Jan 02
Dec 19
A Place to Call Home
Ana is a friendly, optimistic woman with a heartwarming smile and bright eyes. But even Ana got discouraged when chronic health challenges landed her in a nursing home after a hospital stay for an urgent medical condition. Her chronic issues don’t require nursing home care but do make some help necessary for her to live [...]Dec 10
It’s so good to be home
No one hopes to live in a nursing home, but sometimes circumstances result in the need for a skilled care facility. The quandary then becomes whether the move will be permanent or a steppingstone back to a home environment. James moved to a skilled nursing facility from a group home he loved due to a [...]Sep 05
Little Things Add up to Big Things
As we go through life, challenges that we least expect can become daunting. While we can access medical care through insurance policies, programs and clinics, it is often the subtle or chronic physical and mental challenges that make other types of help valuable to improve safety and quality of life. When informal supports are not [...]May 07
Why are we concerned about older drivers?
Debra A. Kerrigan, MS, OTR/L, from the Drive Safe Program at Newton Wellesley Hospital, visited Springwell to discuss ways to help seniors and their families understand if it is time to curtail or stop driving. While many older adults are safe drivers, the majority of older adults will outlive their ability to drive safely by [...]Apr 24
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 [...]Mar 27
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 [...]Mar 19
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 [...]Feb 13
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 […]
Feb 11
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 […]