Denise Likar – VP Independence at Home SCAN Health
In 1977, the Senior Care Action Network, now known as SCAN was formed. Experts in medicine, gerontology, psychology and social services were brought together to deliver on a mission to keep seniors healthy and independent through a variety of divisions and services and various community benefit programs including SCAN Health Plan and Independence at Home. We’re pleased to share an interview with one of our many dedicated friends at SCAN, specifically Denise Likar, vice president of the Independence at Home division.
Click here to listen to the podcast.
Click here to watch the interview
BlueSea: As a trusted source to connect seniors with resources and assistance needed to remain in their communities, can you talk specifically about the Independence at Home division you oversee?
Denise Likar: Absolutely! It’s something very near and dear to my heart and I’ve been with Scan for 18 years, and all 18 of my years have been in within Independence at Home. Independence at Home is kind of like the founding organization. We’re like a Social Services Agency, if you will, that is part of Scan Health Plan. We’re focused out in the community at large to help seniors and their caregivers navigate the system of care, navigate the safety net services that are out there so that seniors can remain at home. Sometimes seniors engage with us for help on how to navigate their health plan and resources, which can be very complicated. Sometimes, someone knows they need help with something but they don’t know the right program to ask for. So we’ll help navigate that help to link people to those resources. But also, sometimes there are gaps in care out there. And so Scan has worked through those gaps through their Independence at Home division.
We also have an in home behavioral health program, medication safety program. And we also have a volunteer program where we will pair volunteers with seniors in order to have companionship and to combat social anxiety. So all of our services are strategically designed based on gaps in care we’ve seen out in the community, but encompassing all of it is, somebody can just call us on the phone, say, I don’t know where to go. And we’re going to help you, we’re going to help you either get to the right place, or get you to the right resource or get you in the right program, that we have an order to help you be able to stay in the community.
BlueSea: That’s great! And sometimes, you may connect them with BlueSea Care for home care services?
Denise Likar: Absolutely. Even for our art to wellness program because we also have a very popular painting program for seniors. So that’s awesome!
BlueSea: What are some of the challenges of the new aging economy?
Denise Likar: Sure. So one of the things that happened in last, the last couple of years here in California in the budget cycle, is the state has really assessed the demographics. So the largest growing population in California is the 65 and over segment, and they are outpacing the younger populations. So you’ve got that impact on the state, meaning we have more seniors here, we have to have an understanding of that. And we have to have the right services for them. With changes in modern medicine and technology, people are living longer, they’re healthier, and quite frankly, working longer. The old days of 65 as retirement age are gone and many of our seniors are staying in the workforce. So with all of this, we have to not only be able to have the ability to understand their needs and provide programs that meet their needs, we also have to understand them as contributors in the workforce.
We also have to have a workforce that understands seniors to support those seniors who aren’t working and need their help. So all of that feeds into the economy of the state and the local needs in many of our communities.
One thing Scan is doing to try to contribute positively to this is we have a scholarship program with Cal State Long Beach where we are providing 10 scholarships per academic year for students who are choosing to go into work related to gerontology. So maybe they’re going to be a nurse, but they want to focus on working with older adults. We want to make sure they get properly trained. Maybe they’re a social worker that wants to focus on older adults or a physical therapist. These areas apply for this scholarship. And we’re promoting that people need to know that there’s a deeper understanding needed so that our seniors can continue to thrive,
BlueSea: That’s wonderful. So how many scholarships have you awarded?
Denise Likar: So we’ve given out a total of 20. And we’re now working on plans for next year’s slate. So it’s an annual process partnership with Cal State Long Beach and it’s been fabulous. But we know that in an economy that has to be able to understand, accept and work with older adults, you need the right people in the right places that understand that and understand how to work with them.
BlueSea: How do you help ensure thriving throughout, especially now during this pandemic?
Denise Likar: 2020 has been a wild year for everybody and the twists and turns. And if you’re a planner like me, who likes to think you know, six feet ahead, man, it’s been hard. And so I know it’s been hard on people like us. It’s been hard on families, but it’s been hard on our older adults. And so, you know, we’ve always are encouraging our older adults to find their perpetual purpose.
A lot of people don’t have a plan post retirement. They have not thought about how they are going to spend their time. Work brings us a lot of things and socialization is one of them. And then the pandemic was a little bit of a real curve-ball especially with stay at home orders. People, especially our older adults being told you’re at high risk, you shouldn’t be going to extra places, you shouldn’t be getting together in large groups and our senior centers are closing down. You know, I think it’s really pushing us to really get connected to technology like this type of platform to be able to engage with people.
Having a plan for post-retirement is one thing, but I think the bottom line is we’ve learned with this pandemic, it’s connectivity. How do we connect with people in our lives? Some people have more people than others have in their lives. So how do we connect them to agencies like yours, like ours, like senior centers that have gone virtually online in order for them to continue to engage to prevent isolation and loneliness? Something like this really can have such negative effects on our health and our well-being. So we want to help people realize their own purpose, and especially connectivity and being able to engage.
There’s still what I’ll call a digital divide. And certain segments of our seniors, if they do have grandchildren or children who understand the technology and can get it for them, they can sometimes move along a little faster in their adoption of it. There’s a large segment of our seniors out there who have outlived family members or are alone for whatever reason. And so we’re really trying to connect them to these platforms as well and help them get access to technology.
With the governor’s order to close that digital divide for older adults, we’re trying to help with that through some of our programs. I’m hoping that statewide we’ll see more efforts to help people who don’t understand how to get connected, get connected so they can engage in classes like yours or services like ours, in order to be able to remain healthy at home.
BlueSea: That’s great! We were surprised about the quick shift to telehealth and virtual gatherings. Overnight, our Painting with Mom classes went from in-person to virtual. And we thought that virtual was going to be a problem. But we actually now have a really great following of seniors participating in our painting classes every week. One of the topics Scan helps to address is depression and anxiety in seniors and their caregivers. Can you please share how you help to address these and other challenges?
Denise Likar: Absolutely. So we, we created our own behavioral health program, due to gaps in care that we saw out in the community. The one thing about being in the community with boots on the ground is we can see what’s missing. Behavioral health is a weakness in health care in terms of access, affordability, delivery, and it varies from plan to plan. It varies in Medicare, it varies if you’re on Medicare, what types of services you can and can’t access.
What we identified is we have a lot of seniors who can’t access those traditional services. Maybe the barrier is their physical condition prevents them from being able to travel to a location to see somebody, maybe they have been offered telephonic, but that really doesn’t work for them. Or maybe it’s not delivered in their language, their native language, the language that they prefer to speak in.
We created our program called “Insights” to fill the gaps for those seniors. We use validated therapeutic modalities. We have licensed clinicians that will work with caregivers who have so much going on in their lives, they don’t have time to take care of themselves, let alone get to a clinic or a site between eight and five, let’s say. So we need to bring services to the community to really help them address those barriers that are causing their anxiety and depression.
We help them connect with their providers about their needs so that they can improve and move along the continuum to increase their quality of life. We provide those services in home. We also provide them telephonically. And we have moved into more of the virtual world with video sessions as well, trying to help connect with those individuals and help empower them and guide them through a process to improve.
BlueSea: Is there a favorite quote or saying that motivates you in your work?
Denise Likar: So something that’s always stuck with me goes way back to when I was choosing my career path. It is the old adage of the starfish and the person walking down the beach and finds a bunch of starfish. There’s no possible way they can save them all. But when they throw back one starfish at a time, they make a difference. So although I want to change the world to make it a better place for everybody, I have to pace myself and understand that sometimes it’s one person at a time, one group at a time.
We can systematically weave that together to have a larger impact on the communities we serve. So one starfish at a time, two at a time, we’re able to help people be safe, healthy and independent, and who doesn’t want to be at home and have their own choice of where they age and grow old. I take that with me to everything I do as we plan and try to figure out a path forward and then hopefully can spread those ripple effects from that. And we can all work together on bringing those starfish back to the ocean.
BlueSea: Anything else you’d like to add?
Denise Likar: I think what’s really important to understand is, it’s confusing enough out there without a pandemic on where to go and where do I get help? I think organizations like yours and ours are so important to be there and be open. And I think what the pandemic has taught us all is to be nimble and find a different way to do things. Because this has lasted probably longer than we all anticipated so I think the safety net that we are a part of is so important. Our seniors and our caregivers need to understand that you don’t have to be hanging by a thread to ask us for help. You could just have a small thing going on in your life that you’re confused about. We’re here to help with that.
One thing I would add is how important in these times it is for organizations like yours and ours to be working together to support our seniors being able to remain healthy and living in the community, especially with a pandemic. We’ve all been challenged to find new ways to engage and work together.
Back in March, we probably didn’t think this would last as long as it has. But here we are still are in this altered state until we can find a path forward. But agencies like yours, ours and other others that support seniors have all been working really hard to be there, no matter what the need is. And I think our seniors and our caregivers need to realize is, you’re not alone. And you don’t have to wait until things are bad to ask for help or even ask questions.
You know, we’re all here to help navigate. We’re all here and no question is a dumb question. We’re here to serve. We’re here to help. We want everybody to thrive and be successful in the community. And so I love opportunities like this to collaborate, and be able to put that message together for people to say, “Hey, no matter what it is, we’re here to support you. And if we can’t support you, we’re going to get you to somebody else who can. We’re not going to leave you high and dry.
BlueSea: What is the number for Scan’s Independence at Home?
