in her book on Feathers the Duck won
because weve nature around here and everybody loved that.
Speaker 6 (39:15):
But it's one simple example, but it's it's a perfect
example of how someone over fifty five has always had
a story burning inside of them and that book that
they wanted to write, and then they write five of
them in the last five years.
Speaker 5 (39:27):
Alice, you know, great example, and there are others who
you know, they get inspired by this opportunity and they're like,
let's do it.
Speaker 7 (39:36):
And you know, well, even after that she wrote that book,
she entered in the contest and then she decided she
was going to spearhead the rebranding of our own writing
group here, and so our our writing group was kind
of dwindling, and she said, oh no, we're not going
to do that, and now they have a good ten
to twelve people that come every week for the It's
true scribblers, scribes and speakers.
Speaker 4 (39:57):
Screw Oh, I love that name that they named themselves.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
I have interject real quick, because I know you have
other examples to share, but I want to just I
want to contrast as I'm listening to you share these
beautiful examples, and how with the passion with which excitement
that you're doing So I can tell you both of
my sets of grandparents didn't have any kind of that
kind of finished to their lives, nothing not even close.
(40:21):
And my own parents were My mother was seventy three,
my father my dad was seventy nine when they passed,
and they spent a lot of time sitting by themselves
in front of the television. That was the quality of
their lives. And I can pretty well say, definitively, I
know my mother might still be here if she had
been a part of it's something remotely close to this.
So I just want to interject that it's such a
(40:43):
difference in what you're describing the quality of their lives
versus what you have here.
Speaker 5 (40:49):
And there's so many things you make me think of.
My mom lived with Alzheimer's for twenty years, and her
last ten years were spent here in Dallas, and during
COVID specifically, we have still had art shows happening because
we were own little bubble. But the one way I
could communicate with my mom was through FaceTime, and I
would walk her through the gallery and show her people's artwork.
(41:09):
And I can remember her reaction when she saw this
one artist and I can't think of his name, helped me.
The Ostrich. It was this cute ostriche with the really
crazy big bug eyes and everything, and she just giggled,
Pat more, thank you.
Speaker 6 (41:22):
She does it all the time. You're awesome.
Speaker 5 (41:25):
But Pat, you don't even know how much you made
my mom's day. But that's something I'll never forget. And
the fact that we have two art galleries on campus
and other destinations where people either from inside or outside
the community can come have a free date. Seven days
a week these galleries are open. It's just a wonderful gift.
Speaker 4 (41:44):
Well, you mentioned and we haven't mentioned yet the gallery
over in our new building, the Vista. It's in such
a traffic area that it gives people who are coming
here to visit either their family that's in long term
care or memory support or wherever, the assistant, wherever they are,
but also the people that are here for short term
rehab and you know you're healing, you're in a place,
(42:06):
you're not feeling so good. It's a destination where that
they can get away from the bedroom or the bed,
the hospital bed, and go down and see some beautiful art.
Maybe stop at our little Beestro and get a snack
and sit out and get away from the seriousness of
the healing that they're all doing.
Speaker 6 (42:22):
Sure, you know what I mean birth.
Speaker 5 (42:24):
That little hallway is a super highway because people have
to go to rehab. But I remember the day that
I walked down the hallway and there was a woman
looking at a picture of a woman at the beach,
a pan on her hip, and she's looking at the wall.
And I had to stop and ask because I was
just and I was like, what's up?
Speaker 6 (42:39):
And is that? And she's like, that's me, that's me.
I'm the woman in the picture. And I was just like, wow,
it is you. So I took your picture.
Speaker 5 (42:46):
And just the opportunity for people to reminisce or to
engage with art, You just can't discount the value of that.
Speaker 6 (42:54):
Putting your work out there for someone to enjoy. You
have no idea, Just like saying hello to someone, You
might be the only one that touches them. You might
remember help them remember something that they forgot.
Speaker 7 (43:04):
Yeah, and I mean the contest itself, but everything else
we do here has made so many connections to people.
We've had so many people who have entered the contests
who have then decided, you know what, I love it,
I love this place. I'm going to move there. And
so we've had people, you know, had a show here,
Like while Davis he had his show here and then
him and his wife moved in the next year. And
this Carver who taught classes here for many mere years
(43:28):
then she would enter the contest, probably longer than I've
been here, and she just moved in this year.
Speaker 6 (43:32):
So it's you.
Speaker 7 (43:34):
We make these connections to these people and they find
joy here and like Brian likes to say, and they decide, well,
I'm going to be there, live there, and yeah.
Speaker 4 (43:42):
And it's not just people from the art show. It's
from people that are appoint members or whatever. We've had
what was the last count of like thirty thirty something
and the last people that have had a soft landing
here to get to understand what the community's like, and
the next thing, you know, they become residents. They I
like it here. I love the community is what it
comes down to.
Speaker 3 (44:03):
Well, and I was thinking to myself as a business person,
what a smart way to socialize yourself to the overall
community at large. I think that's brilliant. I don't know
if that was part of the I.
Speaker 4 (44:12):
Think the Visionary Committee's idea for sure, to to serve
the community at large, But I don't think they anticipated
that it would necessarily convert into people living here back then,
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (44:26):
I had an opportunity not long ago to bring someone
named Grace Delatour. She was one of those people in
that visionary group. She neighbors with her son, and they
came to an event we had out in the park.
We had big band launch everything, and Grace has never
actually been in the building since it opened, and so
I had the chance to walk around and show her
(44:47):
all the things that have happened since they raised the
money that they did.
Speaker 6 (44:51):
To make this building happen. And it was really really
a special day to experience that with.
Speaker 3 (44:56):
Her so beautiful. We've got a a little bit more
time to hear a couple more stories. And I know
you had said something about the Age's Creaturvity Award. I
think Anita Hallam I love.
Speaker 4 (45:09):
Can I tell you the first time I met Anita,
I thought she was a spitting image of my maternal grandmother.
And I told her so, I'm like, oh my gosh,
you remind me of my grandmother. She is a former
rancher from aud East Texas. She is she's a powerhouse.
Speaker 6 (45:29):
She has turned one hundred years.
Speaker 4 (45:30):
I've turned a hundreds, part of again the journey of
life here and how people come here and don't know
are surprised by things that happened. She we haven't had
a wonderful man named Ralph Eylers who they befriended one
another and had had developed just a dear, precious relationship.
(45:53):
Now at that time, she's probably eight ninety eight and
he's like ninety.
Speaker 6 (45:57):
I mean, the sin this whole story was it was
a good romance.
Speaker 5 (46:02):
Out in the park and we would walk to our
cars and were like look and going, what's going on?
Speaker 6 (46:07):
And like you know that they like connected and really
so as.
Speaker 4 (46:13):
A as a centenarian, she and a writer and a
lovely spirit. She wrote a story rap ended up passing
a year and a half ago, two years ago, and
of course we were all sad, and she wrote the
most beautiful, heartfelt, lovely story about him and their relationship
(46:35):
and and she said, I'm just gonna made me choke up.
She said he was the love of her life and
she did not meet him until she was one hundred
years old. Oh, she that story she wrote was just remarkable.
So you know exactly, yeah, she's still she's still here
(46:56):
with us and still doing great.
