Full Circle
Circle Center's E-Newsletter
"My mother always said the older you get the better you get –
unless you’re a banana."
-Betty White
We can hardly believe that it is 2022. Certainly none of us expected to still be navigating through a pandemic that began in early 2020 at this point, but that is where we find ourselves. However, the New Year always brings an opportunity to refresh, refocus and reflect, and that is certainly how we are approaching 2022. 
 
We've been compiling the results of our caregiver survey, and that always reminds us to focus on the work that we do and the impact that it has on the participants, families and caregivers that we serve. We are happy to share some of those results with you in this edition.

We are also happy to bring more news and updates from our Center, as we continue to innovate and work with community partners to bring the best resources, programs and services to our participants. Resources like Genesis Rehab, who now offer on-site Physical Therapy, Speech Therapy, and Occupational Therapy.
Survey Says
We conduct an annual caregiver survey in order to offer our caregivers an opportunity to provide feedback and for us to modify and adjust our programs and services to best meet the evolving needs of our participants, families and community.

The results of the survey also provide an opportunity for us to see a bigger picture of the needs and challenges of the people we serve, and to adjust our services to meet their changing needs and challenges. We also learn more about our caregivers and explore the challenges they face and the myriad of reasons that make Circle Center an essential service in our community.


We see how we directly impact the lives of our participants, and our caregivers. We share a few statistics with you below, and we look forward to sharing even more with you in the coming months:

  • 95% of caregivers who responded reported that Circle Center has improved the fulfillment of their loved one's (participant) social, emotional and physical needs
  • 97.5% of caregivers reported that Circle Center has had a positive impact on their stress level regarding caregiving

Person Centered Care in Action
Person Centered Care is truly the cornerstone of our approach, and something that you will hear us talk about often, and for good reason. We are always learning about our participants and finding ways to draw connections to their interests and talents, both professionally and personally, through their Personal Care Plans of individualized activities and programs while here at the Center.

Ed, who enjoyed a long career as a chiropractor, certainly understands the important role that whole person care plays, so when he began with us in July we wanted to find ways to incorporate that in his Personal Care Plan. Fortunately, when Genesis Rehab started on-site services (see below), we knew Ed would be a perfect candidate.

Not only did he share an appreciation of holistic care and the role that therapeutic intervention can play in a person's overall well-being, but as someone with a diagnosis of Parkinson's Disease, we recognized that his needs and his understanding of therapeutic resources would make him an excellent candidate for working with Genesis.

Ed has since begun weekly physical and speech therapy sessions with Kristin, one of the Genesis therapists, and enjoys "talking shop" with her. Engaging him on this level has sparked his interest and he has enjoyed learning about this avenue of therapy. Ed's wife has shared that he is talking more at home and is generally more engaged and connected with her.

These Full Circle benefits are daily reminders of how important person centered care is, and the range of benefits experienced by our participants, and their families and care partners, when we find ways to engage with them and their individual interests.
Genesis Rehab Offering On-Site Resources
We are always looking for partnerships that will allow us to offer innovative opportunities for our participants and caregivers that enhance their lives. While the pandemic has shifted almost every aspect of our day to day operations, we were still working behind the scenes to continue to provide our signature best in class care.

Genesis Rehab officially moved in to Circle Center on November 1st and offers us an opportunity to continue to offer the best in care to those we serve. Genesis Rehab is currently working only with Circle Center participants, like Ed who we highlighted above, offering on-site Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy. Beth Travis and Kristin Rosato provide daily support to Center participants and are now working with 10 participants, and, as with Ed, we can already see the benefits. 


LSVT Big & Loud®, is a targeted therapy for those living with Parkinson's Disease, to alleviate or slow some of the side effects related to speech and movement and help to maintain a better quality of life. Genesis Rehab employs this specific therapy with our participants, like Ed, with great success, and other specialized therapies depending on the participant's specific diagnoses, challenges and needs.

We are thrilled to be partnering with Genesis. By virtue of being within our Center it therefore eases the challenges of transportation on our caregivers, and allows for the initial comfort of our participants as they are in a familiar and known setting. This contributes to an easier transition to a therapeutic setting where we won't encounter as much hesitancy or anxiety.
Ed and Kristin, one of the Genesis therapists, working through some of the
LSVT Big & Loud® movements and Ed sharing a moment with Beth from Genesis.
Wish List
As our daily census grows our needs continue to grow as well. We are still maintaining distance in our program areas and requiring that each participant has their own program and activity supplies as Covid mitigation policies. Naturally, this has increased the gap between the actual cost of our program expenses and our daily rate or reimbursement.

To ease the strain on our program budgets we have assembled a wish-list of items that reflect our most needed items for programs and activities. Thank you for everyone who continues to support us in this meaningful way. While many are just the cost of your daily cup of coffee, they make a huge difference for us! Thank you for helping us clear these wish-lists, which can be ordered directly from our Amazon wish-list, or simply use this as a reference the next time you are out stocking up on essentials for your family.
We need your input!
What started as a way to communicate with all of you during the pandemic, Full Circle has become our primary means of communicating information and Center news. We hope to continue to find ways to improve and ensure that we are covering the news and topics that you want to hear about. As we continue to shift to a primarily online forum, through Full Circle and FaceBook, please help us by filling out this short survey to let us know what you would like to hear about. It will only take a minute! Thank you for your feedback!
Circle Center Welcomes!
Welcome Tynesha, who recently joined our team as a CNA. Tynesha has quickly proven herself to be adept at noticing little changes in the conditions or behaviors of our participant's and offering thoughtful and timely solutions. We are happy to welcome Tynesha and her consistent care and creative thinking to the team!
Welcome Students!
Having students on site has always been an important part of our program and community outreach. Our participants love having them on site and so do our staff, as they help with programming and learn essential hands-on training and experience.

While we had to pause our student program during the height of the pandemic, we have been able to slowly resume this program and are happy to welcome 3 students who will serve their spring term with us.

McKenzie Ahmadi, our Social Work student from VCU, will work with Jay while
our Program welcomes two Recreational Therapy students, Lauren Leithiser from Longwood University and Cherayna Thompson from Old Dominion University.

One of our students, Cherayna, even has a special Full Circle Connection to us, as her mother is a member of Zeta Phi Beta, longtime supporters and friends of Circle Center (and recognizable as our lovely ladies in blue who visit us each month with special notes and treats)!
From left, we welcome Lauren, McKenzie and Cherayna!
Thank you for your support!
Your support has allowed us to continue to serve our community, and support our participants and caregivers throughout the pandemic. Thank you.