The BayPath Bulletin
All the News You Need ASAP
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BayPath Elder Services, Inc.'s mission is to be a trusted partner in providing an array of services and programs to older adults, caregivers, and persons with disabilities to support their independence and dignity.
BayPath offers home care and related services enabling people to live independently and comfortably in their homes while promoting their well-being and dignity.
Founded in 1977 as a nonprofit corporation, BayPath has nearly 40 years experience serving and advocating for the needs of older adults as a designated Massachusetts Aging Services Access Point and
a designated Area Agency on Aging.
Visit BayPath's website
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BayPath Elder Services, Inc. serves the following communities:
Ashland
Dover
Framingham
Holliston
Hopkinton
Hudson
Marlborough
Natick
Northborough
Sherborn
Southborough
Sudbury
Wayland
Westborough
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BayPath continues to expand to meet the needs of clients and programs, and this past month witnessed three more additions to our staff.
Christen Papile and Angela Yildiz join the agency as GSSCs in the SCO department, while Elizabeth Rankins comes aboard as a Home Care assistant.
Congratulations and welcome aboard.
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BayPath also rewarded the excellent work of another member of its staff, as Sarah Creelman was promoted to the position of Waiver Specialist this month.
"I am very excited to announce that Sarah Creelman has accepted the position of Waiver Specialist," said Associate Director of Client Services
Liz Tretiak in announcing the promotion. "Sarah has been such an asset to the Case Management Team and she is always up for a challenge! Please join me in congratulating her!"
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Praise for BayPath staff volunteering time to help deliver meals
Nutrition Director
Denise Menzdorf checked in with the Bulletin to offer some much-deserved praise to the BayPath staffers who have volunteered their time to help deliver meals to our clients.
"April is the month that we recognize and thank our volunteers for all the good deeds they do throughout the year for our programs," said Menzdorf. "So I would like to take a moment to say thank you to our Meals on Wheels Workplace Delivery Team for all they do throughout the year to get hot meals to our Marlborough clients every Tuesday!"
The members of our current team are:
Bryan Casasanto
Ellen Cherry
Fran Bakstran
Gwen Blumberg
Kathy Villanueva
Kris Briggs
Linda Ford
Silvia Dominguez-Bodie
Susan Cote
Tiffany Tan
"Also, a big thank you to
Mary Brooks,
Chris Hildreth, and
Sharon Deignan who also volunteered this past year," added Menzdorf. "We couldn't do it without you!"
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Caregiving MetroWest continues to grow its
audience with outreach efforts and new content
More and more family caregivers continue to flock to
Caregiving MetroWest, utilizing ever-growing collection of information and resources on the website.
The past month set another record for visitors, with 2,325 unique users coming to the site between March 16 and April 15. Those users recorded 5,392 pageviews, the highest monthly total of the year. The site also shattered weekly records with 1,554 unique users and 2,545 pageviews during the week of April 11-17.
One of the reasons the site attracts so many devoted users is the timely and compelling content that is regularly added. One of the latest is an informative Q&A with Century Health Systems CEO
Judith Boyko on what caregivers should know about
end-of-life care, part of an ongoing series of Q&As with experts in fields related to caregiving on our
Caregiving Chronicles blog.
Caregiving MetroWest Program Manager
Douglas Flynn and BayPath Caregiver Specialist
Alicia Rego continue to spread the word about the website and BayPath's Family Caregiver Support Program. On April 21, the pair conducted workshops on both programs at Senator
Jamie Eldridge's annual Senior Conference at Assabet High School in Marlborough. BayPath also had an information table manned by numerous staffers throughout the day to provide information about all of the agency's programs.
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BayPath Earns Framingham Union Aid Grant
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Funds will be used for the MetroWest Chronic Disease Self-Management Education Program
BayPath Elder Services, Inc. was honored to receive a grant from the Framingham Union Aid Association, Inc. this month. The check for $1,430 dollars was presented to BayPa
th's Silvia Bodie (below right), the MetroWest Regional CDSME Coordinator, by Framingham Union Aid Association President Betsy Swartz (below left) at a reception held at the MetroWest Medical Center's McPherson Hall on April 11.