Speaker 3 (46:57):
I am so glad you shared that story for a
number of levels. It's so beautiful, it's so inspiring. I
hope that gives our listeners and viewers hope to about
the quality of their overall lives and what's available for
them when they lean in.
Speaker 4 (47:10):
Definitely, there's so much. I mean, we could stay here
all day talking about experiences.
Speaker 3 (47:18):
Well, this has just been beautiful. I want to give
you each an opportunity just to say a couple of
words in closing. You know, this shows listen to why
people around the world, many of them will come into
the topic that's being featured, but they all want to
elevate their lives. They want to elevate what wo they're
being in the world through their lives. What would you
like to leave them with?
Speaker 4 (47:37):
Boy, I you know, every cliche comes to mind that
I could possibly say, live better, longer, never stop learning,
live with joy. The list goes on and on and on.
But for me, the most impactful thing to do is
really realize that aging is not necessarily the end. It
(47:58):
can be the beginning. Can be so much more than
we fear it might be. A resident are doing things
now that they never had the chance to do when
they were working and raising a family and doing all
the things. And I mean we can all relate to
the busyness of life. And now if you can take
(48:19):
a moment to just find those little moments of joy
here or throughout your life or wherever you are, that's
the important part of life right there that we sometimes
just zoom by too fast. But anyway, throwing a little
confetti here and there too, that always for sure.
Speaker 6 (48:36):
Jen's all about the comfetti copettiti.
Speaker 7 (48:38):
But going off kind of what she said. But you know,
just because you're over fifty five or over sixty five,
that does not mean that you know, life stops. It's
life begins. You can still learn new things. We have
people here every day learning whether it's learning how to
text on their phone or you know, we learning how
to do a zoom.
Speaker 6 (48:56):
Call and things.
Speaker 7 (48:58):
Our residents are leading their own TV station and they're
teaching me things still about technology that I'm almost like, oh,
I didn't know that, but it's just amazing that there's
still so many more things that you can learn.
Speaker 5 (49:12):
Got for me, really it's about working here in senior living.
I don't know that it would have ever considered it
but this environment and the opportunity to be in a
faith based residence first approach that CCONG takes really has
afforded me the opportunity to be creative, to have blue
sky thinking and think big and the results of the
work that we do and having the direct impact front
(49:35):
and the contact of the residents just changes everything.
Speaker 3 (49:38):
It is such a delight to know all three of
you and now feel like I'm part of this too.
I get too part of this too. I want to
thank you so much for coming on working on purpose, Jen,
Brian Angela, thank you. Thank you Nay Listeners and viewers,
you are going to want to learn more about these
three guests, the work they do at cc young and
the upcoming this year as Ageless Art and Writers Contests.
So visit cc youong dot org for the event itself.
(50:01):
It's Forward Slash Events last week. If you missed the
live show, you can always catch it be recorded podcast
where You Get Yours. We were on air with Fattius Metz,
a research professor at the University of Pretoria in South
Africa who has helped to develop life's meaning as a
distinct field in philosophy. We talked about his robust research
and writing on meaning in life and work, which is
(50:21):
incredibly inspiring at the sheer depth of meaning available to
us all. See you then, and remember work is one
of the best adventures and means of realizing our potential
and making the impact we crave and can give us
the opportunity to business at betters the World. So let's
work on Purpose.
Speaker 2 (50:37):
We hope you've enjoyed this week's program. Be sure to
tune into Working on Purpose featuring your host, doctor Elise Cortes,
each week on W four C. Why Together, We'll create
a world where business operates conscientiously. Leadership inspires and passion
performance and employees are fulfilled in work that provides the
meaning and purpose they crave. We'll see you there. Let's
(50:58):
work on Purpose.
The topics and opinions express in the following show are
solely those of the hosts and their guests, and not
those of W FOURCY Radio. It's employees are affiliates. We
make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
or products mentioned on air or on our web. No
liability explicitor implies shall be extended to W FOURCY Radio
or its employees are affiliates. Any questions or comments should
be directed to those show hosts. Thank you for choosing
(00:21):
W FOURCY Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
What's working on Purpose? Anyway? Each week we ponder the
answer to this question. People ache for meaning and purpose
at work, to contribute their talents passionately and know their
lives really matter. They crave being part of an organization
that inspires them and helps them grow into realizing their
highest potential. Business can be such a force for good
in the world, elevating humanity. In our program, we provide
(00:51):
guidance and inspiration to help usher in this world we
all want Working on Purpose. Now, here's your host, doctor
Elise Cortes.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Welcome back to the Working on Purpose program, which has
been brought to you with passion and pride since February
of twenty fifteen. Already, thanks for turning in this week.
Great to have you. I'm your host, doctor Elias Cortes.
If we have not met before and you don't know me,
I'm a workforce advisor, organizational psychologist, management consultant, local therapist,
speaker and author. My team and I at Gusto now
help companies to unlivenen and fortify their operations by building
(01:25):
a dynamic, high performance culture, inspirational leadership, and nurturing managers
activated by meaning and purpose. And you know that inspired
employees outperform their satisfied peers by a factor of two
point twenty five to one. In other words, inspiration is
good for the bottom line. You can learn more about
how you can work together with us at Gustodashnew dot
com and my personal site at Leascortes dot com. Before
(01:47):
we get into today's program, I am thrilled to announce
that registration has been open for a fabulous, brand new
conference for women for which I'll service the MC. It's
called Thriving twenty five and it's jam packed few days
in Chicago, June twenty fifth through the twenty eight. Twenty
twenty five is designed to develop women as whole selves,
from bolstering your mindset to your financial acumen, to leadership,
(02:07):
to incorporating nature and art into your life to raise
consciousness and much more. Visit thridan twenty five dot com
for information and to register. Use my promo code of
Gusto Gusto all caps to gain access to the free
books and programs I'll be given to registrants. See you there,
get in today's program and have something for you very
very special. We have a dynamic trio from c C Young,
(02:29):
a senior living and care community. Jennifer Griffin serves as
the vice president of Community Outreach and Engagement and is
dedicated to shaping engagement and hospitality across the campus, ensuring
every resident, family member, and staff individual experience is the
true spirit of CC Young. Brian Parman is the director
and Angela Castillo the assistant director of the Point and Pavilion,
(02:49):
where they direct the vibrant activities and events and direct
and operate th writing hubs, curating a robust calendar of
engaging opportunities for both residents and the wider community. Today,
we'll be talking about the aging demographics in the US
and how CC Young serves this community. The Spirit is
Ageless contest for writers and artists. They host each year
and celebrate some of the winners of past years. We
(03:12):
four are here on site at CCONG in Dallas, so
you can experience some of the atmosphere and art created
by contest participants, some of which is directly behind us. Jennifer,
Bryan and Angela A hearty welcome to Working on Purpose
by thank you so great to be here. And this
all started, ladies and gentlemen, listeners and viewers as we
were talking about this contest coming up and I'm getting
(03:34):
to service as a keynote, so we wanted to further
evangelize what they're doing and help you in on what
is happening with the aging community. So we'll start there.
So I was surprised to learn about some of the
things that I learned from you about the aging population.
So let's help our listeners and viewers understand the state
of today's agent population.
