Caregiver of the Month: Brandi Thomas – A Life Spent in Service to Others

Brandi Thomas, June’s Caregiver of the Month, comes from a long line of nurses in her family. She shares, “The bar has been set really high for me for a long time.”

If you were to try to get a hold of Brandi Thomas- to say, interview her for winning Caregiver of the Month, it would be immediately apparent that she has little time to sit and chat. For her clients at A Place At Home, she works seven days a week. One might think that’s excessive.

For Brandi, her whole life has been about caring for others since she was eight years old.

Born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, Brandi spent her childhood following her mother, who provided nursing care for seniors. She spent time with the people her mother cared for, providing companionship to those that didn’t have family members in their lives. That companionship was the start of a lifetime of caring for others. She gained more experience, including working for the state of Nebraska for five years. The people she was caring for suggested she take her knowledge and use it to become licensed. That’s what she did, and she says, “I’ve never regretted it since.”

Brandi is working on furthering her education to get a degree in nursing, following her family members’ footsteps. Though she’s put her plans on hold because of the pandemic, she will be enrolling in the nursing program at Metropolitan Community College. She comes from a family of CNA’s, RN’s, and Nurse Practitioners. COVID-19 upsetting the timeline for her plans doesn’t phase her at all.

“I was raised not to be a quitter.”

Brandi enjoys working with individuals who have dementia, the most. They can be challenging, but she feels that working with them betters herself as a nurse and an individual. She takes great pride in the trust she’s built up with her clients. Taking time to find out what they’ve been through in life, their experiences, and who they are as individuals. “When they talk about certain things, and they just light up, it makes me so happy, because they know there’s somebody there to listen to them.”

“I want it to be a memorable experience for them, where they want me to come back, and they feel comfortable with me being there.”

Her advice to new caregivers? “Build that rapport, that relationship. Over time you’ll understand why they act the way they do.” For Brandi, she has a long, passionate future ahead of her. She finds joy in caring for others, and for her, the impact she makes in the lives of others is what counts. “This kind of work is more than just a paycheck. It is about true care and compassion and understanding.”

If you have a passion to care for others and a desire to make an impact, apply with us today!

Quality of Care – Keeping Hospital Readmission Rates Low

Hospital readmissions are expensive – costing 41.3 billion dollars per year. A Place At Home is making an impact in the industry by utilizing Quality of Care – and striving to reduce readmission rates across the nation.

As an aging adult, your goal is to stay healthy and independent in your own home. A hospitalization can negatively impact your independence. If you get sent to a rehabilitation center after being discharged from the hospital, it can be weeks before you return to your home. Once you are finally home, the last thing you want to do is end up back in the hospital days or weeks later. At A Place At Home, your goals are our goals. That’s why we use Quality of Care for all of our clients. Our software allows your caregiver to record any change in your condition, in real-time, reducing hospital readmissions.

We track your recovery and report concerns so they can be addressed safely and timely in your home.

What does Quality of Care look like? Let’s say you have diabetes, and recently suffered a heart attack. You spend five days in the hospital, then another three weeks in a rehabilitation center. You’re happy to be home. Social Work sent you home with home health, as well as caregivers from A Place At Home. At home, you find that you often feel dizzy and out of breath. Your blood sugar is all over the place, and you feel confused a lot of the time.

Your caregiver is noticing these things as well, and she’s recording them.

Each time she marks a change in condition, your Care Manager at A Place At Home receives an alert in real-time. Your Care Manager reports these changes to your health care team, including your home health company, as well as your primary care doctor and cardiologist. Your health care team issues guidelines to treat your symptoms at home.

You continue to get stronger and have a better quality of life, staying in your own home.

How would this situation look without A Place At Home and Quality of Care? What are the chances that you would readmit to the hospital if you didn’t have someone there, addressing any changes in your condition? Fairly high. The readmission rate for patients with comorbidities after a heart attack is 20% within the first 30 days after being discharged home. It’s 50% for six months after. Each hospitalization is a setback for your health, independence, and quality of life. Not to mention how costly it is. 

Those setbacks make it unlikely that you’ll be able to stay in your home long term.

A Place At Home’s Quality of Care program is more than just a term to describe what we do. It’s a calculated, consistent plan of action that prevents you from being readmitted to the hospital. Your quality of life is of the utmost importance to us. Our passion is senior-focused care, and we center the care we provide to you on your long-term goals. Contact us today to discuss your goals and how we can help.

May 12th is International Nurses Day

International Nurse Day 2018

International Nurse Day is May 12, 2020. Nurses are an integral part of our lives in general and here at A Place At Home, but often we don’t think about them until there’s an immediate need. In the moment of an emergency, we rely on nurses to care for us, answer questions, and provide us with compassionate care. How often are we thinking of our nurses outside of those emergency situations?

