Yosaif August, a life coach and author who has had several careers since turning 50, will teach two sessions in June for the Mt. Airy Learning Tree on designing a new career.

by Len Lear

It has been said by many pundits and researchers that more old people are living healthy, active lives than ever before. However, since almost no one wants to hire old people, no matter how experienced and qualified they may be (except maybe McDonald's and Walmart as burger-flippers and greeters, respectively), what to do?

One answer is to start a brand new career after 50, one that “has a high social purpose and make a positive difference in the world.” That is the prescription from Mt. Airy resident Yosaif August, 73, co-author with Dr. Bernie Siegel of “Help Me To Heal” as well as a life coach who works with caregivers, people seeking a new start in life and people seeking greater fulfillment in their lives.

August, who has had several careers himself since turning 50, will teach two sessions for Mt. Airy Learning Tree on designing a new career on Tuesdays, June 5 and 12, 7 p.m., at Summit Presbyterian Church, 6757 Greene St. (at Westview).

August is a man who practices what he preaches. In the early 1980s he started a corporate consulting firm, London August, in New York, and although it was successful, August left it in 1995. “I was at a crossroads,” he said last week. “I wanted my work to make a difference in the world, and I wasn’t able to shift our client base and services in a way that did that.”

After leaving the corporate consulting firm, August founded Healing Environments Int’l. (HEI), a product development company aimed at improving the experiences of patients, families and staff in healthcare environments. One significant healthcare innovation the firm came up with was Bedscapes®, a simple, low-tech, multi-sensory system to help patients deal effectively with pain when they are in hospital beds, treatment settings and nursing homes.

“It consists of a photomural (printed on fabric made from recycled soda bottles) of 'biophilic' nature scenes and a soundscape of the natural sounds accompanying the scenes,” explained August. “The photomural clips onto the cubicle curtain; sounds are played through the in-hospital TV system or a bedside player.”

August was awarded five patents for Bedscapes®. It won the “Best of Competition” in the international Nightingale design competition in the 1996 healthcare design competition and was the subject of several evidence based controlled studies, most notably at Johns Hopkins. One of these studies, showing dramatic decrease in patients’ experience of pain when they had access to Bedscapes®, has been cited in over 400 subsequent studies.

August was awarded an NIH Small Business Innovation grant to study the efficacy of Bedscapes® with congestive heart failure patients. HEI is still in business, but August is not actively engaged in it. “I respond to orders for Bedscapes® when they occur,” he said. “Bedscapes® gave me the platform to speak to healthcare executives around the country about the importance of creating a healing environment of care.”

In 2010 August, who has a history of dangerous civil rights activism in the deep South in the 1960s, again reinvented himself by completing life coach training. Since then he has led hundreds of workshops and focused his coaching on “encore careers” after age 50. “Having personally had what I like to call 'early onset of encore,'” he explained, “I am both a passionate evangelist spreading the word about encore opportunities and a committed life coach for people looking for a positive next chapter of their lives.” August generally works one-on-one with clients for up to three months.

August grew up in The Bronx. As a teenager he sold hot dogs at Yankee Stadium and later was part of a group seeking to integrate Parkchester, the largest housing project in the world at the time, which was 100% white. He came to Philadelphia 10 years ago when his wife, Tsurah, a rabbi and hospice chaplain, took a position with Jewish Family and Children’s Services of Philadelphia.

(Tsurah is a perfect example of an “encore career changer” after age 50. Originally a dancer, choreographer, multi-arts performer and teacher, she later became an executive recruiter and entrepreneur and at age 57, a rabbi!).

What is the hardest thing August has ever done? “Going down to Mississippi (for civil rights activism) in the face of deep fears of my parents.!”

Is Yosaif August his actual birth name? “At my birth I was given both an English name, Joseph, and a Hebrew one, Yosaif. In Hebrew, Yosaif means 'to add to.' Over the years, as I deepened my involvement in Judaism, I started using 'Yosaif' in communal gatherings and started to feel natural in that name ... And, yes, August is my real birth name. I believe that back in Poland, it was 'Ogus.'”

In addition to his life coaching, August is trying to “educate our community about the critical importance of encore careers for our society and the planet and how encore career coaching helps people approach their later years in an optimistic, even courageous and bold, way. I’m also seeking kindred spirits in the legal community to help me organize the Encore Lawyers Project in Philadelphia.”

For the MALT course info: 215-843-6333. For more info on August: yestolifecoaching.com.