In This Issue
FEATURE ARTICLE: 5 Tips for Awesome Outings When Your Loved One Has Dementia
Thoughts From Alan Weiss On Gratitude in Disaster
Kudos From Kelly
A Hospice Poem For All: Harry, 8/8/17
Children Who Shine From Within
He Said What?? Filthy Comments From Professional Athletes
Providers We Love




Photos in top banner: Luke and Grace (our graphic designer's children) out for a ride!; Ryan & Nora (Regina's grandchildren) showing their love for eachother; Jessica and Bella take NYC!


 




































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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.
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FEATURE ARTICLE:
5 Tips for Awesome Outings 
When Your Loved One Has Dementia 
Dementia By Day: A Blog By Rachael Wonderlin

I spoke to a great family recently. They do a lot of fun things with their mom, who has dementia, and they take her on a lot of outings. Mom always has fun on their outings, but when they get back to the dementia care community to drop her off... everything falls apart. I gave them a few tips to help make their outings more successful: 
  1. Plan to be back before 2:00. In fact, the earlier the better. People with dementia are like Cinderella, but with 12-noon instead of 12-midnight. Many people with dementia sundown in the mid-afternoon, some people even starting at 2:00 or 3:00.
  2. Have a goal in mind. Plan to go out for lunch, and then come back. Plan to have some ice cream out at the mall, and then come back. Don't linger, and instead plan the day and stick to that plan.

  3. Do NOT go to your house. Or your loved one's house. Basically, don't go to anyone's house. It's a reminder to your loved one that they no longer live at home, and that can be really painful.

  4. Do not get back to the dementia community and say, "We're home," or "You live here now." If your loved one is like most people in moderate stages of dementia, this is going to start a fight. They often do not believe that they live there, and you're contradicting what they know to be true.

  5. Get your loved one settled in for lunch or with an activity, and then leave. Do not drop your loved one off at the door and make a break for it! On the other hand, you also don't want to hang out all day after an outing. Find a way to get them involved in something at the care community, and then leave.■


Thoughts From Alan Weiss On Gratitude in Disaster, Achieving Success While Having Fun
 
I wanted to take this moment with you to share my prayers and thoughts for those in Houston, Florida, and elsewhere who are and have been in harm's way because of these tremendous storms. I ask only that you take a minute to reflect on your own blessings, and consider what you may do to help those who so much need our help right now.

I've coached senior executives for a large part of my career. (When you're consulting, you're also coaching, so you might as well get good at it. One of the first questions I always asked was, "Are you having fun?" Usually, their reaction was to fire me until they realized that I had already been paid. They considered "fun" to be antithetical to "work." Yet the happiest people I found in management tended to also be the most effective. Passion, enthusiasm, and zeal-these traits create urgency, resilience, and focus. They also tend to balance life. "Workaholics" are not passionate, they're desperate. They think that constant hard work will create success. It doesn't. Constant smart work creates success.

Don't be afraid of "fun." I find people without a sense of humor to lack perspective and, generally, to have a lower level of intellect. If you're not having fun, you need to make some changes, especially as an entrepreneur. I love what I do. I laugh every day. How about you?

Some of you left the corporate world to go out on your own, and now work for a worse boss. Food for thought. ■

Kudos from Kelly
 KUDOS from Kelly
  By Kelly McNamara 
  
Dawn Reed: Yes, we realize we are being a bit repetitive here. Dawn was only recently recognized in this column for her unique brand of caregiving.  But we feel the need to make an exception this month.

Dawn's expertise lies not only in n her superb direct caregiving of her clients and support to their families. She is also an important and excellent resource for us as an expert in her field, possessing the ability to assess the additional needs of new clients, insuring all their needs are being met. In her brief time on a relief case recently, she expanded the clients' plan of care, organized their environment as well as their everyday care, their daily schedules, and structure.


A Hospice Poem For All: Harry, 8/8/17
 By: Patrice (Patti) Moore   

I have written about the importance of taking a moment and "taking a knee" to acknowledge the human being in our care; of looking beyond the chart, if you will, to honor our common humanity.