International Nurse Day – A Day to Celebrate all the great nurses in our lives

Sure, we thank them in the moment, but do they receive our thanks the rest of the year? On International Nurse Day; a reminder to show our appreciation for the care they provide. International Nurse Day became recognized by the White House in 1974; 21 years after the idea was initially proposed. The date of observance was chosen to commemorate Florence Nightingale’s birthday, the founder of modern nursing.

Nursing is of course a career that these professionals voluntarily chose, but what a compassionate profession to choose! It takes a special person to give their all to care for people every day, and these people deserve to be commended.

Here are some ways you can show your appreciation:

  1. A simple ‘Thank You’ goes a long way! Especially if it’s out of the blue
  2. Omaha business owner? Offer a discount for those hard-working nurses that use your services!
  3. Drop off Starbucks cards at your local hospital or nursing home for a little pick-me-up during the 12-hour shifts
  4. Crafty kids? Handmade crafts or drawings can put a smile on any nurse’s face
  5. Volunteer at your local senior care facility or nursing home. Have the residents make cookies and distribute to the nurses
  6. Send catered lunch to the hospital. Short on cash? Bring extra veggies from your garden for an afternoon shift break
  7. Don’t forget about nurses in home care; they deserve special thanks as well!

There are plenty ways to show these individuals your appreciation. For more info about International Nurse Day, visit www.nursingworld.org.

 

Connecting With Veterans: Amber Dean

Caregiver of the Month

Amber Dean was named Caregiver of the Month for October.

Amber became a caregiver by following in the footsteps of her mom, Aunts, and cousins. “I come from a long line of CNA’s in my family. We have a passion to help others,” Amber said.

She has been a caregiver since 1999, spending the last five years with A Place At Home – Omaha. With ten children and seven grandchildren, Amber was relieved to find an employer “that understands when things come up.” She finds APAH – Omaha to be a very family-oriented company.

About being selected Caregiver of the Month, Dani Sloan, HR Director of  APAH – Omaha, said “Amber is consistent, reliable, dependable, and epitomizes our “We are CARE” philosophy.”

Amber recalled her first clients when she started working here, “They were a couple and one had dementia and the other did not. They were fun to be with and kept saying they’d adopt me if they could.”

Amber also finds that many of the clients she cares for usually request her to come back. She said, “I connect with a lot of my clients. It seems like I’m with a lot of veterans and my husband is a veteran. It gives me a foot in the door to connect with them. They love to hear how my husband’s service animal is doing.”

She currently provides care for a veteran in Bennington who, like her step-son, was also in the Navy. She prepares his meals, runs to the grocery store and helps clean his home.

Ultimately, Amber shared, her goal is to be a nurse. “I’m in the mentoring program. A Place At Home helped me get a mentor to further my education as an RN,” said Amber.

Find an RN Mentor

A Place At Home has been collaborating with the Nebraska Action Coalition – Future of Nursing to provide a foundation to connect emerging nurse leaders with experts across the nursing profession. Five caregivers from A Place At Home have been matched with mentors since the program started this year.

This free program is available to all A Place At Home caregivers. Once matched with a mentor they will provide helpful resources and general guidance for navigating nursing school and other roadblocks along the path through nursing school. If you are an A Place At Home caregiver, contact Kris Kircher, Executive Director of APAH – Omaha, at 402-932-4646 for more information and to join the program.

If you are interested in becoming a caregiver, apply online today.

Caregivers: Making An Impact Isn’t Always Easy

Courtney-Lynn Styba

A Place At Home (APAH) welcomes compassionate Caregivers who believe that caring for others is one of the most important roles they can possess. APAH believes in the “We are CARE” philosophy which is a commitment to the core values of being Compassionate, Accountable, Respectful, and Ethical. The values are incorporated into every dealing A Place at Home has with the families it serves, our employees and caregivers, and the entire metropolitan Omaha community as a whole.

At times it’s difficult for others to understand the commitment that goes into serving with sensitivity and understanding, advocating for mutual trust and consideration while maintaining the highest standards and morals. Making a difference in someone’s life isn’t always easy or pretty. It takes a special person to understand the impact they are making even when the waters aren’t always smooth. Below is an insightful look into one caregiver’s life. Her name is Courtney-Lynn Styba and this is her story:

I used to be offended when I said I was a health care assistant and people would reply, “oh, so a glorified a** wiper”. I’d struggle to explain to them that it really didn’t matter how much poop I’d see in a day, you forget all about it. And what most people don’t understand is, it really IS glorified. It’s the most humbling, tenderhearted experience to be apart of. And call it what you want, but nothing will do it justice. Sure, there’s a lot of feces and bedpans, a lot of blood and tubes, a lot of catheters and supps. There’s a lot of hitting and grabbing, punching and yelling. But there is also a lot of love, hugs, dancing and hand-holding. It’s not all pads, bed baths and poop. It goes a lot deeper than cleaning up after some “senile” Senior.

