Photos in top banner: Reading time for Zöe, Charlotte and Billy (Regina's nephew) ; Ryan in his birthday shirt..Thanks to caregiver Wendy and her screen printing talents! ; Tom (Regina's husband) with his grand daughter Nora
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Photos: 1. Josiah, 4 mos old, off to Jamaica with family for holiday. (Son of Shelly Ann Daley-Kerr, and husband);
2. Kelly McNamara, Christian and his dad Ray; 3. Ryan and Nora McNamara (Regina's grandchildren); 4. Nora (Regina's grand daughter) meeting Max, Kelly's dog; 5. Luke Dolan (our graphic designer's son) trying out his new car; 6. Kelly, Bonnie and Rosemarie (Bonnie's mom); 7. Mary Dolan (our graphic designer) and her extended family on Christmas;8. Grace Dolan (our graphic designer's daughter) is starting to learn how to play piano!; 9. Our friend Gloria and her "almost real "cat; 10. Emma Krumenacker (our web guru's daughter) meeting Santa; 11. Zöe (Regina's grandniece) opening her gifts.
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Regina McNamara RN, MSN President &
Kelly McNamara, Chief Operating Officer
Please accept our humble apology for the tardiness of this month's e-Newsletter.
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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Also, see our beautiful new video,
here
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Our Very Best Gift of the Year
By Regina McNamara
For our company, 2016 was a challenging year. Many of us sustained deaths among our family members and friends. The regulatory burdens on all of us in this industry added unnecessary stress.
But in the midst of these troubles comes a moment when we stop and remember why we are in tins business, which brings us so much joy every day.
One of our memorable clients, Al Nixon, expressed this beautifully. The best way to begin the New Year is to share it with all the people who contributed their caring talents to our company this year.
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Regina,
I can't thank you and your staff enough for the excellent care you provided to my wife Eileen over the last 1½ years, as she battled the rare atypical Parkinson's Disease (PSP) I'd like to highlight several areas that were especially noteworthy:
- The home health care aides we had were wonderful. As you told me at the beginning of our journey together, "All of our aides are competent but it is the Chemistry between the aide and the family and patient that matters most", and how true this was.
Often friends and family would comment on how fortunate Eileen was to have the aides she did, and I would correct them and tell them how fortunate I was too! This horrible disease robbed Eileen of her ability to speak the last 10 months of her life and her limited dexterity did not allow her to use other communication devices either. This deterred none of our aides and they provided great conversation, laughs for both Eileen and me, and always had her participate in talks we had. Each of our aides had a wonderful personality and became a part of our family.
- Regarding "Chemistry", despite your best efforts not every aide you sent to us had that attribute. You told me if this was the case, I needed to let you ASAP and when I did, you always changed aides immediately, no questions asked. The replacement was always better than the prior aide.
- Another attribute of our aides was - each of them made Eileen feel special. They constantly made sure she had her makeup right, they let her select her clothes each day, and also had her wear her favorite jewelry even if we were not going out. They also took a personal interest in her well being, and often at the many doctor's appointments she had, the aide would make very constructive comments and observations to assist the doctor in his or her diagnosis.
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THE HOLIDAY ANGELS
Dawn Reed, Luenda Julian, Priscilla Franco, Lena Cave
It can be a serious challenge to staff a case during the holidays. As much as our staff are dedicated to their clients, they all need time with family and friends over the holidays.
This challenge is heightened when a late stage hospice client is in need along with his wife and daughter who deserved a great deal of support. Add to that equation the need to staff on very short notice ("Can your people start today?") And the most important aspect.... These caregivers needed to be special; they were caring for someone in his final weeks.
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5 Realistic New
Year's Resolutions
These health-related goals are easy to achieve and can be added to your daily routine with minimal effort.
- Start walking.
- Get more sleep.
- Cook a new healthy recipe once a month.
- Keep in touch with friends and family.
- Start saying no.
From Care Zone ■
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Long Term Care Insurance
by: Betta Everett
We have long recommended Genworth as a solid long-term care policy. There is now a pending acquisition of Genworth by a Chinese company.
Genworth Going Private
China Oceanwide, a privately family owned, well-
established company, is seeking to acquire Genworth. They have over 10,000 employees globally and own over 100 subsidiaries. They say LTCi and mortgages are their top priority and that taking Genworth private will allow them to focus on their priorities. Genworth has stated that nothing changes for their policyholders as benefits and policies remain the same. When speaking to the CT insurance department, they confirmed they will continue to look at rate filings the same whether Genworth is acquired or not. In addition, Genworth will be moving additional money over to their LTC claims reserve, The buy-out still has to be approved by Genworth's shareholders and we're happy to update you with new information as it is released.
Long-Term Planning Associates, LLC
Tel: (203) 331-1818 Ext. 2 | Fax: (866) 297-7758
BEverett@LTPlan.com
| www.LTPLAN.com
To read a recently released article about this, see
wardgleckman/2016/10/27/long-term-care-insurance-giant-genworth-takes-another-charge-plans-to-go-private/#62ca69177b6f ■
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Save a Friend, Family
Member or Stranger
From a Stroke!
Now a fourth indicator, the tongue.
During a barbecue, a woman stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) ...she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.
They cleaned her up and brought her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Jane went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.
Jane's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital and at 6:00 PM Jane passed away. She had suffered a stroke at the barbecue. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Jane would be with her friends and family today.
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Alan Weiss on Techniques for
Balance in the New Year
- Endure your pain, but limit your suffering.
- Listen. It's hard to learn when you're speaking.
- The really good deed is the one for which you expect no thanks.
- It snows in the winter in the north, always has. It's more effective to prepare for it than to whine about it.
- A smile to a harried worker is often a quick gift.
- If you want to influence someone, articulate what's in it for them.
- Companies owe employees positive conditions and support, but employees owe that company their best efforts, as well.
- You're simply burning money if you don't follow up on money owed to you and overdue.
- If you don't enjoy throwing snowballs, you've lost your inner child.
- Don't get drunk on New Year's Eve, which is for amateurs-get happy about your life. ■
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Where's My Wife?
Dementia By Day:
A Blog By Rachael Wonderlin
Arnold was very easy to talk to. He was friendly, had a good sense of humor, and liked to sing along with the music coming over the radio. Arnold, overall, was pretty "with it" for someone with moderate Alzheimer's.
That's why I was surprised when he wheeled past me and asked, "Have you seen my wife?"
I knew that his wife had passed away years before.
"I don't know," I responded. "What is your wife's name?"
"Marie," he answered, smiling. "She was here just a minute ago, but she went to the restroom and I haven't seen her since! We have to get ready to leave soon."
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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
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.
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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
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
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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!
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