By Theresa Pichelmeyer, EdD, RN, President & CEO of Valley VNA Senior Care

Because our team at Valley VNA works on behalf of seniors and their families, we have been struck with how many of the old ways from the old days have reappeared in our lives over the past year. To be honest, we aren’t ready to give them back to the history books. We are turning the page to a fresh new calendar, and there is a renewed sense of hope in the air. Here are some of the discoveries we plan to hold dear in the new year:

Getting Out and About—Drive-in movies returned to many communities over the past year, and the idea of a leisurely Sunday (or any day) drive has made a happy reappearance, with the added bonus of drive-through ice cream treats. We’ve all learned how to make video calls, and just think how that used to sound so daunting! Some of our residents have even gotten video tours of their grandchildren’s dorm rooms, a special treat they would not have otherwise experienced.

The Nature of Things—If you tried to buy a bicycle or kayak in the past year, you understand that lots of other people also turned to nature for recreation and serenity. There is nothing like floating down a river and eyeing turtles on a sunny log. Those turtles, and their woodland neighbors, carry on in the midst of other worldly concerns. It feels good to connect to this continuity and calm. Many of our residents remember long days at the lake or at grandma’s farm, working and playing outside until dinnertime. Fresh air never gets old.

Good Mail—It’s the opposite of “junk mail!” The letters, cards, art projects, and small gifts that were sent amongst family members in the past year have been amazing. New pen pal relationships have flourished and young people have learned the art of letter-writing with their grandparents and other special friends. We love seeing our residents send and receive “good mail” because it brings back memories of the postman’s deliveries from days gone by. These messages with their cursive handwriting and pretty stamps will be saved for years to come.

Visiting Made Easy—True, it hasn’t always been easy to visit one another in person. But did you notice how some of the new visiting rules were actually kind of liberating? Perhaps you’ve had a friend over for coffee—on the front porch, socially distanced, and they bring their own mug? Or held a small gathering in the backyard around the fire pit, each chair adorned with its own mismatched cozy blanket? In the beforetimes, you may have felt obligated to clean your entire house! We realized it’s time spent together that matters. Let’s never lose sight of how much a short visit cheers the people we love, especially seniors.

Hold onto the lessons we’ve learned in the past year and continue to value the humanity of each person. Here’s to hope and health in 2021.

By Theresa Pichelmeyer, EdD, RN, President & CEO of Valley VNA Senior Care

Many people experience the stigma and fear of a dementia diagnosis, either for themselves or a loved one. At Valley VNA, we care for our clients, residents, and families who are experiencing Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia. One of our goals is to help families appreciate and embrace this time in the person’s life without fear, embarrassment, or uneasiness.

The fear and stigma associated with dementia is often tied to our culture, one that primarily defines relationships around usefulness or pleasure, like a series of transactions. The fear of developing dementia is about being abandoned by friends or family because we will no longer be able to contribute anything “useful” or enjoyable to the relationship.

My friend and colleague, Rev. John McFadden, once explained to me Aristotle’s definition of virtuous friendship centered on genuine commitment to help one another become better people. We wish good for our friends, seek to guard and protect them, spend time with them, and share in their joys and sorrows. In a virtuous friendship, we are not free to abandon our friends who journey into dementia. We are obligated to live our lives as companions to one another. This is our mission. Consider re-framing your view of Alzheimer’s and dementia like this:

• Dementia does not reduce our capacity to love, or our need to express that love. Elders are not objects of pity and only the recipients of care. Focus on ability not limitation.
• Give our friends permission to enter the world of memory loss. We should not greet them (often in an overly loud voice) with a string of questions. We create anxiety and agitation if we attempt to pull them back into a world they no longer inhabit.
• In virtuous friendship, we bring our friends comfort, joy, and freedom from anxiety. Will your friend know who you are? Maybe not by name. But he does know you as one who cares and brings comfort and pleasure.
• Be present in the moment. Conversation may flit rapidly from topic to topic. The joy of conversation with a dear friend is not the topics you discuss, but your emotional connection.
• Within the real losses of dementia, the core of one’s personhood remains. Your friend may say something so wise or funny, you will see he is not simply an “empty shell.” You laugh hard because your friend’s joy is deep and infectious—and because he still has so much to give and teach to you.

During COVID-19, we may not be physically present to our family members or friends. But stay committed to your virtuous friendships through phone calls, video visits, cards or letters, and sending gifts. We all need more love and care than ever, and this includes our people with dementia.