What it really is, is breaking the news 15 times in an hour to a devastated wife, that her husband died 30 years ago, each time breaking her heart more and more. It’s holding someone’s hand while they scream in pain that they are experiencing mentally, leaving them crippled in bed for days, weeks, months. It’s continuously redressing a patient who is confused whether it’s daytime or nighttime and maintaining a happy joyful heart as you explain to them that it’s morning time. It’s noticing your patient likes music, but can’t express it- so you sing to them when you get them ready just to see their smile. It’s maintaining a loving heart when you’ve been hit by your patient because you’ve been trying to clean them, and they’re scared of being hurt. It’s wandering around the halls holding your patient’s hand as they cry out in loneliness and brokenheartedness because their family never comes to visit them, even though their family left 30 minutes prior. It’s remembering their favorite food, snack, drink, it’s knowing their life inside and out and making sure that each person is treated as if they are a person. It’s talking about death and helping them prepare, reminiscing on experiences, it’s learning about their life and listening to their sweetheart’s stories. It’s crying together, laughing together, it’s everything tragic and beautiful at the same time. It’s explaining that they might not remember you tomorrow, but assuring them you are coming back to regain your trust and respect every day. It’s working 14 days in a row just to build the relationship to make the patient’s life more comfortable. It’s crying on your drive home because you lost a patient that day. It’s caring about them so much you lay awake at 3am wondering how they’re doing. It’s holding back someone’s hair and scratching their back as they vomit into their bed because their medications make them sick to their stomach. It’s reminding them that they are loved, no matter what nasty parts of them you’re experiencing. It’s reminding them that they are heard, valued, noticed and loved regardless of their status, race, origin, or religion.

There is something so special about being the person that holds someone as they take their last breath. Or knowing that you are possibly the last person they will see before they die. It makes you want to be a better person, it makes you want to give as much of yourself as you can just to make someone’s like a little bit better. Yes, this includes pad changes to prevent skin breakdown, yes, it means giving them a bath as they’ve been covered in their own feces, yes, it means that I will sit for 45 minutes just to help someone drink a small cup of water. Yes, it means that I will patiently listen to a story from somebody who is incapable of forming sentences. No, I will not strike back when I get called nasty names, or get hit across the arm, or kicked in the leg. I will love this person in a way they can understand, in a way they can feel safe. I will not give up on these people just because their brains are throwing them into defense mode and they are incapable of using words to describe what they need.

With a happy heart, I will go to great lengths, not because it’s my job or my title, but because I love my patients as they are my family and want to make a difference in the lives of those I love. Being a health care assistant is more work than I ever thought, but I have been immensely blessed with patience and love for the people I am honored to care for. It is pretty damn hard, but worth EVERY single moment.

THIS is what it looks like to love so deeply every single day.

APAH currently has the pleasure of scheduling nearly 70 similar caregivers to Omaha community seniors. When it comes to senior care, and in particular, in-home senior care, we consider our employees the best in the business because of our commitment to our core values. If you feel inspired by the impact you can make in someone’s life, want to be apart of a team that cares as well as a company that leads with its values, develop your skills through training and career advancement opportunities, be recognized and rewarded for your passionate adherence to our core values, you’ll find yourself right at home with us.

Apply online today. We look forward to having you as part of the Omaha-based A Place at Home family.

 

Credit and consent courtesy of Courtney-Lynn Styba

Combat Elderly Depression With Quality In-Home Care

Whether your senior loved one is dealing with the loss of a spouse, experiencing the grieving process, struggling with family conflict, or declining health, emotional and physical stress can have a big impact on their mental health.

If untreated, elderly depression can lead to early death and lower quality of life. In-home care provides an excellent remedy to prevent senior depression while improving senior longevity and daily life.

How In-Home Senior Care Helps Seniors Live Better Lives

Prevents Isolation and Loneliness 

In-home care companions provide a symbiotic relationship that enables the senior to thrive. On a social level having friends and companions enables seniors to talk about challenges, express grief, and to find resources to solve problems.

Assistance with Errands and Extracurricular Activities 

Seniors with mobility problems often stay home rather than visiting with others because it’s too much trouble, painful or even impossible for them. An in-home care worker can take them out for errands, to visit others, or just for fresh air.

Combats Caregiver Fatigue

If you’re caring for your loved one solo, the stress harms you, your senior parent and your family. Mom will notice and could feel guilty about caregiver overwork leading to depression or family strife. Our at-home caregivers relieve everyone of troublesome, unhealthy stresses.

Visual Problems and/or Declining Health

Vision problems can go undiscovered when seniors live alone, and depressed seniors may not admit to them. A regularly visiting in-home care worker can uncover health issues or behavioral changes, and alert our care coordinators or family.