Speaker 4 (03:55):
Absolutely well, I'm going to jump in on this one
alas we are as a country facing a silver SIGNAMI
many have heard of that. I've got some statistics for you,
and it's all based on the year twenty thirty so
by the year twenty thirty, which is right around the corner,
we will have seventy I know, it's so crazy, it's
so close. Seventy three point one million adults, or twenty
(04:19):
one percent of our population will be sixty five or older.
By twenty thirty, the same year we are going to have,
the youngest baby boomer will turn sixty five. Like what,
And in twenty thirty nine, the youngest baby boomer will
be seventy five years old. So that sort of puts
it in context a little bit. So of course that's interesting.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
You know, if we relate that to what the size
of today's population is, what is at three hundred and
fifty million or something? Is that right now? That's five
years out for what you were just sharing. But then
of course we have to ask then, what's contributing to
this increasing size of the population.
Speaker 4 (04:56):
Well, better healthcare throughout the country. We've got better information
now on nutrition and lifestyle and stress and all those
things than we've ever had. So people as a general
rule are living longer, living hopefully better lives. That's our
goal is to make sure people live better, longer, and
(05:17):
anything else you want to add. I mean, it's just
the evolution of society as a world.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
We're living longer now.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
I mean people used to die at forty.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Right, yeah, so actually your founder died at what was
at forty three?
Speaker 4 (05:28):
Yeah, yeah, very young.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
So now let's talk about what kind of challenges does
you know present themselves as we age.
Speaker 5 (05:36):
Sure, I think there's a lot of stigma or people
around what senior living looks like. I mean, many of
them have a perception of it being very lonely or
maybe kind of a sad time in life, and I
have found that to be completely the opposite. I'm about
to celebrate my tenth year here at cc YOUNG and
you know, truly this is a place where you come
(05:57):
to live, and a lot of people when I've talked
with them, especially when I first got here, shared that
they were really sad that they hadn't done it sooner.
You know that they really had very sooner to have
like less stress, but to have all the different choices
of the activities the community, the opportunity to find purpose
and to be able to have the safe space to
(06:21):
play again, that's something that you have to learn again,
I mean, to be.
Speaker 6 (06:25):
Like a child.
Speaker 4 (06:26):
I mean, well, as a general statement, the industry itself
has changed a ton since the beginning of time. I
mean starting in the early twenty early two thousands, there
was a big move from just standard old traditional nursing
home care to person centered care. And everything we do
here is directed around what people's interests and passions are.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
Sounds good, safe me and seat I'm right now one
point two miles away, wouldn't be hard to move in. Well.
The other thing that we talked about along those lines
that I'm terribly interested in helping you do, is you
are interested in changing the way people relate to aging.
And I was perceived by people inside and outside of
the community. So if you can juxtapose you how it's
generally talked about and perceived today and where you're trying
(07:12):
to get it to.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
Oh, this is a big one.
Speaker 6 (07:15):
Who wants to jump in, well, I mean Colin Milner,
it's wellness.
Speaker 5 (07:20):
Yeah, yeah, Colin Milner is the founder and the president
of the International Council and Active Aging and Jen if
you want.
Speaker 4 (07:27):
To well, went to that conference a couple of years
ago and I came back with my head exploding, actually
because it was it's something you hear all the time,
and I guess I will say that I was stuck
in the paradigm of wellness is fitness, and it's really
not just that that's a component of it. So I
came back and looked at what we're already doing here
(07:48):
on our campus and thought, my gosh, we're doing so
much already, especially these two in this building. Is what
it's dedicated to. We just need to change our life
lguaging around it. We need to change the way we
talk about wellness.
Speaker 6 (08:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (08:04):
Well, and one of the things is a lot of
people still think about senior communities and seniors in general
as oh, they just they play bingo, they sit around,
they don't they don't get out. But with the population shifting,
they're staying. They worked longer, they want to stay active longer,
they want to learn new things. And that's what we
try to do here is present them with opportunities to
(08:25):
learn new things, new technology, take art classes, writing classes,
we have an acting group that puts on place all
kinds of things that that's not what people think about
when they think about the senior community and what they
can accomplish.
Speaker 5 (08:38):
Superjecative well, as you think about some of the celebrities
that are out there share and you know, but like, uh,
you know that there have been Martha Stuart living on
this on the cover of Sports Cemetery magazine and other
you know, other images haven't just been about the young
the young person. And I think that people have woken
(09:01):
up to the fact that, you know, this demographic has
a lot of time and they have money to.
Speaker 6 (09:06):
Spend and people are marketing to them.
Speaker 5 (09:09):
I mean, the folks here are definitely prolific in Amazon
as am I It wasn't until I started because of
this one, but like the boxes are coming in every
day and they are making it happen so funny.
Speaker 3 (09:20):
I think that's wonderful. I love that Barbanca. In fact,
you know why did we call this episode. It's related
to crescendo Live life and crescendo your best years are
ahead of you, which is something I want to credit
to Cynthia Holler Covey who was on my podcast a
couple of years ago, and that's part of the title
of her book.
Speaker 8 (09:36):
But I love it for what we're doing here at
title right, I love that title. So let's just briefly
introduce CCNG to our listeners and viewers so they have
an idea of the kind of what you do here.
And we don't have time to go into a lot
of history and such, but just introduce institution.
Speaker 4 (09:52):
I'd be happy to We are a faith based organization
and nonprofit faith based. We're one hundred and three years old,
driven part of East Dallas since the early early sixties,
so we're rooted here. We are what they call a CCRC,
a continuing care retirement community, and we've been known all
(10:13):
this time for our stellar care. Our campus is catching
up to the level of the care we provide. And
let me define a CCRC. I went a little too
fast over that, as CCRC is a continuing care retirement community,
and that means we have several different level of care,
starting from independent living, assisted living, memory support, skilled nursing,
(10:34):
short term rehab, all the weight of end of life care.
And we do that not only for our residents here
on campus, but also out in the community.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Okay, that helps tremendously. And I know you have more
than five hundred residents here, right, and so a lot
of people is to take care and keep track.
Speaker 6 (10:48):
Of we do.
Speaker 5 (10:50):
In addition to those five hundred residents, we have more
than one hundred and fifty non resident members, members from
the local community to engage in the programming and the
events and the contests and all the things that happen
here every day.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
That's wonderful vibrancy. So as we as I've gotten to
know you better and I've considered you know, I'm a
single person and I can well imagine myself in your community,
and yet we know that many people don't consider joining
a community like this. So now it makes sense, I think,
to contrast the experience of people who live in a
(11:24):
community like yours versus those who choose to live separately
or independently. What's the difference.
Speaker 5 (11:29):
Sure, well, you know, a lot of people focus on
the care that's provided in a place like this, and
it is a huge part of what happens. And oftentimes
it's either the person or the loved one with that
person that needs care, and that might be why they
make that entry. But as we move into this time period,
a lot of the focuses shift from being a care
community that provides some wellness to being a wellness community
(11:54):
that provides care. And as Jen said earlier, wellness is
everything from the aesthetic of the environment and that you're
in to you know, the physical activities that you would think,
but it's also you know, vocational.
