Emerson House
Project:
Educational Program that supports Well Being, focusing on Health, Finance, Family and Friends. To be completed in phases.
Initial Influence and Impact of ALPA Participants……. on helping their residents improve their Well Being:
Surveyed residents, held group meetings, had educational speakers come to Emerson House along with Senator Victor Ramirez from Maryland, made up Family Pack of Resources to give to family and others. Senator Ramirez to go to Capitol Hill to discuss further funding based on conversations had with Emerson House. Participants navigated around barriers of sprinkler system breakage, and major renovations.
Coach: Eileen Caroscio
Marilyn Blount (white top)
Celeste Taylor (print dress)
Robert Walker House
Project:
Bulk Buying Program whereby residents share the costs and savings and thus bridge the financial gap at month’s end for essentials.
Initial Influence and Impact of ALPA Participants……. on helping their residents bridge their financial gap:
Held meetings, used consistent color flyers to attract attention and interest, compared prices and saving of 3 staples, chose Costco to purchase from, discovered not everyone had transportation or family. Group bonded more and helped those who did not have transportation or family. Discovered timing of buying staples, groceries was important as to when the residents received checks and the need for buying soon afterwards so as to avoid money being spent first on liquor or alcohol. The resident interest and participation is growing and they are learning new habits.
Coach: Dorothy Keenan
Tracy Williams (black and white top)
Patty Brempell (light green print top)
Evergreen House
Project:
Residential Community Strengthening Program via a wellness exercise program that promotes health benefits and engagement.
Initial Influence and Impact of ALPA Participants……. on helping their residents engage and strengthen their community:
Held several meetings with residents, explored and tried out various options to overcome language and cultural barriers such as utilizing interpreters, ESL group, picture books, residents suggestions for short to the point flyers and word of mouth to advertise exercise program. They discovered the residents’ motivators to attend any activity included food, music or exercise which helped bond individuals to each other. The residents discovered and became more aware of who has family and who does not and tried to be inclusive of them and look out for them. Their exercise group has an increase in numbers attending and they have added a Zumba class because of it’s popularity in hopes of further participation in numbers attending and actual strengthening of the community.
An idea for a future residential meeting:
Krystina Cabassa attended an International Folk Festival and learned a fun exercise to get individuals that do not know each other to begin to a conversation. Krystina said there are 2 hands drawn on paper and placed side by side whereby 2 individuals that do not know each other are asked to put one of their hands in the drawn hand as shown, so that the individuals are side by side. Krystina and Vivian are demonstrating the technique that they want to try in one of their meetings to encourage conversation.
Coach: Eileen Caroscio
Krystina Cabassa (blue shirt)
Vivian Hill (red jacket)
Fairfax County
Project:
Resource Awareness and Assistance with Usage Program
Darlene shared with us that Fairfax County has about 5000 units for low income…mostly seniors. She wanted to help individuals age in place. She identified a property to pilot her project. Greenwood Apartments which is 138 unites total with 64 units for the elderly which includes 6 different buildings. Property manager only works 1 day a week. She decided that the way to obtain responses to questions on surveys about knowledge of services was to go “knock on doors”. Through this process Darlene developed relationships with the individual visits. Main areas of interest for the residents were Food, SNAP, and transportation.
Darlene navigated around a multiplicity of languages and cultures to obtain as many responses as possible. She was able to get Department of Human Services involved as it relates to Seniors and access to transportation as well as routes. She held a meeting on Metro Bus Routes….17 people of the 64 residents surveyed attended. People were appreciative that attended.
Other cultures have picked up on the effort to include many cultures as thought this was a very positive process.
Increased empathy for others while learning of their challenges was some of the learning that took place for those involved in the project as well as ALPA class attendees.
Coach: Dorothy Keenen
Darlene Grimes (below)
Wesley House (Wesley Properties)
Project:
Development of a site wide evacuation plan.
Initial Influence and Impact of ALPA Participants……. on developing an evacuation plan:
Fairfax County Emergency Preparedness members met with ALPA participant, Claire and shared with her some of the basic information she needed to have to have a viable program. There were many unexpected barriers in getting this set up. For example a list of current residents was needed so emergency crew could check that everyone was informed and could be evacuated. There were legal questions of sharing residents names, as well as their health info. Their health info such as mobility, mentation and hearing was needed to assess their ability to understand and to be actually able to evacuate the building. There were personnel that were on vacation that had access to some of this information. There were individuals that took their hearing aids out and there needed to be another way to notify them.
