Photos in top banner: Ryan (Regina's grandson) preparing his doctor bag for trip into space; Tom (Regina's husband) and Nora, their granddaughter; Grace Dolan (our graphic designer's daughter) showing off her baby and carrier that Regina gave her for her birthday!
|
Photos above: 1. Kelly, Christian and Bonnie Easter egg hunting in a golf cart; 2. Nora (Regina's granddaughter) showing off her ears; 3. Zoe (Regina's Grandniece) with grandma Tess; 4. Ryan and Nora (Regina's Grandchildren) and Charlotte (Regina's Grandniece); 5. Nora and Ryan with the Easter bunny!; 6. Nora smiling for the Easter Bunny; 7. Grace Dolan (our graphic designer's daughter) hunting for eggs; 8. Zoe and Charlotte are twins!; 9. Grace Dolan checking out her eggs.
|
Photos top top to bottom clockwise:
Joan and Ange at her birthday celebration;
Tom (Regina's husband) and Ryan their
grandson; Our Graphic Designer, Mary Dolan,
and her son Luke; Kelly and Rosemarie; Joan
enjoying the sun and the rocking chair.
|
|
Join Our List
|
 |
|
|
|
Regina McNamara RN, MSN President & Kelly McNamara, Chief Operating Officer
Here at Always There Home Care, we are grateful you are slowing down to read our newsletter full of items that relate to home care, home health care, aging and eldercare, as well as some useful tips for daily living. Please enjoy in the spirit of community and cooperation in which this newsletter was sent.
____________________________________
|
Also, see our beautiful new video,
here!!!
____________________________
|
|
A Story by Bob G., A Reader Who
Wrote Into Dementia By Day
By Bob G | Dementia By Day
My brother, Al, still lives on the south shore of Long Island, New York-Bellmore to be exact. He has round-the-clock attendant nursing available. My brother has Dementia with Lewy Bodies. He also has the classic Parkinson's symptoms.
When working, Al always had the option of going out the front door to his day job or going out the back door to his boats. He owned a successful Special Effects business for the motion picture industry, and so he worked hard and played hard. Al was always a rabid sportsman: fishing, hunting, boating, etc.
He was willing to traverse the East Coast or North America to find fish and game. He was always active in multiple boat and sporting organization on Long Island, too.
Now, as a retired but still strong-willed person, he is sometimes difficult to communicate with. I am also retired but when a friend asked me to help him as a consultant at a boat company, I agreed.
I called my brother one morning to see how he was doing, and he was less than cooperative until I mentioned the boat company.
All of a sudden he came to life and began to tell me the various advantages, options, and specifications of different types of boats. Al lit up and I began to hear a different perspective on things-it didn't matter if I understood the particulars of the boats-HE DID! I couldn't even get a word in edgewise as he was really enjoying our "conversation."
I was brought to joyous tears knowing I was able to join him in a hobby he always loved.
http://www.dementia-by-day.com/post/157191337430/boating-and-memories ■
|
How to Build Resilient Kids,
Even After a Loss
By Sheryl Sandberg
Sheryl is the Chief Opeatong Officer of Facebook. In 2015, we published an excerpt from her Facebook post shortly following her husband's sudden death in 2015. Sheryl is now taking full advantage of her global audience and has written an amazing book. Her wealth, connections, and extraordinary position did little to spare her from the agony of her husband's death and the new road she needed to travel with her young children. Her goal now is to inspire and comfort others who have undergone adversity to achieve resilience and resume living even after unspeakable loss.
Two years ago, in an instant, everything changed for my family and me. While my husband, Dave, and I were on vacation, he died suddenly from a cardiac arrhythmia.
Flying home to tell my 7-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son that their father had died was the worst experience of my life. During that unimaginable trip, I turned for advice to a friend who counsels grieving children. She said that the most important thing was to tell my kids over and over how much I loved them and that they were not alone.
In the fog of those early and brutal weeks and months, I tried to use the guidance she had given me. My biggest fear was that my children's happiness would be destroyed by our devastating loss. I needed to know what, if anything, I could do to get them through this.
I also started talking with my friend Adam Grant, a psychologist and professor who studies how people find motivation and meaning. Together, we set out to learn everything we could about how kids persevere through adversity.
|
KUDOS
from Kelly
By Kelly McNamara
Jessica Colon: No business, large or small can operate effectively without a solid support system. The people who staff the office, who greet visitors, who handle the many behind the scenes tasks that allow our business to run smoothly are simply indispensable.
Our Coordinator of Client Services, Jessica Colon is a relatively new employee but has already become an important and integral member of our company. Her many responsibilities include organizing and sending out pay to our caregivers, settling any issues as quickly as possible, scheduling candidates for interviews and conducting the necessary screening, competency assessment and reference checks to ensure they are worthy caregivers for our clients.
Our company's reputation depends on our caregivers' quality of care and service. Jessica's talent in selecting the best people then supporting then in their jobs is essential to our success. Jessica's commitment to lifelong learning means she picks up new skills on a regular basis.
Jessica has also made it a point to meet as many of the clients and families as possible in order to best understand the business and support our clients as well as our staff.
We are thrilled to have Jessica as such an important member of our team. Special thanks to her sister Ashley, one of our great caregivers, for recommending her for this position!
