Move your aging parents in with you … or move in with them?
This is a perplexing question that face most families … eventually; see the aligning VIDEO in the Appendix below.
This is especially true in the Caribbean as it is our practice to care for our elderly ourselves, not warehouse them in a Senior Care facility; cared for by strangers and professionals.
This Elder-Care preponderance was detailed in a previous Go Lean blog-commentary on March 24, 2014 – one of the first ones – entitled: 10 Things We Want from the US and 10 Things We Don’t Want from the US. That blog, and the hundreds since, all draw attention to the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean – available to download for free. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. That previous blog actually stated:
Family Abandonment Senior Living Facilities are a big industry in the US. This is due to the family habit of abandoning elderly parents to the care of professional strangers. The Caribbean way traditionally is to house their Senior Citizens with families, whether the economics apply or not.
The CU has a prime directive to encourage repatriation back to the Caribbean homeland and assuage societal abandonment. Frankly, senior citizens should avoid the cold climates of North American and EU Diaspora cities.
The care of our seniors is presented in the Go Lean book as paramount – supreme importance. In fact, the book relates the challenges befalling Caribbean society and identifies the needs of our Aging Diaspora as one of the 4 impossible-to-deal-with-alone Agents of Change – Globalization, Climate Change, Technology and the Aging Diaspora. The book declared that we were failing miserably in our societal engines, but the opportunity now exists for re-approachment to the Diaspora that left their homeland 50, 40, 30 and 20-plus years ago. This should have been a economic boon for our communities!
But worse has happened: since the 2013 publication; our societal engines have failed even more. Rather than returning to the Caribbean homeland for retirement, families are now more prone to expatriate their elderly, rather than repatriate. 🙁
Our people are simply securing their seniors in a home … anywhere!
Such a declining trend is not true of all the Agents of Change, like Technology; we have actually improved there. In fact, the catalog of other Agents of Change commentaries in this series, cataloged here:
5 Years Later: Aging Diaspora – Finding Home … anywhere.
So now, Caribbean families have been finding homes abroad for their elderly loved one; in contrast to the past, now they have started to bring these aged ones to their Diasporic destinations.
Ouch!
The cold! And the abandonment of their beloved homeland and culture. Surely there must be home-sickness.
‘Time to Go’ – Logic of Senior Emigration It is a shame-and-a-disgrace – 70 percent of out tertiary-educated – gone! Now we have the report of a 104-year old woman [Jamaica-born May Garcia] who [had] just naturalized to become a US citizen. Just as much as this is a good story for her and America, this is an indictment for us – the Caribbean – and our failures as individual states. …
Ms. Garcia is an inspiration. She plainly demonstrates to the planners of a new Caribbean how acute our failures are. This [104 birthday] celebration should have been in her Caribbean homeland, Jamaica. This is our quest!
She should have been like a tree …
… planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither – whatever they do prospers. – The Bible; Psalms 1:3 – New International Version
A “planted tree” analogy relates that she would be firmly established … and others – her children and grandchildren – would come to her.
The theme of this current blog series is “5 Years Later and what is the condition now?“. That theme is to be supplemented with subsequent questions:
“Have the problems lessened, or have they intensified?”
“What can we do to mitigate the problems going forward?”
Pre-Fab Housing and Elder-Care Conjunction
Every community needs housing … for their seniors. This is just a basic fact of life: old age and illness … befall us all.
Just because an abled-bodied person has a house, it does not make it ideal when the circumstances change to “less than able”, or disabled, or differently-abled. Yet, disabilities are a reality … everyday: Just keep living.
This consideration is very appropriate for the Caribbean. We have some societal defects: consider our abandonment rate, especially among the younger generation, due mainly to a lack of economic opportunities, at home. Assuredly, they emigrate for refuge abroad, and then remit funds back to their Caribbean homelands, often to support their aging parents. These ones have the need for Elder-Care; but Elder-Care consists of more than remittances; many times, it includes nursing.
Providing housing, Elder-Care and nursing can be an economic conjunction, an activity at an intersection. The book Go Lean … Caribbean asserts that “luck” is the intersection of preparation and opportunity; that economic growth can be gained simply by positioning at that intersection and exploiting the opportunities.
…
Pre-fab housing solutions are conceivable, believable and achievable. … The Caribbean can and must foster our own solutions. But we have the constant threats of hurricanes, so our pre-fab structures must feature mitigations for storm resistance. The plausible options are depicted in great details in the Go Lean book (Page 207).
The Go Lean book does provide an advocacy for prefab housing (Page 207) and one for Elder-Care (Page 225). In fact, the book/roadmap presents the 3 prime directives to address all Caribbean societal engines:
Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.
The book stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 11 – 13):
ix. Whereas the realities of healthcare and an aging population cannot be ignored and cannot be afforded without some advanced mitigation, the Federation must arrange for health plans to consolidate premiums of both healthy and sickly people across the wider base of the entire Caribbean population. The mitigation should extend further to disease management, wellness, mental health, obesity … programs.
xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.
xvi. Whereas security of our homeland is inextricably linked to prosperity of the homeland, the economic and security interest of the region needs to be aligned under the same governance. Since economic crimes … can imperil the functioning of the wheels of commerce for all the citizenry, the accedence of this Federation must equip the security apparatus with the tools and techniques for predictive and proactive interdictions.
xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.
The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society. These empowerments include the basic needs for our Aging Diaspora to seriously consider a return home; the book quote (Page 226):
Aging Population The CU will facilitate the Caribbean region to be the world’s best address for senior citizens. (The presumed security protection being in place first). This will send the invite to retirees (Caribbean Diaspora and foreign) to welcome their participation and contributions to CU society. This follows the model of Florida and Arizona – a “welcome mat” …
In the last 5 years, the Caribbean has missed out on the great economic and social opportunities to better cater to the Aging Diaspora. We must do better going forward. Yes, we can make our homeland a better place to live, work and play. 🙂
If only all the islands and coastal states of the Caribbean region were integrated into a Single Market …
… then our economy would be big. There would be 42 million people in this integrated Caribbean, counting all 30 member-states that caucus with the region.
If only there were even more …
This is a basic premise in the field of Economics, as reported in this prior blog-commentary from the movement behind the book Go Lean…Caribbean:
We tend to think economic growth comes from working harder and smarter, but economists attribute up to a third of it [growth] to more people joining the workforce each year than leaving it. The result is more producing, earning and spending.
Many Caribbean natives love their homeland, but live abroad in the Diaspora – estimated at 10 to 25 million. Over the past decades, they had moved away looking for better opportunities or safe haven. The stakeholders of the Caribbean now need to declare to these people:
I Want You Back (See the VIDEO of the Jackson 5 singing the song I Want You Back” and the Lyrics in the Appendix below.)
Yes, the Caribbean needs its Diaspora back. But being pragmatic, the young people who have left … are probably NOT coming back. 🙁
The opportunities they sought are still not available in our homelands, and the refuge they needed is still elusive here.
It is what it is!
Unfortunately, our best bet is hold out for their …
Retirement.
This brings forth some economic opportunities. Can we better prepare for our aging Diaspora to come home to enjoy their retirement?
Yes, we can.
This also includes the Diaspora that left 50, 40, 30 years ago. These ones are now primed to contribute now as retirees.
This was an original motivation for the book Go Lean…Caribbean – available to download for free. It serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean societal engines – economic, security and governance for all member-states. It surveyed the world and assessed that the Caribbean was being impact by Agents of Change. The book states (Page 57):
Assuming a role to “understand the market and plan the business” requires looking at the business landscape today and planning the strategic, tactical, and operational changes to keep pace with the market and ahead of competitors. Strategic changes that must be accounted for now, includes: Technology, Aging Diaspora, Globalization and Climate Change.
… Aging Diaspora The demographics of the world we inhabit were shaped by the events in the aftermath of World War II. Many members of the Diaspora avail themselves of opportunities in Europe and North America during their rebuilding effort. So those that repatriated in the 1950’s and 1960’s now comprise an aging Diaspora – with the desire to return to the “town of their boyhood”. They should be welcomed back and incentivized to repatriate.
The “Welcome Mat” comes with challenges; of which the CU is prepared to accommodate: health care, disabilities, elder-care, entitlements, etc. These are all missions for the CU.
Yes, to all of those of Caribbean heritage: We want you back!
The Go Lean book asserts that the region must work together – in a formal regional integration – to hold on to its populations, to invite the Diaspora back and to better prepare for their repatriation. To accomplish this objective, this CU/Go Lean roadmap presents these 3 prime directives:
Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs. There are limited economic (job creation and entrepreneurial) opportunities today, but a regional reboot can create a new industrial landscape with long-sought opportunities.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines, including regional integration with a separation-of-powers between each state and CU There is also a plan to engage NGO’s/foundations for advocacies for aging seniors. This stewardship will also aid-assist repatriates to fully consume their entitlement benefits from foreign countries.
We are hereby presenting ourselves to do the heavy-lifting of preparing our society to better accommodate these repatriates, in all phases of life, young, mature adults and senior citizens. The Go Lean book therefore provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot the region’s societal engines. Consider the details and headlines here on how the region can better prepare to accommodate the repatriation of the Diaspora to the Caribbean (Page 118):
10 Reasons to Repatriate to the Caribbean
1
Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market
This treaty allows for the unification of the region into one market, hereby expanding to an economy of 30 countries, 42 million people and a GDP of over $800 Billion (according to 2010 figures). This accedence creates a “new” land of opportunity for so many ventures, and so many protections – the Caribbean will be a better place to live, work and play. The economic engines of the CU should therefore “flash the signs of opportunity” to come back home. The CU will not ignore the reasons why a lot of people emigrated in the first place, in some cases there were political and human rights refugees. Therefore, integral to the repatriation plan is a mission for formal Reconciliation Commissions that will allow many issues to be settled and set aside – punishing the past short circuits the future.
2
“New Guards” for Public Safety The CU implements the anti-crime measures and provides special protections for classes of repatriates and retirees. Crimes against these special classes are marshaled by the CU, superseding local police. Since the CU will also install a penal system, with probation and parole, the region can institute prisoner exchange programs and in-source detention for foreign governments, especially for detainees of Caribbean heritage.
3
“New Guards” for Economic Stability A Single Market and currency union, with non-political, technocratic Caribbean Central Bank leadership, will allow for the long-term adoption of monetary and economic best practices. Plus, with a strong currency, viable capital markets, and consumer finance options, a prosperous life for the middle class would be easily sustainable.
4
Citizenship at the CU/Federal Level Over the decades, many Caribbean expatriates renounced their indigenous citizenship. The CU would extend new citizenship rights to this group, and their children (legacies) which will entitle them to infinite residency, equal civil rights but conditional employment, requiring labor certification or self-owned businesses. They would be issued CU passports.
5
Gerontology Initiatives The Diaspora is aging! They therefore have special needs germane to senior citizens. The CU will facilitate the needs of the aging repatriates and ensure that the proper institutions are in place and appropriately managed. This includes medical, housing, economic and social areas of responsibility. This issue will be coupled with the CU’s efforts for the host countries to extend entitlement benefits to this region, including medical and Social/National Insurance pensions.