Denise Likar: The number is 1-866-563-7380
Beverly Hills Senior Home Care
Huntington Beach Senior Home Care
Newport Beach Senior Home Care
Rancho Palo Verdes Senior Home Care
West Hollywood Senior Home Care
About Our Caregivers
FAQ
HCO #304700110
Contact Us Call or Text 888-814-0119 Connect With Us
]]>Denise Likar – VP Independence at Home SCAN Health
In 1977, the Senior Care Action Network, now known as SCAN was formed. Experts in medicine, gerontology, psychology and social services were brought together to deliver on a mission to keep seniors healthy and independent through a variety of divisions and services and various community benefit programs including SCAN Health Plan and Independence at Home. We’re pleased to share an interview with one of our many dedicated friends at SCAN, specifically Denise Likar, vice president of the Independence at Home division.
Click here to listen to the podcast.
Click here to watch the interview
BlueSea: As a trusted source to connect seniors with resources and assistance needed to remain in their communities, can you talk specifically about the Independence at Home division you oversee?
Denise Likar: Absolutely! It’s something very near and dear to my heart and I’ve been with Scan for 18 years, and all 18 of my years have been in within Independence at Home. Independence at Home is kind of like the founding organization. We’re like a Social Services Agency, if you will, that is part of Scan Health Plan. We’re focused out in the community at large to help seniors and their caregivers navigate the system of care, navigate the safety net services that are out there so that seniors can remain at home. Sometimes seniors engage with us for help on how to navigate their health plan and resources, which can be very complicated. Sometimes, someone knows they need help with something but they don’t know the right program to ask for. So we’ll help navigate that help to link people to those resources. But also, sometimes there are gaps in care out there. And so Scan has worked through those gaps through their Independence at Home division.
We also have an in home behavioral health program, medication safety program. And we also have a volunteer program where we will pair volunteers with seniors in order to have companionship and to combat social anxiety. So all of our services are strategically designed based on gaps in care we’ve seen out in the community, but encompassing all of it is, somebody can just call us on the phone, say, I don’t know where to go. And we’re going to help you, we’re going to help you either get to the right place, or get you to the right resource or get you in the right program, that we have an order to help you be able to stay in the community.
BlueSea: That’s great! And sometimes, you may connect them with BlueSea Care for home care services?
Denise Likar: Absolutely. Even for our art to wellness program because we also have a very popular painting program for seniors. So that’s awesome!
BlueSea: What are some of the challenges of the new aging economy?
Denise Likar: Sure. So one of the things that happened in last, the last couple of years here in California in the budget cycle, is the state has really assessed the demographics. So the largest growing population in California is the 65 and over segment, and they are outpacing the younger populations. So you’ve got that impact on the state, meaning we have more seniors here, we have to have an understanding of that. And we have to have the right services for them. With changes in modern medicine and technology, people are living longer, they’re healthier, and quite frankly, working longer. The old days of 65 as retirement age are gone and many of our seniors are staying in the workforce. So with all of this, we have to not only be able to have the ability to understand their needs and provide programs that meet their needs, we also have to understand them as contributors in the workforce.
We also have to have a workforce that understands seniors to support those seniors who aren’t working and need their help. So all of that feeds into the economy of the state and the local needs in many of our communities.
One thing Scan is doing to try to contribute positively to this is we have a scholarship program with Cal State Long Beach where we are providing 10 scholarships per academic year for students who are choosing to go into work related to gerontology. So maybe they’re going to be a nurse, but they want to focus on working with older adults. We want to make sure they get properly trained. Maybe they’re a social worker that wants to focus on older adults or a physical therapist. These areas apply for this scholarship. And we’re promoting that people need to know that there’s a deeper understanding needed so that our seniors can continue to thrive,
BlueSea: That’s wonderful. So how many scholarships have you awarded?
Denise Likar: So we’ve given out a total of 20. And we’re now working on plans for next year’s slate. So it’s an annual process partnership with Cal State Long Beach and it’s been fabulous. But we know that in an economy that has to be able to understand, accept and work with older adults, you need the right people in the right places that understand that and understand how to work with them.
BlueSea: How do you help ensure thriving throughout, especially now during this pandemic?
Denise Likar: 2020 has been a wild year for everybody and the twists and turns. And if you’re a planner like me, who likes to think you know, six feet ahead, man, it’s been hard. And so I know it’s been hard on people like us. It’s been hard on families, but it’s been hard on our older adults. And so, you know, we’ve always are encouraging our older adults to find their perpetual purpose.
A lot of people don’t have a plan post retirement. They have not thought about how they are going to spend their time. Work brings us a lot of things and socialization is one of them. And then the pandemic was a little bit of a real curve-ball especially with stay at home orders. People, especially our older adults being told you’re at high risk, you shouldn’t be going to extra places, you shouldn’t be getting together in large groups and our senior centers are closing down. You know, I think it’s really pushing us to really get connected to technology like this type of platform to be able to engage with people.
Having a plan for post-retirement is one thing, but I think the bottom line is we’ve learned with this pandemic, it’s connectivity. How do we connect with people in our lives? Some people have more people than others have in their lives. So how do we connect them to agencies like yours, like ours, like senior centers that have gone virtually online in order for them to continue to engage to prevent isolation and loneliness? Something like this really can have such negative effects on our health and our well-being. So we want to help people realize their own purpose, and especially connectivity and being able to engage.
There’s still what I’ll call a digital divide. And certain segments of our seniors, if they do have grandchildren or children who understand the technology and can get it for them, they can sometimes move along a little faster in their adoption of it. There’s a large segment of our seniors out there who have outlived family members or are alone for whatever reason. And so we’re really trying to connect them to these platforms as well and help them get access to technology.
With the governor’s order to close that digital divide for older adults, we’re trying to help with that through some of our programs. I’m hoping that statewide we’ll see more efforts to help people who don’t understand how to get connected, get connected so they can engage in classes like yours or services like ours, in order to be able to remain healthy at home.
BlueSea: That’s great! We were surprised about the quick shift to telehealth and virtual gatherings. Overnight, our Painting with Mom classes went from in-person to virtual. And we thought that virtual was going to be a problem. But we actually now have a really great following of seniors participating in our painting classes every week. One of the topics Scan helps to address is depression and anxiety in seniors and their caregivers. Can you please share how you help to address these and other challenges?
Denise Likar: Absolutely. So we, we created our own behavioral health program, due to gaps in care that we saw out in the community. The one thing about being in the community with boots on the ground is we can see what’s missing. Behavioral health is a weakness in health care in terms of access, affordability, delivery, and it varies from plan to plan. It varies in Medicare, it varies if you’re on Medicare, what types of services you can and can’t access.
What we identified is we have a lot of seniors who can’t access those traditional services. Maybe the barrier is their physical condition prevents them from being able to travel to a location to see somebody, maybe they have been offered telephonic, but that really doesn’t work for them. Or maybe it’s not delivered in their language, their native language, the language that they prefer to speak in.
We created our program called “Insights” to fill the gaps for those seniors. We use validated therapeutic modalities. We have licensed clinicians that will work with caregivers who have so much going on in their lives, they don’t have time to take care of themselves, let alone get to a clinic or a site between eight and five, let’s say. So we need to bring services to the community to really help them address those barriers that are causing their anxiety and depression.
We help them connect with their providers about their needs so that they can improve and move along the continuum to increase their quality of life. We provide those services in home. We also provide them telephonically. And we have moved into more of the virtual world with video sessions as well, trying to help connect with those individuals and help empower them and guide them through a process to improve.
BlueSea: Is there a favorite quote or saying that motivates you in your work?
Denise Likar: So something that’s always stuck with me goes way back to when I was choosing my career path. It is the old adage of the starfish and the person walking down the beach and finds a bunch of starfish. There’s no possible way they can save them all. But when they throw back one starfish at a time, they make a difference. So although I want to change the world to make it a better place for everybody, I have to pace myself and understand that sometimes it’s one person at a time, one group at a time.
We can systematically weave that together to have a larger impact on the communities we serve. So one starfish at a time, two at a time, we’re able to help people be safe, healthy and independent, and who doesn’t want to be at home and have their own choice of where they age and grow old. I take that with me to everything I do as we plan and try to figure out a path forward and then hopefully can spread those ripple effects from that. And we can all work together on bringing those starfish back to the ocean.
BlueSea: Anything else you’d like to add?
Denise Likar: I think what’s really important to understand is, it’s confusing enough out there without a pandemic on where to go and where do I get help? I think organizations like yours and ours are so important to be there and be open. And I think what the pandemic has taught us all is to be nimble and find a different way to do things. Because this has lasted probably longer than we all anticipated so I think the safety net that we are a part of is so important. Our seniors and our caregivers need to understand that you don’t have to be hanging by a thread to ask us for help. You could just have a small thing going on in your life that you’re confused about. We’re here to help with that.
One thing I would add is how important in these times it is for organizations like yours and ours to be working together to support our seniors being able to remain healthy and living in the community, especially with a pandemic. We’ve all been challenged to find new ways to engage and work together.
Back in March, we probably didn’t think this would last as long as it has. But here we are still are in this altered state until we can find a path forward. But agencies like yours, ours and other others that support seniors have all been working really hard to be there, no matter what the need is. And I think our seniors and our caregivers need to realize is, you’re not alone. And you don’t have to wait until things are bad to ask for help or even ask questions.
You know, we’re all here to help navigate. We’re all here and no question is a dumb question. We’re here to serve. We’re here to help. We want everybody to thrive and be successful in the community. And so I love opportunities like this to collaborate, and be able to put that message together for people to say, “Hey, no matter what it is, we’re here to support you. And if we can’t support you, we’re going to get you to somebody else who can. We’re not going to leave you high and dry.
BlueSea: What is the number for Scan’s Independence at Home?