All caregivers mentioned in this column will receive a gift card and our sincere appreciation! Many many thanks to all of you for once again extending yourselves to ensure that we are of course
Always There...!! ■
|
Alan Weiss On Asking Why?
Most people don't tell us the reason for a decision because we don't ask. We either argue about the rejection or applaud ourselves for their wise acceptance. But we don't ask, "Why?"
Unless you have the reason-the cause-you don't truly understand motive. Consequently, you make plans to correct the failure or to exploit the victory based purely on the effect, not the underlying premise. That's like the cat that won't jump onto a cold stove because once it jumped onto a hot one. It allows the past effect to determine its future decisions.
But that's a cat. We need to probe. In many cases, we're not told the real reason for the rejection (it's a busy season, too many priorities, timing isn't right, we need to bring someone on board). Only by finding the real reason (you didn't provide a pragmatic return on investment) can you improve.
Similarly, we're told we're terrific and we puff up like a blowfish instead of asking "Why do you feel that way?" (Because you cited examples familiar to the audience) so that we can replicate our success and not constantly reinvent the wheel.
Don't accept divagation ( wondering, wandering ) . Find the true direction. Why not? ■
|
A New Option for LTC Insurance!
Beata Everett is our LTC consultant and advisor.
This month she offers an interesting new product in the ever-changing world of LTC insurance. This is an area that is of increasing interest to our clients as well as their children.
Far too often, people do not think about long-term care insurance until they realize how expensive these services are.
We have very exciting news to share! Two options that used to be very popular but were unavailable for a few years have just been approved in many states including CT, PA, and VA.
NGL National Guardian Life Insurance Company (NGL) has a stand-alone long-term care insurance product (also known as traditional LTCi) that offers both an unlimited duration as well as limited pay options - 10 pay and single pay!
The company is new to selling long-term care insurance although they have been in the insurance industry for over 100 years. A couple of other items I like to point out about the company and their product:
- They are a mutual company which tends to be more consumer friendly as they answer to their policyholders
- Their biggest attraction is the unlimited and limited pay options, they are less competitive with the smaller benefits although they also provide a long duration with their shared options
- They are strict on underwriting and prescreening which can be frustrating but also means they aren't going to approve just anyone which means less claims and in turn less rate increases
- They feel that being new to LTCi is a big advantage from two points. Underwriting used to be looser and pricing was much lower on older policies which now results in many companies needing to file for a lot of rate increases
- Their unlimited benefit duration as well as the paid-up policies are expensive, however, that also means they are using much more accurate data which decreases the chance for future rate increases
If you know of anyone that could benefit from this product or any others that we show and would like to see a comparison, please just contact Beata Everett. ■
Long-Term Planning Associates, LLC
Tel: (203) 331-1818 Ext. 2 | Fax: (866) 297-7758
|
Providers We Love
We are privileged to have received referrals from and be able to coordinate care with many Assisted Living facilities, rehab facilities, and Medicare Home Care and Hospice agencies. Our growth is in large part due to the trust the staff in these organizations have put in our caregivers. We are likewise impressed with them and we are committed to referring to them on a regular basis
Kindred Care at Home / Formerly Gentiva Home Health Care Services Stratford, Old Saybrook,
Hamden, Farmington.
Their services include: Skilled nursing, physical therapy, occupational and speech language therapy Neurorehabilitation, wound care, disease and pain management, medication management and education. They maintain a special expertise in dementia care.
Most of these services can be found in any certified agency. And there are several hundred such agencies in CT. But Kindred/Gentiva distinguishes itself in countless ways:
Professionalism.
Continuity of care.
Communication.
Competence.
Customer Service.
We strongly suggest Kindred Care at Home to our clients in need of Medicare home health. They have long been a referral source of ours. But they now enjoy an endorsement from our company owner, perhaps the most challenging patient they have ever served. Bravo!
|
|
|
About Always There Home Care
Always There Home Care provides compassionate, dependable and professional one-on-one care for seniors who need assistance in the comfort of their homes or residential care communities. Services from highly qualified and trained caregivers range from companionship, meal preparation and incidental transportation to personal care, medication management and RN-directed case management. Available 7 days a week, services range from a few hours a day to 24-hour care.
Always There Home Care understands that every situation is unique and creates individualized care plans to help improve a client's quality of life.
Our Caregivers
Our caregivers are totally committed, highly qualified and carefully selected individuals who are personally and thoroughly screened, bonded and insured. Most are Certified Nurse Assistants or Home Health Aides. Most importantly our caregivers are dependable and extraordinarily caring of others. In addition to their previous experience, our caregivers receive continuous training that includes dementia, hospice care, home safety, nutrition and other topics related to seniors. These highly qualified and trained caregivers are ready to help you and your loved ones with a variety of daily activities such as:
Personal care
/
Meal planning and preparation
Transportation to doctor appointments and other errands
Caring companionship
/ Light housekeeping
Medication reminders /
Information and referral services
Our personalized, nurse- supervised services are available 7 days a week and
can range from a few hours a day to 24 hours and live in care.
For more information or service needs, call 24 hours a day at:
800.348.0485 or visit www.AlwaysThereHomeCare-CT.com.
We are Always There!
 |
|
|
| |
|