A huge effort was put forth and much learning took place. She is still interested in developing this plan yet understands now that there are many moving parts and that more people and clear processes will need to included. One of the Quantum sites, Emerson House said they are very familiar with how this is done and would be glad to help them with this.
Coach: Dorothy Keenan
Clair Louis (below)
Lockwood/Elmwood House
Project:
Development of a Resource Directory and the Establishment of Relationships with Key Local Organizations
Sharmeeka noticed that residents were making appointments with her and staff to just get a phone number for a service. She wanted to develop a resource that would be easy to access for all of the residents and would be filled with the services that they were interested in. She has had meetings with her residents and has started with a binder that has resources listed along with the contact information. She and 10 lead volunteers will continue to add to it. A binder will be placed in her office, the library and the main residential area. She also will be looking at how to make it more practical and address the various languages that make up her elder community.
There was a problem in one of the residential properties where the residents had to move temporarily and they needed to have some personal items as well as clothes. The community stepped up to provide these items and offer support. Sharmeeka wanted to introduce the community and businesses to Lockwood/Elmwood House so they both can be an integral part of the community. One of the identified big businesses was Target store. Sharmeeka is interested in continuing this process and meeting others in the community.
Coach: Kevin Flood
Sharmeeka Miller (below)
Marywood Apartments
Project:
Educational Program to Improve the Lives of Resident Stroke Survivors
Initial Influence and Impact of ALPA Participants……. on Improving the Lives of Resident Stroke Survivors:
Margaret Burklund shared that a family member had a stroke and how the impact of that stroke and what she learned from it created a passion in her to share knowledge about strokes, especially how to prevent them and what to do if someone is having a stroke. Margaret worked with the Home Health RN and coordinated several classes on what a stroke is, how to prevent it, and the critical time window for receiving medical attention and clot busting medications. Information on exercise and physical therapy were presented. She found that food is a big motivator for residents to attend classes, so her attendees were educated on strokes and well fed too.
She found the experience for all was positive and helped with community building. Through her classes and the learning that took place, an actual stroke had occurred and the person was able to be diagnosed and treated. Margaret identified several resources and brought them in. Attendees stated that they were grateful for the information that is so relevant to their age group.
Coach: Barbara Karro
Margaret Burklund (below)
Gum Springs Glen
Project:
Successful Access and Navigation through Social Services for Senior Residents
Initial Influence and Impact of ALPA Participants……. on evaluating accessibility and navigation with Senior Social Services:
Shawn Wells had several ideas of how best to increase ease of accessibility and navigation for her senior residents with social services. She decided that she needed to first speak with the residents about their experiences so she could determine how to write up a survey for the residents that would capture the most relevant information and be able to quantify it. A survey was developed to evaluate the residents ease and accessibility to senior social services and was given to the residents. Shawn found that she received a limited number of responses. Residents said they liked the one to one conversations that she had with some and others said they did not know what to do with the survey. All in all, from the limited responses she did receive, she found that the residents responded favorably to ease of assess and navigation. Although Shawn was initially disappointed that the response numbers were low, she did feel she elicited some information and that the conversations with residents did provide more elaboration. Shawn said that one of the benefits of the ALPA classes was the networking she did with others, along with the sharing of info, resources and processes. She intends to talk with others in the Quantum community as to her next steps.
Coach: Isabelle Schoenfeld
Shawn Wells (below)
Quantum
Project:
Creation of a Comprehensive “Senior Services” Resource Manual for all Quantum Homes with Usage and Follow Up Help
Initial Influence and Impact of ALPA Participants……. on Creation of a Comprehensive “Senior Services” Resource Manual for all Quantum Homes with Usage and Follow Up Help:
Michele’s specific goal was to completely update the Services Manual that was created for all Quantum properties (especially the senior properties) many years ago. Michele was able to compile the information and review it, yet found that there was a vast amount of information covering these properties in MD, DC and VA, including all the different counties as well. Due to the expansive nature of this project, this continues to be a work in progress, involving research of resources, contacting various relevant agencies such as the Office of Elder Affairs in each district covered in Quantum’s portfolio, as well as surveying residents about any particular problems in accessing information.
After Michele met with an Area on Aging representative she learned that often the resource manual are out of date as soon as they are compiled. Although there is information on line Michele feels that the residents themselves have familiarity with using a resource manual, so the recipients of the manual will need to keep it up to date and share information with others in the senior housing community. Michele’s hope is that this updating and sharing of resources can be accomplished through the quarterly Senior Services meetings offered by Quantum.
