In This Issue

FEATURED ARTICLE: The Best Alzheimer's Caregiver Tool

Liz turns 100!

Alan Weiss on Health Care Bureaucracy

Senior Smartphone Adventures

The Powers and Responsibilities of Representative Payees

Adventures in Genealogy

Kudos From Kelly

Providers We Love

Photos in top banner:

Lillian Krumenacker cat walking;

Nijhea taking a selfie;

Grace Dolan having a tea party;

Docia Apphia welcomed her first

child, Nana Akua Mensah, a

beautiful girl on April 30.

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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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Featured Article:
Discussing Alzheimer's on the des Champs-Élysées

By Bob DeMarco - Alzheimer's Reading Room.

Here I am walking along the des Champs-Élysées with my new friend Charlotte on a beautiful sunny day.

Charlotte is finally getting some respite after caring for her mother who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's more than a year ago. Charlotte lives with Alzheimer's.

For my part, I would prefer to discuss the French women and the sights, but Charlotte needs to vent and she wants to learn more about how to deal effectively with a person that has Alzheimer's disease.

At first I listen. Charlotte is distraught because she just can't seem to reason with her mother. The harder she tries the worse things get. Why can't her mother understand that she just asked her what day it is? Maybe 10 times.

Read the full article

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Maya Angelou

April 4, 1928 to May 28, 2014

Prolific author, poet, dancer, and singer, actor, journalist, humanitarian, screenwriter, organizer, activist. Friend to Martin Luther King Jr., Billy Holiday, James Baldwin, Malcolm X, Hillary and Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey James Earl Jones and hundreds of others whose lives she touched.

Her son, Guy Johnson, said Angelou's last decade was filled with pain - the toll of her career as a professional dancer and respiratory failure. She was bound to a wheelchair and oxygen tanks. Still, she was able to write four more books, had all of her mental faculties, and died quietly in her sleep.

"There is no mourning here," he said. Indeed. Only celebration of an amazing life and enormous contributions to all. ■

Congratulations to the
Nursing grads Class of 2014!!

By Regina McNamara RN, MSN, MPH
Owner, Always There Hone Care

"My number one goal is that my patients feel heard and supported in spite of a world where sometimes, we aren't." ~ Katherine Neiland

Graduate Yale School of Nursing, Masters/Nurse Practitioner. Katherine is about to begin her fellowship at The VA hospital l in New Haven.

Yale, I am proud to say, is my Alma Mater. We offer our sincere congratulations to Katherine and her colleagues at Yale and to all the 2014 graduates of nursing programs.

We are proud to count many nursing students among our group of caregivers. To all of you who juggle the many demands of family, work and school, keep up the great work!! ■

The Powers and Responsibilities

of Representative Payees

How Do I manage another person's social security payments?

Do you have a friend or loved one who receives Social Security and is unable to manage her payments? If so, you can request that the Social Security Administration (SSA), the government agency that disburses Social Security, name you as the representative payee for that person.

Being a representative payee gives you the power and the responsibility to manage that money for your friend or loved one. (The Office of Personnel Management and the Railroad Retirement Agency also appoint representative payees and the responsibilities are basically the same.)?

Read Full Article

Adventures in Genealogy

Finding Treasures in Your Family's History

There's a bonanza on the Internet for those searching for their family roots. A click of a mouse can take you back in time by hundreds of years in a matter of minutes via websites designed to help you hunt down your past. Though some sites charge a fee, some of the best are free. If you don't get a match right away, don't give up. Try spelling your ancestor's last name different ways if you come up with a blank, because errors are rampant throughout historical records.

Read Full Article

KUDOS from Kelly

by Kelly McNamara

Sameda (Angie) Amegashi: Angie has only been with us a few months but has already endeared herself to our clients and all of us as well.

Shortly after her hire and her excellent recommendation by her colleague Mary Sanders, Angie was placed on a relief assignment with a very special client who required complex care. After a brief orientation, she hit the ground running. (Read more about Angie)

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...!!

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

Weatherby and Associates, PC,

Bloomfield, CT North Haven, New London, and Stamford

Specializing in comprehensive elder care services.

The attorneys at Weatherby & Associates, PC have a unique approach that goes above and beyond what most people expect from a law firm. Their goal is to help their clients live as well as possible, as long as possible, and as much as possible where they want. They establish long-term relationships with their clients and their clients' families so they can maximize their resources and deal with the inevitable changes in their life circumstances.

Continue reading about Weatherby and all our providers here

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 hour 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!