JOHN HARVARD’S JOURNAL er was just Harvard’s second nocturnal foot- ALUMNI ball game, and the first to be held on a Fri- day. The 20,462 attendees were treated to an improved Stadium sound system and a new video scoreboard that o≠ers instant At Home with Old Age replays. The first night opener took place a year ago and drew 18,898 fans. Reimagining nursing homes Bombs away: With Pizzotti’s strong arm and a clutch of nimble receivers, Harvard may have the Ivies’ best aerial attack. A fifth- year senior who sat out the 2005 season s the keynote speaker at him into a grasshopper. “The myth,” with a back injury, Pizzotti got the starting an AARP workshop on elder Thomas tells his audience, “o≠ers the job a year ago and posted the second-best care, William Thomas, M.D. proposition that old age is inside of us; it single-season passing numbers in Harvard ’86, is telling the story of Eos, is welded to the human condition.” annals. He threw for 370 yards against Holy theA Greek goddess who fell in love with An internationally known geriatrician, Cross, for 320 at Brown, and for 231 at La- the Trojan prince Tithonus. The couple Thomas is used to lecturing about the fayette. Iannuzzi, who also returned kicks, lived happily until one day Eos saw some- need for attitudinal adjustment when it had 11 catches in the Holy Cross game, and thing strange poking out of her husband’s comes to aging. Growing old entails “ele- Luft made 10 receptions at Brown. head. “‘What is that???’” Thomas shrieks ments of decline, [but] the larger truth,” The Game: The annual clash with Yale in mock shock and disgust as the audi- he maintains, “is that aging is a complex, kicks o≠ at the Stadium at noon on No- ence laughs. “Well, it was a gray hair.” multifaceted, and poorly understood com- vember 22. A halftime ceremony will mark Soon, Thomas continues, the prince’s en- ponent of normal human development.” the fortieth anniversary of the legendary tire head was white and he grew older Thomas takes this holistic view to 29-29 tie of 1968 (see “The Force Was With and older—but he could not die because work every day. A bullish reformer, he Them,” page 79). “cleat” he had been made immortal. His once has spent his career pushing for seismic booming voice became feeble, and his cultural and economic changes in long- For weekly Harvard football updates, visit strong legs and shoulders shriveled up. In term care and public policy toward www.harvardmagazine.com/football. the end, Eos took pity on him and turned aging, which has meant challenging the

gram that abides by the letter and the spirit of NCAA and Ivy rules and we want to continue that.” Men’s Basketball Exonerated “This matter got a lot of attention because it was raised in the press,” said Jeff Orleans, executive director of the Ivy League (see “Questions about Recruiting,” May-June, page 76). An inquiry by the Ivy League into allegations of improper re- “The admissions part was a non-story, in the sense that the re- cruiting by the Harvard men’s basketball program and of low- porter could have simply waited until the admissions decisions ered standards of admissions for the team—raised initially in a were known, instead of asking people to speculate.” March 2008 New York Times article—has determined that no vi- As for the alleged recruiting violations, which centered on olations of either National Collegiate Athletic Association or the fact that assistant coach Blakeney had played basketball— Ivy League rules occurred. In addition, the league’s routine an- before Harvard hired him—with a prospect, Orleans said the nual review of admissions standards found that all admitted committee conducting the investigation asked three questions: Harvard recruits met the requirements mandated by the Was Blakeney a Harvard employee? Was he a Harvard repre- league, which issued a statement on September 3 that read, in sentative? Was he trying to recruit athletes to Harvard at the part: time of these activities? “The answer was no in each case,” Or- Harvard Head Coach Tommy Amaker and Assistant Coach leans noted. Such issues arise and are investigated routinely in Kenneth Blakeney were completely forthcoming in their Division One athletic programs; what made the Harvard in- participation in this inquiry, and interviews with others stance unusual, he said,“was the level of attention that was fo- who were involved, as well as a thorough examination of cused on it.” relevant records, corroborated that the coaches’ contacts Orleans did indicate that the allegations have prompted the with prospective student-athletes and their families were league to begin “discussing with all the schools the importance entirely consistent with NCAA and Ivy League rules. of being very clear about the employment relationship and how “We’re very pleased with the outcome,” Harvard athletic di- it develops. That way,” he added—given the public perception rector Robert L. Scalise said after the results became public.“It that the periods before and after someone is hired “shade to- was what we had expected it to be,” he added.“We have a pro- gether”—“they can avoid even the appearance of impropriety.”

