NPR recognizes CaringCompanion.Net!


August 26, 2010
Posted By Jim Reynolds | Comments (1)

NPR's series Aging at Home linked to CCC as 1 of only 4 additional resources. This national recognition confirms what many know: CCC is an innovator in home care.

Many of you probably heard National Public Radio’s popular series this week Aging At Home.  We were enormously proud to learn that NPR selected Caring Companion Connections as one of only four resources they listed on their web page as Additional Resources for the first episode.  Clearly, NPR has realized what many already know: Caring Companion Connections is a leader in providing wellness-focused home care and innovative, effective ways to help seniors age comfortably in the home of their choosing.

Find out for yourself! Download our white paper: Reimagining Home Care: New Needs, New Approaches .  See how home care in the 21st Century is different, and find out what every family needs to know before you choose your home care agency!

Click here to download the white paper.

Talking With a Home Care Early Innovator


August 14, 2010
Posted By Dr. Deborah Bier | Comments (1)

I had lunch with my mother at her home earlier this week. She also invited Tillie Sweet, whom I know from Concord’s Medical Reserve Corps, but hadn’t seen for quite some time. Tillie is a registered nurse who’s had a varied and fascinating career, and it was a delight to see her again and to hear her stories.

It turns out that Tillie had been a part of early innovations in home care. She told us that around 1981, she answered an ad from BayPath Elder Services. They were looking for their very first RN to be part of a brand new, innovative program. Those crazy kids were going to try to keep seniors in their houses and out of nursing facilities by delivering personal care and homemaking services right where they lived! (more…)

Massachsetts Alzheimer’s Memory Ride Report


July 26, 2010
Posted By Jim Reynolds | Comments (1)

Alzhiemer's Memory Ride 100 mile group

“So what’s it like to ride 100 miles with 4400 feet of vertical climb on a really hot, humid day in July?”

That’s the question I heard most often following Saturday’s Alzheimer’s Memory Ride.  And I’d like to answer it here: like many athletic challenges, the key to success is psychological – you have to be crazy! Fortunately, I was the right man for the job, and was joined by more than 50 similarly-minded folks.  I’m not a skilled cyclist – Concord has dozens of people who ride faster and farther and more challenging routes than I do – but I do it enough that I knew I’d be fine, and I really enjoyed the ride.

(more…)

Congratulations, Minuteman Senior Services!


July 17, 2010
Posted By Dr. Deborah Bier | Comments (0)

Here’s a sweet video about a local volunteer for Minuteman Senior Service’s Meals on Wheels program– he’s been nominated for national recognition. Congrats Staff Sergent Mickey Ireland and Minuteman!


(I would like to point out that Minuteman’s volunteer coordinator shown on this video, Debbie Barr, is not me! People who don’t know us both often confuse me with her and visa versa.  Just remember: Barr, tall and blonde. Bier, short and dark.)

New Mass. Certification for Home Care Agencies


July 16, 2010
Posted By Blog Admin | Comments (0)

The Home Care Alliance (HCA) has worked hard to create the first certification for Home Care agencies in Masasachusetts. This is a voluntary move for this state-wide trade organization.  Caring Companion has been a member of HCA since the start, and we are proud to be among the very first in the state to apply for this certification, first announced just last week.

For an article in the Metro West Daily News about this certification, go here.

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Keeping Our Clients’ Households Running


July 15, 2010
Posted By Dr. Deborah Bier | Comments (1)

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

Our caregivers are often the main shoppers for our clients. As such, we fill a very important role in their lives through maintaining their supplies. In many instances both daily and occasional home “operations” cannot go forward without necessary supplies.  If you look at the rhyme above, you’ll see how this is no minor thing. And since we are so often working the with frail, it doesn’t take very much of a missing nail to truly negatively impact the client.

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Help Create a World Without Alzheimer’s


July 12, 2010
Posted By Jim Reynolds | Comments (2)

"A difficult but doable challenge"

On Saturday, July 24, Caring Companion Connections will join hundreds of others at the Alzheimer’s Association Memory Ride, as we work toward our commitment to a world without Alzheimer’s disease. The Memory Ride generates awareness and raises money for Alzheimer’s research.  We hope you will join the fight with a pledge.  Any amount helps. Don’t think it doesn’t matter; individually, none of us can cure Alzheimer’s disease – but together, we will. Click here to donate.

CCC will sponsor a rider (that’s me!) for the 100-mile ride. It will be a difficult but doable challenge, just as curing Alzheimer’s is a difficult but doable effort. We hope that you will also rise to the challenge and join with us and others by donating now so that the later years of our large aging population can be ever richer.

90% of money raised by Memory Ride participants funds grants awarded through the Alzheimer’s Association’s research grants program. 10% of the proceeds stay in Massachusetts and New Hampshire to help fund programs and services that assist families affected by Alzheimer’s disease.

As a home care agency on the front lines of elder care, CCC focuses on wellness and on improving the lives of our clients and their families. We daily see first-hand how many of our clients and their families have been affected by Alzheimer’s disease. We are committed to helping our clients live each day to its fullest, and to improving the lives of their families.  Please join us in this important effort.

C3PO – Coming to a Home Near You!


July 6, 2010
Posted By Jim Reynolds | Comments (0)

AIST, Japan

I was planning my next technology post to focus on currently-available products that can help reduce the overall cost of home care by reducing the hours required to pay a home care agency for data collection and monitoring.  There is a range of products – from medication dispensers to home systems with motion sensors and cameras – that can provide security without invading privacy, and that do so at a fraction of the cost of in-home care.  These products are mature, available, and they can be valuable tools to families, but I’ll have to write about them later because the attached it just too much fun to discuss. 

A recent New York Times article describes a lab project that is NOT yet widely available. Used with dementia patients, it is modeled after a baby harp seal, and it “trills and paddles when petted, blinks when the lights go up, opens its eyes at loud noises and yelps when handled roughly or held upside down.”  It’s a pet without the mess!  It is well-known that many dementia sufferers improved and find it very soothing to devote care-giving to pets or to plants; according to the Times article, many of these benefits can be derived by interacting with “Paro,” whose name is derived from conflating the words “personal robot.”

(more…)

Helping, Fixing or Serving Our Clients


July 5, 2010
Posted By Dr. Deborah Bier | Comments (0)

Here is an article a social worker friend sent me about a dozen years ago.  Every so often, I come across it among my papers, taking the opportunity to re-read it… and learn from it anew.  It’s a beautiful formulation of the profound difference between helping, fixing, and serving by Rachel Naomi Ramen, MD called In the Service of Life: http://www.rachelremen.com/service.html.

Remen is one of the earliest pioneers in the mind/body holistic health movement and the first to recognize the role of the spirit in health and the recovery from illness. She’s also the author of the best-selling books My Grandfather’s Blessings and Kitchen Table Wisdom

Wellness and Creativity: The Bigger Picture


July 2, 2010
Posted By Dr. Deborah Bier | Comments (0)

“Creativity is a new paradigm for aging that articulates the idea of seeing older people for their potential rather than their problems.  In later life, creativity strengthens morale, enhances physical health and enriches relationships.  Creative engagement also constitutes the greatest legacy older people can leave their children, grandchildren, and society as a whole.

“Older people have functioned historically as keepers of culture who pass on the history and values of a community to the next generation. Therefore, creativity develops culture; and, culture builds and sustains community life through the positive engagement of older people in the arts.

(more…)

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