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Testimonial of
the Month:
We cannot express how much caregiver Antoinette's care and presence meant to our family during her sad but special time with our mother. She tirelessly cared for her and was such a comfort to all of us. We will proudly sing the praises of your company anytime!!!
Thank you to the Gibson family for allowing us to help. Consider the praises sung!
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Join Our List
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Greetings!
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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 As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
~ Regina, Kelly, Valerie, Casey and Penny,
and all of us at
Always There Home Care
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 Featured Article:
The Alzheimer's Bullet
Alzhimer's Reading Room By Bob DeMarco
Soon their will be two kinds of people. A person that has Alzheimer's; or, a person that knows someone that has Alzheimer's.
A 65 year old baby boomer has a one in eight chance of suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Look around. How many people do you know that are 65 or older?
The odds of suffering from Alzheimer's disease increases each year until age 85 when it rises to about 42 percent. Imagine, almost one out of every two baby boomer's age 85 or older can expect to suffer from Alzheimer's disease.
When Alzheimer's disease strikes the entire family suffers. Alzheimer's disease is hard to understand, hard to comprehend. As a result, it is not unusual for family member to deny it's existence. This leads to additional heartache and sometimes leads to the disintegration of family units. A large fraction of Alzheimer's caregivers say they are not being helped by family members, and they often feel abandoned.
Alzheimer's is a sinister disease.
Many of the children of Baby Boomers can expect to suffer right along with the person suffering from Alzheimer's. Families might start considering what they are going to do if Alzheimer's strikes. Or, they can stick their head in the sand.
The oldest of the baby boomer's is 65 right now. Ten thousand Baby Boomers are turning 65 each day. The Alzheimer's tsunami starts in 2015. Some
call it the tipping point.
Read full article...
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Announcing the Debut of
Grace Ann Dolan
Producing our monthly newsletter is a real
team effort. We are fortunate to have
Valerie Cipriano, a professional photographer,
on staff, and sources of great content.
But this month we pay special tribute
to our extraordinary graphic designer,
Mary Dolan, who expertly assembles
our newsletter, on deadline and perfect.
She will be taking a few months off to
nest with her new assistant, her beautiful
and healthy first child, Grace. We are
grateful that her talented colleague
Jessica Krumenacker will be helping out
during her leave. Congratulations to
Mary and her husband, Matt.
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Avoiding Elder Financial Abuse Actor Mickey Rooney recently testified in Washington that he has been a victim of elder abuse, putting him among some 2.1 million aging Americans who each year suffer some form of financial, physical, psychological or other abuse, according to the American Psychological Association. Mickey Rooney's experience highlights a rising problem in a graying nation - and it shows that elder abuse is not limited by location, status or wealth. The elderly should take these precautionary steps: - Subscribe to national and state DO NOT CALL lists.
- Keep social security cards in a safe place.
- Avoid giving personal information over the phone.
- Delete unsolicited emails that request personal information or money.
- Do not open doors to strangers.
- Remove mail promptly from the mailbox.
- Review bills and bank statements promptly for accuracy.
- Shred all confidential and financial information prior
to discarding. - Make a copy of all items in their wallets and keep it in a safe place.
Families of the elderly should take these precautionary steps: - Beware of a new trusted friend. Do Mom and Dad have a neighbor, caregiver, sibling or other outsider who is suddenly their best friend running errands, going to the bank or generally being around when they were not in your parents' past at all?This can be a warning sign that someone is taking advantage.
- Watch for unusual account activity. Review your parents' bank and investment statements for excess activity at the ATM, excessive trading in the brokerage account, many cash withdrawals or other suspicious activity. To prevent elder financial abuse, also watch out for someone becoming a joint account holder for your parents' "convenience."
Read full article...
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"When you love someone,
all your saved-up wishes start coming out."
~ Elizabeth Bowen
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The Importance of a Good
Night's Sleep
Many seniors deal with a number of health problems related to aging-one in particular is not getting enough healthy sleep. Older adults who don't sleep well are more likely to suffer from depression, attention and memory problems, and excessive daytime sleepiness. They're also likely to suffer more nighttime falls, have increased sensitivity to pain, and use more prescription or over-the-counter sleep aids.
Some changes in your sleep are natural as you age. Your body produces lower levels of growth hormone, so you'll likely experience a decrease in deep sleep, and less melatonin often means more rapid sleep cycles and more awakenings between cycles. As your circadian changes, you may also find yourself wanting to go to sleep earlier in the evening and waking up earlier in the morning.If you don't adjust your bedtimes to these changes, you may find that you have difficulty falling and staying asleep.