80 November - December 2008 $122-billion nursing-home industry. In some ways the timing for such re- forms could not be better. Many nursing homes built in the 1960s and 1970s in re- sponse to Medicare and Medicaid legisla- tion now need major renovations just as aging baby boomers begin to create rising demand for geriatric care. (Seventy mil- lion Americans are expected to be older than 65 by 2030.) “The boomers are al- ready changing the face of aging,” says Thomas, who is 48. “They aren’t going to take the declinist label: ‘I am broken down and unimportant.’” Thomas is out to improve nursing-home conditions—or, better yet, supplant them with smaller group homes where cus- William Thomas tomized, flexible care is the norm. “I am talking about a vision for alleviating the main causes of human su≠ering in older ionship that also improved working con- criticizes the pharmaceutical industry for people—loneliness, hopelessness, and ditions for the sta≠. (Sta≠ turnover is a many things—like pushing too many boredom,” he says. “The changes I am major problem in geriatric care.) drugs on older people and marketing pills talking about are really just applying com- The Eden Alternative’s most enduring to “cure” such normal aspects of life as mon sense. Would you rather live in an in- contribution, he emphasizes, is not “the shyness, grief, and occasional insomnia— stitution, or in a garden?” fur and feathers” but the Eden Golden he is always quick to thank modern medi- Rule: As management does unto the sta≠, cine for keeping his girls alive. Thomas calls himself a “nursing home so shall the sta≠ do unto the Elders. “We Balancing family life with his workload abolitionist.” The vision of an “Eden Alter- teach the people who own and operate and travel schedule—he is gone from their native” for elders began in 1991 when he these facilities how to provide sta≠ with Ithaca, New York, home 30 to 45 days a took a part-time job as a doctor at the the same vital experiences that they want year—is not easy. He is still on the Eden nonprofit Chase Memorial Nursing Home the sta≠ to o≠er to the elders: dignity, re- board, but since 2002 has left daily opera- in upstate New York. He was seeking spect, a≠ection,” he says. The New York tions to an executive director. He is a reg- respite from harrowing 24-hour shifts at a State Health Department studied the im- ular consultant for AARP, the author of local emergency room, but quickly real- pact of this unprecedented approach and five books, including What Are Old People ized two things: that there was “some- found a 50 percent reduction in infec- For? How Elders Will Save the World, and a pro- thing very wrong” with the way people tions, a 71 percent drop in daily prescrip- fessor at the Erickson School of Aging, were living there, and that he had “just tion-drug costs, and a 26 percent lower Management, and Policy at the University fallen in love with the people, their fami- turnover rate among nurses’ aides. of Maryland-Baltimore County, where he lies, and the nurses.” He also recognized Based on that success, Thomas “Ed- writes the blog “Changing Aging.” opportunities to e≠ect deep change. enized” several other upstate nursing In 2003 Thomas pushed beyond Eden “Morale is often so low at a nursing home homes and then founded the nonprofit to pilot a newer concept in elderly hous- that just about anything you could do there Eden Alternative to spread the word. To ing—the Green House Project in Tupelo, would have a huge impact,” he says. “I met date, the organization has 300 registered Mississippi. The challenge was to create people who had literally given up on liv- nursing homes around the world and has better alternatives that meet demands for ing. And you can bring joy to them—that’s trained more than 18,000 people in what high-quality care and meaningful lives what turned me on.” he considers the 10 basic principles of cre- while complying with government regu- Within two years Thomas had also ating a “human habitat” for elders. lations and building codes—and remain- brought the residents 80 parakeets, 10 ing a≠ordable. Each house provides 10 to finches, two lovebirds, six cockatiels, two Thomas knows personally about living 12 seniors with 24-hour nursing care, canaries, and dogs, cats, rabbits, and with debilitating frailty. He and his wife, well-trained and -supported sta≠, and chickens. Fresh-cut flowers and home- Judy, have five children; their two daugh- private rooms and bathrooms in a layout grown food—from gardens dug into ters, Haleigh and Hannah, have been di- designed with an open kitchen and din- Chase’s once-manicured lawns—graced agnosed with Ohtahara syndrome, a pro- ing room and plenty of light and access to the hallways and dining room. He intro- gressive neurological disorder, and have the outdoors. The pilot project was duced new approaches to dementia, always required around-the-clock, home- funded by the Robert Wood Johnson frailty, and the human need for compan- based nursing care. Although Thomas Foundation; an additional $13-million

