On Friday, May 18th, Beach Glass Transitions made it to the cover of the Portland Press Herald. Staff Writer Jessica Hall covered the Top Gun Final Showcase (find link below to Top Gun) event last week. Beach Glass Transitions was one of 13 companies pitching their new business ideas at the showcase. Read about the panelist feedback from Mike Perlmutter and what we’ve been up to: http://bit.ly/Klacr7 
Info on Top Gun: http://www.topgunmaine.biz/
Dear Maine Readers:
I wanted to share this great educational opportunity hosted by some of our friends at Advantage Home Care and Bay Square at Yarmouth.
Darlene Field, Alzheimer’s Care Consuntant is giving a workshop for “families and friends caring for someone with dementia. Caregivers struggle to meet the needs of their loved ones by providing care at home, utilizing home care agency staff, or placement in long term care. Each of these situations presents challenges. This interactive workshop will help answer the difficult questions and situations that families struggle with daily.”
There are two dates: Wednesday May 30, 9am-3pm or Wednesday June 20, 9am -3pm.
Location: Bay Square at Yarmouth, 27 Forest Falls Drive, Yarmouth
Registration is required: call 207-846-0044
Lunch will be provided.
Free workshop for caregivers of loved ones with dementia
Seeing as we have a wellness program, Working Senior Care Solutions, that we encourage employers to sign into their benefits package for their employees, we figured it was about time we revved up our own Beach Glass Transitions employee wellness.
We’re encouraging our employees to take their wellness into their own hands by setting attainable goals for themselves and sponsoring the occasional wellness event for everyone to participate in. For example, my goal is to cut out sweetened drinks. Another team member is working on keeping hydrated better with 4-6 cups of water per day. Another has pledged to make it to Zumba every week. It’s not easy, but we’re making progress!
Most recently two of us ran a 5k in Freeport ME. It was the Habitat for Humanity 5k: It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere. The proceeds contributed to the building of a house for a mother and her children. Here I am with Nova Ewers. It was her first 5k. We had a great time! We’ll be doing another one in July and hope to get the whole team on board – walking, running, and supporting a good cause!
Be Well! ~ Lynn Peel
Caregiver stress is a serious issue millions of baby boomers. Caregivers often feel like they are alone in their caregiving. In part, it’s because they are trying to coordinate so many moving pieces with little to no help. Here’s a quote from an NPR interview with one caregiver. She was asked if she had anyone to help her. Her response:
“In the early stages, nobody. I eventually hired a geriatric care manager who unraveled virtually all of it, and it was still like that lady was talking about. The lawyers don’t know anything about the money. The money people don’t know anything about entitlements. The entitlement people don’t know anything about residential choices. You spend most of your life on the telephone.”
This is exactly what our clients go through until they find us. We take over that role for them. We know what all the moving pieces are and how to move them most efficiently, in time and cost. If this sounds like you, contact our team of Senior Care Advisors for a free consultation. We can help.
Visit NPR to listen to the 7 minute interview or to read a transcript: http://www.npr.org/2012/04/25/151339984/bittersweet-season-details-caring-for-aging-mom
Check out this great senior care event in Maine. It’s free to the community.
Join our Senior Care Advisor, Kathy Borsh, and her colleague Thomas Torr, Esq, for an educational workshop, Navigating Senior Care Choices: How to prepare yourself and your aging loved ones.
Click the flyer image below to zoom in for more details. Hosted by Wentworth Douglass Hospital in New Hampshire.
Just to follow up to our last post, which was about the Long Term Care Partnership Program related to Maine policy holders, New Hampshire is also a Partnership State. So if you hold a Long Term Care Insurance policy in New Hampshire, be sure to check with your insurance carrier to find out if your policy is eligible in the Partnership Program.
Unfortunately, Massachusetts is not a Partnership state. If you are concerned about your long term care planning and funding, give us a call.
ME 207-210-6498
MA 978-2281071
NH 603-501-9010
This morning I went to the Cumberland County Networking Group for Senior Service Providers at Sedgewood Commons in Falmouth, Maine. It was a great meeting and I enjoyed talking to some old colleagues and some new faces. But the highlight of the morning was the presentation on Long Term Care Planning by Patricia Nelson-Reade, R.N., CELA. Patty is a friend and colleague – we often work together for mutual clients.
Today Patty told the group about The Long Term Care Partnership Act. The gist: this act can help you save hundreds of thousands of dollars potentially. Yet, most people are unaware of its existence – including quite a few insurance professionals.
Here are the details:
The Long Term Care Partnership Act “permits purchasers of ‘approved’ long term care insurance policies to protect from Medicaid an amount of assets equal to the amount of the long term care insurance if the purchaser relies on Medicaid after exhaustion of the long term care insurance.” (quoted from Patty’s blog: http://www.pnrelderlaw.com/misconceptions.php). So in other words, if you purchased an LTCI policy with a $300,000 payout, and you have activated a claim on your policy, you may access MaineCare when your assets are equal to or below $310,000 as opposed to the normal asset limit of $10,000 for a single person without an approved LTCI policy.
Sounds great, right? But the problem is that with the passing of this Act in 2009, it only covered policies sold after the enactment date, which does little for the vast majority of policy holders out there. And insurance companies were refusing to reissue older policies with new policies that could be endorsed in the Partnership Program, even if the old policies met the eligibility criteria because the insurance companies had no incentive to do so and were not required by the Act to do so. So in 2011, Maine added a statute to the Act that said insurance companies must reissue all policies that qualify for the Partnership Program as long as the policy holder submits a request by the determined deadline – September 28, 2012.
If you purchased an LTCI policy prior to July 1, 2009, contact your insurance provider today to find out if you can reissue your policy to take advantage of this incredible program.
If you would like more information, or need to consult an elder law attorney on this matter, contact the law offices of Patricia Nelson-Reade at 207-828-1597, or visit their website at http://www.pnrelderlaw.com.
Ann V. Quinlan, Senior Care Advisor
Earlier this week, Ann Quinlan, a Senior Care Advisor here at Beach Glass Transitions, attended a “Virtual Dementia Tour” at Sedgewood Commons Alzheimer’s Care, an Assisted Living Community for seniors with dementia, in Falmouth ME. I’d like to share with you Ann’s thoughts on the experience:
“This was a profound experience and hard to put into words. As a seasoned care manager and educator in the arena of aging and dementia, entering that world this week as a participant in the Virtual Dementia Tour at Sedgewood Commons altered my perspective on numerous aspects of living with dementia and frailty. The facilitator had us enter a dark room wearing head phones feeding noise and chatter into our ears; we wore rubber gloves with several fingers bound in each hand and foggy glasses; we walked with simulated neuropathy in our feet. Suddenly the most simple of tasks became impossible to complete. This is what life is like for so many seniors in Maine and beyond.
I urge you all to seek out this kind of Virtual Dementia Tour experience. Become more sensitized to the needs of frail elders, even if you are not in a position of caregiving for them in your personal or professional lives. We all encounter elders in our daily activities – at the supermarket and in our neighborhood. Having a deeper understanding of their most basic limitations (especially if they have memory loss) is bound to widen your perspective on our aging friends and family members. And that is bound to make you a better community and family member.”
Visit our About Us page to read more on Ann Quinlan.
Watch an ABC News video on the Virtual Dementia Tour.
Lynn's Notes 