What's Keeping You Awake at Night?
Many seniors have problems sleeping because of health conditions. Some common issues that can prevent you from getting healthy sleep include:
- Side effects of prescription medications
- Chronic pain, often from healthconditions like arthritis
- Depression or other psychological stress
- Alcohol or Caffeine consumption
- Lack of exercise
- Sleep disorders such as restless leg syndrom and Sleep Apnea (Snoring)
- Frequent urination during the night
Read full article...
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"Utility is when you have one telephone, luxury is when you have two, opulence is
when you have three - and paradise is
when you have none." ~ Doug Larson
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KUDOS from Kelly
By Kelly McNamara
Antoinette Kahlia
At the risk of embarrassing Antoinette for mentioning her so often in this column, we once again need to recognize her special gifts. It is always an honor to care for hospice clients and to support their families. Antoinette's special brand of caring, concern, humor and ability to provide comfort, brought enormous relief to E G and her family. From caring for the client's
cat, Reggie to spending time with E's wonderful family members Antoinette became, for the duration of her care time, a member of their family. We cannot thank her enough.
Dawn Reed
Dawn has many talents, but recently she added sleuth to her many skills. MT, a long term and much beloved client, had regular phone conversations with her niece that were very special times to which she looked forward every week or so. Then suddenly the calls stopped. Dawn noticed she had not spoken much about her niece and MT explained that the calls had stopped. After a series of phone calls and inquiries, Dawn was able to locate MT's neice at Miller Memorial. MT was overjoyed since she was now able to visit her on a regular basis. Thanks Dawn for bringing a bit of sunshine into MT's life!
Samaria Abena Oware
A new employee, asked to help out with a short term live in assignment while we replaced a long term live in caregiver, Samaria jumped in with both feet. She enthusiastically cared for the clients, H and E N. She not only followed the care plan but took the care much further and added her own special touches. Her performance went above and beyond the call of duty when, for several days during the storm, she cooked wonderful meals outside on the couple's deck where she also stored food to keep it from spoiling. Samaria will be starting nursing school soon and we could not be prouder. She is a wonderful caregiver and will be a great nurse. We are so glad she's part of our team!
All Kudos caregivers will receive a gift card and our gratitude. Many many thanks to all of you for once again extending yourselves to ensure that we are of course.... Always There..!!
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"Love me when I least deserve it, because that's when I really need it."
~ Swedish Proverb
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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
Arbor Rose, Assisted Living, New Britain Long a favorite facility of ours, Arbor Rose boasts a wonderful and caring group of staff, activity folks who keep life interesting for residents and a very welcoming environment for our pet therapy program. Our caregivers who are providing service for some residents at Arbor Rose have determined that Arbor Rose serves the best food and has the friendliest and most attentive dining staff of any facility in which they've worked. High praise indeed! Thanks to our colleagues at Arbor Rose for their continued support and trust in our caregivers. It is always a pleasure to work with all of you!
Seabury Active Living Retirement
Community, Bloomfield
One of Connecticut's first retirement communities, Seabury has grown impressively from its original facility. The sprawling campus now boasts several individual residences, from apartments to substantial single homes. Their memory care unit is superb. The surroundings provide lovely views in all seasons. An immense fitness facility, including a large pool promotes continued fitness of older adults. Seabury boasts an outstanding 85% participation of its residents in the fitness facility. Seabury also has an innovative Life Care program and Seabury at Home service. Their home care program provides both Medicare as well as home private duty services for the community and the surrounding area. It is a privilege to work in co-operation with them.
Vitas Hospice, Waterbury, Fairfield, Hartford
We are always proud to refer our clients to Vitas Hospice. Their beautiful new acute care inpatient unit at St Mary's is just another reason to refer folks there who are struggling with their family members care under hospice. Vitas has distinguished itself on its response time, its amazing and unique Veterans program and its commitment to continuous care when clients are actively dying or need short-term symptom management. The vast majority of people have
expressed their desire to end their lives at home in peace and comfort. Vitas excels in this area. We are proud to be
a referral partner.
Read full article...
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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 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 hour and live in care.
For more information or service needs, call 24 hours a day at: 203-879-6675
or visit www.AlwaysThereHomeCare-CT.com
We are Always There! |
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