Dec 15: Hearing Aid Center Visit

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As per the telephone conversations with Retta, we went to the BlueRidge Otologic Center for a Lillian's hearing aid check appointment.

I picked her up at about 2:00pm and picked up the medication notebook (just in case), and made sure Lillian had her hearing aids in. Lillian was expecting me and she was essentially ready to go, just had to get her coat. We arrived at the hearing aid center and Lillian had both hearing aids checked, as well as her hearing. Her hearing has slightly declined in both ears and the technicians found a problem with the left hearing aid. The batteries on both devices were weak.

Fortunately, the left hearing aid was easy for them to repair. Lillian put it back in and said that it sounded better. No charge for that repair, as it is part of the covered service.

We sat with the technician for about 15 minutes and practiced changing the batteries. We also reviewed cleaning procedures. Lillian purchased a 3-month supply of batteries and we set up auto-delivery of batteries every 3 months. They had all of the billing information still on file. I asked for 3 copies of the printed instructions for the hearing aids - one for me, one for Lillian, and one for Retta to keep. I am thinking ahead for when Lillian stays at Retta's house for a few weeks and it would be nice to have a copy around, if any questions come up.

After the appointment we made a quick run to the grocery store to pick up milk, eggs, and orange juice. Then I drove Lillian home and we filed a copy of the instructions in our care notebook. I will scan my copy to keep with Lillian's records with Care is There. This way, I will always be able to access it from my computer or smartphone, should we need the instructions sometime we weren't expecting to.

Lillian tells me that she will spend the holidays at Retta's home with the family, and she's leaving next weekend. She will return on January 4. According to my schedule, our next visit will be January 7.

Just a reminder to Retta - don't forget to bring extra batteries for Lillian's hearing aids when you pick her up for the holidays. The 3-month supply we purchased today is stored in the kitchen, in the middle lower drawer next to the refrigerator. I will mail Retta her copy of the instructions first thing tomorrow morning.

Care is There has two helpful videos and some reading material about hearing tests and hearing aids. I recommend taking a look!

• Link to Care is There Hearing Services page (web page)
• How to Clean and Maintain Hearing Aids (video)
• Printable Summary of Hearing Aid Care 101 (PDF Document)
• What it's like to have a hearing test (video)

If you need me for anything over the holidays, please don't hesitate to call! I will be around and will be checking my Care is There voicemail. Happy holidays! I'm looking forward to seeing Lillian after the new year.

December 10 - Hearing Aids and Cardiology appt.

Reminder: This website is a demo and does not contain real information about Care is There clients or situations. Please see the About this site... page for more information. 

No one answered the door when I knocked several times for our appointment yesterday. I was concerned, so I went to the property manager's office to see if I could be let in. The property manager checked my ID and called Retta for permission to allow me to enter. When we entered the apartment, we found Lillian reading in the living room - she had started to get up, thinking she might have heard something. She had not heard my knock on the door. I realized Lillian did not have her hearing aids in!

Retta, if it's OK with you, please add my name to the list to be allowed to enter Lillian's apartment if it is locked and I'm supposed to meet her there. It will save you getting called, if this happens again.

We located the hearing aids on her bedroom table. She put them both in, but complained that "they just don't help anyway." After our visit, I called Retta to discuss this problem, and we decided to schedule a check up at Blueridge Otologic Center. This way, we can verify that the hearing aids function properly and I can get instructions for maintaining them. We will add these instructions to Lillian's care notebook.

Retta scheduled the hearing aid appointment for Monday, December 15 at 1:00pm, and it's on my calendar - the sooner the better! This will be our visit for next week. It's nice that we can take care of it before Lillian goes to Retta's house for the holidays.

As we had previously discussed on the phone, I scheduled Lillian's appointment with cardiology for Tuesday, February 3 at 2:30. I plan to pick her up, accompany her to the appointment, and attend the appointment with her. I made sure Lillian wrote this appointment on her calendar.

After the excitement with Lillian not answering the door and her hearing aids, there wasn't very much time for our visit. We did go through the recent mail on her desk.

I will see Lillian on Monday 12/15 for the hearing aid appointment.

Visit on December 3

Reminder: This website is a demo and does not contain real information about Care is There clients or situations. Please see the About this site... page for more information. 

