Acabo de encontrarme con este artículo del New York Times, a pesar de llevar en Estados Unidos mas de un año, y de haberme dado cuenta de que la calidad de vida aquí no es lo que esperaba, sigo sorprendida por lo que leí.

Según un informe del departamento de Sanidad, el 94% de las residencias para mayores violan las normas de sanidad y/o de trato a los pacientes. En el 17% de los casos, la situación supone un peligro directo para la salud de los residentes.

Las violaciones consisten en falta de higiene, maltrato a los pacientes (un 20% de los casos), errores con los medicamentos o mala nutrición. En algunos estados como Alaska, Iowa o el Distrito de Columbia (la capital, Washington), el 100% de las residencias infringen las normas.

Un millón y medio de mayores estadounidenses viven en residencias que pertenecen al estado, a organizaciones privadas y a ONGs. Quien controla la residencia, sus presupuestos o su propiedad, no supone una diferencia demasiado grande a la hora de mejorar la calidad del servicio.

El informe concluyó que un 94% de las residencias privadas presentaba deficiencias durante el año pasado, en comparación con un 88% de las no-gubernamentales y el 91% de las estatales.

En el caso de 163 de las residencias inspeccionadas, serán analizadas con mas detalle por presentar “fallos crónicos” en el servicio dado a los pacientes.

Es Estados Unidos. Es su sistema sanitario. Genial, si puedes pagarlo.

Ya he mencionado alguna vez aquí lo deprisa que camina la gente. Lo deprisa que ocurre todo. Lo que piensa la gente en el futuro. El éxito de los calendarios. De pensarlo todo antes de hacerlo. Vivir tres meses por delante. En ansia. Porque muchas veces se respira eso, ansia.

Y puede que en medio de todas esas prisas la gente se olvide de sí misma. O sientan que no tienen tiempo que dedicarse a sí mismos.

Y puede que en medio de ese olvido, se olviden de estar bien. De cuántas razones encontraron para sonreír esa semana.

Cuando llegué, una de las cosas que más me impactaron de Washington es que casi nadie sonríe ni habla en el metro. Todos miran para abajo y parece que arrastran un nubarrón de preocupaciones sobre los hombros.

Esto se puede ver en las caras de la gente y en sus prisas para llegar a todas partes. Pero otro reflejo de ello es que casi todas las revistas incluyen secciones de autoayuda. Sólo hace falta recorrer unas cuantas portadas con la mirada para descubrir los diez secretos para ser feliz, trucos para no perder el tiempo -optimizarlo, como  hemos decidido traducirlo al español- o el camino para reducir el estres. Está de moda hacer yoga, y no es raro ver a gente con una esterilla acompañando al bolso o la mochila del trabajo. Está de moda la comida orgánica.

Pero no está de moda robarle media hora al reloj para cocinar, sentarse a leer o, simplemente, no hacer nada.  

Photo by CFPereda
The end of the world, Galicia. Spain.
Sometimes I just look at pictures. It feels like going away.

I’ve mentioned before that here people walk too fast. Everything happens too fast. How people thinks of the future. The success of calendars and thinking of everything before doing anything. Living three months ahead of time. Anxiety. Because most of the time, that’s what’s in the air. Anxiety.

And maybe among all that rushing people forget about themselves. Or maybe they feel they don’t have time to spend with themselves.

And maybe in the middle of all that, they forget how to be ok. How many things made them smile that week.

When I got here, one of the things that shocked me most about Washington, was that almost nobody smiles or talks in the metro. Everyone looks down and seems to be carrying around this burden on their shoulders.

You can see this on people’s faces and their rush to get everywhere. But you can also see it by taking a look all the magazines including sections to help yourself. You just need to check a few covers to discover ten secrets to be happy, the last tricks to not waste your time or the path to beat stress. It’s fancy to do yoga and it’s not that weird to see people carrying their matt with their backpack or their purse to work. It’s fancy to get organic food.

But it’s not fancy yet to steal 30 minutes to the day and cook, sit down and read or just do nothing.  

By Cristina Fernández Pereda

The Art of Living Foundation is the largest volunteer-based non-governmental organization in the United States. Just a short walk from U-Street station in Washington, the organization works closely with the United Nations. The foundation’s volunteers have assisted victims worldwide after events like Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and the Beslan tragedy in Russia while helping develop rural villages in India.

They have programs focusing on personal development, human-values education and community service to create a stress and violence-free society. With a special interest in helping youths, the foundation has created two different programs for students in more than 140 countries: YES! focuses on kids from ages eight to 13, while YES!+ works with college students. Both have the same goal: making them feel better.

As part of the programs, the organization’s instructors practice yoga, breathing exercises, group techniques and meditation with teenagers, implementing special exercises for those with special needs.

“They learn how to manage their emotions and stress, and how to be more successful,” Gayatri Mani, a Youth Programs Coordinator, said.

According to the instructors, the exercises help them improve their potential and realize what is best in them. They are focused in class and they can help their community once they feel they have their own life under control.

Gopika Prabhu is one of the instructors who works with students in Washington.

“You can’t just tell teenagers to do the right thing; you have to give them an alternative. We work on their insecurities and their doubts. They’re scared of what other people think, and when they learn the skills of feeling good, they can decide and help implement that in their community.”

After participating in any of the Youth programs, high school students sometimes do an internship through The Art of Living.

“They work in their field of interest; they can become a youth representative at their school or work at any other organization and give back to their community what they learned,” Prabhu explained.

After a few days in the course, students admit they have more energy, are more focused in class, interact better with other people and don’t get angry frequently.

“After doing the exercises, they feel good and know that they don’t need anything else. They say the experience is awesome,” Prabhu said.

Some of the kids Prabhu has worked with not only attend classes at school, but also work and take care of their families: “We work to give them the tools to balance all that. The goal is to get young people to get up in the morning and think ‘I can take the world,’ to feel they can live their lives the way they want to, without letting the world thrust them down,” Prabhu said.

In Washington, The Art of Living is working now with inner-city centers such as Bell Multicultural and McKinley Technology High Schools.

“We go where kids really need us,” Mani said. “The benefits are seen immediately after a six-day program, learning how to relieve stress, reduce violence and be more successful” she added.

The organization has reached 70,000 students in 50 Universities all over the nation. In George Washington University and Georgetown University, the organization teaches more than 1,000 students during six-day long courses. The students take a total of 21 hours of yoga, meditation and learning of the Sudarshan Kriya breathing technique.

“We ask ‘how can I live my life better?’ and teach how to make your life less stressful and how to reduce the amount of stress that comes from being a student,” Prabhu said.

This story was published on the American Observer on Oct. 23, 2007.