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.
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August 9, 2010 |
Posted By Jim Reynolds | Comments (3)
 Fall detection devices can help provide both safety and privacy “A home care agency just showed me how to reduce the cost of home care! Now, how amazing is that?!”
Families are so grateful (if not surprised!) when we help them develop a cost-efficient plan to keep aging parents safe and comfortable in their homes — even when it means fewer hours of in-home care by Caring Companion. Finding effective and safe ways to stretch the care budget is one of the keys to successfully managing elder care for your family. People tend to move from crisis to crisis, addressing each problem independently in a fire drill mode. Sometimes it helps to step back and think in an organized way about what’s needed. And that’s where we always start with each household.
For example, here are the top threats to health and safety of elders living alone: (more…)
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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…)
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June 29, 2010 |
Posted By Jim Reynolds | Comments (2)
 A recent New York Times article entitled A Health Insurer Pays More to Save pointed out that regular monitoring of even simple health measures led to a drop in hospital re-admissions and overall costs. They are giving primary care doctors more help to try to keep patients, especially elderly patients, in their homes by improving monitoring and reporting to head off serious health problems.
This points to an area where the home care industry could contribute far more than we do today in reducing the costs of health care and improving quality of life for our clients: providing real-time information and reporting to health care professionals and families to confirm that plans of treatment are followed, and to report any changes in status as early as possible for follow up.
(more…)
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June 26, 2010 |
Posted By Dr. Deborah Bier | Comments (1)
 We recently met with Natasha Heimrath of Caregiver Homes, a community-based model of care for frail seniors and disabled people 16 and older to be cared for at home and in their community. The state-funded program pays caregivers – typically, but not always, a family member – who provide full-time care at home, and it supports each client and caregiver with a case management team. In some instances, this stipend allows families to bring an outside caregiver into the home for respite (relief) for the main caregiver.
Our experience suggests that many families are eligible for this program and don’t realize it. We encourage our clients to make use of this program, and have contacted those who we think may be eligible to put them in touch with Natasha. We are happy to facilitate this relationship and will work cooperatively with Caregiver Homes any time we serve clients concurrently.
To be covered by the Caregiver Homes program, clients must be eligible for Medicare/MassHealth or be eligible for a “Frail Elder Waiver” (which has a higher income allowance than does Medicare). The caregiver to receive the stipend may not be a legal guardian or spouse, and does not need to be related to the client.
(more…)
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June 21, 2010 |
Posted By Blog Admin | Comments (0)
Essentials to Good Planning:
A Health and Legal Perspective to Helping Our Loved One Age Well
 GOODNOW LIBRARY,
21 Concord Road, Sudbury, MA (map here.)
Tuesday, June 29, 2010 — 7-9 PM
Get the facts from Stuart Hamilton, an Elder Law Attorney (www.StuartHamiltonLaw.com), Linda Smith, a Certified Professional Geriatric Care Manager and Independent Registered Nurse (www.mweldercare.com), and Deborah Bier, PhD, director of a local home care agency (www.CaringCompanion.Net).
They will educate and answer questions about the many legal, safety, activity, housing, caregiver support and care options available as people age.
RSVP: Linda Smith, RN, BSN, CMC, 508-962-0965
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May 10, 2010 |
Posted By Blog Admin | Comments (1)
 The class entitled “Aging, Disability & New Technologies: Real Hype or Real Help?” to be held in Concord on May 13 will be reschedule — future date to be announced!
In the meantime, if you’d like to have us present this course for your organization, please contact us. This is a lecture we give at no cost as a community service.
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May 2, 2010 |
Posted By Blog Admin | Comments (0)
May 6, 2010, 11 am-12:30 pm at the Bedford Council on Aging
May 13, 2010, 7-8:30 pm at Concord-Carlisle Cable TV Studio, Concord-Carlisle High School
Safety alert technology. Online communication services. Remote medical sensors. There are so many devices to help us monitor our health and communicate. And new ones on the way.
