Help those with Alzheimer’s to enjoy summer safely by planning ahead

Summer is upon us and as the weather warms up, families increase their activity both indoors and out. If you are a family facing Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, you don’t have to stop participating in meaningful summer activities — but you should plan ahead to ensure safety and enjoyment for everyone.

June is National Safety Month and for families living with Alzheimer’s, the need for a comprehensive safety plan is essential. Even in the early stage of the disease, a person’s needs and abilities will change, including the ability to stay safe. Friends, family members and caregivers can help by planning ahead for potential risks and taking proactive steps to avoid unnecessary injury.

Take these steps to help you prepare for summer:

• Create a plan to meet your needs. Families who are unsure of potential safety issues should visit the Alzheimer’s Association Alzheimer’s Navigator^TM, an interactive online tool that asks a series of questions in order to deliver a customized action plan. Visit alz.org/alzheimersnavigator to learn more.

• Evaluate your environment. Identify possible areas of danger in the home or outdoors that could cause injury to the person living with the disease. For instance, a frequent symptom of dementia is difficulty understanding visual images and spatial relationships, making it easier for the person with the disease to fall or trip. Remove rugs and place loose objects on shelves to eliminate them as a potential hazard.

• Reduce the risk of wandering. Anyone who has memory problems is at risk for wandering. Even in the early stage of dementia, a person can become disoriented in a familiar place. Enroll the person with dementia in MedicAlert^® + Alzheimer’s Association Safe Return^®, a 24-hour nationwide emergency response service for individuals with Alzheimer’s or a related dementia who wander or have a medical emergency.

You may also want to consider Alzheimer’s Association Comfort Zone^®, a Web-based service powered by Omnilink that allows family members to monitor a person’s location while the individual with Alzheimer’s maintains their independence. To learn more about these services, visit alz.org/safetycenter.

Simple adjustments and precautions to improve safety can prevent injuries, help a person with dementia feel more relaxed and maintain his or her independence longer. For more tips on safety, including disaster preparedness and traveling, visit the Alzheimer’s Association Safety Center at alz.org/safetycenter or call 800.272.3900 to find the Alzheimer’s Association chapter nearest to you.

Help for the working, care-giving mother

A new poll, commissioned by Workplace Options© in conjunction with the Alzheimer’s Association®, shows that more than one in seven American workers (15 percent) are active or former caregivers for someone with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia. Among those, fewer than half (47 percent) were able to maintain employment while providing care.

The national poll [
http://www.workplaceoptions.com/pdf/polls/AlzheimersSurveyResults.pdf
] also provides updated information regarding the strain that caregiving puts on individuals and families from an emotional and financial perspective including:

• 69 percent of caregivers said that caring for someone with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia strained their family finances.
• 90 percent characterized their caregiving as emotionally stressful.

According to additional statistics, 62 percent of caregivers for those affected by Alzheimer’s disease or dementia are women. Caregiving by itself is a difficult task but between balancing family, career and now, more often, their parents, the average caregiver can begin to feel overwhelmed and be unsure of where to turn.

In the last few years, a new generation of caregiver has emerged, creating the “Sandwich Generation”. This term is coined by those who are caring for aging parents and young children (under the age of 18) at the same time. For this caregiver, the challenges require more balance between work and family time. The 2012 report, “Women and Alzheimer’s disease; The Caregiver’s Crisis” [
http://www.wmmsurveys.com/ALZ_report.pdf
], identified one-third of all caregivers fitting into this category.

To honor working mothers and other caregivers, the Alzheimer’s Association provides many resources to help assist them. Please visit www.alz.org/care to learn more.

1 in 8 Seniors Report Memory Loss, Survey Finds

A large survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has found that 13 percent of Americans aged 60 and older reported worsening memory loss or confusion in the previous year, highlighting the need to be alert for early signs of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

The CDC collected data from almost 60,000 respondents in 21 states, all of whom were aged 59 or older. Of the 13 percent who had experienced increasing confusion or memory loss, over one-third also reported functional difficulties that interfered with their work, social activities, or ability to perform household chores. 80 percent of these seniors said they required regular assistance, but only half were able to receive help from a friend or family caregiver.

Memory loss tended to negatively affect younger seniors more severely, as the highest rates of functional difficulty were in respondents in the 60 to 64 age range (44.7 percent, versus 37.8 percent of those 85 and older).  “These findings suggest a need for future studies to examine the relationship of age and functional difficulties caused by increased confusion or memory loss,” said Amanda Deokar, a public health adviser at the CDC.

Also of note in the findings, only 32.6 percent of those who reported functional difficulties due to memory loss said they had discussed their symptoms with a health care provider. Deokar and her colleagues stress the need for providers to facilitate discussions with older adults about cognitive issues, as some causes for cognitive decline are reversible but must be treated as soon as possible. Early diagnosis can also provide opportunities for individuals and families to initiate financial planning, develop advance directives, enroll in clinical trials and anticipate future care needs.

Read the CDC report: Self-Reported Increased Confusion or Memory Loss and Associated Functional Difficulties Among Adults Aged ≥60 Years — 21 States, 2011.

