When it comes to keeping one's mind healthy, the people to go to are Whole Brain Health at Inspiration Island. I recently interviewed the head of the group, Wisdomseeker (Lissena Resident). We met in a skybox with a few pannels and chairs over the sim. "We hold our staff meetings here," Wisdomseeker explained.
"World Brain Health really began in 2013.," she told me, "I came into Second Life fascinated by the imaginative aspect of it, but not really sure what I would do here. Then I met Gentle heron of Virtual Ability Island. She encouraged me to do a presentation on brain health for her spring 2013 conference. I did that, and also set up what is called a brain Health Fair in real-life. In real-life, it takes place in a gym and allows seniors to try out many of the activities that promote brain health. I brought it into Second Life. That is my background and training, holistic evidence-based approach to brain health and well being. So everything here comes from that beginning."
I asked about the sim's name, Inspiration Island. Wisdomseeker pointed out, "The name comes from our logo." She pointed it out in the nearby wall: Inspire, Interact, Innovate - Change. "These are the things we focus on--educating through fun and thought provoking activities." I asked about the activities. She answered, "The idea is that people can learn what they can do to have greater well being, and we give them ways to actually try out those things. We work from five pillars of well being, activities that encourage self care--good diet, sleep, exercise and stress reduction, encourage social interaction that iis positive, encourage cognitive challenge, encourage creative self expression of all kinds, and help people develop a sense of purpose. Those five based on the research. So if you look around, you can find parcels that focus on them."
"We have for example a Multiple Intelligences Experience parcel to explore your greatest kinds of abilities--have you seen it?" I answered that I had noticed it from a distance. Wisdomseeker continued, "We hold our jazz concerts Wednesdays on the music stage there. Music is one kind of intelligence. My husband is a musician (smile). We have a number of music programs. (The) 50s sock hop for instance hosted by Curei on her Floating Gallery here. The map on the welcome board--which is all over the sim--is a good way to see what we offer. A great 'Relationships in SL and Beyond' program led by Pet Karu, who is a professional counselor. We have about 30 people who create programs and activities here, island members. Darth Vondran teaches chess here as a brain game. ... We take a group photo every year. It keeps getting bigger."
"I am on the board of Nonprofit Commons here in SL, and this region is part of Rockcliffe University Estate. I have a staff that is made up of gems. Thuja Hynes is Associate Director here. Francisco Koolhoven is Media Director. His is a scripter, made the Welcome Board behind us. And Katsii Tennen is our Music Organizaer. So the four of us work closely and others participate through their programs, like Osangar and her amazing brain! I never in a million years thought I would be doing this, it just sort of grew (smile)."
Wisdomseeker went on, "We are the virtual arm of a real-life nonprofit called 'Ageless Mind Project.' ... You see, I strongly believe that virtual lives enrich our other lives. AMP has the goal of educating the public about lifestyle choices that improve brain health and well being. In real life my husband and I give workshops, often using music as brain food as the theme. Music can contribute a lot to well being, a lot of research on this. One thing we are doing now is setting up a series of challenges/quests on the sim, a structured way for people to explore. So many tell us we have so much here, they don't know where to start. We will give people badges for completing challenges. Our staff is working on that now."
Wisdomseeker mentioned one could find their calendar of events at https://virtualinspirationisland.org/calwbh/ . She went on to say they try to have events every day, "we keep adding new ones--we also try to collaborate with other groups. For instance we are hosting a tea ceremony presented by another group, a special event next week. ... One thing, everyone who comes here and likes it, tells me. We are a friendly bunch. People feel safe here. They like the feel of the place."
I asked her, "One question coming to mind, would someone in their 40s approach brain health a little differently than someone in their 20s? What if the person was in their 60s?" Wisdomseeker answered, "One way to look at it is this: everything you do from the time you are born to protect your brain is important - at any age what we teach here is valuable - no matter how early or late you start - having this knowledge and practicing it is the key. The underlying concepts are universal. I say this as someone who turned 80 this year. I got into this because we took care of close family members who developed dementia. Once I realized there are things people can do to have a better chance - look at the football players, for instance, I wanted people to know about it. Now if they would just requie helmets on scooters."
Another question of mine to Wisdomseeker was, "Would you say on the whole, brain health is being taken more seriously?" She answered, "Very much so now. I keep up with the research so I can see how much more there is. Especially now that we know more about the brain itself, about neuroplasticity and neurogenesis, how what you do can change your brain for the better, grow new neurons, improve memory, lots of good stuff. It's worth learning about and developing good habits around it. Second Life is important in one great way. I believe it has the power to reduce loneliness. Loneliness is connected to depression and is generally bad for brain and well being. That's why having positive relationships here is so important too, something we focus on."