Are you confused about the new technologies to help senior citizens, the disabled and their caregivers? Some are truly beneficial to elders, the disabled, their families and caregivers, while others are mere gadgets or toys that aren’t a good value. We will help you separate the real hype from the real help, allowing wiser choices in this bewildering, rapidly expanding marketplace. We will review some of the high tech tools on the market, highlighting ones we think have the ability to help you stay connected, happy, safe and healthy. Included will be remote medical monitoring devices, safety alert technology, and consumer technology customized for seniors and the disabled. You will come away better able to assess new technologies for yourself.
To Register for Concord: Call 978-318-1540 or register online for Course Number #4321 at www.ace.colonial.net. Fee: $10 donation. Location: 500 Walden Street, Concord (enter the front left door where glowing Adult Education sign can be seen). Bedford Class: no charge, no registration through the Bedford Council on Aging, 12 Mudge Way, Bedford.
Presenters: Jim Reynolds has been a National Practice Leader for IBM in the area of mobile and wireless technology. His family has owned and run the largest private-pay home care agencies in Florida and Kansas since 1992. Continuing the family business, he is the owner of Caring Companion Connections in Concord.
Deborah Bier, PhD, has been a health care educator, author, and wellness coach for 20 years. She holds a doctorate in counseling and has helped hundreds of individuals and families to live better with chronic illness and disability. She is the director of the Concord office of Caring Companion Connections.
The event in Bedford is sponsored by the Bedford Council on Aging
The event in Concord is sponsored by Concord-Carlisle Adult & Community Education
and will be recorded for future broadcast. CCC’s speaker fee will be donated to the
MinuteMan Senior Services Meals-On-Wheels program.
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April 24, 2010 |
Posted By Dr. Deborah Bier | Comments (0)
Caring Companion Connections will present this talk on Thursday, May 13, 2010 from 7-8:30 PM at the Concord Carlisle-Cable TV Studio at Concord-Carlisle High School. It will be recorded for future broadcast. Hope you can be there! (Our speaker’s fee will be donated to the MinuteMan Senior Services Meals-On-Wheels program).
Aging, Disability & New Technologies: Real Hype or Real Help?
 Safety alert technology. Online communication services. Remote medical sensors. There are so many devices to help us monitor our health and communicate. And new ones on the way.
Are you confused about the new technologies to help senior citizens, the disabled and their caregivers? Some are truly beneficial to elders, the disabled, their families and caregivers, while others are mere gadgets or toys that aren’t a good value. We will help you separate the real hype from the real help, allowing wiser choices in this bewildering, rapidly expanding marketplace. We will review some of the high tech tools on the market, highlighting ones we think have the ability to help you stay connected, happy, safe and healthy. Included will be remote medical monitoring devices, safety alert technology, and consumer technology customized for seniors and the disabled. You will come away better able to assess new technologies for yourself.
To Register: Call 978-318-1540 or register online for Course Number #4321 here: http://www.ace.colonial.net. Fee: $10 donation. Location: 500 Walden Street, Concord (enter the front left door where glowing Adult Education sign is showing). This event is sponsored by Concord-Carlisle Adult & Community Education.
Presenters: Jim Reynolds has been a National Practice Leader for IBM in the area of mobile and wireless technology. His family has owned and run the largest private-pay home care agencies in Florida and Kansas since 1992. Continuing the family business, he is the owner of Caring Companion Connections in Concord.
Deborah Bier, PhD, has been a health care educator, author, and wellness coach for 20 years. She holds a doctorate in counseling and has helped hundreds of individuals and families to live better with chronic illness and disability. She is the director of the Concord office of Caring Companion Connections.
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April 20, 2010 |
Posted By Jim Reynolds | Comments (0)
A client wrote to us recently after we had provided caregivers for her mother while Mom visited. Mom loved Mary Ann,
one of our wonderful Caring Companions, and “the online reports are GREAT. As I’m sure you know, it’s wonderful to get a sense of what Mom has done during the day, how she’s been feeling, etc. I have cut and pasted the reports and sent to my siblings so they can get a sense of it too …”
And I laughed. It’s so much easier than that! You don’t need to cut and paste, or do anything at all to inform the rest of the family. Those days are over, if you want them to be. (more…)
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