The grant will be used for the MetroWest Chronic Disease Self-Management Education Program. BayPath would like to again extend our gratitude to the Framingham Union Aid Association for its generous support.
Have news from your department or a staff member worthy of some recognition? Let us know about it for next month's BayPath Bulletin.
Send us your updates.
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BayPath Marks Nutrition Month in Style
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Elder Nutrition Program hosts series of events
March, which is National Nutrition Month, was a busy month for BayPath's Elder Nutrition Program, which featured the following activities:
- Meal tasting: throughout March, we delivered three home-delivered meals to the office every day. Office staff could sign up to receive one of those meals for lunch and fill out a feedback survey about the quality of the meal. This is an activity we do every year during March with the goal of improving awareness and knowledge of the meals, especially among case managers.
- At our seven community congregate dining sites, we highlighted National Nutrition Month through a series of educational placemats and a nutrition trivia contest. Each week we posed a different nutrition question and, at the end of the month, everyone who submitted an answer (right or wrong) during the month was entered into a drawing for a gift card at a local grocery store.
- On March 23, the Elder Nutrition Program staff conducted a training for BayPath staff to explain what our department offers to clients. Topics covered included therapeutic meals, the nutrition intake process, food allergies, and when and how to refer clients to the BayPath dietitian. Staff who attended were served the same lunch as our clients (beef stew) and the same meals was later served to the members of the BayPath Board, who met that afternoon.
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 On March 30, we held a Health Fair for residents of Marlborough Supportive Housing. We were supported by a generous $250 Community Giving grant from Wegmans, which was used to provide a gift bag of fruits and vegetables to each resident. The fair was held in conjunction with the regularly scheduled Wednesday lunch and information tables were provided by: BayPath I&R and Options Counseling, BayPath dietitian Traci Robidoux, Partners (provided blood pressure checks, as Maria Larsen is doing in photo above), the United Way's Marlborough Community Cupboard, the Food Source Hotline project of Project Bread, the Marlborough Board of Health, and the Pharmacy Outreach Program of the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy. Supportive Housing Coordinator Jane Rourk and Barbara Fawcett from BayPath's Community Care Transitions Program, who has significant health fair planning experience, offered invaluable assistance in planning and promoting the event. The event was covered by Marlborough public access TV channel, WMCT-TV. Check out their video report.
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National Nurses Day Approaching
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Occasion provides opportunity to celebrate hard work and dedication of BayPath nursing staff
 National Nurses Day is celebrated annually on May 6 to raise awareness of the important role nurses play in society.
May 12, the final day of National Nurses Week, is the birthday of
Florence Nightingale (1820-1910). The English nurse became known as the founder of professional nursing, especially due to her pioneering work during the Crimean War (1853-1856). Due to her habit of making rounds at night, Nightingale became known as "The Lady with the Lamp." Florence Nightingale founded a nursing school in 1860, providing the first type of professional nursing establishment in the world.
National Nurses Week was first observed in October 1954, the 100th anniversary of Nightingale's mission to Crimea. May 6 was introduced as the date for the observance in 1982, with a proclamation signed by President
Ronald Reagan.
Please take a moment to recognize the dedicated Nursing staff at BayPath Elder Services on Friday, May 6, and to also recognize all of the nurses who have touched your life, and the lives of your families and friends.
BayPath's nursing staff features Senior Nurse Manager Carolyn Hochard and Nursing Supervisor Sharon Savastano, Transitions Coordinators Donna Murray and Rebecca Petersen, RNs Meyre Andreu, Amy Chiasson, Lorraine Cote, Carolyn Coughlin, Lori DiDomenico, Janice Hathaway, Vicki Klain, Robin Logan, Vanessa Matos, Marc Peloquin, Diane Quigley, Jill Standish and Nursing Admin Laurie Towle.