6
US, Canada and EU Closing Doors
7
“No Child Left Behind” Lessons
8
Quick Recovery from Natural Disasters
9
Educational Inducements in the Region The CU will facilitate e-Learning schemes for institution in the US, Canada and the EU. The repatriates will have an array of educational choices for themselves and their offspring (legacies). This will counter the previous bad experience of students emigrating for advanced educational opportunities and then never returning, resulting in a brain drain.
10
Import US, Canada and EU Cultural Institutions
There have been a number of blog-commentaries by the Go Lean promoters that have detailed the prospects for Caribbean repatriation. See a sample list here:
Real Estate Investment Trusts explained for Repatriates Housing
More and more people have fled the Caribbean homeland. While the expansion of the Caribbean Diaspora is a real tragedy, it is not so improbable. Our region has societal defects and dysfunctions that have to be assuaged. We are not alarmed when people choose to leave. We are not surprised when/if they turn their back on any interest to help their former homelands. The Go Lean movement has consistently urged regional leaders not to invest valuable resources in trying to solicit investment from the Diaspora.
But come retirement, it’s a different story! All of the Caribbean needs to double-down on the effort to invite the Diaspora back for retirement.
The Caribbean in general is a great place to retire … for the Diaspora or just anyone else – retirement and/or snowbird tourism. See this magazine article here citing great destinations in the region to consider for retirement options. Our region makes the Best Places list and the Worst Places list – stressing the work that still needs to be done: See the related news article here:
Title: 5 Best Caribbean Islands to Live On… and 2 to Avoid By: International Living Magazine
Mention the word “Caribbean” and most people think of places like Aruba, the Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas, and other tourist-rich dollops of sand. The region conjures well-deserved images of crystal-clear waters and white-sand beaches.
And there’s no question: If you like sun and sand, these islands are great for a vacation. But move there? Most folks assume it’s just too expensive and don’t give it another thought.
But that’s too bad. Because the Caribbean is bigger than many people realize. And when you look beyond the mass-market shores the tourist brochures describe, you’ll find a variety of sun-splashed islands well worth your attention. They’re not only beautiful… but a lot more affordable than most people realize.
Belize, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Mexico all offer islands off their Caribbean coasts – islands that share the same turquoise-blue waters and powder-white beaches you expect when you hear “Caribbean” – only you won’t pay a fortune to live on any of them.
Read on to find out more about five Caribbean islands that won’t break the bank…and two that just might…
Ambergris Caye, Belize
…
Roatán, Honduras
…
Isla Mujeres, Mexico
…
Las Terrenas, Dominican Republic
…
Corn Islands, Nicaragua
…
Two to Avoid…Because Costs Are High
The beauty and tropical appeal of St. Thomas and Grand Bahama are impossible to deny. An expat traveling with unlimited funds might well choose either for his island getaway. But for anybody who’s a budget-conscious, these Caribbean retreats will prove hard on the wallet…
Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Located in the Caribbean, the U.S. Virgin Islandsis made up of over 60 islands…most of them uninhabited. The three most populated, and most visited, are St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix. The U.S. Virgin Islands are an organized, unincorporated United States territory and their people are U.S. citizens.
..
The appeal of these tropical islands is the mixture of the exotic and the recognizable—an island paradise with modern comforts and a balance of Caribbean culture and American practicality.
..
St. Thomas is the island on which most of the population of the U.S. Virgin Island lives. It is also the most commercialized of the islands and a regular stopping off point for Caribbean cruise ships. This 30-square-mile island has jungle cliffs that soar high into the sky and the turquoise sea is dotted with yachts of all shapes and sizes. St. Thomas, and in particular the capital of Charlotte Amalie, can get overrun by tourists.
..
While St. Thomas may be a nice place to live, we say “avoid” due to the high cost of living. Apartments rent for about $2,000 a month and to buy a two-bedroom house in a good neighborhood will cost about $225,000-plus.
Grand Bahama Island, The Bahamas
What do Nicolas Cage, Johnny Depp, Oprah Winfrey, Sean Connery, Bill Gates, and Tiger Woods have in common? Apart from being celebrities, they’re among thousands of North Americans and Europeans who own second homes in the Bahamas.
..
Like other expats who live there for all or part of the year, these stars often think of the Bahamas as a paradise—an upscale group of islands with some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. The Bahamas are friendly to newcomers, there’s no foreign language to cope with, crime is relatively low, and the islands are positioned just off the Florida coast.
..
That’s the good news. The bad news is that property on the islands usually isn’t cheap. Medium-size residences in exclusive gated communities with ocean views often cost more than $2 million.
..
Even though Grand Bahama is the closest major Bahamian island to the U.S. (about 55 miles off the Florida coast), it was one of the least developed until only a few decades ago. In the middle of the last century, the population was about 500.
..
Today Grand Bahama is the second most populous island, with more than 50,000 residents. Its major city, Freeport, has a population of about 27,000, making it the second-largest metropolitan area in the country, far eclipsing West End, the former capital of Grand Bahama.Grand Bahama Island has become a haven for beach-lovers as well as divers, fishermen, golfers, and sports enthusiasts of all kinds. It’s also a prime destination for people who enjoy world-class shopping. But living here costs a premium as it’s between 30% and 50% more expensive than in the U.S.. Source: Posted July 18, 2016; retrieved November 21, 2017 from: https://internationalliving.com/5-affordable-caribbean-islands-to-live-on-and-2-to-avoid/
Planners of a new Caribbean are now saying to their Diaspora: We Want You Back!
We will do the work necessary to improve our prospects. As related in the song lyrics in the Appendix below:
Give me one more chance
(To show you that I love you)
Won’t you please let me back in your heart
Oh darlin’, I was blind to let you go
…
Trying to live without your love is one long sleepless night
Let me show you, girl, that I know wrong from right
In the Caribbean, we now need to do the heavy-lifting to reform and transform our societal engines to allow our people to prosper where planted here at home. If only we can get more and more of our Diaspora back. The Go Lean book made this urging in its conclusion … on Page 252:
Valediction – Bidding Farewell
To the Caribbean Resident: Count your blessings, while you work for improvement.
To the Caribbean Diaspora: Come in from the cold.
…
To the Caribbean Emigrant: Get yours, come home.
…
To the Caribbean Children, living at home: Help is on the way.
To the Caribbean Children, living aboard: You’re always welcome home.
To the Legacy Children of Caribbean parents: Come home, discover why your parents are so proud.
The Go Lean roadmap asserts that the Caribbean can assuage its defects and dysfunctions. The vision first calls for an interdependence among the 30 member-states in the region. This was the motivation for the CU/Go Lean roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13) of the book:
x. Whereas we are surrounded and allied to nations of larger proportions in land mass, populations, and treasuries, elements in their societies may have ill-intent in their pursuits, at the expense of the safety and security of our citizens. We must therefore appoint “new guards” to ensure our public safety and threats against our society, domestic and foreign. …
xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.
xix. Whereas our legacy in recent times is one of societal abandonment, it is imperative that incentives and encouragement be put in place to first dissuade the human flight, and then entice and welcome the return of our Diaspora back to our shores. This repatriation should be effected with the appropriate guards so as not to imperil the lives and securities of the repatriated citizens or the communities they inhabit. The right of repatriation is to be extended to any natural born citizens despite any previous naturalization to foreign sovereignties.
xx. Whereas the results of our decades of migration created a vibrant Diaspora in foreign lands, the Federation must organize interactions with this population into structured markets. Thus allowing foreign consumption of domestic products, services and media, which is a positive trade impact. These economic activities must not be exploited by others’ profiteering but rather harnessed by Federation resources for efficient repatriations.
xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.
The Caribbean is now begging for one more chance to prove that we love our citizens and can serve and protect them.
We want you back.
But what we want even more is to ensure that our young people do not have to leave in the first place.
Any policy that double-downs on the Diaspora is actually doubling-down on failure. We should never want our people to have to leave then hope they remember us for their retirement. No, we want and need them here at home at all times: in their youth, as young adults, middle age and senior citizens. We want and need them to “plant” … and prosper where planted.
We strongly urge Caribbean stakeholders – governmental leaders and citizens alike – to lean-in to this roadmap to make our homeland, all 30 member-states, better places to live, work and play. 🙂
Published on Jan 10, 2010 – The Jackson 5 perform “I Want You Back” on their “Goin Back To Indiana” TV special in 1971. HQ sound.
Category: Music
License: Standard YouTube License
————
Appendix – I Want You Back – Lyrics
Sung by: The Jackson 5
When I had you to myself, I didn’t want you around
Those pretty faces always make you stand out in a crowd
But someone picked you from the bunch, one glance is all it took
Now it’s much too late for me to take a second look
Oh baby, give me one more chance
(To show you that I love you)
Won’t you please let me back in your heart
Oh darlin’, I was blind to let you go
(Let you go, baby)
But now since I’ve seen you it is on
(I want you back)
Oh I do now
(I want you back)
Ooh ooh baby
(I want you back)
Yeah yeah yeah yeah
(I want you back)
Na na na na
Trying to live without your love is one long sleepless night
Let me show you, girl, that I know wrong from right
Every street you walk on, I leave tear stains on the ground
Following the girl I didn’t even want around
Let me tell ya now
Oh baby, all I need is one more chance
(To show you that I love you)
Won’t you please let me back in your heart
Oh darlin’, I was blind to let you go
(Let you go, baby)
But now since I’ve seen you it is on
All I want
All I need
All I want!
All I need!
Oh, just one more chance
To show you that I love you
Baby baby baby baby baby baby!
(I want you back)
Forget what happened then
(I want you back)
And let me live again!
Oh baby, I was blind to let you go
But now since I’ve seen you it is on
(I want you back)
Spare me of this cost
(I want you back)
Give me back what I lost!
Oh baby, I need one more chance, hah
I’d show you that I love you
Baby, oh! Baby, oh! Baby, oh!
I want you back!
I want you back!
“Twenty million American Negroes unpacked.” – Comedian and Activist Dick Gregory, on November 27, 1963 when President Lyndon Johnson announced at a Joint-Session of Congress that he would continue with the recently assassinated John Kennedy’s Civil Rights agenda.
This was 1963, 100 years after President’s Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, and the subsequent Civil War. Finally after 350 years of the African Slave Trade, African-American people could start to think of America as “home”. Wow, they could unpack. There was no need to consider any other destination.
It didn’t end there!
This was also the start of other African-ethnic people – in Africa and in the Americas – to start the thinking that America may be OK to emigrate to. They started to pack, while African-Americans unpacked.
One step forward for American civilization, but two steps backwards for Caribbean society.
Our brain-drain and societal abandonment to the US began there-then, and continued unabated down to this day.
Where we are now is a shame-and-a-disgrace – 70 percent of out tertiary-educated – gone! Now we have the report of a 104-year old woman who just naturalized to become a US citizen. Just as much as this is a good story for her and America, this is an indictment for us – the Caribbean – and our failures as individual states.