It’s a Good Choice in Difficult Times

By Angela Franz, Administrator, Independent & Assisted Living at Valley VNA Senior Care

This is Assisted Living Week in the U.S., a time when we celebrate our residents and staff and take time to explain the benefits of living in an assisted living community. Because this year has been so different—and difficult—in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have become accustom to hearing distressing news about communal living situations, especially for seniors. At Valley VNA, we take the safety of our residents and staff extremely seriously. On top of the already focused housekeeping protocols and caregiving safety measures for our residents, we immediately instituted all CDC guidelines for long term care facilities. We are doing our best to stop the virus from entering our building, but that means a lot of you have been stopped from visiting your loved ones as usual, too. This is incredibly sad, and it breaks our hearts just like it does yours.

I do think, however, that there are real advantages to living in a senior community during a time of societal upheaval like that which we are experiencing. When I think of our residents who might otherwise be living alone or with an elderly spouse, I am happy to know that their home at Valley VNA provides daily services and interpersonal contact that keeps them safe and healthy. As family members, you should be proud and confident in your decision to help your loved one join the Valley VNA community. Consider this:

• During times of stress, it’s important to have consistent social and emotional support to help maintain one’s mental health. I certainly do acknowledge how much our residents miss their hugs and visits from family and friends! We continue to put forth special efforts to help our residents stay engaged and ward off loneliness.
• A senior who must make trips for groceries or medication refills is putting him or herself at risk to being exposed to COVID-19. In an assisted living setting, these responsibilities can be addressed by our staff so residents can stay safe and comfortable in their apartments.
• Our residents live in a place with medical expertise on site, including three registered nurses. It’s easy for us to help answer questions, assess conditions, observe changes, and make direct contact with family members and health care providers.
• We play an important role in limiting off-site visitors to our buildings and sanitizing all shared spaces. Unfamiliar visitors are not a threat to our residents like they might be for seniors who are running a household on their own in the midst of COVID-19.
• On top of your concern for your loved ones who are aging, you and your family have the added stress of health concerns, economic downturns, and online learning. It is my deepest hope that you feel confident in your choice of Valley VNA and that our diligence takes a burden from your shoulders.

I believe now more than ever, assisted living communities are making lives better during very difficult times. Or, as the slogan goes this year, Assisted Living is EssentiAL. Thank you for your love and support during this extraordinary year.

Valley VNA Life Enrichment Ramps Up in the Time of COVID-19

By Joelin Mueller, Life Enrichment Team Lead at Valley VNA Senior Care

Connecting on FaceTime

As soon as COVID-19 became a reality, I knew that our life enrichment programs like music appreciation, games, art and crafts, and other fellowship activities would have to take a new form. I was even more motivated to make sure our residents lived their best possible lives because they would be indefinitely cut off from in-person visits with the people they love most. First, we shifted many of our programs from once or twice per week to three of four offerings per week. This allowed for proper social distancing, but still gave everyone a chance to get out of their rooms or apartments for some fun and healthy interaction. This plan works especially well for trivia and crafts. We also adjusted some of our programming so residents could participate from their own rooms or apartments. For example, I created an in-room bingo game. Every Tuesday, each person gets five scratch-off bingo cards and a set of selected numbers. They play individually and can win 25 cents per bingo. We go around and pay them their winnings every week, and everyone really seems to enjoy playing this way.

Our team also committed to delivering some of our special programming, like Namaste Care care for residents with severe dementia, on an individual basis in each person’s room. One component of Namaste Care is to play calming nature videos, and the staff on the individual courts have really stepped up to help us start videos and get our equipment in place. The teamwork has been amazing. 

Giant Kerplunk game!

Speaking of teamwork, Jimmy our maintenance man built us two corn hole games and a giant Kerplunk game that we can use outside when we host our lemonade socials. The sunshine is so important for everyone’s mental and physical health, and we are very careful about residents wearing masks and staying at least six feet apart even when we are outdoors. Even our raised bed gardens, many of them adopted by individual residents, are getting watered and cultivated.  This year, we simply have to stagger everyone’s turn to be on the garden patio so they stay far enough apart. And the new ideas haven’t stopped coming. We’ve started a schedule of Neenah bus tours to get out and see the flowers and parks, complete with a stop for ice cream. We keep the number of riders low, but can do up to four rides on a given day, so most people have a chance to sign up.

The most important part of our life enrichment efforts is keeping residents in touch with their loved ones as much as possible. We have a process for scheduling weekly video chats with family and happily accept requests from family members to get added to the schedule. On Monday, Julie Roh, our volunteer coordinator, is our additional video chat helper. Recently, we received a donation of an iPad as well as a donation to buy more!

Garden time.

Valley VNA has also made an investment in people power with temporary help from PRN Home Health & Therapy. We have an extra eight hours of support each week to help us maintain a consistent schedule of one-on-one visits with residents. Many times this includes going for a walk in the fresh air.