I asked if they were planning anything this year that stands out. Wisdomseeker answered, "Our major focus is on giving visitors a clearer pathway to well being through our sim - so when they come here they will know more easily where to explore, according to their needs and interests. Many of our members also are planning new activities here. We are very open to having new people join us both as visitors and members, and to suggest additions and improvements."
Wisdomseeker and I parted ways. But I would return later to look around the island. And there was a lot to see, both on the ground and higher up. There are a number of places one can go to read information. But there are also games areas, such as the 3D Maze at (224/51/22) and those at Games Park at (203/55/701). One can get a list of locations here.
On Monday night on August 29, the Furry Fashion Lounge held a fundraiser for one of it's staff, Frank (F2004w Resident).
This Fundraiser caught my attention. It was a fundraiser for Frank to get his hearing aids. It is very important for him because
he is deaf and needs hearing aids. His insurance company denied him
that because they felt that hearing aids are just cosmetic things.
Frank's friends at Furry Fashion got together and started a fundraiser for Frank (f2004w). According to Moffett (moffettmephit), the DJ of the event, and Amethysia (amethyst.crystal), the owner of Furry Fashion, the fundraiser was a huge success. Everyone had a great turnout and had a wonderful time.
"We made around 200 USD by the end of the night which adds to the money on the gofundme," said Amethysia. She did say that it leaves Frank about 1000 USD to find himself if no one else donates. But that's still a lot better than the original amount."
Amethysiafound out that Frank was planning to sell his motorbike to help pay for the hearing aids. That's when the fundraiser came in. Frank was surprised by the event. He was also surprised at how many people came to the fundraiser. Frank's friends came and danced the night away. Lindens were pouring away into the donation board. The donation board's goal was approximately 50,000. According to Moffett, it went over that goal.
Frank has an appointment Wednesday about the hearing aids, but it is not for not sure if he's
getting them or if it's more testing to determine what type he needs While Moffett was not sure on when Frank will get his new hearing aids, he said that as far as the 'donation speed' goes, he can guarantee that Frank will get them as soon as he can.
As Moffett would have put it, they have gone a long way toward supporting their good friend in getting his new hearing aids. What Furry Fashion did for Frank, that is a true friendship.
"I'm born hard of hearing with moderate to severe hearing loss. I'm
the first one in a hearing family from the last three known generation,"
said Frank.
Frank (resident name f2004w) explained that according to
his insurance company, it is considered cosmetic, even his parents had
to pay the full price on his last one over ten years ago, even though he was
insured under their family plan. They would cover it if only he took the
procedure of getting a cochlear implant. But he finds no need for surgery
because he can function fine with just hearing aids.
When
Frank was asked if he was surprised that his boss is throwing a
fundraiser, Frank said, "Yes! I was really surprised about that, I was
thought nothing of it because it was more of my personal life problem
than a work problem, he really went out of his way for setting this up."
Frank
works at a car dealership that covers Audi, Subaru, Range Rover, Jaguar,
and Volvo in one big building as a head porter, managing 15-plus porters.
One of his bosses is Terry McQuaid, manager of Subaru, the person
who sets up the gofundme fundraiser (https://www.gofundme.com/2hcvpy33).
It
is only currently only linked toward to GoFundMe, Frank is considering
creating a certain mesh to help the fundraiser specifically for Second
Life. Right now you can only find in Furry Fashion where you can click
the board by the sandbox that gives you a direct link to GoFundMe
fundraiser site.
When asked about the
fundraisers, Frank said, "I didn't thought about it, I don't know any
fundraising methods. So I mentioned it to the owner of Furry Fashion and
within a few hours later I just been informed that there will be a
fundraiser event Monday 29th of August for me.
Furry Fashion and a store named Treasured and Bully will be taking part for this fundraising event, "I will be also making a limited edition benches for fundraising as well."
A
typical pair for a person with moderate to severe hearing loss hearing
aid cost from $3,700 to $6,000 a pair. That is not including the cost of
ear mold and hearing tests. The amount of the fundraiser at the moment
is $2,865.
At this moment, I wish Frank all the
luck in the world. It's a shame that his insurance company thought the
hearing aids are some kind of cosmetic thing but knowing my experiences
with hearing aids, it is anything but cosmetic.