See the news story here:
Title: Woman at 104 proves it’s never too late to become an American citizen By: David J. Neal
May Garcia, 104, center, sings “America the Beautiful” after she took the Oath of Allegiance and was sworn in as a U.S. citizen on Friday, Aug. 26, 2016. Garcia attended the ceremony with her daughter, Faye Rochester, right, and son-in-law Denis Rochester. Garcia lives with them in Lauderhill. She passed her citizenship exam early Friday, then was sworn in as a United States citizen at the USCIS Oakland Park Field Office in Oakland Park. Garcia was born on July 15, 1912 in Kingston, Jamaica. She moved to the U.S. in 1993 to be closer to her family and take care of her grandchildren. Garcia has four children, 12 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and eight great-great-grandchildren. Photo Credit: Marsha Halper.
Jamaica-born May Garcia decided to become a U.S. citizen after 23 years in this country and 104 years on this Earth for the most bedrock element of democracy.
“She had been watching the election coverage and said, ‘I’d love to vote,’ ” Garcia’s daughter Fay Rochester said.
So Garcia, born in Kingston in 1912, 50 years before Jamaica’s independence from Great Britain, started the naturalization process. That path ended Friday for Garcia and more than 100 others from 36 nations who took their oath of citizenship at a naturalization ceremony at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services building in west Broward.
Afterward, she waved her arm back and forth in celebration as Pharrell’s “Happy” played in the Ceremony Room. Several other new U.S. citizens or their relatives stopped by Garcia’s chair to shake her hand.
Garcia, who lives in Lauderhill with Rochester and son-in-law Denis Rochester, said she had no problem with studying for the citizenship exam or taking the exam itself. Then again, activity keeps the mind sharp and as Garcia said, “I’m a busy person. I’m not a lazy one.”
She raised her four children in Jamaica by doing others’ laundry by hand. She came to the U.S. in 1993 at 81 to help take care of some of her 12 grandchildren (who gave her 18 great grandchildren, who gave her eight great-great grandchildren). Now, with her family spread all around the United States, she spends her days at the Sadkin Senior Community Center, where she does Zumba classes.
Saturday, she still does laundry by hand.
“We’re so happy and proud of her,” Rochester said. “At her age, she’s still going strong. She does everything for herself.”
Asked how she has extended her life so long, Garcia said, “I wasn’t a wild person. I like everything that’s nice. I don’t do things that aren’t right. I don’t like anything that’s out of the way.” Source: Posted August 23, 2016; retrieved September 26, 2016 from: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/broward/article98197142.html
Congratulations May Garcia! May you have all that you desire.
This commentary is 3 of 3 from the movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean, in consideration of the reasons to consider repatriation back to the Caribbean homeland. The other commentaries detailed in this series are as follows:
The Go Lean book was composed with people like May Garcia in mind. In its epilogue, the book makes valedictions to people like Ms. Garcia, on Page 252:
To the Caribbean Resident: Count your blessings, while you work for improvement. To the Caribbean Diaspora: Come in from the cold. … To the Caribbean Senior Citizen: Thank you for your service. We’ll take it from here.
No one expects a 104-year woman to contribute to her society, to be a mover-and-a-shaker, to forge change in her community and set the path for new advocacies, technologies or systems of commerce. But Ms. Garcia is an inspiration. She plainly demonstrates to the planners of a new Caribbean how acute our failures are. This celebration should have been in her Caribbean homeland, Jamaica. This is our quest!
She should have been like a tree …
… planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither – whatever they do prospers. – The Bible; Psalms 1:3 – New International Version
A “planted tree” analogy relates that she would be firmly established … and others – her children and grandchildren – would come to her.
This scenario paints the picture of “prospering where planted“. This is the underlying vision of the Go Lean book. Emotionally, this is in direct contrast to the psychological trauma of “Longing for Home“. This is a real problem for people in exile communities; normally this scarring bears on a subject’s emotional and physical well-being. The experiences of the subject in the foregoing article is very unique, Ms. Garcia seems to have all of her 4 children, 12 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and 8 great-great grandchildren all in the same country. Assuredly, in most other cases, some of the offspring are in the home country and some are in the exile country. There tends to be two moving targets, itinerant children with an iterant parent. This is the opposite of planted.
This lack of planting can create a sense of urgency to reform and transform. Many Diaspora find that urgency expressed in the statement:
“Time to Go … home”.
To satisfy the wishes of a special person like Ms. Garcia could be motivation enough to forge change in the Caribbean, to allow these seniors the opportunity to prosper where they were planted all their lives. This is the quest of the Go Lean book.
The Go Lean book and movement serves as a roadmap for the introduction of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). The CU is set to optimize Caribbean society through economic elevation, security empowerment and governing engagements. Therefore the Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:
Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.
The Go Lean book presents a plan of hope for the senior citizens of the Caribbean.
But this is not just an altruistic dream; it accepts the reality that the economic, security and governing optimizations must be enabled, not just hoped for. It is Time to Go; our aging parents and grandparents are waiting on us to execute; they may not have as much time to wait, to see this quest fulfilled. The book (Page 225) described the urgent commitment to the Caribbean Seniors as follows in this advocacy: 10 Ways to Improve Elder-Care:
1. Lean-in for the Caribbean Single Market & Economy (CSME) initiative: Caribbean Union Trade Federation.
The Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) will allow for the unification of the region into one market, thereby creating an entity (42 million) big and consequential enough to negotiate Treaties with the US, Canada, and Europe for more consideration for the needs of the Caribbean’s baby boomers in the Diaspora. In addition, while the US enjoyed its Baby Boom during the 2nd half of the 20th century, the Caribbean region kept pace. So now there will be an enlarged single market needing CU elder-care and support services, plus public-private initiatives as the pool of contributors/benefactors will now be maximized. The end result is a reversing of the “brain and capital drain” that plagued the Caribbean recently. There are no labor issues for this age group, as they are in retirement and not competing for jobs in the local market.
2. Tax Benefit of Dependents in Family Trusts
Many Caribbean ex-patriots emigrate to earn more money to send back for their aging parents. Yet the foreign taxing authorities (i.e. IRS) do not give dependent tax credit if the dependents are still in the Caribbean. Therefore, many Caribbean ex-patriots try to relocate their aging parents back to their new home – this further exacerbates the “brain and capital drain”. The CU will lobby to grant a dependent care credit for up to 4 living parents per couple with a Tax ID Number in an organized Family Trust “vehicle”. The CU will disclose all death certificates back to the Sourcing Countries, much like the Social Security Administration does in the US today.
3. Repatriate Retirement Benefits
The CU wants their former citizens to return “home” and many senior “baby boomer” ex-patriots want to spend their golden years “back home”. The CU Banking system will allow for (free) direct deposit of retirement and pension benefit payments to the repatriated Caribbean residents. Social Workers will be trained to advocate and engage the “Source Countries” bureaucracies to remediate disputes and optimize services on behalf of the participants.
4. Repatriate MediCare Benefits
The decision to return/repatriate “home” is more complicated for those with health issues as they fear the lost of medical benefits from their National Health plans in their emigrated countries. With licensed and accredited Caribbean doctors and facilities meeting the standards of the Sourcing Countries, repatriated Caribbean [seniors] will have access to their medical benefits even though they are abroad. This will increase the revenue base of the medical establishments and advance the standard of care for all.
5. Medical Training, Accreditation, Advocacy and Quality Assurance of Gerontology Support Services
Promote and incentivize medical careers for doctors, nurses, therapists and CNA’s (Certified Nurse Assistants) with scholarships, grants and forgive-able student loans. Plus the CU will license, accredit and facilitate the Continuous Education requirement for the industry participants. For ongoing operations, patient advocacy, Quality Assurance programs and mediation/ arbitration/dispute resolution will facilitate world-class service delivery.
6. Deploy Disease Management Programs for Gerontology Afflictions
Disease management programs can be implemented specifically for gerontology ailments like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Degenerative Eye Diseases and other chronic afflictions. The goal is to identify, educate, and treat patients with ailments that tend to have no cure, but the afflicted could prosper with proper management.
7. Caribbeans with Disabilities
Many times seniors become challenged in their mobility or disabled requiring aid and transportation services. Most Caribbean public buses (Jitney) do not allow for wheelchair/scooter access. The CU will overseer the Taxi Commissions, to include Para-transit services for non-ambulance transport. The Caribbean [persons] with Disabilities Act, modeled after Americans with Disability Act, will allow CU residents (and seniors) with physical and mental disabilities to have equal access rights/provisions of “reasonable accommodations” by CU institutions and establishments.
8. Public Health Extension
The CU will prioritize vaccinations (flu shots) for seniors, and regulate easy access at clinics, and pharmacies. One strategy is to grant credits and discounts for senior participants.
The data associated with flu shots and vaccinations will be collected and mined, then aggregately published by the CU.
9. Wellness, Nutrition, and Fitness Programs
A successful deployment of a Government Wellness program calls for a reboot of cultural habits in terms of nutrition, physical therapies and exercise in Senior Centers, Rehabilitation facilities and Nursing Homes. Programs like “Silver Sneakers” (walking clubs) and bicycle paths to encourage more exercise will be implemented at the CU level. Where air-conditioned shopping malls may be minimal, the ideal island climate allow for tree-lined walking paths to be identified, developed, maintained and policed-enforced by CU institutions.
10. First Responders Regulated by the CU
Emergency Management operations will factor in the needs of Seniors during Disaster Response (Hurricanes) and normal day-to-day operations. Hurricane Shelters will prioritize seniors first. Medical Alert Notifications via bracelets or home monitoring equipment require a monitoring industry on the “other end of the line” and physical First Responders.
Fixing the Caribbean eco-system has always been a mission of the Go Lean/CU roadmap, to dissuade the propensity for so many Caribbean people who flee from their Caribbean homelands to foreign destinations like the US. In addition, there is a mission to invite many Diaspora members to repatriate, to declare that it is Time to Go . The book contends that the Caribbean must prepare for the eventual return of these native sons and daughters back to our shores. This point is pronounced early in the book with the Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 & 13) that claims:
xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.
xiii. Whereas the legacy of dissensions in many member-states … will require a concerted effort to integrate the exile community’s repatriation, the Federation must arrange for Reconciliation Commissions to satiate a demand for justice.
xviii. Whereas all citizens in the Federation member-states may not have the same physical abilities, reasonable accommodations must be made so that individuals with physical and mental disabilities can still access public and governmental services so as to foster a satisfactory pursuit of life’s liberties and opportunities for happiness.
xix. Whereas our legacy in recent times is one of societal abandonment, it is imperative that incentives and encouragement be put in place to first dissuade the human flight, and then entice and welcome the return of our Diaspora back to our shores. This repatriation should be effected with the appropriate guards so as not to imperil the lives and securities of the repatriated citizens or the communities they inhabit. The right of repatriation is to be extended to any natural born citizens despite any previous naturalization to foreign sovereignties.
xx. Whereas the results of our decades of migration created a vibrant Diaspora in foreign lands, the Federation must organize interactions with this population into structured markets. Thus allowing foreign consumption of domestic products, services and media, which is a positive trade impact. These economic activities must not be exploited by others’ profiteering but rather harnessed by Federation resources for efficient repatriations.
