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Our Mission
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

   

Our Services
 
Our Service Area
BayPath Elder Services, Inc. serves the following communities:

Ashland
Dover
Framingham
Holliston
Hopkinton
Hudson
Marlborough
Natick
Northborough
Sherborn
Southborough
Sudbury
Wayland
Westborough  
Welcome Aboard
BayPath continues to expand to meet the needs of clients and programs, and this past month witnessed three more additions to our staff.

Sandra DeSouza joined the Care Transitions team as a Coleman Coach, Heather Berry-Wade came aboard as a Case Manager/Home Care Specialist and Beth Pipes is the newest SCO GSSC.

Congratulations and welcome aboard. 

And BayPath also welcomed back Caregiver Specialist Alicia Rego, who returned from maternity leave this month after giving birth to her first child, Isaak, in November. Special mention also has to be made of the versatile Karen Carr, who ably filled the caregiver specialist role during Rego's leave.  
Mission Springs Report
Mission Springs Resident Services Coordinator Julia Schneiderman reports that in February, Mission Springs residents were treated to a presentation by healthy eating specialist Dawn Bertholette from Whole Foods. Bertholette spoke about making healthy meals with pantry staples and frozen produce.

Residents also participated in a Chinese New Year party, complete with Chinese snacks and music, and lessons in using chopsticks by some experts. 
In the Community
Visits to Holliston, Natick next in BayPath outreach efforts
Caregiving MetroWest Program Manager Douglas Flynn, BayPath Elder Services Caregiver Specialist Alicia Rego and BayPath Board Member Steve Zafron are continuing their community outreach efforts to raise awareness of the extensive information and resources available on CaregivingMetroWest.org and the support available from the BayPath Family Caregiver Support Program.

All three will be at the Holliston Senior Center on Wednesday, March 9 at 9:30 a.m. and at the Natick Community and Senior Center on Thursday, April 7 at 9:30 a.m. for a multimedia presentation about the programs and to answer any questions about Caregiving MetroWest and BayPath. Please join us. 
Holliston Snowglobe
 
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Caregiver Corner

Another record week of users, new content for Caregiving MetroWest 
Caregiving MetroWest 
continues to provide more information and resources to an ever-growing audience of family caregivers.

The latest addition to the site is a page devoted to BayPath's new project to develop dementia-friendly communities in MetroWest. The page highlights how the Come 2B Dementia Friendly program came about, explains what a dementia-friendly community is and provides further information on the program, which is under way in Marlborough, Hudson and Northborough.

CaregivingMetroWest.org also continued to expand its reach with another record week of traffic to the website. The week of Feb. 15-21 witnessed 1,111 unique users visiting the site, the most users ever in a single week, eclipsing the mark of 1,053 set just a month ago.  
February, 2016

'It's Not Just a Job'
Come 2B Dementia Friendly Coordinator Cormier has personal motivation to see program succeed
Cindy Cormier was ready to volunteer, even though free time was not exactly in abundance with the multiple paying jobs she already held and the unpaid but even more crucial role she fulfilled as caregiver to her mother.
 
But helping out in the project to create dementia-friendly communities here in MetroWest meant that much to Cormier. So much, in fact, that instead of volunteering, she accepted the job as the Coordinator for Come 2B Dementia Friendly, the recently launched BayPath Elder Services program that is helping Hudson, Marlborough and Northborough become dementia friendly.
 
"My background is in project, program, and event management," said Cormier, who hails from Hudson. "I have also been exposed to elder law and elder care through various jobs that I hold. I work with [elder law attorney] Arthur Bergeron taking care of the logistics for his Senior Legal Clinics, which are held at area Senior Centers. I also provide admin support to Elder Care Resource Services, which is run by Debbie Gitner and Linda Sullivan. In addition, I am the caregiver for my mom, who has memory loss."
 
With all that on her plate, why did Cormier add even more responsibilities by taking the position at BayPath?
 
"It's not just a job," said Cormier.

"As I mentioned, my mom has memory loss and lives in assisted living," added Cormier. "I see firsthand the lack of awareness in our community and felt it was a worthwhile effort. Also, many of the folks on the team are already known to me. ... So between being involved with the subject matter and knowing the people, it felt right."
 
And what are Cormier and Come 2B Dementia Friendly hoping to accomplish with this program?
 
"To create a better understanding of dementia in the three communities and to make those communities a place where folks with dementia feel supported, safe, healthy, and happy," said Cormier, who added that the program was making steady progress toward that goal.
 
