As we contemplate the New Year, it's timely to reflect on who we are and where we hope to go in the 12-months ahead. For many of us, 2006 was a year of tremendous challenges, changes and awesome responsibilities. As an optimist, I believe that the year ahead will open new doors and present valuable opportunities for all of us. 

New Years resolutions are about making a commitment to do something different in our lives. Please join with me in contemplating these 15 resolutions......you're welcome to adopt a few as your own. 

Please offer a few of yours to me by reply e-mail.....and feel free to share this message with others.

Also presented below is a list of Top Ten Advocacy Attributes which I drafted for your consideration.....Let me know what you think.....

I resolve....

1)   To appreciate my family, friends, and colleagues for who they are, what they mean to me and others, and to gracefully overlook some things they do (or don't do!).  None of us is perfect and accepting that reality is a good thing.

2)   To not ignore a wrong that needs righting, a crass statement that needs correction, or an offense that demands a just response. We can set a positive example by not accepting negativity in others.

3)   To be a valuable teammate and to trust others to do their best. Each of us should know what team position we play best, and regularly practice our skills.

4)   To listen to the voices of children and elders. The wisdom of innocence and experience is both free and priceless.

5)   To speak truth to power, but to be both polite and persistent. There's a fine line between persistence and pestilence. Resist aggressiveness, but advocate with assertion.

6)   To accept that I don't know everything. There are others who know more about most things, and together we can form a great brain trust if we meet and blend expertise.

7)   To pleasantly surprise someone every day with an unexpected kindness in word and deed. Life's subtle gifts of concern and cordiality are cherished.

8)   To respect the diversity of faiths, feelings, and fashions. Differences are natural and honoring each other's beliefs creates mutual admiration.

9)   To exercise artistic expression for its intrinsic value. The vitality of the physical, instrumental, literary, visual or vocal arts fuels the soul and expands the mind to new possibilities.

10)   To invest a thoughtful minute before I speak or act. Regret is often preventable. Reversing harm is one of life's most vexing challenges.

11)   To honor those who courageously sacrifice for us at home and abroad, care for our health, educate us, and perform all manner of healing and helping arts so that our quality of life is improved.

12)   To share even if I think I don't have enough. Setting an example by gifting to others in need is one of the best lessons for children to observe.

13)   To protect and defend people who rely on me. Give special attention to the needs of others who may not know how find their own voice. 

14)   To preserve natural environments for their beauty and bounty. Natural settings are home to plant life and species which are too often victims of our wants, not our needs.

15)   To never give up on a person or a cause, despite the challenges faced.

Perseverance is an attitude that personifies leadership, attracts allies, and creates meaningful change. Wishing you and yours good health and happiness, peace, productivity and fulfillment in the year ahead.

Jack Levine

Tips for Caregivers: Starting the Year off Fine.

No resolutions here, just some thoughts about caring better for ourselves and our world.

Top 10 ways to start the year off fine:

1)   Take a few minutes alone every day.  This could be just a few minutes to take some deep breathes, sit in a hot tub, look at the sky, take a walk or read.  Keep it simple.

2)   Breathe!  It is amazing how helpful it is to take a few really deep breathes.  Doing this can make us more aware of our own stress and the need to slow down our hearts and minds.

3)   Exercise your relationships.  Make a call to a friend, or reach out to someone you like but haven’t spoken to in a while.  You will be amazed at how good it makes you feel.

4)   Pass along something to the younger generation.  Money isn’t the only legacy we leave to our heirs.  In fact, sometimes a recipe, a family story, old pictures, an heirloom are much more precious because they help to connect us with our past and our future.

5)   Find a safe place to air your negative feelings.  Having a confidant to whom you can express your feelings is very important.  This can be a best friend, a priest, rabbi or therapist.  But it is important to get these feelings out of our system, so they don’t poison us.

6)   Parent yourself the way you would nurture a precious child.  Let yourself know that you are beautiful, worthwhile, important and lovable.  Give yourself these positive messages daily, but especially when you are feeling a little low.

7)   Learn to say “no” when it is appropriate.  Sometimes we take on tasks or responsibilities that don’t really belong to us.  We need to have good boundaries and allow ourselves to set limits

8)   Use humor to cope with stressful situations.  Caregiving can be especially stressful and we need to learn to take ourselves a little less seriously, so that we can laugh even when things get difficult.

9)   Ask for help!  It’s a strength not a weakness to let others help us with tasks that are strenuous or that allow us to have a fuller life.  Don’t make dinner alone, let everyone chip in.  Ask for help in managing paperwork or household chores.  Let someone else do the shopping for a change.

10)   Remember, that “Your Best is Good Enough” as my colleague Vivian Greenberg wrote and continues to remind caregivers.  We can only do what we can realistically do.  No one is perfect (nor do we want to be).  But your best really is enough!

In the coming year we wish you Health, Happiness, Joy, Humor and most of all Peace!

Our Care Manager, Nina Rothstein has been providing care management services for this family for over five years. When she first met this client, she was approximately 80 years old, lived alone and was totally independent. She was in perfect physical health but started to have some short term memory loss. Her son asked the care manager to visit her at her apartment on a monthly basis to see how she was getting along and to become his “eyes and ears”. As time progressed, she became more forgetful and started to develop complex medical problems. Nina recommended one of the Rona Bartelstone nurses aides to assist with her care to ensure her safety and wellbeing. Her son emphasized that he wanted her to be able to stay in her apartment until she was ready to move to an assisted living facility near his home in Maryland.

Approximately one year ago, this client fell and broke her hip. It also became evident that her dementia had progressed and that she could no longer live alone. Nina with the family’s permission placed a twenty four hour aide in the client’s home to assist with all of her needs. At this time due to the client’s increased complex care needs, Nina’s role as a care manager became much more involved. She was providing medical advocacy on a regular basis by communicating with her physicians, monitoring her appointments, and dealing with the HMO and pharmacy. Nina also coordinated and monitored the client’s household monetary account so that the aides could purchase the appropriate groceries and household services. In addition, supportive counseling was provided to the client, aides and family to help them deal with the numerous challenges that kept changing over time.

The final challenge came last month when this client’s son finally made arrangements to fly her to Maryland to live in an assisted living facility near him. Her son was anxious because he still knew that his mother did not want to move. With lots of support from the care manager, doctor, and nurse’s aides a plan was developed and a date was set for her son and her aide to fly with her to Maryland.

It took lots of advance anticipatory planning time by the care manager to coordinate with the entire allied health team of professionals, the Rona Bartelstone Home Health team and family members to ensure that all the needs of this client would be met both here and in Maryland. Obtaining a photo identification card for her trip really emphasized how this care manager was able to jump through those hoops and navigate the system in order to meet all the traveling requirements for this trip.

The son was most grateful for all of the care and support that his mother and his family received over the years. Most of all, he was happy to finally have his mother residing near him so that they could embark on their “New Beginnings” together.