Preparing the Caribbean region for the return of the aging Diaspora, means fixing the regional defects to make our homeland a better place to live, work and play for everyone. This quest must first be in our hearts – the seats of motivation. The book explains (Page 20):
… the approach to forge change for an individual is defined as “starting in the head (thoughts, visions), penetrating the heart (feelings, motivations) and then finally manifesting in the hands (actions). This same body analogy is what is purported in this [Go Lean] book for how the Caribbean is to embrace change – following this systematic flow:
o Head – Plans, models and constitutions
o Heart – Community Ethos
o Hands – Actions, Reboots, and Turn-arounds
The book details that first, there must be the adoption of new community ethos – fundamental spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a society. In addition to these new ethos below, the executions of the following strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies are needed to impact the region’s elevation hopes:
Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification
Page 21
Community Ethos – Economics Influence Choices
Page 21
Community Ethos – Privacy versus Public Protection
Page 23
Community Ethos – “Crap” Happens
Page 23
Community Ethos – Lean Operations
Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives
Page 24
Community Ethos – Non-Government Organizations
Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Turn-Arounds
Page 33
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing
Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness
Page 36
Community Ethos – Impact the Greater Good
Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate 30 Member-States
Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Reform our Health Care Response
Page 47
Strategy – Agents of Change – Aging Diaspora
Page 57
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy
Page 64
Separation of Powers – Department of Health
Page 86
Implementation – Ways to Deliver
Page 109
Planning – Ways to Model the EU
Page 130
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better
Page 131
Planning – Ways to Measure Progress
Page 148
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy
Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Healthcare
Page 156
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Cancer
Page 157
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract
Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives
Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Emergency Management
Page 196
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage
Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Elder-Care
Page 225
Advocacy – Ways to Empower Women – Aging Population
Page 226
This Go Lean book asserts that family dynamics will always be placed ahead of any nationalistic objectives. It is simply the fact that people’s priorities are consistent: self, family, and then community. Any societal elevation plan, must consider this reality. This viewpoint – re-uniting the family with a return of the aging Diaspora – has been previously detailed in Go Lean blog/commentaries, as sampled here:
10 Things We Don’t Want from the US – #8 Family Abandonment
The Caribbean has a lot to work with now! It is arguably the best address on the planet. So we are NOT discussing repatriating to places like the Middle-Eastern desert (Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc) or Siberia. We have the best terrain, fauna & flora; just think of our beaches. Culturally, we have the best cuisine, rums, cigars and festivals (think Carnival, Junkanoo, Crop-Over, etc.). We also have the best in hospitality, just think of our luxurious hotel-resorts and cruise ships. Longing for any these features of Caribbean life is perfectly healthy. It is Time to Go.
Without a doubt, there is value to keeping senior citizens in their communities for these “golden years”; their “grey hair” – poetic for wisdom – is greatly valued for the next generations. There is value for the community and value for the senior citizens. And as related in the introduction, their time-urgency can be an inspiration for change.
We need to spend time with our aging parents and they need to spend time with their children and grandchildren. Fulfilling this simple mission should not be location agnostic, it should be at home, in the Caribbean. As related in the old Calypso song by Harry Belafonte – Island in the Sun:
Oh, island in the sun
Willed to me by my father’s hand
All my days I will sing in praise
Of your forest, waters,
Your shining sand …
This theme synchronizes with the Bible’s precept – Psalms 137: 1 – 4 – of refugees longing for their homeland while in exile:
1 By the rivers of Babylon, There we sat down and wept, When we remembered Zion. 2 Upon the willows in the midst of it We hung our harps. 3 For there our captors demanded of us songs, And our tormentors mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion.” 4 How can we sing the LORD’S song In a foreign land?
This Bible verse is better appreciated as a song. See the VIDEO in the Appendix below.
This commentary posits that it is a psychological torture for elderly people to “ride out” their days in exile. They will constantly long for their homeland; there is the old adage:
When a man longs for the town of his boyhood, it is not the town alone that he longs for; it’s also his boyhood.
Yet still, the longing for home – homesickness – is reason enough to declare: It’s Time to Go.
For this reason, all Caribbean stakeholders – governmental leaders, citizens, residents and Diaspora – are hereby urged to lean-in to this Go Lean/CU roadmap to elevate the Caribbean to dissuade emigration and encourage repatriation. Our senior Caribbean citizens have suffered enough; let’s make their golden years … golden. 🙂
What is required for the world to believe that the Caribbean is the greatest address on the planet?
Terrain and Weather
Check
Culture and Hospitality
Check
Food and Spirits
Check
Music and Festivals
Check
Economy and Jobs
Danger! Fail!
This point aligns with the book Go Lean…Caribbean, which asserts that the societal engines in the Caribbean (economy, security, and governance) are deficient and defective; in some cases we even feature Failed-States (think: Haiti, Cuba, Puerto Rico and others). But alas, we can improve and make our homeland a better place to live, work and play.
How?
The Go Lean book details the quest to make the Caribbean better; it features a how-to guide, a roadmap for elevating the region’s societal engines of economics, security and governance. Despite the 370 pages, it boils down to doing a few things and doing them well!
This is commentary 1 of 4 on the subject of transformations: how to move our region from this status quo to the undisputed title of “greatest address on the planet”. All these commentaries detail these issues, starting with:
What are the focus activities that we do, as a region, that by improving we would pronounce to the world that we are truly the greatest address on the planet?
The Go Lean book identifies 144 advocacies to improve life in the region. But we cannot “master all trades”; we must do better than anywhere else in the world in a few activities; these ones here are deemed our core competence:
Economic
Tourism / Events / Cruises
Specialty Agriculture
Energy
Security
Public Safety
Governance
Senior Health Care
The assertion is that the Caribbean region must at least do the above activities better than anywhere else in the world. Why?
Because we are competing with the world … and losing.
But if we do better, perfect our core competence – see VIDEO here of Transformations and Core Competence in the corporate setting – then our hard work will be recognized and rewarded by others wanting to share in our passions and profits. Or maybe even just to retain our citizens here at home. A previous blog stated this eloquently by quoting a Chinese proverb: “Make happy those who are near, and those who are far will come”.
VIDEO:An Introduction to Prahalad & Hamel’s Core Competence of the Corporation – A Macat Business Video – https://youtu.be/KSUbSEvJ1Cs
Published on Nov 16, 2015 – Success in business comes from combining technological ability with organizational skills to gain a competitive edge. It is called “core competence.” Watch Macat’s short video for a great introduction to C. K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel’s “The Core Competence of the Corporation,” one of the most important business articles ever written.
The book Go Lean … Caribbean sets to optimize the societal engines (economics, security and governance) in the Caribbean. The book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation for the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). As a federation or federal government representing all 30 member-states, the prime directives of this roadmap is to elevate society by addressing these 3 focus areas:
Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines.
Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines.
The benefits of core competence feature a “snowball” effect. The better we optimize one functional area, the better the rest of the environment becomes. For example, the 2.2 million jobs that the roadmap sets to create. There is no need to actuate the economic processes for each job. No, we focus on our core competence, and the job multiplier effect processes the remaining new jobs. To reach the required transformations, this commentary identifies these core competencies for our economic engines:
Tourism / Events / Cruises
This activity is the Number 1 economic driver in the Caribbean region. But each member-state can only do “so much more” so as to generate marginal increases in their output. An old adage states that “one cannot get blood from a stone”; this is so true for the region: there are only so many beaches and coastal areas to explore for touristic opportunities. The Go Lean roadmap (Page 190) therefore takes a different, more elevated, approach to increase tourism: regionalism.
The book – and previous blogs – features empowerments that are not possible for any member-state alone, leveraging the full force of a bigger Single Market of 42 million people, across the 30 member states. The following are some regional highlights:
New Transportation Options – Ferries to transport people and cars, including RV/Campers for Snowbirds for the Winters
New Fairgrounds – New landlords for structures and amenities to allow for events/conventions not possible otherwise
Medical Tourism – Self-Governing Entities for medical research campuses generate new demand for a Caribbean supply
Specialty Agriculture
There are farming expressions, like “bread basket” of America, or Europe. But, these no not apply to the Caribbean, as we are not known for our agricultural productions … except for cigar and rum. Yes, these specialty agricultural products are deemed the “best in the world”. Following the strategies, tactics and implementations from the Go Lean book (Page 88), we can continue the greatness and exploit the reputation for even more profit; (jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities).
Cuba, the source of much of the heightened reputation for Caribbean cigars, has suffered with a 55-year trade embargo. Efforts are now being made to normalize trade with Cuba and the rest of the western world. There is therefore a lot of upside and growth for improved trade and production for this world-renown product. There will undoubtedly be a return on any investment in this core competence.
Energy
The Caribbean is the best-in-the world in certain pursuits; energy is not one of them, but it needs to be. At this juncture, the region is reported as having one of the highest energy costs on the planet. So we need to apply best-practices – detailed in the Go Lean book (Page 113) – to optimize our energy eco-system to go from the worst to the first – energy needs to become a core competence. Considering the successful models we have to emulate, we have all the resources we need to succeed ourselves:
We simply need better stewardship and administration of the region’s energy policies to optimize the supply-and-demand metrics. The Go Lean book specifically states (Page 46) the mission as follows:
Harness the power of the sun, the winds, and the tides to power our home and the institutions of our industry and government. This embrace of alternative energy can supplement our traditional power sources and usher in energy independence. Independence in general means that we are finally ready to stand-up and be counted worldwide.
Security – Public Safety
To reach the required transformations, this commentary also identifies one core competence for our security engine: Public Safety.
If we are able to raise the delivery level of protections to these groups, then our society will be recognized world-wide as a great place to live, work and play. This does not mean that we ignore the safety of the general citizenry; no, we simply accept that there will always be crime – bad actors – in every society, everywhere. So our remediation and mitigations for crime – need, greed and honor – must be omnipresent.
The following sample from the Go Lean book details the strategies, tactics, implementation and advocacies of the Go Lean roadmap related to the core competence of Public Safety:
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices
Page 21
Community Ethos – Security Principles
Page 22
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations
Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good
Page 37
Strategy – Mission – Protect our stakeholders with anti-crime and law enforcement measures
Page 45
Tactical – Confederating a Permanent Union
Page 63
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Homeland Security
Page 75
Tactical – Separation of Powers – CariPol
Page 77
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate to the Caribbean
Page 118
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract
Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Leadership
Page 171
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Justice
Page 177
Advocacy – Ways to Remediate and Mitigate Crime
Page 178
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Gun Control
Page 179
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Homeland Security
Page 180
Advocacy – Ways to Mitigate Terrorism
Page 181
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Intelligence Gathering & Analysis
Page 182
Advocacy – Ways to Improve for Natural Disasters
Page 183
Advocacy – Ways to Protect Human Rights
Page 220
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Elder-Care
Page 225
Advocacy – Ways to Empower Women
Page 226
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Youth
Page 227
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Persons with Disabilities
Page 228
Governance – Senior Healthcare
To reach the required transformations, this commentary lastly identifies one core competence for our regional governance: Senior / Elder Healthcare.