Speaker 4 (12:07):
And other community and sense of belonging yes.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
Yes, and emotional meeting emotional needs and all of those things.
Speaker 6 (12:14):
And so it's just it's a different vibe, and I
think when people finally come see.
Speaker 5 (12:19):
It, they're like, oh my gosh, I had no idea.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
So what's very interesting for our listeners and viewers who've
been hearing this show for quite a while now, I'm
going to tell you that several of them that you
are listening right now, would be like, can I have
that in my workplace? And I have all those futures
in my workplace?
Speaker 4 (12:35):
And that'd be awesome.
Speaker 7 (12:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Right, that's when we're going on, ladies and gentlemen. We're
trying to get more destination workplaces, and so now I
would pull us a destination live place. But that brings
me of course, since this show is so rooted in
an experience of work and the experience of giving back
and be being enlarged by work, you know, I couldn't
let you come on without asking each of you to
share just briefly, why this work, what does it mean
(12:59):
to you?
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Well, I'll start, since I'm the age of one in
the group. I haven't had a broad and triggered career
and all along the way, I mean, I've loved, I've
had success, I've loved what I've done. It's been it's
been good. But I've always had a lacking sense of
what I was doing was actually making a difference. I
never anticipated joining a senior living community, and in fact,
(13:24):
I've lived a mile away all these years since I
owned the House of eighty eight. But I came here
and immediately recognized and felt, I felt that what I
do makes the difference. And that's the huge difference for me.
And the long you know, it does take long to
really realize you've got a passion for this and changing
(13:45):
the paradigm and starting our own TV. I mean, there's
so much we want to do, and it's the world
is coming along the way with us.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
It's so wonderful, Jen, And you know, anybody who's been
listening to the show for any period of time knows
how much we talk about how we can help create
workplaces where people know they matter, and that's what you're
talking about.
Speaker 7 (14:05):
Yeah, I would definitely agree, But unlike Jen, who's had
a lot of different experience, like She says, I didn't
have a lot of different work experiences, and I started
here at CCM twelve and a half years ago.
Speaker 4 (14:17):
When I came in not.
Speaker 7 (14:18):
Knowing what to expect, only knowing that I want some hospitality,
you know, work. But within the first year of working here,
I had a resident or appoint member come and tell me,
you know, I appreciate that you always have a smile
on your face because you don't realize that some days
the only people that we talked to as seniors are y'all.
We don't see our family, we don't see anybody else.
(14:39):
To have someone smile at us every day makes a difference.
And it was I think that moment that I was like, wow,
like just my smile is making an impact on somebody that.
Speaker 6 (14:47):
I would never have thought. And over the years I've.
Speaker 7 (14:51):
Seen it over and over again, just the impact you
have directly on people. They appreciated and it validates what
we do, you know, im planning our events or and
doing any service that we do for the residents. So
it's I know that that really helped me decide that
this is where I should be, where I want to be.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
I love the circularity of what you just described there.
It's beautiful.
Speaker 6 (15:15):
Gosh, I don't know. For me, I think, let me
put you back in on you guys.
Speaker 5 (15:17):
I think that I get a real joy when I
see a light bulb go on for someone where they've
discovered something that they didn't know that they had an
interest for.
Speaker 6 (15:27):
Or a knack for.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
And whether that be like somebody in a writing class
and see an article and being published in one of
our lifestyle guides or the magazine or something, or just
even watching a group of people who were in this
very room with a horticulture therapist. They didn't know each other.
They came out of that after about four weeks learning
(15:48):
about the plants, talking about them, but actually doing some
greet therapy and walked out of here but just different
and their backs held upright. And it just made me smile,
and it just makes me enjoy coming to work.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Oh, that is so beautiful. A lot of the reason
why I like doing the work that I do developing
leaders and organizations. To Brian on that, Let's let you
contemplate what's been discussed so far and how these people
are connecting to their work, and we'll take our first break.
I'm your host, doctor Elise Cortez. We've run there with
Jennifer Griffin, Brian Harman, and Angela Castillo of c C Young.
We've been first in this segment talking about the state
(16:20):
of the aging demographics in the United States and how
cc young is serving them. After the Raak, we're going
to get into the Spirit is Ageless celebration of artists
and writers.
Speaker 6 (16:30):
We'll be right back.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Doctor Elise Cortez is a management consultant specializing in meaning
and purpose. An inspirational speaker and author, she helps companies
visioneer for a greater purpose among stakeholders and develop purpose
inspired leadership and meaning infused cultures that all of fate, fulfillment, performance,
and commitment within the workforce. To learn more or to
invite Elise to speak to your organization, please visit her
(17:07):
at elisecortes dot com. Let's talk about how to get
your employees working on purpose. This is working on Purpose
with doctor Elise Cortes. To reach our program today or
to open a conversation with Elise, send an email to
Alise A Lise at eliscortes dot com. Now back to
(17:31):
working on Purpose.
Speaker 3 (17:38):
Thanks for staying with us, and welcome back to working
on Purpose. I'm your host, Doctor Release Cortes, as I
am dedicated to helping create a world where organizations strive
because there are people thrive like these people do here
at CCONG and are led by inspirational leaders that help
them find and contribute their greatness. And we do business
at Betters the World. I continue to research and write
my own books. So one of my latest came out
is called The Great Revitalization. How activating me and purpose
(18:00):
can radically inliven your business. And I want to tep
leaders understand the nature of today's very discerning workforce. What
do they want and need to stay with you and
give their best, and that I offer twenty two best
practices to help equip your organization to provide that for
them through your leadership and your culture. You can find
my books on Amazon or my personal side at least
quotest dot com if you're just now joining us. My
(18:21):
guests are the Dynamic Trio from CCONG, a senior living
in care community. So let's talk about this contest that
I'm so excited to be part of. So let's start
with the history and purpose of the Spirit is Ageless Contest,
a celebration of artists and writers. What a great idea.
I know it started in nineteen ninety nine, but tell us.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
A bit, you know what, I think the contest really
started with a group of visionaries who envisioned the point
well before it was here. It was like the early nineties,
and part of their mission was really like ours to
change the paradigm of senior living and what that looks like.
And so through a community outreach program like this contest
that was started by the Texas Homes and Services for
(19:03):
the Aging Association, which is now called Leading Age, which
is actually how we met officially first time.
Speaker 6 (19:10):
You know, that group had an art show like this.
There was a statewide competition. It still exists today.
Speaker 5 (19:15):
That gave an opportunity for people fifty five and better
to submit and to maybe be selected to be featured
in an art show that might go to the Capitol
or be featured in Austin. And so that group of
people who envision this building thought, you know, let's let's
do something like that here started it and it's been
since nineteen's.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
Started small and has grown and grown and growth.
Speaker 5 (19:39):
The show actually traveled through churches before it actually came
here to this building. But we're celebrating our twenty fifth
year this year, so it's just been a real labor
of love.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
And one of the things I appreciate about it, and
if you want to just time in Angela, is that
I love that you opened the contest not just to
your own residents and those are condital, but the whole
Dallas Fort Worth Metropolitan I think that's really generous and
it's just a beautiful thing to host something that for
the whole entire metroplex.
Speaker 7 (20:07):
Yeah, definitely, we have it's a very good mix of
residents and then our point members, but just the general
community at age fifty five out and over have come out.
