Thank you again to all for your continued support on keeping everyone safe and doing your part not to spread the virus!!!
Be a part of the Maximum Care website!!
Contact Yenica if you have anything you would like to see in the website. Topics, suggestions, comments, all open, as long as is within our policies, procedures and to enhance education.
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Choose a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life!!!!!
- Confucius
It’s hard to overstate the value of changing our thinking. Good thinking can do many things for you: generate revenue, solve problems, and create opportunities. It can take you to a whole new level- personally and professionally. It really can change your life.
Sadly, a change in thinking doesn’t happen on its own. Good ideas rarely go out and find someone. If you want to find a good idea, you must search for it. If you want to become a better thinker, you need to work at it – and once you begin to become a better thinker, the good ideas keep coming. In fact, the amount of good thinking you can do at any time depends primarily on the amount of good thinking you are already doing.
- John C. Maxwell
At times, life hits us hard that all we can see is the weight we have to carry. Some compete on whose problem is worst. Example, first person says, “I’m really struggling, I had to borrow money for gas”, Second person replies with, “I know, I’m going through it too, I had to borrow money for food, I couldn’t even eat dinner”. Someone always needs to feel like their weight is heavier. It seems that no one can come up with a solution instead of a competition. Everyone’s weight is heavy for them, we should not judge and think that our problem is worse then someone else’s.
The judgement can go on forever.
Person 1: Don’t have gas.
Person 2: Don’t have food.
Person 3: Don’t have a kitchen, live in single room.
Person 4: Don’t have a roof over my head to cook food, no job, and no car to go for a job.
See how we can keep building on the misfortune of others. However, person 1 doesn’t feel it any less than person 4. It’s their reality and for that person its real and valid. We cannot invalidate others feeling and emotions.
On the first example I gave there could have been a solution if they changed the way they think. They could have come up with a plan to car pool and have dinner together. One could not have gone hungry and both could have gotten to work.
A lot of times when we concentrate on our weight and see no way out, is when suicide becomes a dangerous fine line. Desperation, anxiety, depression, incomprehensible sadness, addiction, and more becomes a dangerous state to be in.
We should strive to try to be there for someone that is going through carrying their weight. Change how we think to better our personal and professional life. Change our way of thinking to be able to shed a light of hope to someone that is in darkness.
Many of our elderly are in a dark place and we might not notice because we see what we do as a paycheck, our way to provide for our family, or, were simply consumed with our own personal issues. However, what if it can be much more. I started with choose a job you love and you will never have to work. Your feeling toward your job will predict the rest of your day.
When you wake up in the morning and you know today is the day you service Mrs. Smith.
Is your attitude, “oh, God here goes my day; I have to deal with this crazy person? Constantly repeating myself, constantly reminding her to do things she should know since she has been doing it for 80 yrs. Her daughter is such a pain too. I know how to wash dishes why does she continue to tell me to do it another way. On top of that it is laundry day and she likes it a specific way, ugh, well, I might as well get ready, get it done and earn that miserable $12 an hr.”.
Or is you attitude, “Mrs. Smith seems to have early signs of dementia. She has gotten so forgetful that sometimes, she is even incontinent and can’t remember to go to the bathroom. I have to come up with a plan for her. I want to help and not make her feel any kind of embarrassment. Her daughter must be so stressed. I will do my best to do the dishes and laundry the way she would like me to. This will be one less thing she needs to worry about. I am excited to put a plan together for Mrs. Smith. I will also talk to her daughter and see if she would like to get involve, talk to the doctor. Let me get ready.”
Two different ways of thinking can change an outcome!
The Second way is “Artful/Professional”
The Second way offers much more satisfaction to all involved
Cultivating a Critical Thinking Mindset Part 1.
Having strong critical thinking skills is only half the equation. You can be skilled at thinking but if you don’t choose to apply those skills to learning and problem solving, the quality of your decisions suffers. Critical thinking mindset attributes lead to the consistent intention to apply critical thinking skills.