Denise Likar: The number is 1-866-563-7380
Beverly Hills Senior Home Care
Huntington Beach Senior Home Care
Newport Beach Senior Home Care
Rancho Palo Verdes Senior Home Care
West Hollywood Senior Home Care
About Our Caregivers
FAQ
HCO #304700110
Contact Us Call or Text 888-814-0119 Connect With Us
]]>We asked City of Rancho Palos Verdes Recreation Supervisor Andrew Berg to share about himself and the city’s programs, specifically those for seniors before the pandemic and now
BlueSea: How did you get started as a recreation leader? I see that you’ve dedicated your career to providing great programs for every age group.
Andrew Berg: Well, I think like a lot of people in this profession, I really got my start in recreation by participating in recreation programs as a kid. I grew up in the parks. When I first needed a job, I found one as a recreation leader with my local recreation department. At first, I saw it as easy and fun and close to home. But I found out pretty quickly that I had a passion for serving the community, and for providing those same programs that were socially and physically beneficial to me as a child. I was also kind of good at it. So now many years later, here I am in a different community than where I started, but continuing with the same work.
BlueSea: Oh, great. I’m just curious, which sports were you involved with as a child and do you still participate today?
Andrew Berg: Well, I was kind of involved in everything as a child, I mean soccer, basketball, you know, all of those youth sports that it seems like all my friends signed up for. I also participated in general recreation programs, the summer camps, everything from rock climbing to woodworking and art. Kind of everything they offered I was in at one point or another. And I still I still do a lot of those things.
BlueSea: Now, can you talk about the recreation programs specific to your senior community? What was it like before the pandemic, and how is it today?
Andrew Berg: Sure. One of our biggest community centers here in Rancho Palos Verdes called Hess Park was a really active gathering place for older adults before the pandemic. And we had a really full calendar of activities including fitness, card games, Mah Jongg, a popular lecture series, and even meditation groups. It was often just a place to meet and socialize. I think that was one of the most significant things we had going. The center was somewhere older adults in the community knew they could come, not just for activities, but for a sense of community.
BlueSea: Yes, just before the pandemic, BlueSea was getting ready to coordinate its Painting with Mom art classes for the seniors a Hess Park. So now we’re doing them virtually. And I know that a lot of your seniors have signed up for Blue Sea’s virtual painting classes, and we welcome them. So that’s great that you have Hess Park as your center of activities for seniors. Now, can you talk about the recreation programs? Since things have changed a little bit since the beginning of the pandemic, how do you coordinate your activities? How are they different right now?
Andrew Berg: Sure. At first, everything just went away completely. I mean, our doors were closed, and our lights were off. And it went from a really vibrant feeling community to a total ghost town. We had to make the health and safety of our entire community, but specifically the older adults that might be at a higher risk, a high priority. That was the most important thing to us, as a city and, and so we understood the importance of shutting down and postponing our programs until we are confident we can bring them all back safely. It’s a lot of work that requires a lot of patience. But we’ve been able to slowly reintroduce some things. We’re doing some classes virtually like the art classes that you offer, and we’ve held some of our own art classes and different workshops online.
We were able to hold some in-person and outdoor mostly fitness-related activities. And again, we’re able to just provide some outdoor space. Just being able to open our picnic areas, park spaces for more passive recreation to allow people to spend time together has been big for us. And then of course, we’ve been able to support organizations like yours that are offering activities in line with our own mission.
It’s been really great to have our parks feeling like they’ve come back to life a little bit to give the older adults and others in our community access to the spaces and programs that provide social and emotional engagement that we all need. But I think really importantly, we wouldn’t have been able to do any of it without following the state and local guidance for reopening safely.
Again, it took a lot of patience and waiting for updates. But each time a new update came out, we were able to see what the state and the local health departments advised and adjust our programs accordingly, and reintroduce more and more things as quickly as we could, but still focusing on the health and safety of our community.
BlueSea: You did mention that you have worked with a lot of community groups, and I know that you’re affiliated with several, specifically those who focus on senior activities and networking. Can you share a little bit about those community groups?
Andrew Berg: Yes, as a smaller department, we don’t always have the resources, whether it’s staff, the budget or the space, to provide everything we want to everything the community wants and needs, we rely heavily on those partnerships with other community organizations to share missions and values.
One of our biggest partners is Peninsula Seniors, an organization that offers a really wide variety of programs, events and activities for older adults on the peninsula. We’re fortunate to have a long-standing really strong, mutually beneficial relationship with them. And many of our regular activities for seniors at Hess Park were organized by Peninsula Seniors before the pandemic. We assisted with the logistics and providing the space and support for them.
Then we have quite a few smaller groups and individuals that we contract with to lead classes for us. And those are all the meditation, the bridge and other games, fitness, dance, things like that, for older adults. And then we have partnerships with other groups like yours that bring unique activities to the older adult community. You know, art and art therapy are something that we hadn’t been able to offer before, but it’s proven to be popular and extremely beneficial.
BlueSea: That’s great. And it is nice that you can get the people outdoors to do activities. And I have to say that I belong to a book club, and we’ve met at the parks locally, and we just bring our own chairs, and we space ourselves out 10-feet apart. It’s kind of a good way for people to get together where they can stretch and do different activities outdoors by spacing themselves apart.
Sometimes, it’s just good to see a face instead of being on a Zoom call, or it’s just a little bit different, even though we’re used to it, and we see each otherand it is fun. So what are some things that inspire you as far as being a leader of recreation and activities? And how, how important do you think it is to have activities as a part of our lives?
Andrew Berg: It’s absolutely essential, in my view. Like I said, I got my start in this profession by participating in it and being the person that it was offered to. So I saw firsthand how beneficial it was, not just physically like participating in those sports, but socially, emotionally, cognitively. It’s an opportunity for lifelong learning. That’s why I think programs for the older adult community are so popular, because even the seniors in the community are still seeking those opportunities for learning and for new experiences and for engaging with new people and old friends. So yes, the benefits, I think, are huge. And I think an essential part of creating a community is offering these recreation programs. A lot of times when you think of recreation, you think of kids, but it really doesn’t stop ever. We encourage and serve all ages.
BlueSea: So what is your most popular class or activity among your seniors?
Andrew Berg: I think probably our lecture series. We offered a couple of lecture series prior to the pandemic that were extremely popular. In our biggest meeting room, we can accommodate a little over 100 people. And we were almost always overflowing. People were even watching from the hallways. Then the groups that would get together, whether it was a class or just a group meeting up to do things like play bridge or other card games, something that was more about being a part of that group and interacting with each other and seeing a face, you know, meeting person to person than it was about learning the game. Those were those were always popular, whether it was a small room of, you know, just six to 10 people or again, our biggest meeting room with 80 to 100. People playing and just getting together and interacting with each other is always popular.
BlueSea: Well, that’s great. Have you done any lectures? virtually?
Andrew Berg: We haven’t ourselves. I know that when the pandemic hit Peninsula Seniors transitioned a lot of their activities to virtual. And were able to do so with pretty immediate success. So I believe they’ve continued to hold a limited lecture series, without as much support from us.
BlueSea: What quote or words of wisdom inspire you and what you do?
Andrew Berg: This magnet has been on my desk for probably 10 years, and it’s always within my peripheral view. It’s a quote that’s attributed to Teddy Roosevelt that says, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” And sometimes I need the reminder to not be discouraged by adversity or unexpected circumstances, and not to dwell on things that are out of my control.
I’m driven by my own goals and my department’s goals, and find creative ways to achieve them. It’s easy to get hung up on what you can’t do and forget about all the things that you can do. So it’s kind of my daily reminder.
BlueSea: Very optimistic and helpful for all of us. Anything else you’d like to add about your programs and things that might be coming up in the near future?
Andrew Berg: We’re constantly adding new stuff. We really kind of kicked back into gear this fall, especially with outdoor programs. We’re blessed with mostly year-round decent weather, and so we can hold things outside year-round. And so that’s exciting for us. We look forward to offering things like yoga classes again and dance and fitness classes, and things for kids. So we’re constantly adding new programs and constantly updating our offerings for activities.
We encourage people to keep an eye on our website and newsletters because we’re really trying to bring as much as we can back to the community after having to kind of hold back for so long. Again, it’s always with safety in mind. I imagine virtual programs will continue indefinitely, which is great. I think that works really well for some people, but we’re really looking forward to building up our in-person activities again and offering people those opportunities to engage with each other again.
So keep an eye out. We’re always offering more as we continue into fall, and then into the new year will offer more and more programs for all ages, including the older adults and seniors.
BlueSea: Okay, and if you do any more virtual lectures, I do have some guests that I’ve interviewed who might be interesting, like a neurologist who talks about music therapy for brain health and several people including Dr. O’Brien who can talk about optimism. So we can talk about that later. But we’d love to continue work with you.
Andrew Berg: Great, we’re always open and eager.
BlueSea: Great! Well, thank you so much for taking the time today. It’s wonderful to meet you in person, at least virtually right? I hope to meet you in person one day soon. We appreciate all that you do.
Andrew Berg: Thank you. Likewise, we appreciate BlueSea Care and we’re happy to happy to be partners.
—
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coping-to-care/message
]]>We asked City of Rancho Palos Verdes Recreation Supervisor Andrew Berg to share about himself and the city’s programs, specifically those for seniors before the pandemic and now
BlueSea: How did you get started as a recreation leader? I see that you’ve dedicated your career to providing great programs for every age group.
Andrew Berg: Well, I think like a lot of people in this profession, I really got my start in recreation by participating in recreation programs as a kid. I grew up in the parks. When I first needed a job, I found one as a recreation leader with my local recreation department. At first, I saw it as easy and fun and close to home. But I found out pretty quickly that I had a passion for serving the community, and for providing those same programs that were socially and physically beneficial to me as a child. I was also kind of good at it. So now many years later, here I am in a different community than where I started, but continuing with the same work.
BlueSea: Oh, great. I’m just curious, which sports were you involved with as a child and do you still participate today?