We usually have about fourteen different categories, and there's a
big group that have never entered a contest before, but
they've seen the art and they say, oh, I think
I can do something. And then there's people who have
been doing art all their lives but didn't realize that
(20:28):
it was art and said, oh, I can put in
my tablecloth in this category. I can you know my
shawl that I needed to be in a category, and
it's amazing. Then you see them when in one of
the entries and it's you know they're an artist. They
see them there art on the walls, and it's.
Speaker 5 (20:46):
Probably one of our favorite days because we never know
what's going to come the day that art is intaken,
and we just know there's a list of names, and
so when they come, you get to meet the people
and the faces. But then you get to hear the
stories behind the work that they're actually bringing and maybe
that they made this for their granddaughter or their grandson
or whatever the story might be, and the stories are
(21:06):
just heart.
Speaker 6 (21:07):
Tugging, you know.
Speaker 4 (21:08):
Yeah, that's part of it in the One of the
joys for us and doing it every year is that
you never know what you're going to get. You never
know who it's going to show up, or what they're
going to do this year, and their people are different,
it changes, and then they spend hours putting it up
around the whole building so we can see it and
it's just there's something everywhere to see and grows every year.
Speaker 6 (21:30):
It does grow every year.
Speaker 7 (21:31):
I think my first year twelve years ago, we had
maybe eighty total entries from about fifty people, and then
last year we had over two hundred entries from about
a little over one hundred different people to enter it,
and we were trying to scramble for our wall space
for display, because every piece that's brought in is showcased.
Speaker 5 (21:51):
So it's truly a labor of love for us. I mean,
it takes a group of probably about one hundred people
to pull this contest together from soup to nuts, and
it's through collaborative partnerships with organizations like the Dallas Area
Fiber Artists, the hand Leavers and Spinners Guild, the Beat Society,
and tons of residents and community members who come help us.
Speaker 6 (22:11):
Make this happen.
Speaker 7 (22:12):
Yeah, but also from we have art workshops throughout the
year and people come and they take an art workshop
for the first time and they realize, oh, I made
something that I could put in this contest, and you
have those pieces, and then you have pieces for people
you know, have you been doing art longer. So it's
just amazing to see the different varieties of things that
come through.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
So a couple of things, Uh, I'm wondering, am I
going to get carted when I come to this.
Speaker 4 (22:37):
Age?
Speaker 3 (22:39):
The second thing it course, you know, I have to
ask about the why behind the celebration, and I know
that part of it is to change the paradigm of
aging as we've been talking about so far, and I
love the playfulness of it, and I love what you
were saying earlier, Brian, about you know, watching people like
literally stand a little tolerance stuff on their son to
realize I've created something beautiful and it's also appreciated by
(23:01):
many other people in this contest.
Speaker 6 (23:03):
Absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:05):
We have so many visitors to this building throughout the
month that the shows out for two months, and it
gets a lot of activity and conversation, and it becomes
a destination for families too to come pick out their
favorite thing and make comments about what they're seeing this
person did, and we post the rest the participant's name
and their age at time of completing the.
Speaker 5 (23:27):
Piece and the really I mean we were joking about
the age piece and charding people, but that's truly a
hallmark of the contest, Yes, because and you know every
life that every age is valued and enriched here. That's
part of our mission. But it's part of the mission
of the contest to let people know, you know, this
might be something that you just started doing and we
want to celebrate the fact that you're doing it today
(23:49):
and be proud of your age.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
Absolutely, that's one of the reasons.
Speaker 7 (23:53):
We also also award and acknowledged the person who was
the oldest to have entered the contest. We have a
special category just for to say, you know, anybody at
any age can do art, and even up until one
hundred and two.
Speaker 6 (24:05):
I believe is what we've had before.
Speaker 4 (24:07):
Oldest was one hundred and two.
Speaker 7 (24:09):
So you know, it's just amazing to see, especially if
it's writing, where they've written something that's about their life
throughout the years and to learn about that.
Speaker 6 (24:17):
It's just really good to see us to read.
Speaker 5 (24:20):
You know, we are a juried show, and sometimes that's
a bit contentious. We don't let anyone know who the judging.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
The way competition doesn't fade as you age.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Person big it's stung right.
Speaker 5 (24:34):
In fact, they're pretty sneaky about it. But so we
we have, you know, people who are academics, we have
people who are professional writers and different folks from the
community who help us with the judging, and we do
give away awards in those different categories. But everyone is
in the show. It doesn't matter. I mean, you enter,
you're in, you're hung and you get to see your
(24:55):
work in a professional show.
Speaker 3 (24:58):
That is so beautiful. Okay, now, of course, having heard this,
listeners and viewers, don't you want to be involved? So
how can they participate? I mean, is there they must
do the apply? How what's the process of entering the content?
Speaker 7 (25:11):
We have information up on our website currently, but registration
opens August first, and so you can pre register, send
all of your information through a digital format, and then
in mid August August nineteenth and twentieth, you actually bring
in your art and we just kind of review and
make sure that you have all your contact information on
and make sure it's listed in the correct category, and
(25:35):
then we hang it later that week, it gets judged
and the show is up for two months, and then
we also have the big celebration to go along with it,
where we honor anybody who has won those awards.
Speaker 3 (25:45):
So that's true, you'll be speaking, okay, that's speaking definitely.
Speaker 7 (25:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (25:49):
Yeah, And if you're curious about that, it's ww dot
cc on dot org slash events and you'll see all
the information about the contest there for you.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Yes, so great, and talk a little bit about that
celebration here. What is that about? Who shows up?
Speaker 4 (26:05):
Well, it's a huge it's one of our anchor events
annually and it's a huge celebration. The families come, the
residents come, the wider community of artists and whatnot. We
have quite a few staff that attend this thing this
year because it's our twenty fifth anniversary. Well we usually have.
We like to throw a good party here, so we
(26:27):
like themes and we like parties, but this is all
about the art, and so we'll have encourage people to
come early and stroll through the gallery. We'll probably have
a reception for sure. For the twenty fifth we'll have
a champagne reception and then have our speaker and everybody
gets their picture and their trophy if they've won. So's
(26:47):
it's just a love fest the lazy it really is.
Speaker 6 (26:50):
The event is really the gift to all of the
participants and the speaker each year is our gift to them,
I mean really to motivate them and inspire them.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
To and validate what they done.
Speaker 6 (27:00):
It seth right, Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
Well, And I can see just looking at your history
here you've had some incredible prestigious people Dallas icons and
thought leaders, including of course the legendary Ebbie hot Holliday.
Esteemed members of the art community like Lily Vice from
the Dallas Arts District, Amy hoff Hoffland from the Crow
(27:24):
Museum of Asian Art and Dallas artist J. D. Miller.
And these are amazing humans that are that have been
a part of us here. So I think it's really
impressive what you attracted to you through this effort.
Speaker 4 (27:37):
Yeah, thank you are. And you're joining that club.
Speaker 6 (27:42):
You are joining that club.
Speaker 7 (27:43):
And it's all of these connections that we make with
just these speakers that and the artists.
Speaker 6 (27:49):
But they keep coming back.