Most Caribbean member-states feature Democratic Socialism as the official form of government; (Cuba practices Communism, and the US Territories feature the American brand of Capitalism, though the majority of the population receive some government assistance). This means that the 30 member-states have a government entitlement program for healthcare, and it is self-evident that senior citizens in every society consume more healthcare services than any other population group.
The Go Lean movement (book and blogs) details how the governing engines in the region can elevate their healthcare deliveries, and how the elderly populations can benefit. The successful executions of the strategies, tactics, implementation and advocacies of the Go Lean roadmap, (see the following sample of these specific details from the book related to the core competence of senior healthcare), would allow the world to see how great a society the Caribbean would be. This lingering affects will reverberate in other aspects of society, like the repatriation of our aging Diaspora, medical tourists and other economic spin-offs – the book details 70,000 direct jobs created in the region as a result of these empowerments.
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – Economic Systems Influence Individual Choices
Page 21
Community Ethos – Economic Principles – The Consequences of Choices Lie in the Future
Page 21
Community Ethos – Governing Principles – Lean Operations
Page 24
Community Ethos – Ways to Help Entrepreneurship – STEM Incubators
Page 28
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact Research & Development – Including Medical Research
Page 30
Community Ethos – Ways to Impact the Greater Good
Page 37
Strategy – Mission – Reform our Health Care industries for the reality of our needs
Page 46
Tactical – Separation of Powers: Department of Health – Self-Governing Entities
Page 80
Tactical – Separation of Powers: Department of Health – MediCare Administration
Page 86
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate to the Caribbean
Page 118
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better – Support/Social Services
Page 131
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Healthcare
Page 156
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Cancer
Page 157
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Entitlements
Page 158
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract
Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Elder-Care
Page 225
Advocacy – Ways to Empower Women
Page 226
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Persons with Disabilities
Page 228
Appendix – Growing 2.2 Million Jobs in 5 years – Medical R&D, Gerontology & Healthcare
Page 257
The Caribbean can truly be a great place to live, work, heal and play.
Previously, Go Lean blogs commented on transformations, showing the success of aspirations to be better and do better. Consider this sample:
The effort to elevate the Caribbean is defined as heavy-lifting, a lot of strenuous actions that are very complicated. But despite the complexity, a successful completion of some of the basic or core functionality can aid the region – these limited actions are considered “core competencies”. The successful execution of these core competencies would start the “snowball” and transform the Caribbean … to a better homeland.
Any transformation for the Caribbean must be permanent! The Go Lean book declares that for permanent change to take place, there must first be an adoption of new community ethos, the national spirit that drives the character and identity of its people. The roadmap was constructed with the primary community ethos in mind, the Greater Good. This is a big deal; notice it is not a profit motive, nor a nationalistic motive, but rather a commitment to the “greatest good for the greatest number of people”.
Now is the time for all Caribbean stakeholders to lean-in to this regional solution – the Go Lean roadmap – for the Caribbean to transform to a better society, a better place to live, work and play. 🙂
… these are undeniable and undisputable classifications of basic needs. (Some societies add energy as an additional basic need). When economies get warped and twisted, the recommendation is always to return focus back to these basics so as to jump-start an economic reboot by optimizing the commerce engines delivering these basics.
So a consideration of housing solutions, that requires local jobs/fabrication and satisfies Elder-Care is a study in economic kinetics. Every community needs housing … for their seniors. This is just a basic fact of life: old age and illness … befall us all.
Just because an abled-bodied person has a house, it does not make it ideal when the circumstances change to “less than able”, or disabled, or differently-abled. Yet, disabilities are a reality … everyday: Just keep living.
This consideration is very appropriate for the Caribbean. We have some societal defects: consider our abandonment rate, especially among the younger generation, due mainly to a lack of economic opportunities, at home. Assuredly, they emigrate for refuge abroad, and then remit funds back to their Caribbean homelands, often to support their aging parents. These ones have the need for Elder-Care; but Elder-Care consists of more than remittances; many times, it includes nursing.
Providing housing, Elder-Care and nursing can be an economic conjunction, an activity at an intersection. The book Go Lean … Caribbean asserts that “luck” is the intersection of preparation and opportunity; that economic growth can be gained simply by positioning at that intersection and exploiting the opportunities.
Exploit … economics …
That sounds like a formula for “greed”. But alas, in this case, greed is good! In this case, greed is motivated by the ethos of the Greater Good, that is a solution that can provide the most good to the most number of people. This solution of facilitating a housing solution specifically designed for Elder-Care would benefit so many: elders, builders, nurse practitioners/clinicians, local family, Diasporic family, public health deliveries and the overall economy.
Win, win …
See a sample of the relevant solution here, in this article and accompanying VIDEOs:
Title:These Backyard “Granny Pods” Could be the Solution to Nursing Homes By: David Wolfe (see profile in Appendix)
Since the age of 20, I had known that I would be the one to take care of my aunt when she got older. I love her dearly, but my family enjoys our space. It has always been a stressful notion of what we are going to do once it is time to take care of her, with both of us being so independent, sharing our home was never an option while a nursing home also does not feel right. I had no idea that a solution was already out there.
These “Granny Pods” are specially built with the safety of a senior in mind. They include a small kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom all designed to house safely a senior. The bathrooms are handicap accessible with railing and safety features built in.
The kitchen includes a microwave, small refrigerator, and a pill dispenser. The microwave could be unplugged and used as an electromagnetically-insulated safe container for supplements. A BerryBreeze refrigerator purifier could be put in the small refrigerator. The pill dispenser could be filled with capsules of supplements, superfoods, and superherbs. Everything is conveniently located and safe to reach.
The safety features for these little homes are fantastic. They include webcams for monitoring by family members and a padded floor! Padded floor is great on joints. Also, they protect older relatives from a fall. One can be comfortable having their family member spending time in these homes.
Talk about high tech! These pods utilize small robotic features that can monitor vital signs. In addition, they can filter the air for contaminants while sending alerts reminding when to take supplements, superfoods, and superherbs. Communication is a breeze with high-tech video and text cell technology incorporated. If anything were to go wrong, these pods have alert systems to notify caregivers as well.
With three models thus far to choose from, you are sure to pick the right one for your loved one. Knowing that your family member will have a safe space that is close by is worth everything.
Uploaded on Jul 18, 2010 – In the future, you may not have to go far to care for aging loved ones. Whit Johnson has a first look at the MedCottage which could be a new option for caring for the elderly in your backyard.
Category: News & Politics
License: Standard YouTube License
Using the foregoing model, the Caribbean can create its own solutions to the impending crisis with Elder-Care housing. This has always been in the plan (roadmap); the book serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), with a charter to elevate Caribbean society, using Pre-Fab housing as one of 144 missions. The book highlights the CU’s prime directives, as described by these statements:
Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines and mitigate challenges/threats to ensure public safety for the region’s stakeholders (residents, visitors, trading partners, Diaspora, etc.).
Improvement of Caribbean governance, including a separation-of-powers with member-states, to support these engines.
The Go Lean roadmap, and the foregoing article, calls for the region to double-down its efforts to ensure a quality delivery for Elder-Care and healthcare. The need for this awareness was identified in early in the Go Lean book, in the opening pronouncement in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 11), as follows:
ix. Whereas the realities of healthcare and an aging population cannot be ignored and cannot be afforded without some advanced mitigation, the Federation must arrange for health plans to consolidate premiums of both healthy and sickly people across the wider base of the entire Caribbean population. The mitigation should extend further to disease management, wellness,mental health, obesity … programs.
The Go Lean … Caribbean roadmap constitutes a change for the region, a plan to consolidate 30 member-states into a Trade Federation with the tools/techniques to bring immediate change to the region to benefit one and all member-states. The roadmap calls for coordination of the region’s healthcare needs at a CU federal agency. Though there is a separation-of-powers mandate between the member-states and federal agencies, the CU can still wield influence in this area due to funding accountabilities – strings attached – monitoring and metering responsibility between the CU and the member-states. So there will be some federal compliance and regulatory oversight. This empowerment would also allow for better coordination with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international stakeholders.
The book details the community ethos needed to effect change in this area, plus the executions of the following strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to impact the region’s Elder-Care, Healthcare and Housing solutions:
Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification
Page 21
Community Ethos – Economics Influence Choices
Page 21
Community Ethos – People Choose
Page 21
Community Ethos – All Choices Involve Costs
Page 21
Community Ethos – Lean Operations
Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives
Page 24
Community Ethos – Non-Government Organizations
Page 25
Community Ethos – Impact the Greater Good
Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate 30 Member-States
Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Reform our Health Care Response
Page 47
Strategy – Agents of Change – Aging Diaspora
Page 57
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy
Page 64
Separation of Powers – Department of Health
Page 86
Implementation – Ways to Deliver
Page 109
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better – Improve First Responder Solutions
Page 131
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs
Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Healthcare
Page 156
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract
Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives
Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Intelligence Gathering & Analysis – First Responders
Page 182
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Emergency Management – First Responders
Page 196
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Technology
Page 197
Advocacy – Ways to Develop a Pre-Fab Housing Industry
Page 207
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Elder-Care – Including Oversight of First Responders
Page 225
Appendix – New Jobs: 10,000 Gerontology related jobs
Page 257
Appendix – Sample Pre-fab Homes, with Photos
Page 289
Appendix – Disease Management – Healthways Model
Page 300
This Go Lean book asserts that there is a direct correlation of healthcare (physical, mental, preventative, wellness, pharmaceuticals, etc.) and the economy. This viewpoint has been previously detailed in Go Lean blog/commentaries, as sampled here:
The Go Lean roadmap encourages the inclusion of more senior citizens, not less. In addition to retaining our seniors, we also want to encourage the repatriation of our Diaspora and invite other seniors to enjoy our hospitality. Granted, caring for older people is not easy, but no effort to reform and transform the Caribbean is going to be easy. The Go Lean book, describes it as heavy-lifting. But do it we must! For the love … of our senior citizens, and the accompanying jobs and economic growth.
All of this is for the Greater Good and for our own good. A measurement of a great society is how well we care for our senior citizens. This concept is from the Bible:
The form of worship that is clean and undefiled from the standpoint of our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their tribulation …- James 1:27 – New World Translation
Pre-fab housing solutions are conceivable, believable and achievable. Considering the foregoing article, photos and VIDEO‘s, the Caribbean can and must foster our own solutions. But we have the constant threats of hurricanes, so our pre-fab structures must feature mitigations for storm resistance. The plausible options are depicted in great details in the Go Lean book (Page 207).
