Do the seniors in your life follow their doctor's advice at home?

The Phoenix, Arizona Home Instead office had this article posted on their facebook page. I found the article informative and helpful.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/10/when-home-life-trumps-health-care/?smid=tw-nytimeshealth

Seeking an On-Call Staffing Coordinator

We are seeking a part-time On-Call Staffing Coordinator.
Please email your resume to homeinsteadbham@gmail.com.
NO CALLS PLEASE.

Job Title: On-Call Staff Coordinator


Schedule: Part-time Friday 5:00 pm through Monday 7:30 am (on-call for part or all weekend for all hours-24/7), and some week nights, 5pm to 7:30am the next morning


General Purpose:

The On-Call Staff Coordinator is expected to perform a variety of duties in the coordination of scheduling service for clients. The On-Call Staff Coordinator is expected to support CAREGivers and assist clients, in order to provide the highest quality service to clients.

Primary Responsibilities:

The primary responsibility of the On-Call Staff Coordinator is to provide the highest quality of service to clients at all times, according to Home Instead Senior Care standards and policies. The following are the primary functions of this position:

• Answer each incoming call in a friendly, professional, and knowledgeable manner.
• Fill shifts that come open as a result of CAREGiver absence or client requests.
• Field new client inquiries over the phone in a knowledgeable manner.
• Monitor, mediate, and log both client and CAREGiver activity, and follow up on CAREGiver assignments and client service.
• Communicate client and CAREGiver concerns or problems with Staff Coordinator or other staff members as appropriate.
• Complete other duties assigned.

Secondary Responsibilities:

The secondary responsibility of the On-Call Staff Coordinator is to successfully accomplish the following:

• Field employment inquiries from prospective CAREGivers and refer to Human Resources for follow up
• Notify Human Resources of any CAREGiver issues that may require disciplinary action or counseling
• Notify Client Services of any Client complaints or issues that may require follow up

Staffing experience is necessary. Must have 24/7 access to the internet.

CAREGiver of the Year

Congratulations to Eva Richardson ~ 2010 CAREGiver of the Year for our Birmingham office!

We held a little reception for Eva last week. We also invited her clients to come because they are the ones who nominated her. Eva cares for Mr. & Mrs. Bell, and they are very entertaining. Mr. Bell had the Home Instead staffing laughing constantly. We enjoyed hearing stories of when he worked for the post office and rode the train from Birmingham to Atlanta everyday.
We celebrated Eva and constantly bragged on her...she didn't want the credit. Eva wanted the office to take the credit for her being such a great CAREGiver - but we can't. We can't teach or train on what makes Eva such a great CAREGiver - it's the way she truly cares for her clients from the heart.
Close to the end of our celebration Mrs. Bell leaned over to Eva and said (the best she could after a stroke left her speech slurred), "I'm proud of you". It was the sweetest moment and we wish we would have had a video camera to capture it.
THANK YOU EVA & CONGRATULATIONS!

14 years

Happy Birthday to Us! 14 years ago Dan & Andrea Pahos opened the doors of the Birmingham office of Home Instead Senior Care.

14 years later we are still proud to serve the senior population!

Thank you for putting your faith & trust in our service!

The 50-50 Rule

You may not have seen eye-to-eye with your brothers and sisters when you were growing up. Some things, it seems, have not changed. Now that you're caring for elderly parents, the issues of aging could put you at odds with your siblings.

That's why the Home Instead Senior Care^® network developed the 50-50 Rule^SM program.The 50-50 Rule refers to the average age (50) when siblings are caring for their parents as well as the need for brothers and sisters to share the care planning responsibility 50-50.

Research conducted for the organization reveals that an inability to work together often leads to one sibling becoming responsible for the bulk of caregiving in 43 percent of families. And that can result in the deterioration of relationships with brothers and sisters. If you're 50, have siblings and are assisting with the care of seniors, it's time to develop a plan.

The 50-50 Rule public education campaign can help. At the heart of the campaign is a 50-50 Rule guide of family situations that will provide practical advice from an expert to brothers and sisters struggling with any number of topics from trying to divide care and work better as a team to dealing with end-of-life issues.

This program can help you answer such questions as:

• Should you and your sister divide the caregiving load and, if so, what are the best ways to do that?

• Does your brother disagree with your dad's decision to stay home and how can you build consensus? 

• How will you resolve the conflict over family inheritance?

The guide and website, SolvingFamilyConflict.com, will offer a variety of additional tips and resources for siblings, all backed by original company research. We would be happy to share more information about how home care can provide a welcome respite for family caregivers and ease the strain on sibling relationships.