Do you have strong thinking habits of mind?
Here’s a self-rating form developed by researchers and authors, Peter A. Facione, Carol A. Gittens and Noreen C. Facione. This measure does not assess critical thinking skills. Instead you are asked to reflect on whether your own behavior over the past two days manifested a positive, ambivalent, or negative tendency toward engaging in thoughtful, reflective, and fair-minded judgments about what to believe or what to do.
Critical Thinking Mindset Self-Rating Form
Answer yes or no to each statement.
Can I name any specific instances over the past two days when I?:
was courageous enough to ask tough questions about some of my longest held and most cherished beliefs?
backed away from questions that might undercut some of my longest held and most cherished beliefs?
showed tolerance toward the beliefs, ideas, or opinions of someone with whom I disagreed?
tried to find information to build up my side of an argument but not the other side?
tried to think ahead and anticipate the consequences of various options?
laughed at what other people said and made fun of their beliefs, values, opinion, or points of views?
made a serious effort to be analytical about the foreseeable outcomes of my decisions?
manipulated information to suit my own purposes?
encouraged peers not to dismiss out of hand the opinions and ideas other people offered?
acted with disregard for the possible adverse consequences of my choices?
organized for myself a thoughtfully systematic approach to a question or issue?
jumped in and tried to solve a problem without first thinking about how to approach it?
approached a challenging problem with confidence that I could think it through?
instead of working through a question for myself, took the easy way out and asked someone else for the answer?
read a report, newspaper, or book chapter or watched the world news or a documentary just to learn something new?
put zero effort into learning something new until I saw the immediate utility in doing so?
showed how strong I was by being willing to honestly reconsider a decision?
showed how strong I was by refusing to change my mind?
attended to variations in circumstances, contexts, and situations in coming to a decision?
refused to reconsider my position on an issue in light of differences in context, situations, or circumstances?
*Give yourself 5 points for every “Yes” on odd numbered items and for every “No” on even numbered items. If your total is 70 or above, you are rating your disposition toward critical thinking over the past two days as generally positive. Scores of 50 or lower indicate a self-rating that is averse or hostile toward critical thinking over the past two days. Scores between 50 and 70 show that you would rate yourself as displaying an ambivalent or mixed overall disposition toward critical thinking over the past two days.
More to come on the following Weekly Newsletters!
Resources:
Insightassessment.com
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As fall approaches so does different types of virus, flu, cold, etc. Attached you will see the different symptoms that you may experience for different types of conditions.
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Announcements to assist our participants and family:
Memory Café:
Is just that!!!!
Café where the participants can sit with friends, by themselves and share some memories and anything current on their mind.
You can Google Memory Café and you will get a good idea. This is a free community service that the organization Morningstar Memory Café by Senior Solutions are providing and not meant to be sales pitch.
Diagnosis is left at the door – a time for fun, a time to laugh – even if it means laughing at yourself. Mild to Moderate Dementia and their care partner.
They will have up to 25 persons – all COVID precautions taken; masks, one couple at a table, 6 ft from next table, hand sanitizers etc.
If you would like to volunteer feel free to call!
Activities:
Help us come up with creative things to do with our elderly! What do you do for your clients?
We would like the caregivers to take 20 min of their shift if possible, to do creative things with their clients. We are the first and maybe the last person our clients see in the day or even week. Loneliness is a big part of their lives. Let’s take some time to show them that we are not just personal care or home care but show them that they are not alone.
Creative Based Incentive Contest:
1. Come up with a creative and fun activity to do with your client
2. Call, text or email Yenica with the activity (610-264-2353, 484-781-4603, or yenica@lvvn.com
3. The office staff will vote
4. Winner will receive a gift card
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Travel Recommendations:
The Pa Dept of Health has recommended that if anyone travels to certain states that they quarantine for 14 days. Due to the daily changes from CDC and Pa Dept. Of Health, call into Maximum Care for instructions in regards to your travel plans and the impact that it may have.