Everyone in Caribbean – people, institutions, governments – are hereby urged to lean-in to the Go Lean roadmap for regional, societal empowerment. 🙂
David “Avocado” Wolfe is the rock star and Indiana Jones of the super-foods and longevity universe. The world’s top CEOs, ambassadors, celebrities, athletes, artists, and the real superheroes of this planet—Moms—all look to David for expert advice in health, beauty, herbal-ism, nutrition, and chocolate!
David is the celebrity spokesperson for America’s #1 selling kitchen appliance: the NUTRiBULLET™ and for www.LongevityWarehouse.com. He is the co-founder of TheBestDayEver.com online health magazine and is the visionary founder and president of the non-profit The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation charity (www.ftpf.org) with a mission to plant 18 billion fruit, nut, and medicinal trees on planet Earth.
With over 22 years of dedicated experience and having hosted over 2750 live events, David has led the environmental charge for radiant health via a positive mental attitude, eco-community building, living spring water, and the best-ever quality organic foods and herbs.
David champions the ideals of spending time in nature, growing one’s own food, and making today the best day ever. He teaches that inspiration is found in love, travel, natural beauty, vibrant health, and peak-performance.
The Bible says “to honor your father and mother so that your days may be long” – Exodus 20:12. This is presented in one of the 10 Commandments as a law and a promise. This is best explained at Ephesians 6: 1-3 (New International Version or NIV):
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER (which is the first commandment with a promise), 3 SO THAT IT MAY BE WELL WITH YOU, AND THAT YOU MAY LIVE LONG ON THE EARTH …
So caring for aging parents brings honor to them and to us. Some places do a better job of this than others. One such example is Japan.
There are around 55,000 centenarians in Japan
This purpose of this commentary is to highlight the currency of this serious issue. The book Go Lean … Caribbean calls for the elevation of the economic, security and governing engines in the Caribbean region. The end-result is not just on societal engines, but also on people; in this case, the elderly. This Go Lean book is not a public health guide for gerontology, to enjoy optimum treatment towards our seniors, but rather a roadmap for impacting change in our community. This news article on the experiences in Japan is presented here; also consider a related story in the AUDIO podcast below:
Title:Japan is home to the world’s oldest population — and the world’s oldest man By: Daniel Gross, Audrey Adam
The world’s oldest man lives in the country with the world’s oldest population. Yasutaro Koide is 112 years old and was just recognized by Guiness World Records as oldest man on Earth.
Japan’s remarkable longevity is cause for celebration. But it’s also creating challenges for a government dealing with a population that keeps getting older.
According to Naoko Muramatsu, a scientist who studies Japan’s aging population at the University of Illinois, Chicago, one-quarter of the country’s residents are already above 65.
There are many costs associated with an aging population, starting with the familiar challenges of social security and health care. But there’s also the cost of an odd Japanese tradition: giving a silver sake dish to centenarians, or people who reach 100 years of age.
Thanks to a new decision by the Japanese government, that practice — which is currently government-funded — may end soon. They say the total cost of the dishes, which are about $60 each, is simply too high. There are around 55,000 centenarians in Japan, according to 2013 statistics.
Muramatsu says there are several reasons that help explain the age of Japan’s population. “Life expectancy in Japan is the highest in the world,” she points out. “People try to eat well, try to do exercise well.”
Another reason is that ever since a brief postwar baby boom, Japan’s birth rate has remained extremely low. A aging baby from that baby boom will turn 65 soon, and many haven’t had very many children, or any at all — leaving more seniors living alone or in nursing homes.
Japan has started to respond to the challenge. In 2000, Japan started long-term care insurance. “You start paying into the system at the age of 40,” says Muramatsu. “And at the age of 65, you’re entitled to receive long-term care, homecare or nursing home care.”
Muramatsu has a personal connection to the study of aging. She remembers that during her childhood, her mother looked after both the older and younger generations. But the tradition of caregiving has been transformed by Japan’s new demographics.
When Muramatsu’s father died a few years ago, she saw first-hand some of the challenges of growing old in Japan. “In Japan, cremation is the custom,” she explains. But cremation has become difficult in cities whose populations spiked in the postwar years. Many elderly people haven’t left urban areas, which means the death rate has risen. “I couldn’t reserve a cremation facility for my father, in the city that we live in.”
Those sorts of challenges may take decades to overcome. But with them come the fact that in Japan, women can expect to live almost 90 years. And Men live well past 80, on average.
And if they’re like Yasutaro Koide, they might even live to 112.
AUDIO – “The Challenges Posed by an Aging Global Population” – http://n.pr/1IqdCHV
Uploaded on June 22, 2015 – One-fifth of the U.S. population will be 65 or older in 15 years. NPR’s Ina Jaffe talks with NPR’s Scott Simon about the aging of the population worldwide and the challenges it presents.
The book and previous blog/commentaries posit that socio- economic factors must be accounted for in the roadmap to optimize and improve this society. In fact, the book lists 144 missions for the imminent Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU); one of them is an advocacy for improved Elder-Care. This is identified on Page 225 under the title:
10 Ways to Improve Elder-Care … in the Caribbean Region
The Go Lean book posits that there is a deficiency in the regional institutions for caring, supporting and planning for the elderly. How do we go about improving on the Social Contract for the senior citizens in our community? What happens if/when we are successful for elevating life for our seniors?
The Go Lean book answers the “how”; it serves as a roadmap for introducing and implementing the CU. In its scope, it features the curative measures for the exact societal deficiencies, highlighted by the CU’s prime directives, as follows:
Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines and mitigate challenges/threats to ensure public safety for the region’s stakeholders, including the elderly.
Improvement of Caribbean governance, including a separation-of-powers with member-states, to support these economic/security engines.
Where as the book addresses the “how”, this commentary features the “when” for succeeding in the improvement of the lives and longevity of the elderly population of the Caribbean. When people live longer, there is a dramatic effect on the socio-economics of a community. This is the lesson from Japan.
In Japan, the improvements in the societal engines (economics, security and governance) have resulted in improved livelihood and longevity for their people. This has resulted in demographic shifts: there are more senior citizens, more centenarians, compared to the rest of the population.
The problem:
Seniors do not work; nor contribute to the public “pools”; they only draw from it. Too many “takers”, compared to the “givers” is bad economics. So while we love our elderly, we must also prepare for the reality of their longevity.
From the Caribbean perspective there is another reality: societal abandonment of the younger generations – this Go Lean movement has fully defined the excessive abandonment rates in the 70% to 90% range for the college-educated populations in the region. This has the same negative effects on the public “pools”: the numbers of the “givers” shrink, while the proportion of the “takers” remains static, or worse, increase.
It is what it is!
This is a matter of heavy-lifting. Serious solutions must be sought to mitigate the risks of communities getting this challenge wrong. In a previous commentary, the socio-economic issues associated with the rising number of seniors in society were fully explored; the dread of elderly suicides was detailed.
The Go Lean roadmap does not ignore the needs of the elderly, nor the actuarial realities being contended in the region. Rather, the roadmap calls for mitigations to dissuade further emigration and also the inducements for the Caribbean Diaspora to return – back to the homeland – and bring their hard-earned entitlements with them. The CU organization structure features the establishment of regional sentinels and advocacy groups to intervene on behalf of local seniors to optimize their benefits from any foreign programs they may have previously participated in. These SME’s will work for the CU’s Special Liaison Group at the CU’s Headquarters or in Trade Mission Offices.
This Win-Win scenario is a prominent feature in the US, with lawyers advocating for Social Security benefits for their clients, for a fee; see this sample Advertisement from a Detroit-area law firm. For stakeholders of the CU, there is no need to pay this fee – normally extracted from future benefits – as the CU Subject Matter Experts (SME) will advocate for the Aging Diaspora returning to the Caribbean. (The Go Lean roadmap calls for funding law degrees for students but binding their services for a few years to impact their communities, as in working for this advocacy).
This is a classic example of the field of socio-economics. The goal of any socio-economic study is generally to bring about socio-economic development, usually by improvements in metrics such as GDP, life expectancy, literacy, levels of employment, etc. In many cases, socio-economists focus on the social impact of some sort of economic change. But this is about more than just numbers, this is about people.
The Go Lean … Caribbean roadmap constitutes a change for the region, a plan to consolidate 30 member-states into a Trade Federation with the tools/techniques to bring immediate change to the region to benefit many stakeholders. The book details the community ethos that must be adopted plus the executions of the following strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to prepare for an aging society … in the Caribbean; see a sample list here:
Tactical – Growing the Economy – Lessons from Japan
Page 69
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Department of State – Special Liaison Groups
Page 80
Tactical – Separation of Powers – Department of Health
Page 86
Implementation – Assemble all Member-States
Page 96
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change
Page 101
Implementation – Trade Mission Office Objectives
Page 117
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate
Page 118
Planning – Lessons Learned from 2008
Page 136
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better
Page 133
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy
Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs
Page 152
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Healthcare
Page 156
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Entitlements
Page 158
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Education – Brain Drain Case
Page 159
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Student Loans – Forgive-able
Page 160
Advocacy – Better Manage the Social Contract
Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives
Page 176
Advocacy – Impact the Diaspora
Page 217
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage
Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Retirement
Page 221
Advocacy – Ways to Help the Middle Class
Page 223
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Elder-Care
Page 225
Appendix – Disease Management – Healthways Model
Page 300
This Go Lean book asserts that there is a direct correlation of population growth/contraction with the economy. This viewpoint has been previously detailed in Go Lean blog/commentaries, as sampled here:
As this commentary opened with a Biblical quotation, it is even more fitting to conclude with one, a Proverb, as follows:
The glory of young men is their strength, [but] gray hair [is] the splendor of the old. – Proverbs 20:29 NIV.
Without a doubt, there is value to keeping senior citizens around in our communities; their “grey hair” – poetic for wisdom – is greatly valued … and needed. As a society, we have made too many mistakes, that with some far-sighted wisdom and best-practice adherence, we could have done better and been better.
We must turn-around, reboot and prepare!
We must listen to the wisdom of the experienced/wise ones. They can help us to make our homelands better places to live, work, and play – for all: young and old. 🙂
This purpose of the book Go Lean … Caribbean is to elevate the economic engines in the region. However, these commentaries have focused, numerous times on social and socio-economic issues; in this case, focus is given to the threat of suicides.
This seems out-of-scope!
The book and accompanying blogs posit that socio- economic factors must be accounted for in the roadmap to optimize and improve this society. In fact, the book lists 144 missions for the imminent Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), but one of them is an advocacy against suicides. This is identified on Page 36 under the title:
10 Ways to Promote Happiness … in the Caribbean Region
This does not compute! Such a crisis amidst such beauty! The conclusion in the book is that the deficiency – contributing to suicides – is economic, jobs in particular. As the book declares that a man/woman needs three things to be happy:
something to do,
someone to love, and
something to hope for.
The Go Lean roadmap does feature – in its scope – the societal deficiencies that could propel an increase in suicides. This is highlighted by the CU’s prime directives, as described by these statements:
Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic engines and mitigate challenges/threats to ensure public safety for the region’s stakeholders.
Improvement of Caribbean governance, including a separation-of-powers with member-states, to support these engines.