Award - Congratulations Home Instead Senior Care

Home Instead Senior Care has earned a No. 1 ranking in Franchise Business Review’s 2011 FBR50 Franchisee Satisfaction Awards. The company also earned the top award in the senior care category.

The 50-50 Rule

The 50-50 Rule^SM

New Program Helps Siblings Overcome Family Conflict While Caring for Aging Parents

You may not have much in common with your siblings now that you’re grown. But there’s still one thing you share: your mom and dad. A new local program – the 50-50 Rule^SM – offers strategies for overcoming sibling differences to help families provide the best care for elderly parents.

“Any family that has cared for a senior loved one knows that problems working with siblings can lead to family strife,” said Dan Pahos, owner of the Home Instead Senior Care office serving Birmingham and surrounding areas. “Making decisions together, dividing the workload and teamwork are the keys to overcoming family conflict.”

The 50-50 Rule refers to the average age (50) when siblings are caring for their parents as well as the need for brothers and sisters to share in the plans for care 50-50. Research conducted for the Home Instead Senior Care^® network reveals that an inability to work together often leads to one sibling becoming responsible for the bulk of caregiving in 43 percent of families. And that can result in the deterioration of relationships with brothers and sisters.

“If you’re 50, have siblings and are assisting with the care of seniors, it’s time to develop a plan,” Pahos said. “This program can help.”

At the core of the 50-50 Rule public education program is a family relationship and communication guide of real-life situations that features practical advice from sibling relationships expert Dr. Ingrid Connidis from the University of Western Ontario.

“Like all relationships, siblings have a history,” Connidis noted. “Whatever happened in the past influences what happens in the present. Regardless of their circumstances, most siblings do feel a responsibility to care for parents that is built from love. And that’s a good place to start – optimistically and assuming the best.”

For more information about this free guide and other resources call 205-822-1915 or visit www.solvingfamilyconflict.com.

PLEASE JOIN US AT HOME INSTEAD SENIOR CARE FOR A CONTINUING EDUCATION OPPORTUNITY

Heart Health: The Importance of Taking Care of your Heart and Legs
Presented by: Rachel Wilkinson, CRNP
WHERE? Home Instead Senior Care
WHEN? February 23, 2011
9:00-10:00 a.m. or 2:00-3:00 p.m.

Rachel has a Masters Degree in Nursing from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is currently working at Birmingham Heart Clinic as an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner.

This event is open to all Home Instead Senior Care CAREGivers, Home Instead Senior Care Clients, and anyone in the community who can benefit from this valuable information.

Nursing and Social Work CEU’s WILL BE PROVIDED

2059 Columbiana Road
Birmingham, AL 35216
Please RSVP: kcochran@homeinstead.com

CONTINUING EDUCATION PROGRAM TOMORROW!

Continuing Education

Good Grief: Coping with Loss
1 Nursing & .75 Social Work Contact Hour
Course level appropriate for entry, intermediate and advanced level social workers and nurses
Nurses and Social Workers must provide license numbers in order to receive credit.
This program is provided Free of charge for medical professionals

January 21, 2011
9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
or
2:00 p.m. - 3:00p.m

Objectives: By the end of this program participants will be able to:

1. Describe the stages of dying
2. Identify ways to process grief
3. Recognize the Seven Fears of Dying
4. Facilitate emotional support for patients and families


Speaker:
Mylesa Weatherford, LCSW, PIP
Bereavement Coordinator Comfort Care Hospice

Mylesa graduated from Birmingham-Southern College with a Bachelors degree in Psychology and Religion and then the University of Alabama with a Masters of Social Work with a concentration in Mental Health. She has experience in child welfare, mental health, and medical social work. Her interests include individual and group counseling, crisis intervention, and community mental health education. She currently serves as the Bereavement Coordinator for Comfort Care Hospice of Pelham.


For more information contact or to RSVP ~ kcochran@homeinstead.com

Home Instead Senior Care
2059 Columbiana Road
Suite 105
Birmingham, AL 35216
(205) 822.1915

Elderly Patients Who Get on Feet Leave Hospital Sooner

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 15 (HealthDay News) -- Elderly hospital patients who get back on their feet as quickly as possible spend less time in the hospital than those who remain in bed, finds a new study.

The research team studied 162 hospitalized patients over age 65 who each had a step activity monitor attached to one of their ankles. The small electronic device counted every step the patients took, explained the researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston.