Speaker 7 (27:50):
Oh, I spoke there, and I want to now take
a class there.
Speaker 6 (27:52):
I spoke there.
Speaker 7 (27:53):
I want to teach a class. Their families come out there,
you know, their friends, it's you know, the community just
continues to grow and grow.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
We just looked Amy to come back in July to
talk about the new Crow Museum at the University of Texas, Dallas, Texas.
Speaker 6 (28:08):
Yeah, you know.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
It just as a real quick side note, since this
is going to be a lot of people, I have
got to assume that you have an orchestrated effort to
bust people in or park people or what. I've got
to believe that happens. Because they have this beautiful campus.
We're on it here and by the way, there's there's
bunny rabbits out there hop and around and they have
deaflings that were crossing the street and shepherded by some
(28:30):
of the residents. It's just beautiful.
Speaker 4 (28:33):
It's a beautiful campus Ford.
Speaker 7 (28:35):
We've definitely learned how to have a party here, how
to throw an e vent here, so from the smallest
details up into the parking exactly.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
And I appreciate that you say it takes a village
literally to put the contest on. Over one hundred people
you said are part of putting it on, Brian, Is
that what you said?
Speaker 6 (28:52):
Correct?
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Well? And I want to make sure everybody listening understands
what rock stars are here that I have the pledge
of working with these two do the heavy lifting and
doing all the art cards and making sure it's hung beautifully,
and the planning and even the marketing, and even though
that's several other people involved, their vision is really what
(29:14):
makes it happen here.
Speaker 5 (29:15):
So you know, including a production much like today's experience.
For us, this is different being on the other side
of the camera. We have a TV studio run by
seniors for seniors. We're able to broadcast the program, the
awards program for all of those on our campus some
of those who can't be here for any number of reasons.
So we're broadcast in an internal channel. We can actually
(29:36):
live stream as well, which is really cool, and so
it is a sophisticated and more than rebroadcast for later,
right and you know, for perpetuity, because those things are
so important. I think, I mean, we're going to talk
them a little bit. I think about some of the
people in the show, but listening to some of the
residents and the reactions about seeing their work on the wall,
(29:57):
it just is the thing that I go back to.
Speaker 6 (29:59):
It gives me a gooseb up.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
Yeah, there's nothing quite like watching the molecules of a
human being get it changed and elevated right before your eyes.
Witnessing that transformation, nothing like it. The best drug there
is in the world for me. Okay, let's let's did
you want to say something else now? Okay, Well, we'rebb
our last break here because we've got some really good
stuff for you. After the break, we've been on air
with Jennifer Griffin, Brian Parman, and Angela Castillo of c C. Young.
(30:23):
We've been talking about this Spirit is Ageless contest coming
up here soon in the Dallas Fort Worth area. After
the break, we want to showcase and celebrate some previous
winners and some of what's what's come out of the
contest before we'll be right back.
Speaker 2 (30:53):
Doctor Elise Cortez is a management consultant specializing in meaning
and purpose. An inspirational speaker and author, she helps company's
visioneer for greater purpose among stakeholders and develop purpose inspired
leadership and meaning infused cultures that elevate fulfillment, performance, and
commitment within the workforce. To learn more or to invite
Elise to speak to your organization, please visit her at
(31:14):
elisecortes dot com. Let's talk about how to get your
employees working on purpose. This is Working on Purpose with
doctor Elise Cortes. To reach our program today or to
open a conversation with Elise, send an email to Alise
A Lisee at eliscortes dot com. Now back to Working
(31:38):
on Purpose.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Thanks for stating with us, and welcome back to Working
on Purpose. I'm your host, Doctor release Cortez. As you
know by now, this program is dedicated to empowering and
inspiring you along your journey to realize more of your potential.
If you want to learn more about how we can
work together and specifically about the Gusto Now Academy for
leaders and individuals on various journeys alike. Make your way
to gustodashnow dot com and then navigate to the training
(32:06):
tab to find the Academy. We'd love to have you
join us if you are just not joining us. On
today's program, my guests are the Dynamic Trio from CCO,
a senior living in care community. Okay, so let's dive
into celebrating some of the people. I mean, it would
be impossible. We could do like fourteen shows just celebrating people,
but a last focus on this last segment and celebrate
(32:27):
a few Where do you want to start?
Speaker 4 (32:29):
I wouldn't start because I have my favorite and this
was such a darling story. We haven't had a new
resident named Ruby who had moved in a couple of months.
It was in the COVID years and she as a result,
we did a whole month of State Fair of Texas
events around here and part of that was butter sculpting
(32:50):
and she was new and she saw it in the
Lifestyle Guide and was like, well, I don't know what
this is. This woman comes over that we really didn't
know at the time, and she had done a bust
ahead of money and it was frozen and she was
trying to figure out how to bring it over It's
literally on a tread and it has a cleaver in
the head or a nine broad cleaver, and I'm thinking,
(33:10):
this is deep stumble of them. I don't know what
she's talking about. And the honest truth was she couldn't
figure out how to get it over here without it
would happened. So Ruby came and we were just all
amazed by the way the piece was amazing. It was
so realistic, and it was butter. We give everybody five
(33:32):
pounds of butter. You wouldn't believe the things that came back.
But we learned through that that she actually is an
artist and has been for years and years. And she
did ultimately did a residence show that was remarkable and
she had never tell let's say, the cloth this gives
me chills each sure.
Speaker 6 (33:48):
Sure.
Speaker 5 (33:49):
She was in the hallway and she looked at me
and she's like, Brian, you know, I I've never seen
all of this work in one place in my entire life,
and you know, this is my life. I love it.
It was it was very special. Her family came in
and I mean, but it was it was a labor
of love.
Speaker 6 (34:06):
It was a lot. I mean, she worked on this
thing and.
Speaker 4 (34:10):
But by far she's well, I can't have favorites, like
my mother says, she has no favorites.
Speaker 6 (34:16):
But I forget.
Speaker 4 (34:17):
Wow, she was darlings. She still hears her favorite story. Yeah,
that's my favorite story of how that came to be.
Speaker 7 (34:23):
Well, you know, we not only do we have the
residents who participate. I mentioned, we also have point members,
so we have staff, we have families, and we had
actually have a father and daughter who have both entered
the contest before. But like Dick is a writer, he
is an artist. He paints, he works with the Woodies
the wood shop. He plays the harmonica in the talent show.
Speaker 6 (34:46):
And he didn't he wrote a song.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
I did poetry.
Speaker 6 (34:49):
He's so a super talent.
Speaker 7 (34:51):
He paid the trumpet for taps one year, and then
he got his daughter to enter the contest alone. As
soon as she turned fifty five, he made her enter
and it's led to her having her own one woman
show coming up in August. She's going to have her
own show here because her art is amazing as well,
and so you know, you just have those little stories
that lead to one from one thing to the other, and.
Speaker 4 (35:12):
It's a like the one the trio.