Photograph by Jim Harrison www.haa.harvard.edu JOHN HARVARD’S JOURNAL grant from the foundation has enabled he typically wears roomy blue jeans and Harvard-trained medical doctor to lead NCB Capital Impact, a Washington, D.C.- Birkenstocks to speaking engagements. the way against the medical model in based nonprofit, to complete 41 Green His speeches, while laced with philo- nursing homes? If people get up in my face Houses in 10 states, with another 18 pro- sophical references, are akin to kitchen about the medical issues—the main ex- jects in development. The goal is to open conversations; he hands out advice like a cuse given not to enact reforms—then I a Green House in every state. caring, grown son and reassures people have the facts to back them down.” The Thomas views the nursing-home in- with phrases like “no worries” or “cool medical model makes illness and treat- dustry—which draws about 78 percent of beans.” His knowledge of the healthcare ment the paramount issue, he says, and its revenues from Medicare and Medic- and pharmaceutical industries is formida- “what happens then, especially in nursing aid—as a powerful and daunting com- ble—he can reel o≠ the detailed history of homes, is that people’s pancreases get petitor. Unpopular as nursing homes may commercialized use of heroin and the re- more attention than anything about their be, as of 2004 they housed 1.5 million of lationship between “horse piss and hor- lives or what they need as people.” the frailest Americans, almost half of monal supplements”—but he also tends He says he would have been happy in whom were over age 85, according to a to recall the simpler past when his grand- politics, and the work he does now is far 2007 AARP report; Thomas notes that 50 mother tended his cuts with a milk and from apolitical. Ultimately, his con- percent of people aged 65 or older will bread poultice, and old people worked stituents are old people. They like him for spend at least some time in a nursing outside and didn’t take 20 pills a day. his ungodlike doctoring and for his essen- home before the end of their lives. The ex- Growing up in rural Nichols, New York tial championing of autonomy. penses—largely absorbed by the govern- (near Binghamton), Thomas was the first “I’m a firm believer in the rights of elders ment—are hard to bring down. (This member of his family to attend college. to do whatever the hell they want,” he told year, the average private-pay cost for a He thrives on winning over a tough audi- the seniors at the AARP workshop. “If you private room is $209 per day, or $76,285 a ence. As an undergraduate at the State only have the right to make the ‘good, year; a semi-private room averages $187.) University of New York at Cortland, he wise’ decisions that your grown daughter The Green Houses cost more to build was a charismatic student leader—cam- agrees with, then you’re not running your than conventional facilities, Thomas says, paigning for new student-run evaluations own life anymore.” Old people, he says, can but the elderly residents get more as of professors—and even ran for mayor. make decisions even if they are bed-ridden well: more privacy, to begin with, and a “You know how you are at 20,” he says and confused. “I’ve taken care of lots of much higher quality of life. In his model, now. “I thought I could run the city better people who didn’t even know their own money and resources are shifted away than my opponent, who had a college- children,” he notes. “Sure, they probably from middle management and used more bashing platform. I lost the election, but shouldn’t be making decisions about their for direct care. Operationally, the Green my consolation prize was that I got into 401(k) plans, but they can decide what to Houses cost the same to run on a daily Harvard Medical School—the first per- wear and what to eat and whether to go basis as a nursing home, he says, adding, son from Cortland ever to do that.” outside on a daily basis. People think that “This should not be that much of a sur- Thomas found Harvard stimulating and if old people cannot make the big deci- prise since the nursing home was never a ultimately advantageous. Just as “Nixon sions, they cannot make any decisions— paragon of e∞ciency.” was the only politician who could go to and that is just wrong. They have the right China, because he was immunized against to folly.” Thomas’s persuasive powers spring the claims of selling out to communism,” Thomas’s vision seeks to shift our un- in part from his earthy public persona— he points out, “what better person than a derlying cultural philosophy. “Old age is

Comings and Goings On December 6, the Harvard Club of Boston and the HAA host “A Saturday of Symposia” with a keynote address, Harvard clubs around the country offer a variety of social and “Who’s Afraid of the Fundamentalists?” by Hollis professor of intellectual events. For information on upcoming programs, con- divinity Harvey Cox. Speakers include Aramont professor of tact your local club directly, call the HAA at 617-495-3070, or the history of science Janet Browne (“Celebrating Darwin in visit www.haa.harvard.edu.Among the winter happenings: 2009: Charles Darwin’s Life, Times, and Origin of Species”); On November 12, the Triad Harvard Radcliffe Club of Stare professor of epidemiology and nutrition Walter Willett North Carolina offers “Blown to Bits: Your Life, Liberty, and (“Diet and Health: A Progress Report”); Davis Center for Rus- Happiness after the Digital Explosion,” a lecture by McKay pro- sian and Eurasian Studies senior scholar Marshall Goldman fessor of computer science Harry R. Lewis, who also addresses (“Petrostate: Putin, Power, and the Rise of the New Russia”); the Harvard Club of Eastern New York on November 19. On and Robinson professor of music Robert Levin (“Who Cares the same day, the Harvard Alumni Association of Utah will If Classical Music Dies?”). hear from Ann Braude, director of the Women’s Studies in Reli- For further details and registration, please call the Boston gion Program at the Divinity School. club at 617-450-8489, or visit www.harvardclub.com.

