Home Instead Senior Care

CAREGiver Corner

Home Instead Senior Care a place of growth & Belonging

Message From the President

You never cease to amaze me! Yes, you.

Now that the calendar officially says “Spring”, I think it is

finally safe to declare that we have successfully made it

through another harsh Wisconsin winter. Although this past

winter turned out to be relatively normal as far as snowfall

totals, when it did snow…it snowed!

And when it did, you rose to the challenge. Wherever your assignment

was… from Door County to Cedarburg….you made arrangements to

make sure our senior clients were cared for.

I recall a visit I made to Cedarburg during a snowstorm on February 2

when area schools, gas stations, government offices, and even the postal

service was closed. I was concerned that many of our senior clients may

be unattended as well. Instead what I heard from the office staff was

countless stories of CAREGiver heroism. Some spent the night with

their clients, some made special arrangements to get out of their drive-

way or into their client’s driveway, and others stayed extra shifts to

cover for their fellow CAREGivers who couldn’t get out.

So if we completed our duties, but the postal service did not, maybe we

could borrow the old saying?

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these

couriers CAREGivers from the swift completion of their appointed

rounds!"

I am so impressed!

You care so much! Thank you.

Steve Nooyen

Franchise Owner snooyen@homeinstead.com

CAREGiver of

the Month

Drumroll, please…

Our April CAREGiver of the

Month is Ila Lamsargis! A

regular guest at our office, Ila stops in or

calls to keep us apprised of her client situa-

tions. She is a loving advocate for them and

their needs. When her clients have had hospi-

tal stays, she has visited and offered them

emotional support. If you know Ila, you

know she’s a great cook! She will prepare a

week’s worth of meals for her clients, so her

teammates only have to warm the food items

up on their shifts. When clients tell us they

never want her removed, we know she’s a

keeper! Thank you, Ila, for all you do. You

are an asset to Home Instead Senior Care and

we appreciate you! Congratulations!

It’s been a while since you provided personal or advanced cares

for a client. These include assistance with toileting, bathing,

grooming, transferring or using lifting devices. You’ve been

offered a shift requiring this care. You should:

A) Refuse the work.

B) Assume these cares are inappropriate for our service.

C) Assume you need a CNA certification to provide these services.

D) Call HISC to request some additional one/one training. Feel confident our staff

can help you regain your comfort level and confidence!

Submit your answer to be entered into this month’s drawing for a $10.00 gift card!

Entries must be received by April 13th. Submit your entry:

1) In person

2) By mail: 901 Anderson Dr., Green Bay, WI 54304

3) Email to: hiscwi_hr@homeinstead.com

GOOD LUCK! Winners will be announced in next month’s newsletter.

Last month’s answer: F) Outside of normal business hours, our On-Call Supervisor should be called if you cannot arrive to work as scheduled, if you arrive and no one answers the door, if your client asks you to come early/leave late, if it is a 911 emergency or if you are unable to call in/out of Santrax. All other calls should come through the main office, Mon-Fri 8am-5pm.

Trivia Question of the Month

Upcoming Events! APRIL: After Easter Easter Egg Hunt More details to come…

March Winners Appleton: Leann Lee Green Bay: Gail Carr Oz/Wash: Sandy Ploor

Food Safety

Reminders

When preparing food,

please be sure to label all

items. Acceptable labels

include a description of the

item and preparation date. If

you are freezing food, please

list the above information,

and also leave a blank space

for the thaw date. This way,

when you take an item out of

the freezer and move it to the

refrigerator, your teammates

will know it isn’t expired.

Example:

Banana Bread

Prepared: 3/22/11

Thawed:

ISSUE 26

Page 2

CAREGIVER CORNER

“Here comes Peter

Cottontail,

hopping down the

bunny trail!

Hippity Hoppity!

Easter’s on it’s

way!”

steve nelson & jack rollins

Happy Birthday! Cheers for the Years!