Relieves Chronic Exhaustion

Senior listlessness/exhaustion can be a side effect of senior depression or a cause. Seniors may feel too tired to contact others, creating vicious cycles of loneliness, neglect, depression and poor overall health. We find senior parents look forward to our in-home provider’s visits, becoming more enthusiastic and energetic.

Eliminates Reluctance to Burden

Your senior loved one often don’t want to both you with their problems including depression and poor health, so she may hide them. Seniors know the in-home care worker’s job is to help, so they feel less guilt or burdensome

We’re Omaha Senior Care Experts, Ready to Help

Let A Place at Home help you and your family live better, without anxiety and elderly depression. We provide compassionate, friendly, capable, and carefully screened in-home care aides for your senior parent. We also offer care coordination helping you decide which services your parent needs, and help you access all needed services on the senior care continuum. A Place At Home is ready to assist you.

When Clients Become Family: Katy Curlis

Katy Curlis has been named A Place at Home’s December Caregiver of the Month. For the past three years, she has dedicated her life to being a caregiver.

Katy always knew that she wanted to make a difference in her community, but had originally pursued a career in Early Childhood Development.

“I was close to getting my degree in early childhood development when I did some work with seniors. I loved hearing their stories, and just really connected with them. After that, I made the decision to switch over from child development to senior care,” Katy expressed.

During her time with A Place at Home, Katy formed an unbreakable bond with her client, Bill. After three years of working with Bill, he and his family became like family to Katy.

Katy and Bill had fun little rituals like going to get ice cream. She loved seeing how happy it made him. And when he struggled to get out of the house, she would bring him his favorite ice cream.

“I just loved making his day even with just a small gesture like getting ice cream. It’s the little things that make a big difference,” Katy said.

Katy’s close relationship with Bill made it even more difficult when she received the news of his passing.

“The family called me to tell me, ‘he’s passing, come quickly’,” Katy said. “Afterwards, it was really hard. I had prepared myself. I knew that he was going downhill, and in senior care, it’s unfortunately inevitable that clients may eventually pass away, but that didn’t make it any easier [losing him].”

To this day, Katy still keeps in contact with Bill’s family. “They will have always have a special place in my heart,” Katy expressed.

While Katy has worked for a few other in-home care agencies, she says that A Place at Home is by far her favorite.

“A Place at Home just has a better set-up. I get along with the office staff, they are easy to talk to and very supportive. And most of all, compatibility is super important to them. They do a great job pairing clients with the right caregivers,” said Katy.

A Place at Home: Trust Us for Compassionate Senior Care

At A Place at Home senior care, we know that our in-home caregivers make us great. Our careful hiring practices and high standards ensure that seniors receive compassionate, reliable assistance with the activities of daily life. Our senior support services are planned around elderly individuals’ specific needs – and designed to maintain their dignity and independence. A Place at Home caregivers genuinely enjoy caring for others. Together, we work to provide each senior the opportunity to live their best life. Apply now or contact us to inquire about becoming a caregiver with us.

2018 International Nurse Day

International Nurse Day 2018

Nurses are an integral part of our lives in general and here at A Place at Home, but often we don’t think about them until it’s an immediate need. In the moment of an emergency, we rely on nurses to care for us, answer questions, and provide us with compassionate care. How often are we thinking of our nurses outside of those emergency situations?

International Nurse Day – A Day to Celebrate all the great nurses in our lives

Sure, we thank them in the moment, but do they receive our thanks the rest of the year? May 12th is International Nurse Day; a reminder to show our appreciation for the care they provide. International Nurse Day became recognized by the White House in 1974; 21 years after the idea was initially proposed. The date of observance was chosen to commemorate Florence Nightingale’s birthday, the founder of modern nursing.

Nursing is of course a career that these professionals voluntarily chose, but what a compassionate profession to choose! It takes a special person to give their all to care for people every day, and these people deserve to be commended.

Here are some ways you can show your appreciation:

  1. A simple ‘Thank You’ goes a long way! Especially if it’s out of the blue
  2. Omaha business owner? Offer a discount for those hard-working nurses that use your services!
  3. Drop off Starbucks cards at your local hospital or nursing home for a little pick-me-up during the 12-hour shifts
  4. Crafty kids? Handmade crafts or drawings can put a smile on any nurse’s face
  5. Volunteer at your local senior care facility or nursing home. Have the residents make cookies and distribute to the nurses
  6. Send catered lunch to the hospital. Short on cash? Bring extra veggies from your garden for an afternoon shift break
  7. Don’t forget about nurses in home care; they deserve special thanks as well!

There are plenty ways to show these individuals your appreciation. For more info about International Nurse Day, visit www.nursingworld.org.