This commentary is not a re-harsh of the same suicide-driving issues as previously addressed, but rather an exploration of the socio-economic issues associated with the elderly in society. This commentary is the 2nd in a 3-part series on the art-and-science of analyzing socio-economic changes; other commentaries depict …
Within this series, the field of socio-economics is defined as the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how societies progress, stagnate, or regress because of the local, regional or global economy. This commentary though, considers an academic study that examined the demographic population of the elderly and summarized that the logical conclusions of the root causes of suicide are different for this population. Consider the Abstract, here, of the Research Paper from the University of Nairobi (Kenya):
Title:Towards a Socio-Economic and Demographic Theory of Elderly Suicide: A Comparison of 49 Countries at various stages of development By: Kiemo, Karatu
(Source: University of Nairobi (Kenya) Academic Research; Posted (2004; Retrieved 10-15-2014 from: http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/handle/11295/55260)
Abstract: D. Cowgill found out that the role and status of the elderly declined with modernization, but in contradiction G. Hammarström found out that what actually affected the role and status of the elderly during modernization was the rate at which modernization occurred.
From current studies, it can be insinuated that the transformation from socialist to market economies has too affected the role and status of the elderly adversely. In all, the social condition following on the above changes in productive, organizational and demographic structures connects with what E. Durkheim found to cause imbalance in social integration, and therefore could aggravate elders’ rate of suicide.
Using data from 49 developing and developed countries for the period around 1995, elderly suicide rates and elderly/non-elderly suicide ratio are examined in light of the extent and direction of socio-economic development; and in light of the extent of demographic transition and elderly population’s gender structure. Results show that the direction of socioeconomic change impacts differentially on elderly suicide rates, the rates in regressing economies being appreciably higher than in progressing economies. However, the impact of socio-economic trends on the elderly/non-elderly suicide ratio was not clear-cut.
The extent of socio-economic change impacts differentially on elderly suicide rates, the distribution being curvilinear (inverted-U functional) rather than Cowgill’s linear hypothesis. The extent of socioeconomic change also impacts differentially on elderly/non-elderly suicide ratio in an inverse correlation rather than Cowgill’s hypothesized positive correlation. Whereas the results failed to conform to the structuration of Cowgill’s modernisation theory, the theory is deemed substantively relevant especially in explaining the extent to which the status of being elderly aggravates suicide in the context of contemporary developing countries.
In this regard, Riley’s concept of age-integration seems more appropriate than Durkheim’s social integration in explaining how older age aggravates suicide in an especial manner. The thesis in this study is that elderly suicide is a function of age-related role and status and regulated by dynamics of socio-economic and demographic structures. Culture too seems to play some role that is yet to be determined.
The Go Lean roadmap does not ignore the needs of the elderly, nor any mental health needs of the Caribbean community. Rather, the roadmap calls for the establishment of a regional sentinel, a federal Health Department, to monitor, manage and mitigate public health issues in the region, including mental health with the same prioritization (cancer, trauma, virus, immunizations).
The University of Nairobi study hypothesizes that the elderly tend to be more affected when society experiences rapid change! This is an acute alarm for the CU/Go Lean planners, as the roadmap does call for near-hyper-growth in a short period of 5 years. Therefore, this foregoing article calls for the region to double-down on its efforts to ensure the health mitigations are in place for this vulnerable group. The need for this awareness was identified early in the Go Lean book, in the opening pronouncement in the Declaration of Interdependence (Page 11), as follows:
ix. Whereas the realities of healthcare and an aging population cannot be ignored and cannot be afforded without some advanced mitigation, the Federation must arrange for health plans to consolidate premiums of both healthy and sickly people across the wider base of the entire Caribbean population. The mitigation should extend further to disease management, wellness, mental health, obesity and smoking cessation programs.
The University of Nairobi study is a classic exercise in this field of socio-economics. The goal of a socio-economic study is generally to bring about socio-economic development, usually by improvements in metrics such as GDP, life expectancy, literacy, levels of employment, etc. In many cases, socio-economists focus on the social impact of some sort of economic change. Examples of causes of socio-economic impacts include new technologies such as cars or mobile phones, changes in laws, changes in the physical environment (such as increasing crowding within cities), and ecological changes (such as prolonged drought or declining fish stocks). These may affect patterns of consumption, the distribution of incomes and wealth, the way in which people behave (both in terms of purchase decisions and the way in which they choose to spend their time), and their overall quality of life.
The Go Lean … Caribbean roadmap constitutes a change for the region, a plan to consolidate 30 member-states into a Trade Federation with the tools/techniques to bring immediate change to the region to benefit one and all member-states. The roadmap calls for the coordination of the region’s (mental) healthcare needs at a CU federal agency. Though there is a separation-of-powers mandate between the member-states and federal agencies, the CU can still wield influence in this area due to funding accountabilities, (strings attached). The Go Lean roadmap details a monitoring and metering responsibility between the CU and the member-states; so there will be some federal compliance and regulatory oversight. This empowerment would also allow for better coordination with international stakeholders – like the World Health Organization (WHO) – and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) – there are many that cater to the needs of the elderly, just consider the VIDEO in the Appendix below.
For the Caribbean, we will not want our elderly population “checking out” from society! We love them too much and they have endured far more that they should have; see VIDEO below. The “happiness mandate” identified at the start, is presented in the book as a “community ethos” (Page 20), the definition of which follows here:
… the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society; the dominant assumptions of a people or period.
The book details that there must first be adoption of such a community ethos plus the executions of the following strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to impact the region’s public health:
Community Ethos – Deferred Gratification
Page 21
Community Ethos – Economics Influence Choices
Page 21
Community Ethos – Privacy versus Public Protection
Page 23
Community Ethos – “Crap” Happens
Page 23
Community Ethos – Lean Operations
Page 24
Community Ethos – Cooperatives
Page 24
Community Ethos – Non-Government Organizations
Page 25
Community Ethos – Ways to Improve Sharing
Page 35
Community Ethos – Ways to Promote Happiness
Page 36
Community Ethos – Impact the Greater Good
Page 37
Strategy – Vision – Confederate 30 Member-States
Page 45
Strategy – Mission – Reform our Health Care Response
Page 47
Strategy – Agents of Change – Aging Diaspora
Page 57
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy
Page 64
Separation of Powers – Department of Health
Page 86
Implementation – Ways to Deliver
Page 109
Planning – Ways to Model the EU
Page 130
Planning – Ways to Make the Caribbean Better
Page 131
Planning – Ways to Measure Progress
Page 148
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy
Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Healthcare
Page 156
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Cancer
Page 157
Advocacy – Ways to Better Manage the Social Contract
Page 170
Advocacy – Ways to Foster Cooperatives
Page 176
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Emergency Management
Page 196
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Elder-Care
Page 225
Appendix – Disease Management – Healthways Model
Page 300
Appendix – Trauma Center Definitions
Page 336
This Go Lean book asserts that there is a direct correlation of physical/mental health issue with the economy. This viewpoint has been previously detailed in Go Lean blog/commentaries, as sampled here:
There is a place in the new Caribbean for the elderly populations. Granted, they may not be candidates for the highly-sought, high-multiplier STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) jobs, but nonetheless they are stakeholders in the Go Lean mission. Love of neighbor – the Greater Good – is why we do what we do!
This issue of suicide among the elderly, as discussed in the foregoing article is indicative of the need for better stewardship of the economy, security and governing engines in the Caribbean. This makes the region a better place to live, work, and play – for all: young and old.
Uploaded on Nov 5, 2009 – We must honor the elderly! We must treat the elderly with dignity, love and respect. How we treat the elderly is a reflection of who we are. We should treat them the way we would want to be treated when we grow old and feeble. Many elderly are full of wisdom and we can learn valuable lessons from them.
Music: “On The Other Side Of Jordan” by Rabbit Easter Band (Google Play • eMusic • AmazonMP3)
This means, from a strictly supply-and-demand basis, older workers will be pressured to retire later and stay on with their employers longer.
This point was highlighted in the Go Lean book with the acknowledgement that the Aging Diaspora is a new Agent-of-Change for the Caribbean to contend with (Page 57). The book specifically identified that the demographics of the Caribbean was altered in the decades following World War II. Many members of the Caribbean Diaspora availed themselves of opportunities in Europe and North America during the rebuilding efforts for those nations. So those that emigrated in the 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s now comprise an aging Diaspora – with the strong desire to return to their native homelands for their “golden years”. They should be welcomed back and incentivized to repatriate, and Caribbean communities should prepare – and profit – from this eventuality. The Go Lean book describes the effort as a figurative “Welcome Mat” that must be administered, with details like: health care, security, disability support, elder-care, entitlements, etc.
There are economic concerns … and benefits from this execution.
But now, according to this story and AUDIO podcast, there may be more pressure for these ones to remain in the work place longer:
Podcast from National Public Radio (NPR) – January 15, 2015 By: Yuki Noguchi
The Go Lean bookserves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU). This CU is proffered to provide economic, security and economic security solutions for the 30 member-states and their 42 million people. It is our quest to be prepared for this changing landscape. This mandate is pronounced early on in the book’s Declaration of Interdependence with the following statements (Page 11 – 13):
ix. Whereas the realities of healthcare and an aging population cannot be ignored and cannot be afforded without some advanced mitigation, the Federation must arrange for health plans to consolidate premiums of both healthy and sickly people across the wider base of the entire Caribbean population. The mitigation should extend further to disease management, wellness, mental health, obesity and smoking cessation programs. The Federation must proactively anticipate the demand and supply of organ transplantation as developing countries are often exploited by richer neighbors for illicit organ trade.
xix. Whereas our legacy in recent times is one of societal abandonment, it is imperative that incentives and encouragement be put in place to first dissuade the human flight, and then entice and welcome the return of our Diaspora back to our shores. This repatriation should be effected with the appropriate guards so as not to imperil the lives and securities of the repatriated citizens or the communities they inhabit. The right of repatriation is to be extended to any natural born citizens despite any previous naturalization to foreign sovereignties.
xxiv. Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.
xxv. Whereas the legacy of international democracies had been imperiled due to a global financial crisis, the structure of the Federation must allow for financial stability and assurance of the Federation’s institutions. To mandate the economic vibrancy of the region, monetary and fiscal controls and policies must be incorporated as proactive and reactive measures. These measures must address threats against the financial integrity of the Federation and of the member-states.
Modern societies are based on the assumption that there will always be more young people in a community than the older population; this is a basic principle in “actuarial science”. There are many social safety nets that depend on this actuarial fact: the Caribbean needs population growth not population contraction. Already the repercussions of so many people abandoning their communities have created devastating consequences. For example, retirement plans-funds are strained in many Caribbean countries. Yes, the Caribbean, as a region, is at the precipice of failed-state status.
The Go Lean book posits that this is a “crisis, but that this crisis is a terrible thing to waste”; (Page 8). As such the roadmap structures the CU to impact the region with the execution of the prime directives defined as these 3 goals:
Optimization of economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion and create 2.2 million new jobs.
