Caring for LGBT Elders
Lisa Krinsky, LICSW, Director of the LGBT Aging Project at The Fenway Institute recently led a training to help Springwell staff maximize their professional capacity as an ally to LGBT elder adults. Clips from Gen Silent, a documentary on how the fear of homophobia from health workers or services impacts LGBT elders’ lives, served as [...]
Elder Independence Fund: Filling in the Gaps
Robert and Debbie were enjoying their careers, their hobby of swing dancing, and long walks together, when Robert suffered a stroke in 2012. For months, Debbie worried because she had no idea how she would take care of him when he came home from the hospital. Debbie’s first contact with Springwell was with our Caregiver […]
Volunteering leads to a surprising connection
Volunteering is well understood to have benefits to both the community and to the volunteer. Sometimes the benefits can be surprising. As the Springwell Volunteer Appreciation event last year an unexpected surprise came in the form of a reunion of two childhood friends. Sherry and Ed, long-time volunteers at different Springwell Community Dining sites, saw [...]
Diet Fads: Facts and Fiction for Seniors
For National Nutrition Month, Meghan Ostrander, Nutrition Director at Springwell, presented a special program titled, Fad Diets- Pros and Cons at Community Dining sites in Springwell’s service area. Ostrander succinctly laid out claims, as well as potential benefits and risks, of four of the new most popular diet trends. Before starting any new diet plan, [...]
Taking the Mystery Out of Hospice Care & Palliative Care
Mary Crowe, LICSW, ACHP-SW of Care Dimensions visited Springwell to teach a continuing education program for staff about hospice care and palliative care. Crowe kicked off the program by asking what the terms hospice and palliative care mean because she said there are many misconceptions about both words. Hospice care is a philosophy of care [...]
Neurologic Music Therapy
At their March meeting, the Ombudsman volunteers welcomed Kirsten Stockel, MT-BC, NMT, from MedRhythms Therapy for a presentation about the benefits of Neurologic Music Therapy (NMT). NMT is used in the rehabilitation of neurologic injury and disease and has been found to be especially helpful for traumatic brain injury, stroke and Parkinson’s disease. Some Neurologic [...]
Caregiving: A Love Story
Maria and Alex have been taking care of each other for over 40 years. While things are different now that Alex is dealing with memory impairment, Maria feels fortunate. Alex shares lots of hugs with Maria and often asks her if she is okay. He used to write love letters and poems to Maria. Now […]
8 Tips for Caregivers on Valentine’s Day
8 Tips for Caregivers on Valentine’s Day While we traditionally think of Valentine’s Day as a time for expressions of romantic love, it can also be a great time to show yourself some love and share some special moments with your care recipient. Stretch– take a few moments to do some simple stretches and notice […]
Thriving through social connection
Social isolation can challenge senior citizens who find it more difficult to get out of the house than when they were younger. A friendly visitor can make a valuable difference in their quality of life. Ruth, an energetic 90 year old artist, relocated to Waltham two years ago to be near medical care and her […]