The monitors showed that even short walks around the hospital unit were beneficial.
"Using these monitors, we were able to see a correlation between even relatively small amounts of increased mobility and shorter lengths of stay in the hospital. We still found this effect after we used a statistical model to adjust for the differing severities of the patients' illnesses," lead author and assistant professor Steve Fisher said in a UTMB news release.

The study was published in a recent issue of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine.

Patients with orthopedic or neurological conditions are encouraged to get back on their feet as soon as possible, but no such "standard of care" currently exists for elderly hospital patients with acute conditions, the researchers noted.

The authors pointed out that their study could be a first step toward that goal and may also lead to other improvements in the care of elderly hospital patients.

"Mobility is a key measure in older people's independence and quality of life generally, and this study suggests that's also true in the hospital setting," Fisher said.

"When we hospitalize elderly people, we set up a paradoxical situation," he explained. "You can have a positive outcome of the acute problem that brought them there, but still have negative consequences as a result of extended immobility."

More information
The AGS Foundation for Health in Aging has more about older adults and hospitalization.

-- Robert Preidt

SOURCE: University of Texas Medical Branch, news release, Dec. 10, 2010

Be A Santa to A Senior a HUGE SUCCESS!

709 bags were requested this year! 639 bags were donated to our office. The rest we purchased with cash donations we received from the community!

Here is our Director of Marketing & Sales showing our wonderful FILLED bags!

This was our favorite bag! Isn't it cute!?!

Celiac disease cases on the rise

Researchers working to solve the puzzle of when people develop celiac disease have uncovered some surprising findings – the number of celiac cases is on the rise, particularly in the elderly. According to University of Maryland School of Medicine researchers, the incidence of the disease has doubled every 15 years in the U.S. since 1974. Using blood samples from more than 3,500 adults, they found the number of people with blood markers for celiac disease increased steadily from one in 501 in 1974 to one in 219 in 1989. In 2003, a study by the university’s Center for Celiac Research put the number of people with celiac disease at one in 133. As people in the study aged, the incidence of celiac disease rose, echoing the findings of a 2008 Finnish study that found the prevalence of celiac disease in the elderly to be nearly two-and-a-half times higher than in the general population. “You’re never too old to develop celiac disease,” says Alessio Fasano, M.D., director of the university’s Center for Celiac Research.  Celiac disease is triggered by consuming gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. Classic symptoms include diarrhea, intestinal bloating and stomach cramps. Left untreated, it can lead to the malabsorption of nutrients, damage to the small intestine and other medical complications. “You’re not necessarily born with celiac disease,” says Carlos Catassi, M.D., of the Universita Politecnica delle Marche in Italy, lead author of the paper and co-director of the Center for Celiac Research. “Our findings show that some people develop celiac disease quite late in life.” He urges physicians to consider screening their elderly patients. If individuals can tolerate gluten for many decades before developing celiac disease, some environmental factor or factors other than gluten must be in play, Fasano says. Identifying and manipulating those factors could lead to novel treatment and possible prevention of celiac disease and other autoimmune disorders, he said. Our CAREGivers can help seniors with special nutritional needs and accompany them to doctor appointments.We also have Cooking Under Pressure public education campaign, which focuses on providing education and support to seniors and their family members who sometimes are stressed by the demands of caregiving.

Megan on the air...

Megan, our Community Services Representative, is below on the air with NBC 13's Bettina Boating!
Great job Megan!

Be A Santa to A Senior off to a Great Start!

We are off to a great start with our Be A Santa to A Senior Program! Thanks to all the media response we have had a lot of calls - people telling us they want to help!

Please call us at 822-1915 if you have any questions.
Otherwise, please drop off your bag of goodies to:
2059 Columbiana Road
Suite 105
Birmingham, AL 35216
BY DECEMBER 8, 2010

A Client Letter

Every once and a while I get something across my desk that makes me "toot our own horn".

A letter, written by a client's daughter came across my desk last week. Her father passed away at the end of July and she put her thoughts in a sweet note to our staff Jennifer.

August 31, 2010
Dear Jennifer, {Jennifer is our nurse}
As you no doubt know by now, my father, **, passed away in July.
I will never forget the kind and patient manner in which you work with our family (a year ago this week) at the kitchen table of my parents' home. That was a hard day for them; they had to make arrangements for things they never anticipated, and they needed to do it quickly. Given that, I can't imagine anyone better suited for working with them at that point than you.
Thanks so much for all the great care you and your team provided; may each of you be blessed abundantly by our good Lord in return.
Sincerely,
**

I gave this note back to Jennifer so that she is reminded of how important her job is and what a great job she does for us!