Andrew Berg: Well, I was kind of involved in everything as a child, I mean soccer, basketball, you know, all of those youth sports that it seems like all my friends signed up for. I also participated in general recreation programs, the summer camps, everything from rock climbing to woodworking and art. Kind of everything they offered I was in at one point or another. And I still I still do a lot of those things.
BlueSea: Now, can you talk about the recreation programs specific to your senior community? What was it like before the pandemic, and how is it today?
Andrew Berg: Sure. One of our biggest community centers here in Rancho Palos Verdes called Hess Park was a really active gathering place for older adults before the pandemic. And we had a really full calendar of activities including fitness, card games, Mah Jongg, a popular lecture series, and even meditation groups. It was often just a place to meet and socialize. I think that was one of the most significant things we had going. The center was somewhere older adults in the community knew they could come, not just for activities, but for a sense of community.
BlueSea: Yes, just before the pandemic, BlueSea was getting ready to coordinate its Painting with Mom art classes for the seniors a Hess Park. So now we’re doing them virtually. And I know that a lot of your seniors have signed up for Blue Sea’s virtual painting classes, and we welcome them. So that’s great that you have Hess Park as your center of activities for seniors. Now, can you talk about the recreation programs? Since things have changed a little bit since the beginning of the pandemic, how do you coordinate your activities? How are they different right now?
Andrew Berg: Sure. At first, everything just went away completely. I mean, our doors were closed, and our lights were off. And it went from a really vibrant feeling community to a total ghost town. We had to make the health and safety of our entire community, but specifically the older adults that might be at a higher risk, a high priority. That was the most important thing to us, as a city and, and so we understood the importance of shutting down and postponing our programs until we are confident we can bring them all back safely. It’s a lot of work that requires a lot of patience. But we’ve been able to slowly reintroduce some things. We’re doing some classes virtually like the art classes that you offer, and we’ve held some of our own art classes and different workshops online.
We were able to hold some in-person and outdoor mostly fitness-related activities. And again, we’re able to just provide some outdoor space. Just being able to open our picnic areas, park spaces for more passive recreation to allow people to spend time together has been big for us. And then of course, we’ve been able to support organizations like yours that are offering activities in line with our own mission.
It’s been really great to have our parks feeling like they’ve come back to life a little bit to give the older adults and others in our community access to the spaces and programs that provide social and emotional engagement that we all need. But I think really importantly, we wouldn’t have been able to do any of it without following the state and local guidance for reopening safely.
Again, it took a lot of patience and waiting for updates. But each time a new update came out, we were able to see what the state and the local health departments advised and adjust our programs accordingly, and reintroduce more and more things as quickly as we could, but still focusing on the health and safety of our community.
BlueSea: You did mention that you have worked with a lot of community groups, and I know that you’re affiliated with several, specifically those who focus on senior activities and networking. Can you share a little bit about those community groups?
Andrew Berg: Yes, as a smaller department, we don’t always have the resources, whether it’s staff, the budget or the space, to provide everything we want to everything the community wants and needs, we rely heavily on those partnerships with other community organizations to share missions and values.
One of our biggest partners is Peninsula Seniors, an organization that offers a really wide variety of programs, events and activities for older adults on the peninsula. We’re fortunate to have a long-standing really strong, mutually beneficial relationship with them. And many of our regular activities for seniors at Hess Park were organized by Peninsula Seniors before the pandemic. We assisted with the logistics and providing the space and support for them.
Then we have quite a few smaller groups and individuals that we contract with to lead classes for us. And those are all the meditation, the bridge and other games, fitness, dance, things like that, for older adults. And then we have partnerships with other groups like yours that bring unique activities to the older adult community. You know, art and art therapy are something that we hadn’t been able to offer before, but it’s proven to be popular and extremely beneficial.
BlueSea: That’s great. And it is nice that you can get the people outdoors to do activities. And I have to say that I belong to a book club, and we’ve met at the parks locally, and we just bring our own chairs, and we space ourselves out 10-feet apart. It’s kind of a good way for people to get together where they can stretch and do different activities outdoors by spacing themselves apart.
Sometimes, it’s just good to see a face instead of being on a Zoom call, or it’s just a little bit different, even though we’re used to it, and we see each otherand it is fun. So what are some things that inspire you as far as being a leader of recreation and activities? And how, how important do you think it is to have activities as a part of our lives?
Andrew Berg: It’s absolutely essential, in my view. Like I said, I got my start in this profession by participating in it and being the person that it was offered to. So I saw firsthand how beneficial it was, not just physically like participating in those sports, but socially, emotionally, cognitively. It’s an opportunity for lifelong learning. That’s why I think programs for the older adult community are so popular, because even the seniors in the community are still seeking those opportunities for learning and for new experiences and for engaging with new people and old friends. So yes, the benefits, I think, are huge. And I think an essential part of creating a community is offering these recreation programs. A lot of times when you think of recreation, you think of kids, but it really doesn’t stop ever. We encourage and serve all ages.
BlueSea: So what is your most popular class or activity among your seniors?
Andrew Berg: I think probably our lecture series. We offered a couple of lecture series prior to the pandemic that were extremely popular. In our biggest meeting room, we can accommodate a little over 100 people. And we were almost always overflowing. People were even watching from the hallways. Then the groups that would get together, whether it was a class or just a group meeting up to do things like play bridge or other card games, something that was more about being a part of that group and interacting with each other and seeing a face, you know, meeting person to person than it was about learning the game. Those were those were always popular, whether it was a small room of, you know, just six to 10 people or again, our biggest meeting room with 80 to 100. People playing and just getting together and interacting with each other is always popular.
BlueSea: Well, that’s great. Have you done any lectures? virtually?
Andrew Berg: We haven’t ourselves. I know that when the pandemic hit Peninsula Seniors transitioned a lot of their activities to virtual. And were able to do so with pretty immediate success. So I believe they’ve continued to hold a limited lecture series, without as much support from us.
BlueSea: What quote or words of wisdom inspire you and what you do?
Andrew Berg: This magnet has been on my desk for probably 10 years, and it’s always within my peripheral view. It’s a quote that’s attributed to Teddy Roosevelt that says, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” And sometimes I need the reminder to not be discouraged by adversity or unexpected circumstances, and not to dwell on things that are out of my control.
I’m driven by my own goals and my department’s goals, and find creative ways to achieve them. It’s easy to get hung up on what you can’t do and forget about all the things that you can do. So it’s kind of my daily reminder.
BlueSea: Very optimistic and helpful for all of us. Anything else you’d like to add about your programs and things that might be coming up in the near future?
Andrew Berg: We’re constantly adding new stuff. We really kind of kicked back into gear this fall, especially with outdoor programs. We’re blessed with mostly year-round decent weather, and so we can hold things outside year-round. And so that’s exciting for us. We look forward to offering things like yoga classes again and dance and fitness classes, and things for kids. So we’re constantly adding new programs and constantly updating our offerings for activities.
We encourage people to keep an eye on our website and newsletters because we’re really trying to bring as much as we can back to the community after having to kind of hold back for so long. Again, it’s always with safety in mind. I imagine virtual programs will continue indefinitely, which is great. I think that works really well for some people, but we’re really looking forward to building up our in-person activities again and offering people those opportunities to engage with each other again.
So keep an eye out. We’re always offering more as we continue into fall, and then into the new year will offer more and more programs for all ages, including the older adults and seniors.
BlueSea: Okay, and if you do any more virtual lectures, I do have some guests that I’ve interviewed who might be interesting, like a neurologist who talks about music therapy for brain health and several people including Dr. O’Brien who can talk about optimism. So we can talk about that later. But we’d love to continue work with you.
Andrew Berg: Great, we’re always open and eager.
BlueSea: Great! Well, thank you so much for taking the time today. It’s wonderful to meet you in person, at least virtually right? I hope to meet you in person one day soon. We appreciate all that you do.
Andrew Berg: Thank you. Likewise, we appreciate BlueSea Care and we’re happy to happy to be partners.
—
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coping-to-care/message
]]>BlueSea: As a trusted source to connect seniors with resources and assistance needed to remain in their communities, can you talk specifically about the Independence at Home division you oversee?
Denise Likar: Absolutely! It’s something very near and dear to my heart and I've been with Scan for 18 years, and all 18 of my years have been in within Independence at Home. Independence at Home is kind of like the founding organization. We're like a Social Services Agency, if you will, that is part of Scan Health Plan. We're focused out in the community at large to help seniors and their caregivers navigate the system of care, navigate the safety net services that are out there so that seniors can remain at home. Sometimes seniors engage with us for help on how to navigate their health plan and resources, which can be very complicated. Sometimes, someone knows they need help with something but they don't know the right program to ask for. So we'll help navigate that help to link people to those resources. But also, sometimes there are gaps in care out there. And so Scan has worked through those gaps through their Independence at Home division.
We also have an in home behavioral health program, medication safety program. And we also have a volunteer program where we will pair volunteers with seniors in order to have companionship and to combat social anxiety. So all of our services are strategically designed based on gaps in care we've seen out in the community, but encompassing all of it is, somebody can just call us on the phone, say, I don't know where to go. And we're going to help you, we're going to help you either get to the right place, or get you to the right resource or get you in the right program, that we have an order to help you be able to stay in the community.
BlueSea: That's great! And sometimes, you may connect them with BlueSea Care for home care services?
Denise Likar: Absolutely. Even for our art to wellness program because we also have a very popular painting program for seniors. So that's awesome!
BlueSea: What are some of the challenges of the new aging economy?