Establishment of a security apparatus to protect the resultant economic.
Improvement of Caribbean governance to support these engines.
According to the foregoing article, America needs to keep their older workers working longer; they cannot afford the brain drain. But this fact is conflicting for Caribbean pursuits. We need our aging Diaspora to come back home, sooner, rather than later…and to bring their wealth, benefits and entitlements with them; Go Lean describes it as their “time, talent and treasuries”. This creates a seller’s market for the foreign workers with demand in the US and also in the homeland. It is hoped that “love for the Caribbean homeland” would be the primary motivator.
Strategy – Non-Government Organizations – Senior Aid Groups
Page 48
Strategy – Agents of Change – Aging Diaspora
Page 57
Tactical – Confederating a Permanent Union
Page 63
Tactical – Fostering a Technocracy
Page 64
Implementation – Assemble all Member-States
Page 96
Implementation – Ways to Pay for Change
Page 101
Implementation – Ways to Better Manage Debt – Re-work Pensions
Page 114
Implementation – Reasons to Repatriate
Page 118
Planning – 10 Big Ideas … in the Caribbean Region
Page 127
Planning – Lessons Learned from 2008
Page 136
Advocacy – Ways to Grow the Economy
Page 151
Advocacy – Ways to Create Jobs
Page 152
Advocacy – Better Manage the Social Contract
Page 170
Advocacy – Reforms for Banking Regulations – Central Bank
Page 199
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Wall Street
Page 200
Advocacy – Impact the Diaspora
Page 217
Advocacy – Ways to Preserve Caribbean Heritage
Page 218
Advocacy – Ways to Impact Retirement
Page 221
Advocacy – Ways to Help the Middle Class
Page 223
Advocacy – Ways to Improve Elder-Care
Page 225
The Baby Boom generation has come full circle now as senior citizens. This large population group (born between years 1946 and 1964) is bringing a boon to the industries that cater to their care and preferences. There is an estimated 78.3 million Americans who were born during this demographic period, encompassing a quarter of the US population.
The Caribbean cannot be far behind. Unfortunately though, many of these Caribbean boomers live in foreign countries like the US, Canada, UK, France, the Netherlands and other European countries. This is a “Big Idea” to incentivize these ones to make a return to their Caribbean ancestral homelands. The Go Lean book describesthis big effort as heavy-lifting, a task too big for any one member-state alone. But rather, there is the need for the technocracy of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation. The purpose of this Go Lean/CU roadmap is to deliver, to do the heavy-lifting to make the Caribbean homeland a better place to live, work and play.
Now is the time for all of the Caribbean, the people and governing institutions, to lean-in for the changes/empowerments described in the book Go Lean … Caribbean. 🙂
Download the book Go Lean … Caribbean – now!
———
APPENDIX – Podcast Transcript: Businesses Try to Stave Off Brain Drain as Boomers Retire
In the U.S., roughly 10,000 people reach retirement age every day. And though not everyone who turns 62 or 65 retires right away, enough do that some companies are trying to head off the problem.
Dave Tobelmann, who for 33 years developed new products for General Mills, retired five years ago at age 57 — around the same time as a number of other colleagues. “Yeah, I went to a lot of retirement parties,” Tobelmann says.
Losing veteran workers is a challenge, even for big companies like General Mills.
“Let’s say you have 30 people retire in a year and the average years of experience is 30 years. So you just had 1,000 years walk away. That’s hard to lose,” Tobelmann says.
The need is not across the board; not all retirees are in demand. But the older-worker brain drain is a big concern for industries like mining and health care. They are trying to retain older employees because demand is increasing and fewer younger workers are rising through the ranks.
In a survey out this week, the Society for Human Resource Management reports that a third of employers expect staffing problems in coming years.
“When you have large numbers that are leaving and a pipeline that is not entirely as wide as the exit pipeline, you will have temporary gaps,” says Mark Schmit, executive director of the association’s foundation.
Take, for example, the insurance business.
“The average age is in the late 50s in this industry,” says Sharon Emek, who sold an insurance business five years ago after three of the four partners reached retirement age. She then started Work at Home Vintage Employees, a company that contracts insurance-industry retirees.
“It’s a big crisis within the industry where they’re trying to recruit young talent and keep young talent, and the industry is constantly writing about the problem,” Emek says.
Employers are trying to hang onto older talent by offering flexible work hours, more attractive health care benefits or having retirees return to mentor younger workers. And more people are, in fact, working later — either because they want to, or they have to. According to AARP, nearly 19 percent of workers over age 65 work (about 1 in 5), compared with about 11 percent (1 in 10) three decades ago.
Soon after retiring, Tobelmann returned to General Mills. He works through YourEncore, a staffing firm specializing in retiree placement. Procter & Gamble, Boeing and other companies started YourEncore to prepare for baby boomers retiring. Tobelmann says the benefits for the company are obvious.
“I already know how to speak the language, I know how the company operates, I know how the businesses operate, I know how they make money, I know how projects proceed, I know all the processes,” he says.
At Michelin North America, more than 40 percent of the workforce is approaching retirement age. Retirees have, on average, 2 1/2 decades of experience. Dave Stafford, who heads human resources for the company, says last year, it had to plan around losing most of a lab team made up entirely of older workers.
“If we’re doing our job well, we’ll know that there’s risk; we’ll start to staff to compensate for the fact that that risk may come to fruition,” he says.
Michelin encourages retirees to stick around part-time, especially those in technical maintenance, where talent is chronically scarce. But it’s not always easy to accommodate.
“Sometimes they have a very limited number of hours that they want to work, and to try to work around their schedule sometimes can be a bit of a challenge,” says Dale Sweere of Stanley Consultants, an engineering consulting firm based in Muscatine, Iowa.
But Sweere says the company has always offered phased retirement because experienced workers have relationships with clients that are valuable to hang onto. “It’s kind of a running joke around here that we have their retirement party on a Friday and they show up for work again on Monday,” Sweere says.
To the Canadian Snowbirds, looking for warm climates and a warm welcome, we say:
“Be our guest”.
To the Caribbean Diaspora, living in Canada and other northern countries, we say:
“Come in from the cold”.
The book Go Lean…Caribbean aligns with the news story in the below article. While the US may be retracting the Welcome Mats from Canadian snowbirds, after 180 days, the islands of the Caribbean extend the invitation for them to pass the wintry months here. They are invited to bring their time, talent and treasuries; (according to the article: billions of dollars).
Need an extra month? No problem.
Need access to cutting-edge medical treatment? Got it.
Need protection from crime and harassment? Got you covered.
Need video communications to interact with Embassy and government officials? Sure thing.
Need access to your Canadian dollar bank accounts? No problem.
The source news article is embedded here as follows:
Title: “Congress protects America from Canadian pensioners”
Gulfport, Florida – A chore combining carpentry with diplomacy awaits Gordon Bennett, a retired Canadian soldier, after his move to a larger mobile home near Florida’s Gulf coast. As commander of an overseas post of the Royal Canadian Legion, he likes to fly his national flag from a handy palm tree. But as a respectful guest—one of about half a million Canadian “snowbirds” who own winter homes in Florida, using special visas good for a total of 180 days in any 12-month period—he knows to follow strict protocol when mounting his flags, or face complaints from American neighbours. His Canadian flag cannot be flown on its own but must be paired with the Stars and Stripes (though never on the same pole). The American flag may not be smaller or fly lower, and must be flown in the position of honour (the right, as you emerge from a doorway).
Mr. Bennett, a genial octogenarian, does not resent the fussing. In his winter home of Pinellas County—an unflashy region of mobile home parks, “senior living” complexes, golf courses and strip malls—the welcome is mostly warm for Canadian snowbirds, who pump billions of dollars into Florida’s economy each year. His post shares premises with the American Legion, and has introduced local veterans to Moose Milk, a lethal Canuck eggnog-variant involving maple syrup. He routinely brings 50 or 60 Canadians to ex-servicemen’s parades, picnics or dinner-dances.
But once issues of sovereignty are raised, America’s welcome can chill. Visa rules force Canadian pensioners to count each day after they cross the border, typically in late October. They are enforced ferociously: overstayers may be barred from re-entry for five years. Some members of Congress have been trying to ease the rules for Canadian pensioners since the late 1990s. A law allowing Canadians over 55 to spend up to eight months in America each year, as long as they can show leases for property down south and do not work, passed the Senate in 2013 as part of a comprehensive immigration bill, but like the bigger bill, it has now stalled. In the House of Representatives an extension for Canadian snowbirds has been tucked into the JOLT Act, a tourism-promotion law introduced by Joe Heck, a Nevada Republican.
Canadian pensioners are not an obviously threatening group—few Americans report being mugged by elderly Ottawans armed with ice-hockey sticks. They pay property and sales taxes in America. They must cover their own health-care costs while down south, through the Canadian public health-care system and private top-up policies. If allowed to stay for eight months, most would stay only seven, predicts Dann Oliver, president of the Canadian Club of the Gulf Coast (staying longer would complicate their health cover and their tax status). They just want a few more weeks in the sun.
Yet even something this easy is proving hard. Mr. Heck is willing to tweak his bill to focus on two reforms: the Canadian extension and visa interviews by video-conference for Chinese, Brazilian and Indian would-be visitors, who currently face long journeys to American consulates. But many members of the House “are reluctant to do anything with the word immigration in it,” says Mr. Heck. Optimists hope the bill might come up for a vote this year. For Mr. Bennett and his wife, Evelyn, Canadians whose “bones ache” in their homeland’s cold, it can’t come too soon. Source: The Economist (Retrieved 03/08/2014) –http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21598680-congress-protects-america-canadian-pensioners-chilly-welcome
The book, Go Lean…Caribbean, serves as a roadmap for the implementation of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU) over a 5 year period. The book posits that tourism products can be further extended to attract, accommodate and harvest the market of Snowbirds. These ones bring more than they take, and therefore should be viewed as low-hanging fruit for tourism’s economic harvest. While some CU member-states may target a High-Net-Worth clientele, there is room too for the hordes of retirees who may seek more modest accommodations. In the end, billions of dollars of economic output from the Snowbird market are still … billions of dollars.
From the outset, the book defined that the purpose of the CU is to optimize economic, security and governing engines to impact Caribbean society, for residents and visitors. This was pronounced in Verse IV (Page 11) of the opening Declaration of Interdependence:
Whereas the natural formation of the landmass is in a tropical region, the flora and fauna allows for an inherent beauty that is enviable to peoples near and far. The structures must be strenuously guarded to protect and promote sustainable systems of commerce paramount to this reality.
In line with the foregoing article, the Go Lean book details some applicable infrastructure enhancements and advocacies to facilitate more Snowbird traffic:
The purpose of this roadmap is to make the Caribbean, a better place to live, work and play; for snowbirds too! This way we can benefit from their presence.
Which would you rather do:
Mention the word “Caribbean” and most people think of places like Aruba, the Turks and Caicos, the Bahamas, and other tourist-rich dollops of sand. The region conjures well-deserved images of crystal-clear waters and white-sand beaches.