Maximum Care Inc is following the recommendations at this time. If any changes come up, we will be posting it in the website Maximumcare.online. It is your responsibility to make staffing aware if there is any client’s that will need to be covered while you are out either in quarantine or vacation.
Follow the following steps to request anytime of:
Give us as much notice as possible.
Either request “The time off request form” or your letter for time off should include the following: Name of Cl, day of service and time. State where you will be going and for how long.
Email or mail the requested time off. Take note that we must put everything in the new system, even if time passes, we need everything in writing.
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Reminder:
At this time due to the use of the EVV system we understand that documenting is difficult. Call the agency with any concerns you may have that you would like it to be documented. Especially if a client is refusing personal care or assistance of any kind. Call the agency if you need guidance with a client or have any question on the care that you are providing or feel that needs to be provided.
Maximum Care has also developed a form that is recommended to DCW to fill out when taking any kind of payment for items from clients. Call and request the form to be mailed to you or come into the office to get the form.
GPS
Maximum Care Inc is under state regulations to follow strict guidelines to pay DCW and to bill for all visits.
Maximum Care’s Inc responsibilities are to make sure that everyone is using EVV properly, pay all DCW properly, and to bill for the proper authorized hours allotted to the participant.
We also supervise all clock in & clock out within the range and schedule time.
The system alerts Maximum Care if you clock in or out when you are not within GPS range. Example: you cannot clock in from the LV Mall when you are supposed to be in the client’s home. It will alert us and show us an address and map of your location when you clock in or out. If you are out of range this may cause delay of payment. If for any reason you need to clock in or out of range due to participant, you must call the agency and make us aware. For example: If participants have therapy, Dr appointments, dropping them of or picking up from a program, etc. Call Maximum Care for special instructions to ensure contractual permission.
It is your responsibility to inform the office, it is not Maximum Care Inc responsibility to call and confirm the “Why’s”. Maximum Care can reject the visit until further investigation is done which will delay your payment.
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STAFFING REMINDER:
Open Work:
If you go under more on the home page then click on open work tab, it will keep you posted on hours that are available at this time and the areas. Call Staffing to enquire about the open work available.
Refer a caregiver to Maximum Care Inc.:
You will receive $50 after 100 hrs worked. (At least within 2 months).
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PAYROLL REMINDER:
EVV system must be used to make sure that there is no interruptions, delays, or problem with direct deposit. In the future your pay will not be able to be processed if you are not using the system.
If your schedule changes for any reason we it is your responsibility to call it in. This way we can fix any discrepancy to your schedule.
If you are having any problems with the system call and report it to Yenica “Jen” Muniz.
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SAFETY TRAINING
Read the Fire Safety Training Monthly Newsletter.
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COMPLIANCE:
Make sure that your employment file is within compliance to continue employment with Maximum Care. Compliance is no longer waived with all the contracts. Example of things that must be up to date, all car information, CNA license, annual TB, annual physical. If any concerns or questions re: your file please contact Yenica “Jen” at 610-264-2353 or yenica@lvvn.com.
The Monitoring form must be done every shift.
If any questions please call Yenica “Jen” Muniz at 610-264-2353. The monitoring form is under the more tab and then the Covid-19 prevention & infectious control tab.
You can submit it to the office by either emailing yenica@lvvn.com or mailing them to the office.
The following dates that you will be able to call in and express any concerns, concerns regarding your job, what would you like to be trained in, complaints, grievances and web suggestions :
10/14 @ 2pm A thru L, 10/16/2020 @ 2pm M thru Z
11/11 @ 2pm A thru L, 11/13/2020 @ 2pm M thru Z
The phone number for the monthly teleconferences is 701-802-5077 with the access code of 6456087#. It will be considered long distance, please keep in mind when using landlines.
*****There is a new "Use of Cell phone" policy under Policies and Procedures. Read, sign, and submit to compliance.