Speaker 5 (35:14):
Yeah, sure, well, you know, and this is tough, you know,
but this one jumps out at me. We had someone
here recently in rehab. She was here to have some
thes replaced and during her time like oh, surgery, like
her recuperation. So one of our sales associates had said, Brah,
you've got to go buy and visit Phoebe. She's got
these sketches. They're unbelievable, you should know. And that's how
(35:35):
we find artists, you know. I mean, I'm shameless. I
will go ask anyone. Got to her apartment and she's
in there and she just starts whipping out these sketch
pads and then they're intricate, crazy designs of Alice in
Wonderland and all this color and detail. And then so
I'm like, Phoebe, would you ever consider doing a show?
And how did you get involved in this? And she
had with a group of friends. Her husband was an architect,
(35:57):
and they all had this get together that cocktails and
they had an art off.
Speaker 6 (36:01):
It was an annual and Opra cocktails.
Speaker 5 (36:04):
They decided maybe one year that they had to do hedgehogs,
and like everybody had to come with some hedgehog art,
you know, and each year it got you a different theme. Well,
you know, they have a whole group of people who
still do art, and I was like, well, hey, could
you help me book some other artists, thinking I'm scoring here.
You know, it turns out that Bbe not only just
picked up her phone and started dialing, but the show
(36:27):
is on the walls right now here at the point,
and they're absolutely amazing women, each in their own right.
I truly thought I would be able to book three
individual shows, but no, they wanted to do it together
because that bond that they established through doing their art
off and through the years of working together, you know,
was why they do art and why they.
Speaker 6 (36:47):
Have joy about it. So I'd say the trio stand
out in my mind.
Speaker 4 (36:50):
Well, and that's a great symbolism of what the art
in general can do. And we we love the arts
here in every shape way, shapement and form, performing arts, dance, music,
creative arts because you just connect. You get that sense
of joy from just experiencing whatever it is you're doing
(37:11):
in idiotose formats.
Speaker 5 (37:12):
And you know that's true because really, Angela, at one
point we were talking about dance and she got in
touch with bruce Wood Dance and they teach here our residents.
Not only do they perform and collaborate with us, but
because of Angela's connection with them came and you know,
started teaching our residents to dance in us as well well.
Speaker 4 (37:30):
And that's a key point with not only this show,
but everything we do here is that it's collaboration with
people we meet, no matter where we meet them. If
we have people that use our space for meeting space,
and one of the trade offs is would you do
a presentation of some sort, would you help educate our residents?
Would you be willing to have a show, would you
be willing to dance for us? And that's where a
(37:53):
lot of this comes from. We've got local celebrities. I mean,
I could go on and on. Amy Martin, somebody that's
lived in Dallas forever, and she became a point member
and you know she now is also presenting some of
our educational classes. She's a naturalist and nature trailblazer in Dallas,
(38:15):
and gosh, there's so many we can't even keep it
down to the same. You know.
Speaker 5 (38:19):
One of our residents, Judith Baines, wrote a story for
her grandson about the ducks that you mentioned earlier and
feathers the duck the residents named them, and her ducklings,
and how the residents you know, watched over the ducks
and the eggs and then they hatched, and how they
got them down to the lake here at White Rock
and illustrated the book with the help of Aaron Schmidt,
(38:39):
who's on our team. He's a crazy, great artist, and
Angela used her mad skilled with Canva to put that
book together and find it and we used it for
a fundraiser, i think for our Benevolence Fund, which helps seniors.
Speaker 6 (38:50):
Outlived their income.
Speaker 5 (38:51):
And this turned into a bigger thing, and I'm thinking
we're going to have volume two since these get.
Speaker 7 (38:56):
That the shot, and she did, and she entered that
book into the contest last year and then she won
the People's Choice award did so there was one award
where everyone just got to vote on what they liked
the best in her book on Feathers the Duck won
because weve nature around here and everybody loved that.
Speaker 6 (39:15):
But it's one simple example, but it's it's a perfect
example of how someone over fifty five has always had
a story burning inside of them and that book that
they wanted to write, and then they write five of
them in the last five years.
Speaker 5 (39:27):
Alice, you know, great example, and there are others who
you know, they get inspired by this opportunity and they're like,
let's do it.
Speaker 7 (39:36):
And you know, well, even after that she wrote that book,
she entered in the contest and then she decided she
was going to spearhead the rebranding of our own writing
group here, and so our our writing group was kind
of dwindling, and she said, oh no, we're not going
to do that, and now they have a good ten
to twelve people that come every week for the It's
true scribblers, scribes and speakers.
Speaker 4 (39:57):
Screw Oh, I love that name that they named themselves.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
I have interject real quick, because I know you have
other examples to share, but I want to just I
want to contrast as I'm listening to you share these
beautiful examples, and how with the passion with which excitement
that you're doing So I can tell you both of
my sets of grandparents didn't have any kind of that
kind of finished to their lives, nothing not even close.
(40:21):
And my own parents were My mother was seventy three,
my father my dad was seventy nine when they passed,
and they spent a lot of time sitting by themselves
in front of the television. That was the quality of
their lives. And I can pretty well say, definitively, I
know my mother might still be here if she had
been a part of it's something remotely close to this.
So I just want to interject that it's such a
(40:43):
difference in what you're describing the quality of their lives
versus what you have here.
Speaker 5 (40:49):
And there's so many things you make me think of.
My mom lived with Alzheimer's for twenty years, and her
last ten years were spent here in Dallas, and during
COVID specifically, we have still had art shows happening because
we were own little bubble. But the one way I
could communicate with my mom was through FaceTime, and I
would walk her through the gallery and show her people's artwork.
(41:09):
And I can remember her reaction when she saw this
one artist and I can't think of his name, helped me.
The Ostrich. It was this cute ostriche with the really
crazy big bug eyes and everything, and she just giggled,
Pat more, thank you.
Speaker 6 (41:22):
She does it all the time. You're awesome.
Speaker 5 (41:25):
But Pat, you don't even know how much you made
my mom's day. But that's something I'll never forget. And
the fact that we have two art galleries on campus
and other destinations where people either from inside or outside
the community can come have a free date. Seven days
a week these galleries are open. It's just a wonderful gift.
Speaker 4 (41:44):
Well, you mentioned and we haven't mentioned yet the gallery
over in our new building, the Vista. It's in such
a traffic area that it gives people who are coming
here to visit either their family that's in long term
care or memory support or wherever, the assistant, wherever they are,
but also the people that are here for short term
rehab and you know you're healing, you're in a place,
(42:06):
you're not feeling so good. It's a destination where that
they can get away from the bedroom or the bed,
the hospital bed, and go down and see some beautiful art.
Maybe stop at our little Beestro and get a snack
and sit out and get away from the seriousness of
the healing that they're all doing.
Speaker 6 (42:22):
Sure, you know what I mean birth.
Speaker 5 (42:24):
That little hallway is a super highway because people have
to go to rehab. But I remember the day that
I walked down the hallway and there was a woman
looking at a picture of a woman at the beach,
a pan on her hip, and she's looking at the wall.
And I had to stop and ask because I was
just and I was like, what's up?
Speaker 6 (42:39):
And is that? And she's like, that's me, that's me.
I'm the woman in the picture. And I was just like, wow,
it is you. So I took your picture.
Speaker 5 (42:46):
And just the opportunity for people to reminisce or to
engage with art, You just can't discount the value of that.