* Reposted from Assisted Living Federation of America

2012 Award Winners Announced

Each year we bring our team leaders to Hutchinson for an educational conference.  During our winter conference, we announce those who won awards during the previous year.

Last night, we announced the winners of the 2012 awards.

 

*Pictured above, L to R: Dean Bloemke, President and Roman Bloemke, Director of Operations

Our first award announced was for the Resident Choice Award.  This award goes to the community who achieved the highest score during our annual resident satisfaction surveys.  The 2012 Resident Choice award was given to Excelsior Place Assisted Living in Baxter, Minnesota.

As their Director of Resident Services, Loree Besser, accepted the award, she gave all of the credit to her team.  ”This year, like many, presents each of us with challenges.  All of the credit for this award goes to my team back at Excelsior Place.  Without a solid foundation, you have nothing.  The team that I work with is absolutely phenomenal and we couldn’t have done this without them.”

Our next award presented last night was the Great Places to Work award.  This award is presented to the communities who achieve a high satisfaction level.  This year’s award winner was River Pointe of Moorhead.

While accepting the award, Ron Bervig, Director of Resident Services gave credit to the team in place at River Pointe, commending them on doing a great job.  ”I really have to thank the staff for the wonderful job they do every day.  They are what makes us successful!”

Our next award goes to communities who have reached a list of achievements and have a high level of excellence in senior living. Criteria for the award include employment best practices and employee satisfaction, resident and family satisfaction, resident and staff safety, financial performance, matching resident needs to care plans throughout a resident’s stay, and overall occupancy.  Each of the performance objectives is to assure the proper and desired level of service is provided.

The 2012 Best Community Awards go to:

Orchard Hill Assisted Living – New Ulm, Minnesota.

Potter Ridge Assisted Living – Red Wing, Minnesota.

Excelsior Place Assisted Living – Baxter, Minnesota

River Pointe of Moorhead – Moorhead, Minnesota

Our final award of the night was the North Star Leadership Award.  This award goes to the person who was nominated by their peers and residents who live in the community.

The 2012 North Star Leadership Award goes to Paulla Perry from Thomas Landing Senior Living, in Rice Lake, Wisconsin.

Paulla was unaware that she had been nominated, so the surprise on her face was great to see when it was announced that she had won.  Paulla thanked each of her peers and the resident’s back at Thomas Landing for making her job a joy to be a part of.  ”I’m at a loss as to what to say.  I need to say thank you to everyone at Thomas Landing for being such a great team to work with.  It’s because of them that it is a joy to go to work everyday.”

Congratulations to all of our award winners!

You continue to inspire us and others to do great work. Thank you for everything you do!

Welcome to the family!

We are proud to announce an addition to the Welcome Home family!

On April 1^st, Prairie View of Hector Senior Living Community will come under the Welcome Home umbrella of managed communities. Prairie View is based in Hector, Minnesota and offers Independent, Assisted and Memory Care communities to area seniors.

We have spent the last several weeks working out the details of the transition; one we expect to go smoothly.  Between today and April 1^st, we will host a series of meetings on site to introduce ourselves to the residents and their families and to meet with the rest of the staff.  This will be a time to ask questions about the transition and about our company.  Information will be sent out soon regarding these meetings.  We will post updates on our Facebook page and our blog as we move closer to the meeting date.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 320-587-0005.

If you’d like to learn more about Welcome Home Management, you’ll find it on our website at: www.wtohdevelopment.com.

Welcome Home Management is proud to announce to nomination process is now open for the North Star Leadership Award. 

The North Star Leadership award exemplifies those individuals who work in Welcome Home properties for the work that they do with the residents and with their team members.

Nominations for this year’s award are due on January 30th, 2013.  Be sure to include all letters of recommendation, Individual Award Nomination form; and any other supporting documentation that are relevant.

The nomination committee is comprised of members of the WHMC Education and Leadership Committee.

The winner of this year’s award will be invited to accept their award at our Winter Conference in February 2013 in Hutchinson, Minnesota. 

Our overall goal with this award is to recognize those people in our communities who show the biggest leadership qualities.  This award is open to any team member at a property managed by Welcome Home.  Anyone can nominate, from family, to team members, to residents.

For nomination forms, please visit our website at: 
http://wtohdevelopment.com/NorthStarLeadershipAward.htm
.  

Twin Town Villa expansion almost complete!

It seems like yesterday when we made the announcement that Twin Town Villa was expanding their community.  Where does the time go?

For those that drive by every day, you’ve seen our progress and have probably been wondering “when are we going to see then inside?”.  Well, that day is coming quickly for us.

As we sit today, our plan is to open in mid-February.  We don’t have a specific target date yet, but that will be coming in the next two weeks.  

Right now, we are beginning our process of hiring new team members to work in our memory care community.  If you are a dedicated, caring individual, who has worked with someone with memory loss, we would love to hear from you!  Contact Lisa, Director of Resident Services at (218) 643-9542.

We are very excited to welcome back to our company April Thompson as our Lead Care Manager in the memory care community.  April had previously worked with Welcome Home Health Care in another community in Alexandria.  April is a solid leader and we are excited to have her on our team.