Coach: Dorothy Keenan (left)
Michele Ligenfelter (center)
Eileen Caroscio (right)
Morris Glen Apartments
Project:
Creation of a Home Health Care Resource Book
Initial Influence and Impact of ALPA Participants……. on creating a Home Health Care Resource Book:
Margaret Heflin met with her residents to identify their needs for services in an effort to a create a home health care resource book that they could independently access in an effort to activate their own self advocacy. She looked at what health care providers actually offer and what medicare and medicaid covered. She also looked at some non health related services that residents were interested in, such as cleaning, but were not covered by any insurance.
Margaret created a binder with many of these services listed as well as their contact numbers. It included a medical register of nurses, social workers and medical shelters. Criteria on how to pick a provider was included. Margaret discovered that help is out there, but you have to search for what you want and ask many questions. For her, seeing the needs of the resident and producing resources that can meet their needs is rewarding. Her next part of her project is eliciting feedback from residents on how their needs were met and what companies were great to work with. Margaret states that this is a work in progress and is evolving. She feels that there could be a continual change in the manual to reflect changes of how helpful some local services were to the residents. She thought her group may have more bargaining power if many of her residents were interested in the same type services.
Coach: Priscilla Hess Woyak
Margaret Heflin (below)
Herndon Harbor House
Project:
Walking Wellness Program
Initial Influence and Impact of ALPA Participants……. on enhancing residents’ wellness:
The purpose of the Walking Wellness program is to enhance residents’ wellness through physical and social activities. The program is open to all Herndon House residents 62 and over. Residents with walkers and wheelchairs are encouraged to participate. Time frame for this project is 6 months. The goal is to have a minimum of 5 residents walking up to a maximum of 20-30 minutes, twice a week. Currently there are 9 residents at the one month mark with participants building relationships and enjoying both the physical and social aspects. The program will run till March of 2015, with the hopes of gaining up to 20 residents, maximum, over the next 5 months.
Kim researched different models on wellness and walking with seniors. She surveyed residents on their interest and knowledge on the health benefits of walking. A meeting followed later to discuss the program with residents. The first day of the program was scheduled for September. An instructor and a medical team were involved in providing oversight. Kim discovered several resources available to residents that she was not aware of prior to the project. Kim will next work on developing an evaluation that will look closer at the how the residents in the group benefited.
By signing up for the program and participating, the residents were literally taking steps on their own self advocacy journey for health, wellness and social engagement.
Coach: Candy Spitz
Kim Gibson (below)
Graduation
Michele Ligenfelter, Dorothy Keenan, Ramsey Alwin, Marilyn Blount, Eileen Caroscio, Pat Bessette
Michele Ligenfelter, Dorothy Keenan, Ramsey Alwin, Margaret Burklund, Eileen Caroscio, Pat Bessette
Michele Ligenfelter, Dorothy Keenan, Ramsey Alwin, Krystina Cabassa, Eileen Caroscio, Pat Bessette
Michele Ligenfelter, Dorothy Keenan, Ramsey Alwin, Kim Gibson, Eileen Caroscio, Pat Bessette
Michele Ligenfelter, Dorothy Keenan, Ramsey Alwin, Margaret Heflin, Eileen Caroscio, Pat Bessette
Michele Ligenfelter, Dorothy Keenan, Ramsey Alwin, Vivian Hill, Eileen Caroscio, Pat Bessette
Dorothy Keenan, Ramsey Alwin, Michele Ligenfelter, Eileen Caroscio, Pat Bessette
Michele Ligenfelter, Dorothy Keenan, Ramsey Alwin, Sharmeeka Miller, Eileen Caroscio, Pat Bessette
Michele Ligenfelter, Dorothy Keenan, Ramsey Alwin, Celeste Taylor, Eileen Caroscio, Pat Bessette
Michele Ligenfelter, Dorothy Keenan, Ramsey Alwin, Shawn Wells, Eileen Caroscio, Pat Bessette
Michele Ligenfelter, Dorothy Keenan, Ramsey Alwin, Tracy Williams, Eileen Caroscio, Pat Bessette
Standing: Kim Gibson, Celeste Taylor, Margaret Heflin, Dorothy Keenan, Ramsey Alwin, Tracy Williams, Vivian Hill, Eileen Caroscio, Margaret Burklund, Claire Louis, Shawn Wells
Sitting: Marilyn Blount, Michele Ligenfelter, Kyrstina Cabassa, Sharmeeka Miller
Absent on photo day: Patty Brempell, and Darlene Grimes
Chesapeake LPN Members in bold
Candy Spitz, Eileen Caroscio, Vivian Hill, Dorothy Keenan, Krystina Cabassa, and Kevin Flood