Our second visit was this afternoon, and Lillian was expecting me. I had prepared Lillian's notebook with her provider information and medication list, and brought it for her to keep on her desk. This will be helpful if someone else needs this information.

We started out by double checking the medication list with her pill box. It looked great. Since I am not so familiar with Lillian's medications, I pulled out the bottles and snapped pictures of each pill using the camera on my phone. I will update the medication list in the notebook to include the pictures and print out a new copy for next time.

Once again we worked on the pile of mail and papers on the desk. This time I found a letter from Lillian's cardiologist dated September, stating that she is due for her annual check up. Lillian didn't remember if she had seen the cardiologist recently and we looked through her appointment book for an appointment. We didn't find any.

However, I added her hearing aid company to our list of providers for her notebook. I wrote it in by hand, but will update the typed document and print out a new copy.

Retta, would you like me to schedule the cardiology appointment for her? I can schedule it at a time when I can accompany her to the appointment. Lillian said that it was OK if I make the appointment for her and let her know next time. (I will follow up with a phone call if I don't hear from you by email in the next day or so.)

The hour just flew by as we worked through the papers on the desk. We are proud to say we completed it! The cardiology letter was the only "surprise" we found, and we will address that soon.

We have scheduled our next appointment for next week on December 10 and Lillian noted it in her appointment book / calendar. This seems like a good time to meet for both of us.

First Visit - Nov 19

Reminder: This website is a demo and does not contain real information about Care is There clients or situations. Please see the About this site... page for more information. 

Hello Demo family! This is Lauren, Lillian's Lifestyle Coordinator with Care is There. Now that our family website is set up, I am adding the report from our first visit, which took place on Wednesday, November 19, 2014.

I arrived at Lillian's apartment at approximately 1:30pm. Lillian did not remember about the appointment, but she did remember me and our meeting two weeks ago with Retta. She let me in. We visited and got reacquainted for about 15 minutes. I learned all kinds of interesting things about the family, and the grandchildren! Sounds like an active bunch, and she's clearly proud of all of the grandkids! Then we got down to work.

We worked in the kitchen and I started collecting her medical and health care provider information. We made a list with her primary care doctor, cardiologist, and pharmacy, including contacting information. Starting with the medication list Retta supplied to Care is There, we double checked the medications with the pill bottles. All was correct and verified!

We moved over to the desk and started going through the stack of papers and mail. We got about half way through the pile and our visit time was about over. I did not find any unusual or overlooked letters and correspondence at this time. We filed old bills, threw away a lot of junk mail, and made a new file for current bills.

We planned to meet again after Thanksgiving, on December 3 (which is tomorrow, as of this writing). We will continue on working through the papers and mail on the desk. Lillian showed me her personal appointment calendar and I wrote our next appointment on the calendar.

It was a good first meeting, and I am looking forward to our next visit.

Welcome!

Reminder: This website is a demo and does not contain real information about Care is There clients or situations. Please see the About this site... page for more information. 

Hello and welcome to the Demo family’s website with Care is There!

The purpose of this website is to serve as a communication vehicle between you and your Care is There support team.

This website is only accessible to the Care is There team and to the people we were asked to invite. At this writing, the authorized people are:

• Retta Cassidy
• Kathy Demo
• Bonnie Martinez
• Care is There employees

On the right side of the website you will find:

• Contact information for your Care is There team members
• A list of past blog entries

The center section of the site hosts the "blog" which is a chronological series of blog posts just like this entry. Blog posts can be made by anyone with access to the site, so that means you as well as the Care is There team. When anyone makes a blog post, an email containing the content of that post will be sent to all the people with access to the site. The blog posts also remain on the site and their contents can be searched via the search window on the upper left hand side.

The blog aspect of this site is especially useful during an emergency, when Care is There will use it to communicate all aspects of care to the people authorized to have access to the site. In the event of an emergency it is helpful if you communicate with Care is There by making blog entries to her site (rather than straight emails) because it stores all information together and makes it easier to find and share.

To have access to this site and especially the linked documents (if any), you must be signed into your Google account.  If you have any questions regarding this or any other aspects of this site, please contact Lauren at the number posted on the right side of this site.

Also, you may find these videos helpful:






Best regards from me and our entire Care is There team.

Lauren Bond
Lifestyle Coordinator, Care is There Geriatric Care Management

Elizabeth Swider
Owner, Care is There Geriatric Care Management