Denise Likar: Sure. So one of the things that happened in last, the last couple of years here in California in the budget cycle, is the state has really assessed the demographics. So the largest growing population in California is the 65 and over segment, and they are outpacing the younger populations. So you've got that impact on the state, meaning we have more seniors here, we have to have an understanding of that. And we have to have the right services for them. With changes in modern medicine and technology, people are living longer, they're healthier, and quite frankly, working longer. The old days of 65 as retirement age are gone and many of our seniors are staying in the workforce. So with all of this, we have to not only be able to have the ability to understand their needs and provide programs that meet their needs, we also have to understand them as contributors in the workforce.
We also have to have a workforce that understands seniors to support those seniors who aren't working and need their help. So all of that feeds into the economy of the state and the local needs in many of our communities.
One thing Scan is doing to try to contribute positively to this is we have a scholarship program with Cal State Long Beach where we are providing 10 scholarships per academic year for students who are choosing to go into work related to gerontology. So maybe they're going to be a nurse, but they want to focus on working with older adults. We want to make sure they get properly trained. Maybe they're a social worker that wants to focus on older adults or a physical therapist. These areas apply for this scholarship. And we're promoting that people need to know that there's a deeper understanding needed so that our seniors can continue to thrive,
BlueSea: That's wonderful. So how many scholarships have you awarded?
Denise Likar: So we've given out a total of 20. And we're now working on plans for next year's slate. So it's an annual process partnership with Cal State Long Beach and it's been fabulous. But we know that in an economy that has to be able to understand, accept and work with older adults, you need the right people in the right places that understand that and understand how to work with them.
BlueSea: How do you help ensure thriving throughout, especially now during this pandemic?
Denise Likar: 2020 has been a wild year for everybody and the twists and turns. And if you're a planner like me, who likes to think you know, six feet ahead, man, it's been hard. And so I know it's been hard on people like us. It's been hard on families, but it's been hard on our older adults. And so, you know, we've always are encouraging our older adults to find their perpetual purpose.
A lot of people don't have a plan post retirement. They have not thought about how they are going to spend their time. Work brings us a lot of things and socialization is one of them. And then the pandemic was a little bit of a real curve-ball especially with stay at home orders. People, especially our older adults being told you're at high risk, you shouldn't be going to extra places, you shouldn't be getting together in large groups and our senior centers are closing down. You know, I think it's really pushing us to really get connected to technology like this type of platform to be able to engage with people.
Having a plan for post-retirement is one thing, but I think the bottom line is we've learned with this pandemic, it's connectivity. How do we connect with people in our lives? Some people have more people than others have in their lives. So how do we connect them to agencies like yours, like ours, like senior centers that have gone virtually online in order for them to continue to engage to prevent isolation and loneliness? Something like this really can have such negative effects on our health and our well-being. So we want to help people realize their own purpose, and especially connectivity and being able to engage.
There's still what I'll call a digital divide. And certain segments of our seniors, if they do have grandchildren or children who understand the technology and can get it for them, they can sometimes move along a little faster in their adoption of it. There's a large segment of our seniors out there who have outlived family members or are alone for whatever reason. And so we're really trying to connect them to these platforms as well and help them get access to technology.
With the governor's order to close that digital divide for older adults, we're trying to help with that through some of our programs. I'm hoping that statewide we'll see more efforts to help people who don't understand how to get connected, get connected so they can engage in classes like yours or services like ours, in order to be able to remain healthy at home.
BlueSea: That's great! We were surprised about the quick shift to telehealth and virtual gatherings. Overnight, our Painting with Mom classes went from in-person to virtual. And we thought that virtual was going to be a problem. But we actually now have a really great following of seniors participating in our painting classes every week. One of the topics Scan helps to address is depression and anxiety in seniors and their caregivers. Can you please share how you help to address these and other challenges?
Denise Likar: Absolutely. So we, we created our own behavioral health program, due to gaps in care that we saw out in the community. The one thing about being in the community with boots on the ground is we can see what's missing. Behavioral health is a weakness in health care in terms of access, affordability, delivery, and it varies from plan to plan. It varies in Medicare, it varies if you're on Medicare, what types of services you can and can’t access.
What we identified is we have a lot of seniors who can't access those traditional services. Maybe the barrier is their physical condition prevents them from being able to travel to a location to see somebody, maybe they have been offered telephonic, but that really doesn't work for them. Or maybe it's not delivered in their language, their native language, the language that they prefer to speak in.
We created our program called “Insights” to fill the gaps for those seniors. We use validated therapeutic modalities. We have licensed clinicians that will work with caregivers who have so much going on in their lives, they don't have time to take care of themselves, let alone get to a clinic or a site between eight and five, let's say. So we need to bring services to the community to really help them address those barriers that are causing their anxiety and depression.
We help them connect with their providers about their needs so that they can improve and move along the continuum to increase their quality of life. We provide those services in home. We also provide them telephonically. And we have moved into more of the virtual world with video sessions as well, trying to help connect with those individuals and help empower them and guide them through a process to improve.
BlueSea: Is there a favorite quote or saying that motivates you in your work?
Denise Likar: So something that's always stuck with me goes way back to when I was choosing my career path. It is the old adage of the starfish and the person walking down the beach and finds a bunch of starfish. There's no possible way they can save them all. But when they throw back one starfish at a time, they make a difference. So although I want to change the world to make it a better place for everybody, I have to pace myself and understand that sometimes it's one person at a time, one group at a time.
We can systematically weave that together to have a larger impact on the communities we serve. So one starfish at a time, two at a time, we're able to help people be safe, healthy and independent, and who doesn't want to be at home and have their own choice of where they age and grow old. I take that with me to everything I do as we plan and try to figure out a path forward and then hopefully can spread those ripple effects from that. And we can all work together on bringing those starfish back to the ocean.
BlueSea: Anything else you'd like to add?
Denise Likar: I think what's really important to understand is, it's confusing enough out there without a pandemic on where to go and where do I get help? I think organizations like yours and ours are so important to be there and be open. And I think what the pandemic has taught us all is to be nimble and find a different way to do things. Because this has lasted probably longer than we all anticipated so I think the safety net that we are a part of is so important. Our seniors and our caregivers need to understand that you don't have to be hanging by a thread to ask us for help. You could just have a small thing going on in your life that you're confused about. We're here to help with that.
One thing I would add is how important in these times it is for organizations like yours and ours to be working together to support our seniors being able to remain healthy and living in the community, especially with a pandemic. We've all been challenged to find new ways to engage and work together.
Back in March, we probably didn't think this would last as long as it has. But here we are still are in this altered state until we can find a path forward. But agencies like yours, ours and other others that support seniors have all been working really hard to be there, no matter what the need is. And I think our seniors and our caregivers need to realize is, you're not alone. And you don't have to wait until things are bad to ask for help or even ask questions.
You know, we're all here to help navigate. We're all here and no question is a dumb question. We're here to serve. We're here to help. We want everybody to thrive and be successful in the community. And so I love opportunities like this to collaborate, and be able to put that message together for people to say, “Hey, no matter what it is, we're here to support you. And if we can't support you, we're going to get you to somebody else who can. We're not going to leave you high and dry.
BlueSea: What is the number for Scan’s Independence at Home?
Denise Likar: The number is 1-866-563-7380
]]>BlueSea: As a trusted source to connect seniors with resources and assistance needed to remain in their communities, can you talk specifically about the Independence at Home division you oversee?
Denise Likar: Absolutely! It’s something very near and dear to my heart and I've been with Scan for 18 years, and all 18 of my years have been in within Independence at Home. Independence at Home is kind of like the founding organization. We're like a Social Services Agency, if you will, that is part of Scan Health Plan. We're focused out in the community at large to help seniors and their caregivers navigate the system of care, navigate the safety net services that are out there so that seniors can remain at home. Sometimes seniors engage with us for help on how to navigate their health plan and resources, which can be very complicated. Sometimes, someone knows they need help with something but they don't know the right program to ask for. So we'll help navigate that help to link people to those resources. But also, sometimes there are gaps in care out there. And so Scan has worked through those gaps through their Independence at Home division.
We also have an in home behavioral health program, medication safety program. And we also have a volunteer program where we will pair volunteers with seniors in order to have companionship and to combat social anxiety. So all of our services are strategically designed based on gaps in care we've seen out in the community, but encompassing all of it is, somebody can just call us on the phone, say, I don't know where to go. And we're going to help you, we're going to help you either get to the right place, or get you to the right resource or get you in the right program, that we have an order to help you be able to stay in the community.
BlueSea: That's great! And sometimes, you may connect them with BlueSea Care for home care services?
Denise Likar: Absolutely. Even for our art to wellness program because we also have a very popular painting program for seniors. So that's awesome!
BlueSea: What are some of the challenges of the new aging economy?
Denise Likar: Sure. So one of the things that happened in last, the last couple of years here in California in the budget cycle, is the state has really assessed the demographics. So the largest growing population in California is the 65 and over segment, and they are outpacing the younger populations. So you've got that impact on the state, meaning we have more seniors here, we have to have an understanding of that. And we have to have the right services for them. With changes in modern medicine and technology, people are living longer, they're healthier, and quite frankly, working longer. The old days of 65 as retirement age are gone and many of our seniors are staying in the workforce. So with all of this, we have to not only be able to have the ability to understand their needs and provide programs that meet their needs, we also have to understand them as contributors in the workforce.
We also have to have a workforce that understands seniors to support those seniors who aren't working and need their help. So all of that feeds into the economy of the state and the local needs in many of our communities.
One thing Scan is doing to try to contribute positively to this is we have a scholarship program with Cal State Long Beach where we are providing 10 scholarships per academic year for students who are choosing to go into work related to gerontology. So maybe they're going to be a nurse, but they want to focus on working with older adults. We want to make sure they get properly trained. Maybe they're a social worker that wants to focus on older adults or a physical therapist. These areas apply for this scholarship. And we're promoting that people need to know that there's a deeper understanding needed so that our seniors can continue to thrive,
BlueSea: That's wonderful. So how many scholarships have you awarded?