It's easy to lose sight of that when care providers are running on empty, overwhelmed and skating on the edge of frustration as so many do. And yet, we too are only human, and some days, that doesn't feel like enough. I'd been thinking a lot about that this past week - and then this poem found its way into my in-box, sent along via a friend. Coincidence? I think not.

It takes the words of someone as thoughtful and caring as Heidi O'Neil to remind us of the profound and - yes - holy nature of what we undertake in caring for the dying, and to remind us how much they give us in the process. They are our teachers.

Every death is different; every death is the same. Sand all looks the same on the beach, but when it's photographed through a microscope, its infinite colors and dazzling variety are revealed. The difference lies only in our ability to see it; the miracle of its beauty was always there. This lovely poem was written by a hospice volunteer who saw past the chart to the humanity of her patient - and who took a knee...


 
Children Who
Shine From Within
 
By: Rachel Macy Stafford

   
"What's your favorite insect?" my seven-year-old daughter asked as we took an evening walk.

"You can't pick butterfly. Everyone picks the butterfly," she quickly added. "I guess mine would have to be a ladybug," I finally answered.

"Mine's a firefly. I love the firefly," she said wistfully.

We kept walking. Talking. Enjoying the rare treat of alone time -j ust my younger daughter and me.

As she looked at me sadly, her previous words echoed in my head.
"Everyone picks the butterfly," she'd pointed out a moment ago.

"You mentioned that you love the firefly," I reminded her.

"Well, I think you're a lot like a firefly. You know why?" I asked.

"Because you shine from within," I said touching my finger to her heart. "Not everybody sees it, but I do. I see it. And my job is to protect that light. So when people say mean comments that squelch that light, I want you to tell me. I will protect your light by listening and loving you, my brave, courageous, and unique little firefly."


  He Said What??  
    Filthy Comments From Professional Athletes

 
  1. New Orleans Saint RB George Rogers when asked about the upcoming season: "I want to rush for 1,000 or 1,500 yards, whichever comes first."
  2. And, upon hearing Joe Jacobi of the 'Skins say: "I'd run over my own mother to win the Super Bowl," Matt Millen of the Raiders said: "To win, I'd run over Joe's Mom, too."
  3. Torrin Polk, University of Houston receiver, on his coach, John Jenkins: "He treats us like men. He lets us wear earrings."
  4. Football commentator and former player Joe Theismann, back in 1996: "Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein."
  5. Senior basketball player at the University of Pittsburgh: "I'm going to graduate on time, no matter how long it takes." (now that is beautiful)
  6. Bill Peterson, a Florida State football coach: "You guys line up alphabetically by height." And, "You guys pair up in groups of three, and then line up in a circle."
  7. Boxing promoter Dan Duva on Mike Tyson going to prison: "Why would anyone expect him to come out smarter? He went to prison for three years, not Princeton."
  8. Stu Grimson, Chicago Blackhawks left wing, explaining why he keeps a color photo of himself above his locker: "That's so when I forget how to spell my name, I can still find my clothes."
  9. Lou Duva, veteran boxing trainer, on the Spartan training regime of heavyweight Andrew Golota: "He's a guy who gets up at six o'clock in the morning regardless of what time it is."
  10. Chuck Nevitt, North Carolina State basketball player, explaining to Coach Jim Valvano why he appeared nervous at practice: "My sister's expecting a baby, and I don't know if I'm going to be an uncle or an aunt."
  11. Frank Layden, Utah Jazz president, on a former player: "I told him, 'Son, what is it with you? Is it ignorance or apathy?' He said, 'Coach, I don't know and I don't care.'" ■

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

Masonicare Home Health and Hospice 
Wallingford, Newtown, East Hartford, New Haven, Mystic 

Masonicare provides comprehensive home health services to support aging gracefully at home. Their range of services includes skilled nursing care, physical and occupational therapy, wound care, telehelath, in home monitoring and complementary therapies. Their hospice program provides comfort to those near end of life allowing them to remain in their homes among family members. Across Connecticut, Masonicare is dedicated to providing excellent and compassionate care in any setting an elderly or disabled person and his/her loved ones call "home," be it a house, apartment, assisted living or nursing home community.

They can be reached at 888-679-9997


 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.

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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.

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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!