The Red Hat Ladies
Posted August 14th, 2007 by Lori Aulenbach under the category of General+ Increase Font Size | - Decrease Font Size
I was graciously invited to dine with the GSV Red Hat ladies club and it was a really unique experience. Many of the Red Hat ladies are former teachers and nurses in this group. I find the dynamic of curious learning fascinating at this age. They all wanted to know and learn and grow—we sat out in 96 degree heat and no one minded but me. I had to take my jacket off!
We had lunch at the home of the daughter of a renowned Lancaster County Amish artist named Susie. I told Susie I would like to have my daughter Emilie speak with her. Emilie is a woman’s studies major and would be intrigued by Susie’s strength as an older female, even against stringent sociological and behavioral barriers. Susie walks with her head held high and speaks clearly to the face of tradition stating, “this is the way I am going to live my life. I am going to be satisfied and I am not going to cave in to total feminism by shunning the dress and beliefs, but I also don’t have to cave in to following only Amish tradition abandoning who I am and what I am going represent spiritually.”
On the way home the ladies I road with were quite tired. We had dined outside on a delicious “chicken divan” type delight wrapped in homemade herb crust and pickled red beet eggs Susie and her daughters lovingly prepared for us. A long day in the hot sun–a lot for any age. And yet the Red Hat ladies’ stamina was amazing.
We spoke in the van on the way back to Garden Spot Village of their younger days as women growing up; Peg spoke sadly about her husband’s struggle with Parkinson’s disease and the impact it has had on their ability to do things together outside the home now. All the women in my group were mobile, but I noticed a few back at the gathering spot had walkers and canes. None needed help.
When the head of the group stood to speak at the lunch, she mentioned Alice had not been with the group for six months and this was her first event since her return. She was apparently quite ill and in the assisted living area of the community for these months and, although she did not mention the nature of her illness, she looked frail; the rosiness in her cheeks betrayed her recovery however, and she claimed to still be a little tired but “on her way back.”
Everyone babied Alice, making sure she had enough to eat and helping her in and out of her chair. They also passed Hallmark cards around the table, for each resident of the apartments and carriage homes whom they had been notified was sick or in the hospital that week. Everyone signed, and with each signature came a short ditty about how each of them knew that particular resident and what they liked about him or her. Then they passed the card on to the next be-hatted beauty, often holding the pen with unsteady hand.
The most prevalent physical challenge I noticed among these women was the ability to hear, especially in an outdoor space or among a conversational crowd. I have observed in my other journeys here that the women seem to have more of a challenge in this area than the men and often it alienates them from conversation, making them a prisoner to their private thoughts and often preventing them from participating in group activities.
John Farber, COO at GSV pointed out to me in an interview that hearing aids are so advanced now. There is a system they are developing for the chapel for residents that have a certain type of hearing aid where they simply click on a particular channel and the service comes through perfectly clear. “Did you know that hearing aids now are ‘Blue Tooth’ technology and you can make adjustments to them right on your laptop directly to your earpiece?” And wheelchairs, John continues, “these types of technology are making our elders more mobile, hear better, see better, I just think they have not even begun to tap into it as deeply as they [manufacturers] could or should because they think it might be too cost-prohibitive to those on a fixed income.”
Blue tooth technology, can you imagine? Maybe I could combine my wireless Blackberry ear piece with a hearing aid and permanently embed it in my left ear so I would never be out of the loop….on second thought, maybe there is something to be said about not hearing everything.