82 November - December 2008 ated by the Harvard College Women’s HAA appointed director and chair of the Cape Town Conference Center. For details, please call 617-959- HAA classes and reunions committee. 4864 or e-mail director Susan Marine at Currently, Guild leads the HAA chief Alumni are invited to join President [email protected]. marshal selection committee and is vice Drew Faust and other Harvard schol- To o≠er a paid position, call the Stu- chair of the “Happy Committee” (which ars in Cape Town, South Africa, for the dent Employment O∞ce at 617-495-2585 assists with Commencement). A member Harvard Alumni Association’s 2009 or visit www.seo.harvard.edu. of the executive committee of the Associ- Global Series conference. The event, ation of Harvard College Class Secretaries March 27-29, offers the chance to and Treasurers, he is also a member of the meet fellow alumni while exploring a Well Done Kennedy School Institute of Politics advi- region of cultural, intellectual, and eco- The harvard alumni Association sory committee and former treasurer of nomic importance. Awards were established in 1990 to recog- the Friends of Harvard Track. Registration is required. Please visit nize outstanding service to Harvard Uni- Susan Heath ’67, of http://post.harvard.edu/globalseries versity through alumni activities. This Pound Ridge, New York, for further details. year’s recipients were to be honored on has recruited and inter- October 16 during the HAA board of di- viewed students for more rectors’ annual fall meeting in Cambridge. than three decades. She and will always remain di∞cult. It de- Highlights of their many contributions recently completed her mands much from us…and seems to o≠er are given below. term as chair of the HAA very little in return,” he writes in What Are Peter Bynoe ’72, J.D.- Susan Heath National Schools and Old People For? “It is the fearfulness of this M.B.A. ’76, of Chicago, has Scholarships Committee, vision that has led us to ignore the old, to served the University for and has been chair of the Harvard Club of deny aging, and to hope that someday a more than two decades. Westchester schools and scholarships cure for this malady might be discov- He was a member of the committee since 1975. A former member ered….Such a hope, while understandable, Harvard Business School of her class-reunion gift committee, ignores the possibility that there is some- Alumni Council and an Heath just began a three-year term as thing vital and true to be grasped and Peter Bynoe HAA elected director, and HAA Regional Director for Metro New then savored with the distinctly human then became a University York and New Jersey. experience of growing old.” Overseer (1993-2002). In addition, he has Ella Smith, A.B.E. ’66, “Young and old alike,” he says, “aspire been a member of three Harvard alumni of Abington, Massachu- to long lives full of warmth and meaning. clubs in Chicago (College, Law School, setts, is a founding mem- The myth is that aging is mainly the con- and Business School), and worked on his ber and former president cern of old people. The reality is that twenty-fifth-reunion’s gift committee. of the Harvard Extension aging touches, changes, and influences Deborah Goldfine ’85, School Alumni Associa- everyone and everything.” of Newton, Massachu- tion (HEAA), and has nell porter brown setts, is a longtime mem- served on its steering Ella Smith ber of the visiting com- committee since 1968. For mittee to athletics, many years she has also been the Exten- cochair of the Friends of sion School’s HAA appointed director Job Notices Harvard Tennis, and ex- and a member of both the HAA’s graduate Several college programs match stu- ecutive chair of the Har- Deborah schools and communications committees. Goldfine dents with paid and unpaid jobs and in- vard Radcli≠e Founda- Charles Wiggin ’68, ternships. To find out more about how tion for Women’s Athletics, where she has M.B.A.-J.D. ’73, of Okla- alumni can provide these learning and strengthened programming and funding. homa City, is a longtime working opportunities, contact: Goldfine also cochaired her tenth, director of the city’s Har- The O∞ce of Career Services, which fifteenth, and twentieth reunion commit- vard club and served for connects students with employers for tees, and now cochairs the Newton three years as HAA Re- full-time, part-time, and summer jobs or schools and scholarships gional Director for the internships throughout the year. For in- committee. South Central States. He Charles Wiggin formation, including details about devel- Nathaniel (“Nat”) is a former member of oping and/or posting job opportunities, Guild ’73, of Concord, both the HAA clubs and graduate schools call Nancy Saunders at 617-495-2595 or e- Massachusetts, is class committees and the committee to nomi- mail [email protected]. secretary and cochaired nate Overseers and elected directors, of The Radcli≠e Mentor Program, his fifteenth and twenty- which he was also chair. In addition, he which matches undergraduates with Nathaniel fifth class reunions. He has chaired the HAA awards committee alumnae for career development, is oper- Guild has also served as an and his tenth-reunion gift committee.

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