On Sunday November 4, Gentle Heron at Virtual Ability Island hosted a discussion on "Health Literacy." "I see some in the audience are health care educators," she told everyone after greeting them, "I suspect others of us will find useful information here for our own areas of work."
Zsuzsa Tomsen and ALiesel were the presenters of the discussion. Susan Toth-Cohen in real life, Zsuzsa "is the Director of the Occupational Therapy Doctoral Program and Professor at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA," Gentle told everyone, "She has extensive experience teaching and presenting in SL. She is an occupational therapist specializing in gerontology and consumer health. ALiesel is an occupational therapy graduate student at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, She works with Zsuzsa in the Garden of Healthy Aging here in Second Life, and is very interested in health literacy."
The discussion was in text, with the audience asked to introduce themselves first. Among them was a "doctoral student," "a pediatrician, the department head of University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas, and a vocational rehabilitation worker.
Zsuzsa and ALiesel had attended a health conference in Kobe Japan, "The conference … made us think about links between introprofessional teams and health literacy." He noted the conference had three main details" global perspectives, development of "interprofessional" education, and examination of results. Of health literacy, Zsuzsa described the definition by the Harvard School of Public Health, "the balance between literacy and verbal skills of a person compared to demands of the health materials, communication skills of health professionals and the health care system."
"Interprofessional education which I'll refer to as IPE," Zsuzsa went on, "is defined by the World Health Organization as being any time students from 2 or more professions learn about, with, and from each other with the goals of effective communication and improving health outcomes."
A screen behind them showed several illustrations as Zsuzsa talked, showing a few links. She talked about how, "IPE also makes health care safer by decreasing medical errors" and health mentors. She described the University of British Columbia as a leader in IPE, "they've developed a fantastic interprofessional education series." ALiesel mentioned one project the Thomas Jefferson University started, "Since 2005, Jefferson has sent several IP teams of students to Rwanda. They have worked with Rwandan health care teams to train health professionals" in addition to working with them "to provide training in nutrition, hygiene, HIV/AIDS prevention, as well as providing education for the public through health fairs and other events."
There was some talk with the audience, one stating, " 'Nearly half of all American adults – 90 million people – have difficulty understanding and using health information, and there is a higher rate of hospitalization and use of emergency services among patients with limited health literacy,' the Institute of Medicine 2004." Near the end, Rachel Gloedu brought up, "We are inviting volunteers from the SL community to observe and evaluate medical and nursing students undergoing teamwork training in communication skills this month."
At the close, Gentle Heron, gave all her thanks, "Thank you all for coming today. And special thanks to Zsuzsa and ALiesel for sharing a few of the things they learned on their trip to Japan." "We enjoyed it so much!" Zsuzsa responded, "Great audience!"
I remember reading somewhere more than twenty percent of Second Life Residents have some kind of disability. Some keep quiet about it. Others mention it to friends after a while. And some are open about it to friends and strangers alike.
One such friend, a Christian and mother of two, had the misfortune to be stricken with fibromyalgia, a painful disorder that is thought to affect between two and four percent of people. She has encountered a number of people in Second Life, many sympathetic and offering well-wishes and prayers. But a few seemed insensitive, or were clueless in what to say.
So on her public garden, she posted a list of “Things NOT to say to someone with a disabling chronic illness.” She tells me she had heard them at least once.
“But you don’t look sick.”
“Everybody gets tired.”
“Everybody has a bad day.”
“If you’d get more exercise”
“You’ll just have to tough it out.”
“You just need a positive attitude.”
“It must be nice not having to work.”
“There are people worse off than you.”
“It can’t be that bad.”
“It’s all in your head.”
“You’re just depressed.:
“You’re getting old.”
“If you’d get out more often.”
“This too, shall pass.”
And what she thought hurt the worst, “You don’t have enough faith.”
“I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, but unless you get it, you just don’t get it.”
She tells me she had heard each of them at least once. So eventually, she felt the need to make the poster and put it up as a reminder that for the chronically ill, words truly can hurt.
"I am on the board of Nonprofit Commons here in SL, and this region is part of Rockcliffe University Estate. I have a staff that is made up of gems. Thuja Hynes is Associate Director here. Francisco Koolhoven is Media Director. His is a scripter, made the Welcome Board behind us. And Katsii Tennen is our Music Organizaer. So the four of us work closely and others participate through their programs, like Osangar and her amazing brain! I never in a million years thought I would be doing this, it just sort of grew (smile)."
