History

My mom, in the picture above sitting next to me, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 1996. Her condition progressively deteriorated, and in 1998 she could no longer stay at home. I did not have the ability to provide Alzheimer’s care for her on my own, so she had to go into a nursing home.

While she was in the nursing home, I would visit her in the evenings. During these visits, I noticed that many of the other senior residents were often agitated and did not cooperate well with the staff. I envisioned a fun recreation program to keep them occupied and get them laughing, so I proposed an idea to the Director of Recreation. My idea was to run a program on a volunteer basis consisting of fun, mentally stimulating activities. My program was approved, and was named Reminiscing of the Golden Years. Examples of the activities included:

· Trivia
· Word exercises
· Bringing in old record albums and discussing the artists and playing music
· Discussing current events and opinions on them
· Discussing movies, actors, and their history; then perhaps watching a video that they starred in

My mom passed away in January of 2000, but I continued to run the Reminiscing of the Golden Years program until late 2001, when I decided to go to school and become a New York State Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) so that I could better help the residents of the nursing home. I decided to do this because I continually witnessed the understaffed situation in the nursing home and wanted to contribute to the health and well-being of the residents more than I could from my volunteer program. In early 2002 I received my New York State CNA certification and began my employment with the nursing home.

After working in the nursing home for a while, it became very clear to me that residents did not receive enough 1-on-1 personalized care or mental stimulation. I also noticed that some residents seemed to have an attitude of giving up since they were forced to go into a nursing home.

I decided that I wanted to do more to keep seniors at home in a familiar environment as long as possible, so I started my own business, Affordable In-Home Care.

I hope we can get to know each other better, and I hope I can help you or your loved one stay at home by providing you with exceptional senior home care services.

Thank you.
Connie
Affordable In-Home Care, Rochester NY
585-260-4969
AIHCare@yahoo.com