I hope you can see how we’ve all come together in some pretty impressive ways to help our residents and colleagues through these almost unbelievable times. I am so proud of our staff teamwork and the creativity and enthusiasm we all have for keeping our residents’ spirits up. We miss our VNA families and can’t wait until we can all be together again. In the meantime, you can count on us to help bring smiles and contentment to your very special people. They are very precious to us, too!

By Theresa Pichelmeyer, President & CEO, Valley VNA

Valley VNA Senior Care is an independent non-profit organization that was established by caring, activist Neenah citizens way back in 1908. As I meet with families and others in the community, I have come to realize that some of the words we use to describe our mission and identity may be a bit ambiguous. Here are a couple of terms I’d like to clarify—a little vocabulary review, if you will:

Valley VNA stands for Valley Visiting Nurse Association. Ida Heinke was hired in 1908 to visit and care for sick, injured, or aged Neenah people in their homes. The old-fashioned image of a registered nurse visiting families at home has been replaced with our current In-Home Care offerings to seniors who need assistance with personal cares and medication reminders. Today our caregivers are well-trained certified nursing assistants (CNAs) or personal care workers. In addition to In-Home Care, we have a 92-unit senior living community on the south side of Neenah that offers both independent, assisted living and memory care options. Valley VNA is a well-respected brand in the community, and we believe it’s a name worth keeping!

Ida Heinke was Valley VNA’s first visiting nurse.

We are a non-profit organization. But please don’t think for one minute that we operate solely off of charitable donations or cut corners with our staff training, cleanliness, facilities, or service offerings. Rather, our non-profit structure means we are accountable to a talented local volunteer board of directors. By law, the revenues we take in from residents and in-home care clients are automatically reinvested into our services, staff, and facilities. We do not send profits away to distant stakeholders whose sole purpose is to generate a return on their investment. When we do fundraising or apply for grants, we have to prove over and over again that we are a professional, quality-focused, creative, and efficient organization.

Valley VNA is set apart as Diamond Accredited for Quality through WALA.

After 112 years, we have a storied history—but we have never become outmoded. Have you ever visited Valley VNA? You really should stop in and see our bright and cheerful main entrance that blends into our main dining and gathering space. Our residents’ independent and assisted living apartments and suites are regularly updated with new colors and décor, and the courtyards, gardens, and other activity spaces are kept fresh, clean, and equipped for the latest in enrichment and wellness programming. We have a tradition of innovation and adaptation that keeps us vibrant and relevant.

You are always welcome to visit.

There are hundreds of other terms within the realm of long term care, and our team is happy to answer any and all of your questions. There won’t be a test at the end, but you’ll certainly see a difference in the way we do things at Valley VNA.

The Positive Effects of Resolving Loneliness for Seniors

Over the past decade there has been a 10 percent increase in people living alone, and 28 percent of older adults now live by themselves. As people age, they may hesitate to change their living situation due to financial concerns, fervent independence, lack of motivation, or nervousness about how a new living situation may turn out. However, as a person’s social isolation increases, research shows loneliness has the same effect as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

Important health markers degrade when seniors are socially isolated:

• Sleep is interrupted many times per night.
• Gene expressions are altered which increase stress and aging on the body.
• Cognitive performance is impaired.
• Immunity to disease is compromised.
• Chronic inflammation causes pain and disease.
• The health risk of loneliness or social isolation is comparable to obesity, substance abuse, injury and violence, and pollution.

• Studies show that loneliness increases the risk for early death by 45 percent and the chance of developing dementia in later life by 64 percent. However, people who have strong ties to family and friends are as much as 50 percent less at risk of dying over any given period of time than those with fewer social connections.

This means the men’s cribbage club at the local YMCA, or a dedicated tribe of women who meet for exercise class and coffee a couple of times a week, are as powerful as good medicine. Seniors who also opt to live in community can benefit from added interaction with peers at mealtimes, during activities, or simply chatting in the hallway.

Why does living in community help improve and extend the lives of seniors?

• Loneliness can strike in the midst of other people, but to be consistently drawn back into community will prevent one’s isolation from becoming harmful to his or her overall health.
• Loneliness is the feeling of disconnection from others and a lack of meaningful relationships with the people one does see. When you live in community, you build meaningful connections with your neighbors and caregivers. You are missed, and you miss others, when the group is incomplete.
• A person can moderate the amount of time he or she spends alone. By having one’s own living space, it’s okay to spend a quiet day reading or resting, but still know you can visit with others or ask for help if you need it.
• The joy of giving back and supporting friends in the midst of life’s inevitable struggles is rewarding and empowering. It’s more possible to be a good friend when you are living in community with one another.

Research tells us social connectedness helps people live better, longer lives—and a lifetime of experience and earned wisdom tell us this is indeed true! Although a move from one’s long-term home can be difficult at first, many seniors who move into a senior living community will say they wished they made the change earlier. This is proof that genuinely caring for one another is balm for the body and soul.