April

Appleton/Oshkosh

Bev Close, La Verne Schuh, Donna Kertis, Rita

Schutzendorf, Margaret Robinson, Pat Collins, Chris-

tine Nielsen, Dawn Theder, Kelly Stoegbauer, Pam

Weber

Green Bay/Sturgeon Bay Carrie Allie, Nancy Brook, Shawn Curry, Kendra Jae-

ger, Elsie Longard, Patricia Nellis, Rosemarie Sayen,

Susan Schoenike, Sandra Sullivan, Becky Tilkens

Ozaukee/Washington Marge Rausch, Susan Berndt, Jane Schwitchtenberg,

Carolyn Kintopp, Maureen Adams, Diane Bernier,

Shelley Blank, Ruth MacDonald, Cynthia Gronowski,

Pam Landon, Leanne Wick

April

Appleton/Oshkosh 2 yrs- Bev Close, Sandi Simons, Marge Schiessl.

3 yrs – Jean Graf, Linda Fleming. 4 yrs- Paula

Lewis. 5 yrs- Phyliss Kliss. 6 yrs- Fran Patrick. 9

yrs- JoAnn Kirk. 12 yrs - Madella Jacob.

Green Bay/Sturgeon Bay 3 yrs - Norine Gille. 4 yrs - Teri Allen. 6 yrs -

Kanani King & Abby Buechner. 9 yrs - Therese

Lasek.

Ozaukee/Washington 1 yr - Doreen Kannenberg. 3 yrs - Linda Pless,

Greg Horbachevsky. 7 yrs - Rosemary Hamlin

9 yrs - Pat Miller.

Client Profile Update Phone

We need your help in getting our client profiles up to date and keeping them current. As CAREGivers, you are our eyes and ears in the clients’ homes and you know, better than anyone, when something changes with a client’s health or care plan. You also know, first hand, how important it is to have accu-rate client information before going into a client’s home.

Therefore, we have put a new phone in place where CAREGivers can leave messages to let us know of changes that need to be made to a client’s profile. It could be an update that our client is no longer using a cane but is now using a walker or that a client is losing continence and now wears incontinent undergarments (i.e., Depends). Please remember, this number is for profile updates only. If you have a client emergency or if you need an immedi-ate response, call the office number directly and speak to a staff member or our on-call staff. To leave an update, simply call the appropriate number below and leave the following information:

☼ Your Name, Your Client’s Name, Office Location, Profile Update Information ☼ [Note: there are no return calls made for messages left on the profile update phone.] Profile update phone numbers are listed below. All of the numbers are directed to the same phone and one staff member is designated to make the updates in the client profiles. Thank you in advance for communicating client changes via the profile update phone. This will help us ensure we provide the most current information to all of our CAREGivers and will allow us to provide the best possible care to our clients. We couldn’t do it without you!

Appleton: 920.750.6587 Green Bay: 920.593.6301 Cedarburg: 920.593.6301

A Note from the Nurse: Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) Most often, MRSA causes infections on the skin. These infections may look like: Sores that look and feel like spider bites, ( but MRSA is not caused by a spider bite) Large, red, painful bumps under the skin (called boils) A cut that is swollen, hot and filled with pus Blisters filled with fluid (called impetigo) MRSA can live on surfaces and objects for months. However, it can be killed though proper cleaning methods. Disinfect equipment and contaminated surfaces after every patient use with CaviWipes. Ways that MRSA is spread: Touching the infected skin of someone who has MRSA Using personal items of someone who has MRSA, such as towels, wash cloths, or clothes Touching objects that have MRSA bacteria on their surface Being in crowded places where germs are easily spread, such as hospitals, nursing homes Ways to prevent MRSA Infections: Keep your hands clean by washing thoroughly with soap and water or using an alcohol-based hand rub. Keep cuts and scrapes clean and covered with a bandage until healed Avoid contact with other people’s wounds or bandages Avoid sharing personal items such as towels or razors

Kathy Schoendorf

Nurse Educator, RN