Speaker 6 (42:54):
Putting your work out there for someone to enjoy. You
have no idea, Just like saying hello to someone, You
might be the only one that touches them. You might
remember help them remember something that they forgot.
Speaker 7 (43:04):
Yeah, and I mean the contest itself, but everything else
we do here has made so many connections to people.
We've had so many people who have entered the contests
who have then decided, you know what, I love it,
I love this place. I'm going to move there. And
so we've had people, you know, had a show here,
Like while Davis he had his show here and then
him and his wife moved in the next year. And
this Carver who taught classes here for many mere years
(43:28):
then she would enter the contest, probably longer than I've
been here, and she just moved in this year.
Speaker 6 (43:32):
So it's you.
Speaker 7 (43:34):
We make these connections to these people and they find
joy here and like Brian likes to say, and they decide, well,
I'm going to be there, live there, and yeah.
Speaker 4 (43:42):
And it's not just people from the art show. It's
from people that are appoint members or whatever. We've had
what was the last count of like thirty thirty something
and the last people that have had a soft landing
here to get to understand what the community's like, and
the next thing, you know, they become residents. They I
like it here. I love the community is what it
comes down to.
Speaker 3 (44:03):
Well, and I was thinking to myself as a business person,
what a smart way to socialize yourself to the overall
community at large. I think that's brilliant. I don't know
if that was part of the I.
Speaker 4 (44:12):
Think the Visionary Committee's idea for sure, to to serve
the community at large, But I don't think they anticipated
that it would necessarily convert into people living here back then,
I don't know.
Speaker 5 (44:26):
I had an opportunity not long ago to bring someone
named Grace Delatour. She was one of those people in
that visionary group. She neighbors with her son, and they
came to an event we had out in the park.
We had big band launch everything, and Grace has never
actually been in the building since it opened, and so
I had the chance to walk around and show her
(44:47):
all the things that have happened since they raised the
money that they did.
Speaker 6 (44:51):
To make this building happen. And it was really really
a special day to experience that with.
Speaker 3 (44:56):
Her so beautiful. We've got a a little bit more
time to hear a couple more stories. And I know
you had said something about the Age's Creaturvity Award. I
think Anita Hallam I love.
Speaker 4 (45:09):
Can I tell you the first time I met Anita,
I thought she was a spitting image of my maternal grandmother.
And I told her so, I'm like, oh my gosh,
you remind me of my grandmother. She is a former
rancher from aud East Texas. She is she's a powerhouse.
Speaker 6 (45:29):
She has turned one hundred years.
Speaker 4 (45:30):
I've turned a hundreds, part of again the journey of
life here and how people come here and don't know
are surprised by things that happened. She we haven't had
a wonderful man named Ralph Eylers who they befriended one
another and had had developed just a dear, precious relationship.
(45:53):
Now at that time, she's probably eight ninety eight and
he's like ninety.
Speaker 6 (45:57):
I mean, the sin this whole story was it was
a good romance.
Speaker 5 (46:02):
Out in the park and we would walk to our
cars and were like look and going, what's going on?
Speaker 6 (46:07):
And like you know that they like connected and really
so as.
Speaker 4 (46:13):
A as a centenarian, she and a writer and a
lovely spirit. She wrote a story rap ended up passing
a year and a half ago, two years ago, and
of course we were all sad, and she wrote the
most beautiful, heartfelt, lovely story about him and their relationship
(46:35):
and and she said, I'm just gonna made me choke up.
She said he was the love of her life and
she did not meet him until she was one hundred
years old. Oh, she that story she wrote was just remarkable.
So you know exactly, yeah, she's still she's still here
(46:56):
with us and still doing great.
Speaker 3 (46:57):
I am so glad you shared that story for a
number of levels. It's so beautiful, it's so inspiring. I
hope that gives our listeners and viewers hope to about
the quality of their overall lives and what's available for
them when they lean in.
Speaker 4 (47:10):
Definitely, there's so much. I mean, we could stay here
all day talking about experiences.
Speaker 3 (47:18):
Well, this has just been beautiful. I want to give
you each an opportunity just to say a couple of
words in closing. You know, this shows listen to why
people around the world, many of them will come into
the topic that's being featured, but they all want to
elevate their lives. They want to elevate what wo they're
being in the world through their lives. What would you
like to leave them with?
Speaker 4 (47:37):
Boy, I you know, every cliche comes to mind that
I could possibly say, live better, longer, never stop learning,
live with joy. The list goes on and on and on.
But for me, the most impactful thing to do is
really realize that aging is not necessarily the end. It
(47:58):
can be the beginning. Can be so much more than
we fear it might be. A resident are doing things
now that they never had the chance to do when
they were working and raising a family and doing all
the things. And I mean we can all relate to
the busyness of life. And now if you can take
(48:19):
a moment to just find those little moments of joy
here or throughout your life or wherever you are, that's
the important part of life right there that we sometimes
just zoom by too fast. But anyway, throwing a little
confetti here and there too, that always for sure.
Speaker 6 (48:36):
Jen's all about the comfetti copettiti.
Speaker 7 (48:38):
But going off kind of what she said. But you know,
just because you're over fifty five or over sixty five,
that does not mean that you know, life stops. It's
life begins. You can still learn new things. We have
people here every day learning whether it's learning how to
text on their phone or you know, we learning how
to do a zoom.
Speaker 6 (48:56):
Call and things.
Speaker 7 (48:58):
Our residents are leading their own TV station and they're
teaching me things still about technology that I'm almost like, oh,
I didn't know that, but it's just amazing that there's
still so many more things that you can learn.
Speaker 5 (49:12):
Got for me, really it's about working here in senior living.
I don't know that it would have ever considered it
but this environment and the opportunity to be in a
faith based residence first approach that CCONG takes really has
afforded me the opportunity to be creative, to have blue
sky thinking and think big and the results of the
work that we do and having the direct impact front
(49:35):
and the contact of the residents just changes everything.
Speaker 3 (49:38):
It is such a delight to know all three of
you and now feel like I'm part of this too.
I get too part of this too. I want to
thank you so much for coming on working on purpose, Jen,
Brian Angela, thank you. Thank you Nay Listeners and viewers,
you are going to want to learn more about these
three guests, the work they do at cc young and
the upcoming this year as Ageless Art and Writers Contests.
So visit cc youong dot org for the event itself.
(50:01):
It's Forward Slash Events last week. If you missed the
live show, you can always catch it be recorded podcast
where You Get Yours. We were on air with Fattius Metz,
a research professor at the University of Pretoria in South
Africa who has helped to develop life's meaning as a
distinct field in philosophy. We talked about his robust research
and writing on meaning in life and work, which is
(50:21):
incredibly inspiring at the sheer depth of meaning available to
us all. See you then, and remember work is one
of the best adventures and means of realizing our potential
and making the impact we crave and can give us
the opportunity to business at betters the World. So let's
work on Purpose.
Speaker 2 (50:37):
We hope you've enjoyed this week's program. Be sure to
tune into Working on Purpose featuring your host, doctor Elise Cortes,
each week on W four C. Why Together, We'll create
a world where business operates conscientiously. Leadership inspires and passion
performance and employees are fulfilled in work that provides the
meaning and purpose they crave. We'll see you there. Let's
(50:58):
work on Purpose.
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