Denise Likar: So we've given out a total of 20. And we're now working on plans for next year's slate. So it's an annual process partnership with Cal State Long Beach and it's been fabulous. But we know that in an economy that has to be able to understand, accept and work with older adults, you need the right people in the right places that understand that and understand how to work with them.
BlueSea: How do you help ensure thriving throughout, especially now during this pandemic?
Denise Likar: 2020 has been a wild year for everybody and the twists and turns. And if you're a planner like me, who likes to think you know, six feet ahead, man, it's been hard. And so I know it's been hard on people like us. It's been hard on families, but it's been hard on our older adults. And so, you know, we've always are encouraging our older adults to find their perpetual purpose.
A lot of people don't have a plan post retirement. They have not thought about how they are going to spend their time. Work brings us a lot of things and socialization is one of them. And then the pandemic was a little bit of a real curve-ball especially with stay at home orders. People, especially our older adults being told you're at high risk, you shouldn't be going to extra places, you shouldn't be getting together in large groups and our senior centers are closing down. You know, I think it's really pushing us to really get connected to technology like this type of platform to be able to engage with people.
Having a plan for post-retirement is one thing, but I think the bottom line is we've learned with this pandemic, it's connectivity. How do we connect with people in our lives? Some people have more people than others have in their lives. So how do we connect them to agencies like yours, like ours, like senior centers that have gone virtually online in order for them to continue to engage to prevent isolation and loneliness? Something like this really can have such negative effects on our health and our well-being. So we want to help people realize their own purpose, and especially connectivity and being able to engage.
There's still what I'll call a digital divide. And certain segments of our seniors, if they do have grandchildren or children who understand the technology and can get it for them, they can sometimes move along a little faster in their adoption of it. There's a large segment of our seniors out there who have outlived family members or are alone for whatever reason. And so we're really trying to connect them to these platforms as well and help them get access to technology.
With the governor's order to close that digital divide for older adults, we're trying to help with that through some of our programs. I'm hoping that statewide we'll see more efforts to help people who don't understand how to get connected, get connected so they can engage in classes like yours or services like ours, in order to be able to remain healthy at home.
BlueSea: That's great! We were surprised about the quick shift to telehealth and virtual gatherings. Overnight, our Painting with Mom classes went from in-person to virtual. And we thought that virtual was going to be a problem. But we actually now have a really great following of seniors participating in our painting classes every week. One of the topics Scan helps to address is depression and anxiety in seniors and their caregivers. Can you please share how you help to address these and other challenges?
Denise Likar: Absolutely. So we, we created our own behavioral health program, due to gaps in care that we saw out in the community. The one thing about being in the community with boots on the ground is we can see what's missing. Behavioral health is a weakness in health care in terms of access, affordability, delivery, and it varies from plan to plan. It varies in Medicare, it varies if you're on Medicare, what types of services you can and can’t access.
What we identified is we have a lot of seniors who can't access those traditional services. Maybe the barrier is their physical condition prevents them from being able to travel to a location to see somebody, maybe they have been offered telephonic, but that really doesn't work for them. Or maybe it's not delivered in their language, their native language, the language that they prefer to speak in.
We created our program called “Insights” to fill the gaps for those seniors. We use validated therapeutic modalities. We have licensed clinicians that will work with caregivers who have so much going on in their lives, they don't have time to take care of themselves, let alone get to a clinic or a site between eight and five, let's say. So we need to bring services to the community to really help them address those barriers that are causing their anxiety and depression.
We help them connect with their providers about their needs so that they can improve and move along the continuum to increase their quality of life. We provide those services in home. We also provide them telephonically. And we have moved into more of the virtual world with video sessions as well, trying to help connect with those individuals and help empower them and guide them through a process to improve.
BlueSea: Is there a favorite quote or saying that motivates you in your work?
Denise Likar: So something that's always stuck with me goes way back to when I was choosing my career path. It is the old adage of the starfish and the person walking down the beach and finds a bunch of starfish. There's no possible way they can save them all. But when they throw back one starfish at a time, they make a difference. So although I want to change the world to make it a better place for everybody, I have to pace myself and understand that sometimes it's one person at a time, one group at a time.
We can systematically weave that together to have a larger impact on the communities we serve. So one starfish at a time, two at a time, we're able to help people be safe, healthy and independent, and who doesn't want to be at home and have their own choice of where they age and grow old. I take that with me to everything I do as we plan and try to figure out a path forward and then hopefully can spread those ripple effects from that. And we can all work together on bringing those starfish back to the ocean.
BlueSea: Anything else you'd like to add?
Denise Likar: I think what's really important to understand is, it's confusing enough out there without a pandemic on where to go and where do I get help? I think organizations like yours and ours are so important to be there and be open. And I think what the pandemic has taught us all is to be nimble and find a different way to do things. Because this has lasted probably longer than we all anticipated so I think the safety net that we are a part of is so important. Our seniors and our caregivers need to understand that you don't have to be hanging by a thread to ask us for help. You could just have a small thing going on in your life that you're confused about. We're here to help with that.
One thing I would add is how important in these times it is for organizations like yours and ours to be working together to support our seniors being able to remain healthy and living in the community, especially with a pandemic. We've all been challenged to find new ways to engage and work together.
Back in March, we probably didn't think this would last as long as it has. But here we are still are in this altered state until we can find a path forward. But agencies like yours, ours and other others that support seniors have all been working really hard to be there, no matter what the need is. And I think our seniors and our caregivers need to realize is, you're not alone. And you don't have to wait until things are bad to ask for help or even ask questions.
You know, we're all here to help navigate. We're all here and no question is a dumb question. We're here to serve. We're here to help. We want everybody to thrive and be successful in the community. And so I love opportunities like this to collaborate, and be able to put that message together for people to say, “Hey, no matter what it is, we're here to support you. And if we can't support you, we're going to get you to somebody else who can. We're not going to leave you high and dry.
BlueSea: What is the number for Scan’s Independence at Home?
Denise Likar: The number is 1-866-563-7380
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Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coping-to-care/message
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]]>Today, we’re pleased to welcome Meals on Wheels Orange County President & CEO Holly Hagler and Susan Papiri, Director, Corporate & Community Engagement.
Ensuring Good Nutrition For Seniors
They know the need for good nutrition for seniors, especially those with chronic conditions, is very crucial to good health. So we asked them to share about the work and coordination that goes into this at Meals on Wheels Orange County.
According to Holly, one of the things they really focus on is food insecurity. Food insecurity is defined as limited or uncertain access to adequate food for wellness. And what a lot of people may not realize is that nearly 30% of low income older adults in their community suffer from food insecurity. That’s almost a third. And that has doubled since 2012. So they look at both providing food and solid nutrition, regardless of income.
It has been found that roughly half of all older adults, regardless of income, are malnourished when they are hospitalized, and that could be from inability to make good healthy meals, or whatever their disease condition is. So the other thing that is important is ensuring that they are providing the balanced nutrition that helps promote wellness. One of the reasons this is so critical is that about 50% of all diseases that older adults have, are directly connected to lack of appropriate nutrition intake. And 60% of food insecure older adults have congestive heart failure, and 50% more are likely to have diabetes, and so on.
So one of the things that they do is serve meals on wheels delivered to older adults at home who are not able to shop or make their own meals. Or they also serve hot meals at senior centers or, during Covid, frozen meals that are being picked up. But everything is overseen by a registered dietician and they must meet national standards for the meals that they make. So they look at sodium and have low sodium meals. They look at what the calorie count is, they look at the nutritional value in terms of vitamins and minerals that are in each meal, and they have to meet these really rigid national standards and ensure there’s sufficient protein so that seniors remain strong. As many know, loss of muscle tissue is a real major issue for older adults that can cause weakening. Having the right balance of protein and carbohydrates is really important. So they design that into all of their meals. And they also have diabetic friendly meals.
Meals are usually delivered by a friendly volunteer driver who takes a few minutes to have a little conversation, ask how the senior is doing today, and they build a relationship. They provide both the meals as well as social connections. And then when they go to the senior centers, it’s not about just getting a meal, it’s about sitting at a table and socializing with people in the community. So they always say, “It’s meals and more.”
Ensuring Senior Wellness, Purpose, and Dignity
Meals on Wheels provides proper nourishment for older adults. In addition, they help ensure their wellness, purpose and dignity. They offer Case Management, Adult Day Services, Friendly Visitors, and Care Coordination. They have a case manager assigned to each older adult, and when they are in taking them into the program, they go out and actually visit with them in the home and connect them with other resources because, a lot of times, they may not have access to good transportation, or they may need connections with health insurance companies, or medical. And so they make sure that they’re connecting them with those kinds of resources as well as their case management.
In addition to that, they have a limited amount of homecare funding that they can provide to maybe help them clean their home or personal care. So those are smaller services. But again, it’s for the most frail who are homebound and alone who really need that extra support. They also provide Adult Day health care services which are medically supervised daycare. And this is for very frail, older adults who usually have seven or eight health issues, are on multiple medications, then they get their blood pressure checked there, may have mobility challenges, and may be using a walker or a wheelchair.
They have activities, physical therapy, and occupational therapy that they do at their center, and socialization is always important. Then they take them home at the end of the day. So it helps them remain with their families, while staying healthy for as long as possible, until they need to have more around the clock kind of living situations and care coordination similar to what BlueSea Care provides.
