Blog

Enrollment for Older Adult Certificate Program for Community Providers is Open

November 3, 2018 — Optimize Aging is pleased to announce that we have received approval for additional contact hours for the webinar series,“Older Adult Certificate Program for Community Providers”. The approval includes contact hours for Nursing; Social Work, Licensed Professional Counselors, Licensed Mental Health Counselors, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists and Care managers throughNACCM. Personal Care Home Administrations continuing education credits... Read More

MARY FAITH FERRETTO PRESENTS TO THE JOHNS HOPKINS ODYSSEY PROGRAM

August 11, 2018 — On Monday, March 26, 2018, to the class on “Growing Old in an Aging Society” as a guest presenter for Jennifer Fitzpatrick, LCSW-C, Mary Faith shared information about Aging Life Care Management as a profession as well as a service. The audience consisted of both professionals as well as elders themselves. This is the second... Read More

In a Beautiful Gathering – We Remember Buckley

February 8, 2018 — On Tuesday, January 16, 2018, the Northern Virginia Mid-Atlantic Chapter met at Tall Oaks Assisted Living in Reston, VA to remember our colleague Buckley Fricker. It was a lovely gathering of colleagues from her practice, fellow colleagues from the chapter and colleagues from throughout the area. Tall Oaks provided their beautiful accommodations and delicious food. We ate, we toasted her - with her favorite red wine - and some provided their memories, and their thoughts that helped us grieve. It was a beautiful event, one that we are not likely to forget. Vanessa Bishop read a poem:

2017 Mid-Atlantic Conference a Success! President’s Remarks

November 12, 2017(Below are the President's remarks from the Mid-Atlantic ALCA Chapter Conference on Oct 23 in Hunt Valley, Maryland.) Mid-Atlantic ALCA Members: Why are we here? If you are a social worker, here for the CEUs, please raise your hand. Nurses? CCMs? CMCs? Gerontologists? Therapists-speech, PT, or OT? If you are here to network with other professionals, please raise your hand. If you are here because you are an ALCA member, corporate or individual, please raise your hand. Every day we read another news story about the coming "silver tsunami." And every day we hear about another service or product that is being marketed to those of us in the baby boomer generation, and older.

Denise Valerio Presents Care Management to Temple University Bioethics Class

July 1, 2017 — On June 21, 2017, Denise Valerio gave a presentation to a Bioethics Class in the Temple University School of Medicine on Care Management as yet another option in our healthcare system.  The class was offered for the first time this year under the MA Urban Bioethics Program within the Lewis Katz School of Medicine. The professor, Providenza (Enza) Rocco, JD, MSW, MBE specializes in bioethics.  The class was made up of medical students, social workers, nurses, an activity therapist, and various other healthcare professionals.  They were a very engaging and attentive group of folks who were VERY interested in understanding more about care management - who we are, what we do, and how to access us.  Denise truly enjoyed speaking to them and the presentation was a little over an hour in length.  Denise sends a "thank you" to our colleague and fellow member, Sharon Dickol, for passing her name along to this professor.  She reports this event really stimulated a part of her brain that was a little dormant and dusty, and she got a good high from it and is motivated even more to continue to do this work!!

Erin Kershaw, CCM – Guest Speaker at Osher Lifelong Learning Institute

June 21, 2017 — Erin Kershaw, CCM in Chadds Ford, PA, was the guest speaker at an Osher Lifelong Learning Institute class held at the University of Delaware. There were ~35/40 retired people in attendance. The presentation was entitled 'Proactive Planning.' It covered the role of the Aging Life Care Manager, a summary of the importance of staying active and involved, available support services, important legal documents and assistive technology options.

President’s Message November 2016

November 27, 2016 — “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”-- Mahatma Gandhi For many of us, the past month has been a difficult one. We are now struggling to find a road map forward into an uncertain future, and to heal the divide between neighbors, family members and colleagues who voted differently than we did. At the same time, this is a busy season for all of us both professionally and personally. As I met with each of our units over the last few months, I heard from our membership throughout the chapter that business is up, with many referrals coming through internet searches or through the ALCA website. At the national level, our association has continued to promote our profession through media outreach. At the local level, our membership is making connections with local chapters of NASW, AARP and NAELA.

Mid-Atlantic ALCA 2017 Chapter Conference

November 27, 2016 — The Mid Atlantic ALCA 2017 chapter conference will be held on Sunday October 22 through Monday, October 23, 2017. It will be held at the Hunt Valley Inn in Hunt Valley, Maryland. Photos of the facility can be found here. More details will be coming in the New Year, but we wanted to be sure you get it on your calendars to attend.  It is going to be a great conference and our planning committee has started to put the program and speakers together.  It is going to be a one of a kind, "out of the box" conference so please be sure to attend.

Ask the Care Manager: About Hoarding

November 16, 2016 — Two to five percent of the population is thought to have hoarding behaviors, with the prevalence increasing with the aging population. The above examples are typical of what families and professionals face with hoarding behavior. The individual who hoards tends to be single or divorced, and has hereditary factors with first-degree relatives who were hoarders. A stressful life event, such as a car accident or a death of a loved one, can often precede the behavior. Co-morbidities such as depression and anxiety, social phobias, schizophrenia, dementia, mental retardation and OCD can also be present.

Chapter Meeting Report of 15 April 2016 Brooklyn, New York

May 10, 2016 — The chapter meeting of the Mid Atlantic ALCA was held on Friday, April 15, 2016.  Thirty-five members attended the meeting. Treasurer’s Report The chapter currently has $12,074.35 in the treasury. Even after the merger with the national chapter, this amount remains available for our chapter only. Looking Toward the 2017 Board We are currently looking for board members for 2017, and ideally we would have board members from all different areas of the chapter.