The Heartbeat: June 2025 Edition

From The Desk of Dave

While I often write about ideas that we have regarding care for our clients, I wanted to focus this month’s message on you, our caregivers. Caring for our clients provide many joys but can also be very stressful at times. It is important to remember that if we don’t care for ourselves, it is more difficult to properly care for our clients. The proper amount of sleep, healthy eating, and exercise are essential in being able to perform your duties on a consistent basis. When we are spending so much time caring for others, it is easy for forget about caring for ourselves. Also, it is easy to feel “alone” while performing our duties. We often don’t want to bother anyone in seeking help or emotional support for what we do. Please know that you have a great support network in our office staff. We have all been caregivers and understand the stresses and challenges of what you do. If you are stressed or having an issue with your client or family, please don’t hesitate to reach out to one of us. We are a family and a team, dedicated to serving not only our clients, but each other!

Thanks for all that you do,

Dave

Winners’ Circle

Employee of the Month – Debby Stehl

No Call Out Winner – Willard Browne

For All the Men in Our Lives…

When a man says, “IT WOULD TAKE TOO LONG TO EXPLAIN” He means: “I have no idea how it works.”

When a man says, “TAKE A BREAK, HONEY. YOU ARE WORKING TOO HARD” He means: “I can’t hear the game over the vacuum cleaner.”

When a man says, “THAT’S INTERESTING DEAR.” He means: “Are you still talking?”

When a man says, “IT’S A GUY THING” He means: “There is no rational thought pattern connected with this, and you have no chance at all of making it logical.”

When a man says, “CAN I HELP WITH DINNER” He means: “Why isn’t it ready yet?”

When a man says, “UH HUH, SURE HONEY,” or “YES, DEAR” He means: “Absolutely nothing” – It’s a conditioned response.

When a man says, “YOU KNOW HOW BAD MY MEMORY IS.” He means: “I can remember the theme song to ‘Hogan’s Heroes’, the phone # of the first girl I ever kissed & the vehicle identification numbers of every car I ever owned – but yes, I forgot your birthday.”

When a man says, “OH, DON’T FUSS, I JUST CUT MYSELF. IT’S NO BIG DEAL”. He means: “I have probably severed a limb, and I will bleed to death before I admit I’m hurt.”

When a man says, “I CAN’T FIND IT.” He means: “I haven’t even looked for it.”

When a man says, “I HEARD YOU.” He means: “I haven’t the foggiest clue what you just said, and I am hoping desperately that I can fake it well enough so that you’ll not spend the next 3 days yelling at me.”

When a man says, “YOU KNOW I COULD NEVER LOVE ANYONE ELSE” He means: “I am used to the way you yell at me and realize it could be worse.”

When a man says, “YOU LOOK TERRIFIC!” He means: “Oh please don’t try on one more outfit.”

When a man says, “I’M NOT LOST. I KNOW EXACTLY WHERE WE ARE.” He means: “No one will ever see us alive again.”

When a man says, “I don’t remember saying that.” It’s because he means: “Anything I may have said 6 months ago is inadmissible in an argument. In fact, all past comments become null and void after 7 days.”

When a man says, “that’s not what I meant.” He means: “If something I said can be interpreted two ways, and one of the ways makes you sad or angry, I meant the other one.”

Client Testimonials

Leona Nyame – “I wanted to let you know that Leona was fantastic. We enjoyed working with her and loved everything she did for my mom. My mother liked her as well. Leona is a good communicator and knows how to talk to patients and their families. With all her experience, she clearly knows a lot about caregiving and gave us many useful tips to improve things. Thought I’d let you know.”

–Son of client L.G.

Gwendolene Conteh – “Gwen is really doing a great job! She is extremely pleasant and very easy to work with.”

Nursing Note: Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness Month

Talking to someone with Alzheimer’s can be very challenging. Here are a few tips that may help.

1. Face-off: Establishing friendly eye contact and using the person’s name are good rules of thumb to follow during any kind of dialogue. When speaking make sure you get their attention by saying their name. Assure them that they have your full attention by facing them and looking them in the eye.
2. Diminish distractions: Background noise from a television, radio—or even a fan—can be distracting during a conversation, making them more likely to lose track of what the discussion is about. Find a quiet place where the two of you can converse in peace.
3. Converse one-on-one: The more people who are involved in a discussion, the more complicated it becomes. Try to keep talks with a person who has Alzheimer’s one-on-one whenever possible. Even small groups of three or four people could make your loved one confused and anxious.
4. Keep things simple: Comments and conversations should be kept short, simple and to the point. You should always refer to nouns by their actual name (i.e. when pointing out a pretty bird on a walk, say “bird” instead of “it”). Also, being faced with too many choices can be frustrating for someone with Alzheimer’s, so steer clear of open-ended questions. For example, if you’re having a discussion about what outdoor activity to do, don’t say, “Where would you like to go today?” Instead, it’s better to ask, “Would you like to go to the park?”
5. Avoid conflict: Don’t argue with a person who has Alzheimer’s—you won’t win and it’ll only make both of your more agitated. Avoid inflammatory comments, such as: “I just told you that,” and “You’re wrong.” It’s important that you learn to recognize when giving in and walking away from a brewing feud are the best course of action.
6. Patience: Be patient when talking to someone with Alzheimer’s. Resist the temptation to complete their sentences—it won’t help them remember and it’s likely to be more frustrating than anything else. Instead, try asking a question that might jog their memory. For example, if they are wandering around the kitchen and saying, “I want…I want…,” you can ask, “Are you hungry? Would you like something to eat?”
7. Enter their world: Conversing with a person struggling with Alzheimer’s means making a pledge to temporarily live in their reality—which can be much different from yours. This approach is called “reality therapy.” Depending on what stage of the disease they are in, they may believe that their deceased spouse is still alive, or that they are an accomplished singer. As long as living in their reality isn’t hurting anybody, it’s best to just play along. If this makes you feel guilty, remember that their mind has been hijacked by the disease and no amount of persuasion on your part is going to convince them that they are wrong. Providing support and validation will go a long way towards easing their anxiety and brightening their mood.
8. Clue into visual cues: Physical indicators can be especially important when you’re trying to communicate with someone whose cognitive ability is diminished. A person with Alzheimer’s may not be able to verbally articulate their happiness or frustration, but paying attention to facial expressions and body positioning can help you determine their disposition.
9. Just keep talking: Even if you’re caring for someone who has limited powers of speech, or who can no longer talk at all, don’t underestimate the power of conversation. Talking to someone non-verbal is a good way to indicate that you still support them.

Senior Humor

Yesterday I was at Costco buying a large bag of Purina dog chow for my dog. I was in the check-out line when a woman behind me asked if I had a dog. What did she think, I had an elephant? So because I’m retired and have little to do, on impulse I told her that no, I didn’t have a dog; I was starting the Purina Diet again. I added that I probably shouldn’t because I ended up in the hospital last time, but that I’d lost 50 pounds before I awakened in the ICU with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms.

I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your jacket pockets with Purina kibbles and simply eat a handful every time you feel hungry. The food is nutritionally complete so it works well and I was going to try it again.

Horrified, she asked if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food poisoned me. I told her no, I stopped to pee on a fire hydrant and a car hit me.

Costco won’t let me shop there anymore!