Extended Senior Isolation Can Cause Physiological Deprivation
Susan shared about the Friendly Visitor program which is set up to make sure that seniors aren’t suffering physiologically from extended isolation and loneliness. She said that the startling statistic that some of us may not have heard about is extended loneliness can cause a physiological deprivation that is equal to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. So a Friendly Visitor comes in and spends an hour a week with one of their homebound seniors, just speaking to them about their past or playing cards or doing a puzzle or whatever it is that they both are interested in can help immensely. It’s kind of the senior Match Game. They do have people who call and want to help but can’t deliver meals during the week. So the Friendly Visitor program may work better for them so they match them with someone with complementary interests, they get together and figure out when a good time for both of them to meet. Now, with the recent pandemic, they’ve had to get creative, and they’ve made it more of a telephonic thing. They’re hoping to get back to in person visits as soon as it’s safe. But it’s so important to have that contact, whether it’s telephonic or in person, so that they can stave off all of those other issues that can happen when they are lonely and isolated.
According to a Becker’s Hospital Review, most seniors may have just one contact a week. Susan says that especially now, they have come up with innovative ways to deal with isolation. So their case managers and CNAs all got together and started making phone calls and their activities person put together activity kits. For those whose loved ones couldn’t be home, they’ve been checking in on them and taking them meals. So they’ve been finding ways to make it work again.
Innovating to Help Seniors Live Happily at Home
Holly says they’ve had to pilot new things and fail forward, give other things a shot, then celebrate the successes. They learn from the setbacks and working closely with people creating an innovative environment. COVID blew the cover off the ball for everybody in terms of innovating and doing things differently. Meals and Wheels Orange County is now serving six times more meals than they would normally serve in a month. And if you would have told them back in February, that within a matter of weeks they would be doing that, they would have said, “No way! That’s not even possible!”
Like Meals on Wheels, BlueSea Care has also had to be innovative. We were doing our Art-to-Wellness Painting With Mom classes at the Seal Beach Fire Department and the Michael Landon Community Center in Malibu. And then we were also planning to do another class in Rancho Palos Verdes. But then in March, we pivoted and began virtual art classes to create socialization and reduce senior isolation. Today, BlueSea is doing virtual art classes every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. And we max out at 50. So we pretty much get a full class, and it’s a free class for seniors. So they’re having a lot of fun. Here’s the link to share with seniors: https://www.blueseacare.com/virtual-senior-art-classes/
Meals on Wheels is focused on programs that keeps seniors living at home. Holly says that’s the hallmark of what they do. She said that surveys show that 80% and even higher of older adults like to live in their own homes as long as possible. And so that’s really what they provide for them: services and support to make that possible. Cooking is huge. And when someone can no longer go to the grocery store safely, or maybe they have arthritis, and they can only lift their hands so far, and all the things and dexterity that cooking requires, or they’ve lost interest in cooking, and they just want to do whatever is convenient. So quite frankly, over 50% of adults in this country have to make a trade off each month between food and whether they’re going to pay their utilities, pay their rent, or transportation or their medications. So this is about providing both the support that people need, as well as takes away a big expense item if they’re getting the meals delivered to the home. So that is absolutely critical.
Ongoing Senior Assessment is Key to Keeping Seniors Healthy and Safe
Susan says that without their case managers for their home delivered meal recipients, they wouldn’t be able to do three quarters of what they do. When they speak with the person who is asking about the meals, they also determine through an assessment, and then through continued assessments through the months, what the needs for this person are. They’re in their home, but are they safely in their home? Because that’s something that they really need to know and they really focus on. It’s about keeping them in their home as long and as safely as possible. So do they have a mattress? Do they have a microwave? Can they put this food in the microwave and heat it up? Do they have cleared space? Do they have a ramp?
Their case managers have all kinds of ways of contacting other resources, or being able to access different small grants or donations, and get these people some of the things that they need. Susan said they had a blind man, in one room of a home that he was renting a trailer home. His Friendly Visitor found that he couldn’t sleep because he could hear rodents coming in through holes in the floor at night because his mattress was on the floor. So they got a handyman to come and repair the holes, and were able to get him a bed frame and box spring to get him up off the floor making him safe, not just physically but mentally. These are the things that they do that are much more than delivering a meal.
Helping Families By Helping Their Elderly Loved Ones
Holly said she received a call on her cell phone one day when she was working from home. It was a woman who was calling about meal services for her elderly aunt and mother who live in Seal Beach at Leisure World who were in their 90’s. They somehow had missed the delivery of their meals. She learned that it was because the beauty parlor had opened up and they had gone to get their hair done and missed the delivery. So she arranged to get the meals re-delivered to them.
Many a time, it’s not just the seniors that they serve. Seniors may be isolated alone because they have family elsewhere. Maybe they’re in another state, maybe they’re a couple hours away, maybe they’re just an hour away. But during the week, they work and they can’t get to their loved ones. And so they touch not only the senior by delivering a nutritious meal, but also that senior’s family member.
Normally, Meals on Wheels hosts a major fundraiser and a Senior Care Hero Awards event. It’s like the Academy Awards of the senior industry. And this would have been their 10th year doing it. They have about 650 people who come to the Grove of Anaheim and they honor people all through the care continuum. People are nominated and then they’re voted on. And then, just like the Academy Awards, they find out who the recipients of the awards for each category are. But because of Covid, they couldn’t do that this year. So they decided to push that off to 2021. But for this year, they produced a documentary to shine the light on how the community and their partners all came together with staff, and everybody involved, volunteers and so forth, to help this nourishment continue through this pandemic. Holly said, “It’s astounding, truly astounding how the community came together in such really a short amount of time to make sure that seniors were not deprived of nutrition. Here’s the documentary that that tells their story: https://www.mealsonwheelsoc.org/stepuptotheplate/
In closing Holly said, “This is the time to be kind to yourself and be kind to others because so often, we’re focused on others so much that we don’t take the time for ourselves. So do both. And I think we will all live a happier life if we do that.”
Susan concludes with, “I think that we all have now had a taste of what our homebound seniors feel every day since this pandemic started. We are used to being able to go out and do what we wanted to do when we wanted to do it, how we wanted to do it, with whom we wanted to do it. And all of a sudden, we couldn’t do that. So now I would really love for us all to hold on to that feeling. It’s an uncomfortable feeling. And we’re getting a little bit out of it now. But please hold on to that because that’s how our seniors feel. And it’s important to support our seniors so that they don’t feel so cut off.”
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coping-to-care/message
]]>Today, we’re pleased to welcome Meals on Wheels Orange County President & CEO Holly Hagler and Susan Papiri, Director, Corporate & Community Engagement.
Ensuring Good Nutrition For Seniors
They know the need for good nutrition for seniors, especially those with chronic conditions, is very crucial to good health. So we asked them to share about the work and coordination that goes into this at Meals on Wheels Orange County.
According to Holly, one of the things they really focus on is food insecurity. Food insecurity is defined as limited or uncertain access to adequate food for wellness. And what a lot of people may not realize is that nearly 30% of low income older adults in their community suffer from food insecurity. That’s almost a third. And that has doubled since 2012. So they look at both providing food and solid nutrition, regardless of income.
It has been found that roughly half of all older adults, regardless of income, are malnourished when they are hospitalized, and that could be from inability to make good healthy meals, or whatever their disease condition is. So the other thing that is important is ensuring that they are providing the balanced nutrition that helps promote wellness. One of the reasons this is so critical is that about 50% of all diseases that older adults have, are directly connected to lack of appropriate nutrition intake. And 60% of food insecure older adults have congestive heart failure, and 50% more are likely to have diabetes, and so on.
So one of the things that they do is serve meals on wheels delivered to older adults at home who are not able to shop or make their own meals. Or they also serve hot meals at senior centers or, during Covid, frozen meals that are being picked up. But everything is overseen by a registered dietician and they must meet national standards for the meals that they make. So they look at sodium and have low sodium meals. They look at what the calorie count is, they look at the nutritional value in terms of vitamins and minerals that are in each meal, and they have to meet these really rigid national standards and ensure there’s sufficient protein so that seniors remain strong. As many know, loss of muscle tissue is a real major issue for older adults that can cause weakening. Having the right balance of protein and carbohydrates is really important. So they design that into all of their meals. And they also have diabetic friendly meals.
Meals are usually delivered by a friendly volunteer driver who takes a few minutes to have a little conversation, ask how the senior is doing today, and they build a relationship. They provide both the meals as well as social connections. And then when they go to the senior centers, it’s not about just getting a meal, it’s about sitting at a table and socializing with people in the community. So they always say, “It’s meals and more.”
Ensuring Senior Wellness, Purpose, and Dignity
Meals on Wheels provides proper nourishment for older adults. In addition, they help ensure their wellness, purpose and dignity. They offer Case Management, Adult Day Services, Friendly Visitors, and Care Coordination. They have a case manager assigned to each older adult, and when they are in taking them into the program, they go out and actually visit with them in the home and connect them with other resources because, a lot of times, they may not have access to good transportation, or they may need connections with health insurance companies, or medical. And so they make sure that they’re connecting them with those kinds of resources as well as their case management.
In addition to that, they have a limited amount of homecare funding that they can provide to maybe help them clean their home or personal care. So those are smaller services. But again, it’s for the most frail who are homebound and alone who really need that extra support. They also provide Adult Day health care services which are medically supervised daycare. And this is for very frail, older adults who usually have seven or eight health issues, are on multiple medications, then they get their blood pressure checked there, may have mobility challenges, and may be using a walker or a wheelchair.
They have activities, physical therapy, and occupational therapy that they do at their center, and socialization is always important. Then they take them home at the end of the day. So it helps them remain with their families, while staying healthy for as long as possible, until they need to have more around the clock kind of living situations and care coordination similar to what BlueSea Care provides.