As a side note, Twin Town Villa now has two former North Star Leadership Award winners working in Breckenridge.  April won the award in 2010, and Judi Durkin, Lead Care Manager in the assisted living community won in 2011!  What a solid team!

We have very excited about our new expansion project.  We’ll release more details as we get closer to our opening date.  Also look for the Grand Opening to happen in early March 2013.

For more information or to schedule your personal introduction to our community, contact Lisa at (218) 643-9542 or visit their website at 
http://wtohdevelopment.com/Breckenridge.htm

 

 

Orchard Hill gets ready to celebrate love

Orchard Hill Assisted Living Community is proud to present 9 of our 10 married couples with a combination of 477 years of blissful happiness! We will honor these couples with a romantic Valentine’s Day dinner with music and wine on February 14!

Health care meeting allows providers to voice concerns

Article by: Dean Bloemke, President of Welcome Home Management Company

This past Wednesday morning, I had the opportunity to attend a long term care leadership round table sponsored by Guardian Pharmacy of St. Cloud.  Representatives of a number of federal offices were there along with a number of state level senators and representatives from both sides of the aisle were in attendance.  The roundtable discussion was reported in the St. Cloud Times in their Thursday edition.  A copy of the article may be viewed at   
http://www.sctimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/201209052032/NEWS01/309050044

I had the chance to tell those in attendance our story about health care costs under the new Affordable Health Care Plan also known as Obama Care.  In our company, if we choose to pay the penalty, our costs will increase by $170,000 according to an estimate prepared by our insurance agency.  If we choose to provide the insurance, our costs increase by $220,000.   The problem is, that there is not an adequate payment alternative to offset these increased costs.

Elderly Waiver, upon anywhere from 20% to over 50% of our client base depends, has had a decrease of 15 – 20% over the past three years.   This puts operating margins at risk, especially in these tough economic times.

Other providers mentioned that they were in the 5^th year of a pay freeze.

Rep. Steve Gottwalt, (R) mentioned in his remarks that long term care and assisted living are first in line to receive new funding when the revenues from increased tax collections derived from an increasing economy permit.

Other items mentioned were that Equalization should be repealed (Rep Gottwalt); that Electronic Funding & Implementation time schedules need to be extended (Rene Doyle of Michele Bachman’s office), that liability for readmission is causing a problem for nursing homes;  and also tort reform, and National Background Checks (Darwin Schwantes – Talahi Care Center) mentioned.

A question was asked about the difference between metro and rural economics of Assisted Living.  There was a long discussion regarding how rural assisted living has stayed close to providing the service in very nice properties and a relatively low cost.  That on average, each EW client in an AL property was saving the state on average of $1500 to $2500 per month for each client.

All legislators or their representatives were invited to take a tour of a rural senior living community and to become familiar with the economics of rural senior living.

Legislators or representatives of their office in attendance were:  Lisa Fobbe of Sen. Franken’s office; Rep. Steve Gottwalt; Renee Doyle of Congresswoman Bachmann’s office; Rep. King Banaian; Adam Schiff of Sen.  Klobuchar’s office; Sen. Michelle Fishbach; Rep. Tim O’Driscoll; Sen John Pederson, and Jeff Howe, House Candidate.

Providers in attendance were Darwin Schwantes of Talahi Care Center;  Deanna Johnson of Carefree Living AL in St. Cloud; Tami Rakke of Carefree Living, Deb REitmeier of Annandale Care Center, Phil Lord of Belgreade Nursing Home; and Jim Birchem of Eldercare in Little Falls.

Interested parties attending were Jeff Drown of Lyon Contracting and Brian Musech of Granite City Real Estate.

Trace Roller and Mark Boe of Guardian Pharmacy of St. Cloud were our hosts.

 

Recap of the WHMC Summer Workshop 2012 – It’s all about Teamwork

For the past two days, we’ve been hosting our Summer Workshop series here at Welcome Home.  Team members from each of our communities have been hear learning and sharing about a variety of topics.

As managers, from top to bottom, can feel like your on your own, trying to figure things out.  Twice per year, we bring in our management teams to have an opportunity to network with other communities and share best practices.  The key part in all of this is that we function as a team, and no one is ever alone.

We really have a wonderful team put together here at Welcome Home.  We have very talented people who really care about the residents and staff who work and live in our communities.  These sessions serve as an opportunity for them to make their communities a great place to call home.

We had many breakout discussions for each department…

 

We had a few general sessions for everyone…

 

 

 

 

And the outside speakers this year were fantastic!

 

 

At each of our summer workshops, we believe in hosting a team building event to draw each team closer.  This year it was an amazing race type of event.  Our group shot below was shot along the Crow River in Hutchinson.

 

 

 

As with each conference, it keeps getting better and better.

A giant thank you to all of our speakers!  We heard many great comments about how wonderful each of you were.

And finally thank you to all of the staff at Welcome Home for helping us put on another fantastic conference and workshop for our team members.

Roman Bloemke, Director of Operations/WHMC