For some insight and inspiration, check out this verse written for the 2013 Nurses Week,
"A Narrative Poem of Light" by Carey S. Clark, PhD, RN, AHN-BC,RYT.
-- Submitted by Carolyn Hochard, BayPath Senior Nurse Manager
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Money Management Salutes Volunteers
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Praise in client satisfaction surveys reveals impact BayPath program is making for clients
Money Management Program Supervisor
Paula Geller checks in this month with some well-deserved praise for her program's volunteers, writing:
April is National Volunteer Month! The Money Management Program honors the efforts of its 65 volunteers for their dedicated support of consumers. Each month, volunteers generously devote more than 200 hours to assisting consumers who need help with their routine finances. The value of their efforts is best reflected in the comments recently shared by clients as part of the program's Annual Client Satisfaction Survey:
- "My volunteer is the best -- intelligent and kind. I could not do it without her. She keeps me on track. I'm impressed with BayPath and its services."
- "My volunteer helps me to be comfortable balancing my checkbook, and he answers any of my questions. I couldn't be happier."
- "My volunteer helped me with debt, and helped me to decide whether to pay cash or credit. I think that everyone should have a money manager."
- "The program has helped me eliminate mistakes. My volunteer asks certain things and helps determine what bills to pay."
- "I was late with sending out bills and the volunteer helps a lot with that. I don't know what I would do without her."
The Money Management Program also acknowledges the efforts of its five program monitors who volunteer at the agency every month to assist with the required auditing of client accounts. Those dedicated program monitors are
Rick Robinson (below left),
Kathy Dunlea (below right),
Tony Disano,
T.C. Kung, and
Jack Oster.
In addition to their work as monitors, they also provide direct assistance to consumers in the program. Special thanks for their many years of service as account monitors and in providing bill-pay assistance to consumers.
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House Rejects Eldercare Amendments
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Nearly $70 million in new funding not included in budget; MassHealth facing a 'restructuring'
There was not much to celebrate for eldercare advocates when the Massachusetts House of Representatives released its fiscal year 2017 budget on April 26 with elder-related amendments worth nearly $70 million in new funding for the home care program and care managers, homemakers, home health agencies and adult foster care being rejected.
Al Norman of Mass Home Care reported that "some money was restored (back-filled) for meals on wheels and housing supports-but overall a number of good initiatives were dismissed. Instead of moving programs forward, elder advocates fought 'read guard' actions to keep funding from dropping below FY 16 levels."
Among the disappointments in the House budget, amendments to raise the Enhanced Community Options Program by $5 million, to increase funding for ASAP contracts by $1.75 million, and to allow spouses to be paid as caregivers for MassHealth members were all rejected. An amendment to raise the home care income eligibility and provide $3.7 million in new funding for elder applicants was also rejected. Amendments totaling $59.2 million to provide wage increases for homemakers, higher rates for Adult Foster Care programs, rate increases for home health agencies, and funding for homeless elders, all were rejected as well.
The focus now shifts to the Senate side as the budget battles continue.
In related news, earlier this month the $15.4 billion MassHealth program announced a major "restructuring" campaign designed to create "a sustainable, robust" health care program for its 1.8 million members.
The Administration of Governor Charles Baker has made overt moves to swap out the current fee-for-service payment model and replace it with a managed care delivery system experiment which places large hospital and physician networks, known as "Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs)," in control of funding.
MassHealth's timeline calls for pilot ACOs to launch by the end of calendar 2016, with a full roll out by October 2017.
For more information about the MassHealth restructuring, see the full story at Mass Home Care .
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Thank you for taking the time to look through our newsletter, and please check out our website,
www.baypath.org. Have news, information or feedback from a client that you want to see in our next newsletter?
Let us know
BayPath Elder Services, Inc. is a member of the MetroWest ADRC,
a partnership with HESSCO and the MetroWest Center for Independent Living.
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