Extended Senior Isolation Can Cause Physiological Deprivation
Susan shared about the Friendly Visitor program which is set up to make sure that seniors aren’t suffering physiologically from extended isolation and loneliness. She said that the startling statistic that some of us may not have heard about is extended loneliness can cause a physiological deprivation that is equal to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. So a Friendly Visitor comes in and spends an hour a week with one of their homebound seniors, just speaking to them about their past or playing cards or doing a puzzle or whatever it is that they both are interested in can help immensely. It’s kind of the senior Match Game. They do have people who call and want to help but can’t deliver meals during the week. So the Friendly Visitor program may work better for them so they match them with someone with complementary interests, they get together and figure out when a good time for both of them to meet. Now, with the recent pandemic, they’ve had to get creative, and they’ve made it more of a telephonic thing. They’re hoping to get back to in person visits as soon as it’s safe. But it’s so important to have that contact, whether it’s telephonic or in person, so that they can stave off all of those other issues that can happen when they are lonely and isolated.
According to a Becker’s Hospital Review, most seniors may have just one contact a week. Susan says that especially now, they have come up with innovative ways to deal with isolation. So their case managers and CNAs all got together and started making phone calls and their activities person put together activity kits. For those whose loved ones couldn’t be home, they’ve been checking in on them and taking them meals. So they’ve been finding ways to make it work again.
Innovating to Help Seniors Live Happily at Home
Holly says they’ve had to pilot new things and fail forward, give other things a shot, then celebrate the successes. They learn from the setbacks and working closely with people creating an innovative environment. COVID blew the cover off the ball for everybody in terms of innovating and doing things differently. Meals and Wheels Orange County is now serving six times more meals than they would normally serve in a month. And if you would have told them back in February, that within a matter of weeks they would be doing that, they would have said, “No way! That’s not even possible!”
Like Meals on Wheels, BlueSea Care has also had to be innovative. We were doing our Art-to-Wellness Painting With Mom classes at the Seal Beach Fire Department and the Michael Landon Community Center in Malibu. And then we were also planning to do another class in Rancho Palos Verdes. But then in March, we pivoted and began virtual art classes to create socialization and reduce senior isolation. Today, BlueSea is doing virtual art classes every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. And we max out at 50. So we pretty much get a full class, and it’s a free class for seniors. So they’re having a lot of fun. Here’s the link to share with seniors: https://www.blueseacare.com/virtual-senior-art-classes/
Meals on Wheels is focused on programs that keeps seniors living at home. Holly says that’s the hallmark of what they do. She said that surveys show that 80% and even higher of older adults like to live in their own homes as long as possible. And so that’s really what they provide for them: services and support to make that possible. Cooking is huge. And when someone can no longer go to the grocery store safely, or maybe they have arthritis, and they can only lift their hands so far, and all the things and dexterity that cooking requires, or they’ve lost interest in cooking, and they just want to do whatever is convenient. So quite frankly, over 50% of adults in this country have to make a trade off each month between food and whether they’re going to pay their utilities, pay their rent, or transportation or their medications. So this is about providing both the support that people need, as well as takes away a big expense item if they’re getting the meals delivered to the home. So that is absolutely critical.
Ongoing Senior Assessment is Key to Keeping Seniors Healthy and Safe
Susan says that without their case managers for their home delivered meal recipients, they wouldn’t be able to do three quarters of what they do. When they speak with the person who is asking about the meals, they also determine through an assessment, and then through continued assessments through the months, what the needs for this person are. They’re in their home, but are they safely in their home? Because that’s something that they really need to know and they really focus on. It’s about keeping them in their home as long and as safely as possible. So do they have a mattress? Do they have a microwave? Can they put this food in the microwave and heat it up? Do they have cleared space? Do they have a ramp?
Their case managers have all kinds of ways of contacting other resources, or being able to access different small grants or donations, and get these people some of the things that they need. Susan said they had a blind man, in one room of a home that he was renting a trailer home. His Friendly Visitor found that he couldn’t sleep because he could hear rodents coming in through holes in the floor at night because his mattress was on the floor. So they got a handyman to come and repair the holes, and were able to get him a bed frame and box spring to get him up off the floor making him safe, not just physically but mentally. These are the things that they do that are much more than delivering a meal.
Helping Families By Helping Their Elderly Loved Ones
Holly said she received a call on her cell phone one day when she was working from home. It was a woman who was calling about meal services for her elderly aunt and mother who live in Seal Beach at Leisure World who were in their 90’s. They somehow had missed the delivery of their meals. She learned that it was because the beauty parlor had opened up and they had gone to get their hair done and missed the delivery. So she arranged to get the meals re-delivered to them.
Many a time, it’s not just the seniors that they serve. Seniors may be isolated alone because they have family elsewhere. Maybe they’re in another state, maybe they’re a couple hours away, maybe they’re just an hour away. But during the week, they work and they can’t get to their loved ones. And so they touch not only the senior by delivering a nutritious meal, but also that senior’s family member.
Normally, Meals on Wheels hosts a major fundraiser and a Senior Care Hero Awards event. It’s like the Academy Awards of the senior industry. And this would have been their 10th year doing it. They have about 650 people who come to the Grove of Anaheim and they honor people all through the care continuum. People are nominated and then they’re voted on. And then, just like the Academy Awards, they find out who the recipients of the awards for each category are. But because of Covid, they couldn’t do that this year. So they decided to push that off to 2021. But for this year, they produced a documentary to shine the light on how the community and their partners all came together with staff, and everybody involved, volunteers and so forth, to help this nourishment continue through this pandemic. Holly said, “It’s astounding, truly astounding how the community came together in such really a short amount of time to make sure that seniors were not deprived of nutrition. Here’s the documentary that that tells their story: https://www.mealsonwheelsoc.org/stepuptotheplate/
In closing Holly said, “This is the time to be kind to yourself and be kind to others because so often, we’re focused on others so much that we don’t take the time for ourselves. So do both. And I think we will all live a happier life if we do that.”
Susan concludes with, “I think that we all have now had a taste of what our homebound seniors feel every day since this pandemic started. We are used to being able to go out and do what we wanted to do when we wanted to do it, how we wanted to do it, with whom we wanted to do it. And all of a sudden, we couldn’t do that. So now I would really love for us all to hold on to that feeling. It’s an uncomfortable feeling. And we’re getting a little bit out of it now. But please hold on to that because that’s how our seniors feel. And it’s important to support our seniors so that they don’t feel so cut off.”
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coping-to-care/message
]]>Guest Fritzi Gros-Daillon is a successful entrepreneur in Senior Move Management, Environmental Consulting and Aging in Place Home Safety and Modification. Named Educator of the Year by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) for 2019, she teaches aging in place and universal design courses. Working with Age Safe America where she serves as the Director of Education and Advocacy, she developed the Senior Home Safety Specialist certification and co-created an online Family Caregiver Essentials program. Her Master’s in Business from Columbia University, plus her Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist (CAPS) and Universal Design Certified Professional (UDCP) designations, give her the experience, perspective and expertise to work with multi-discipline professionals and clients of all ages.
Her first book, “Grace and Grit: Insights to Real Life Challenges of Aging for Adult Children and their Parents,” won five national book awards and the Canadian Book Excellence award in 2016. The book offers insight, humor and a deeper understanding of the complexity of roles and decisions for older adults and families considering changes to their homes. She is a public speaker on topics of home safety and aging in place at state and national conferences, radio and podcasts.
The Senior Home Safety Specialist certification training is an online, self-paced program highlighting the holistic look at safety for seniors in their homes. With modules covering topic from communication, fire safety and identity theft to a major emphasis on the assessment of the home for safety and fall risk mitigation, this course provides a market differentiator for companies and individuals serving seniors and their families. For more information, please visit https://agesafeamerica.com/certifications/
—
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coping-to-care/message
]]>Guest Fritzi Gros-Daillon is a successful entrepreneur in Senior Move Management, Environmental Consulting and Aging in Place Home Safety and Modification. Named Educator of the Year by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) for 2019, she teaches aging in place and universal design courses. Working with Age Safe America where she serves as the Director of Education and Advocacy, she developed the Senior Home Safety Specialist certification and co-created an online Family Caregiver Essentials program. Her Master’s in Business from Columbia University, plus her Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist (CAPS) and Universal Design Certified Professional (UDCP) designations, give her the experience, perspective and expertise to work with multi-discipline professionals and clients of all ages.
Her first book, “Grace and Grit: Insights to Real Life Challenges of Aging for Adult Children and their Parents,” won five national book awards and the Canadian Book Excellence award in 2016. The book offers insight, humor and a deeper understanding of the complexity of roles and decisions for older adults and families considering changes to their homes. She is a public speaker on topics of home safety and aging in place at state and national conferences, radio and podcasts.
The Senior Home Safety Specialist certification training is an online, self-paced program highlighting the holistic look at safety for seniors in their homes. With modules covering topic from communication, fire safety and identity theft to a major emphasis on the assessment of the home for safety and fall risk mitigation, this course provides a market differentiator for companies and individuals serving seniors and their families. For more information, please visit https://agesafeamerica.com/certifications/
—
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coping-to-care/message
]]>Click here to read more about BlueSea Care.
—
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coping-to-care/message
]]>Click here to read more about BlueSea Care.
—
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coping-to-care/message
]]>Click here to learn more about BlueSea Care’s services.
—
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coping-to-care/message
]]>Click here to learn more about BlueSea Care’s services.
—
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coping-to-care/message
]]>In this interview, we dive into ways you can build mental resilience as well as how to maintain your mental health. Dr. Matheson highlights the different approaches you can use to make sure you maintain your state of health and happiness.
Click here to learn about senior home care in California.
—
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coping-to-care/message
]]>In this interview, we dive into ways you can build mental resilience as well as how to maintain your mental health. Dr. Matheson highlights the different approaches you can use to make sure you maintain your state of health and happiness.
Click here to learn about senior home care in California.
—
Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/coping-to-care/message
]]>