"The process is going well," said Cormier. "I think it's going as we expected. It is a slow process because you are engaging the community, so it takes time to get those people engaged. However, we're now at the point where all three communities are having their first Action Team meetings. So we have a group in each town, probably about a dozen people on each team that are coming together for the first meetings next week."

Cormier is excited by the reaction from the communities so far to the program's efforts.
 
"The response has been very good," said Cormier. "In Hudson we had 50 people attend our community meeting."
 
There are still plenty of opportunities for more people to become involved, and Come 2B Dementia Friendly welcomes anyone interested in helping.
 
"Absolutely," said Cormier. "There are subteams under those Action Teams. When they have a community meeting they will need people to work on that event. They will need people to go out and conduct these surveys. If people still want to get involved they can either contact the directors of the senior centers in Hudson, Marlborough and Northborough or they can email me at ccormier@baypath.org ." 
Stating Their Case at the State House
BayPath staff among advocates planning to participate in Elder Leap Day event on Feb. 29
Several hundred elder advocates, including a contingent from BayPath, are expected to gather at the State House on Monday, Feb. 29 for Elder Leap Day. They will lobby legislators on a number of issues of concern to older adults, their caregivers and eldercare professionals as Governor Charlie Baker and the Legislature continue the process of hammering out a budget for fiscal year 2017. Executive Director Christine Alessandro, Megan Murphy, Kris Briggs, Dana Leavitt and Suzanne Menard will be representing BayPath in the effort.


Big Plans for National Nutrition Month
BayPath Nutrition Department has series of events lined up to raise nutrition awareness
March is National Nutrition Month and the BayPath Nutrition Department has plenty of exciting events on tap to mark the occasion: 
  • On Monday, March 21 there will be a Nutrition Lunch and Learn at Cedar Gardens in Natick. BayPath Nutritionist Traci Robidoux will speak about nutrition education opportunities, in-home medical nutrition therapy, Meals on Wheels and Healthy Living workshops. There will also be a lunch tasting for tenants and nutrition trivia and prizes.
  • On Wednesday, March 23 there will be a BayPath staff nutrition training covering general senior nutrition, therapeutic meals, malnutrition, food safety and food allergies.
  • On Friday, March 25 BayPath will have a staff Healthy Recipe Contest and Pot-Luck Lunch with taste testing and prizes for healthy recipes.
  • On Wednesday, March 30 the BayPath Nutrition Department will close out the month's activities with the "March into Spring" Marlborough Housing Lunch and Health Fair.
  • Staff will also be invited to taste test Meals on Wheels offerings during the month to see what consumers are receiving from the program. Staff will be asked to fill out a survey to provide feedback on the meals.
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
A Chance to Help
Ombudsman Program welcoming new volunteers
BayPath Elder Services' Long Term Care Ombudsman Program needs volunteers to visit long term care facilities to make sure residents are getting the care and service they expect. Volunteers work with residents, staff and families to achieve this end. The initial time commitment consists of a three-day certification training, and then up to three hours a week in the nursing home. There is also a monthly volunteer meeting to discuss issues and best practices.
 
The Ombudsman Certification Training will be held at BayPath Elder Services (33 Boston Post Road West, Marlborough, MA 01752) on April 4, 5 and 8. April 11 has been set aside as well in case there is a need for a change due to weather or illness.
 
The training is three full days and includes such topics as: Ombudsman basics, confidentiality and conflict of interest, resolving concerns, resolution strategies, documentation, Department of Public Health regulatory process, resident rights and more.
 
If you have a few hours a week and are interested, please contact Mary Brooks, Director of Ombudsman Program, at 508-573-7200 x235 or by email at mbrooks@baypath.org .
 
And please do so soon, as there is a process before training which includes an interview, CORI check and visits to a couple of facilities.       
A Super - and Tasty - Way to Celebrate
  

Even without the Patriots playing, BayPath Elder Services got into the Super Bowl spirit with a Tailgate Party and Chili Cookoff during the week leading up to the big game. Many thanks to the Fun Committee for organizing the event and decorating the boardroom in the festive theme detailed in these photos, and to all the staff members who brought nine different varieties of homemade chili to sample, along with cornbread, salad and many delicious desserts.  

 

And a hearty congratulations to the winners of the chili cookoff, as Julie Sullivan took first place, Una Murphy was second, and Scott Dean and Heather Lacasse tied for third.

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.
BayPath Elder Services, Inc.| 508-573-7200 | http://www.baypath.org

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