irvine cottages summer newsletter...
TRANSCRIPT
Irvine Cottages Summer Newsletter
2013
Summer Is Here!
We are encouraging the following things in all Irvine Cottages during the
summer months:
For everyone to please encourage our residents to drink more water and
fluids. Staff and residents are also excited to take residents on more walks
outside in the early morning and more outings now that summer is here.
We will have more Patio time: meals, snacks and celebrations
Daily games: Scrabble, Dominoes, Bingo and Nintendo Wii games
We ask that families please bring in some sunscreen for their loved one.
Fridays in July will be BBQ days - Please join us and let the house manager
know you’ll be stopping by!
Mother’s Day Celebrations On Mothers Day all of our special
Mother’s and Grandmother’s received some
special love and pampering. They each
received a special Mothers Day Gift bag and
enjoyed a delicious dessert.
Fathers Day Celebrations June 16th was Father’s Day! All of our male residents and caregivers enjoyed
their special day with a special gift from Irvine Cottages. They also enjoyed a
delicious afternoon dessert.
7th Annual Visionary Women Luncheon
Each year, the Visionary Women Circle of the Alzheimer's Association
honors Orange County caregivers who display extraordinary
compassion in caring for those touched by Alzheimer's disease and
related forms of dementia. The Visionary Women Luncheon honors
individuals who have served as models of commitment to
compassionate care. Their sensitivity, empathy and ability to
instill a sense of hope distinguishes them and inspires others.
Congratulations to Aileen Sherman
on her 2013 honorary nomination for the
Alzheimer’s Association Annual Visionary Woman
L-R Gina Marzan, Carla Turney, Linda Abbit,
Michelle Nesbitt, Alex Valle and Aileen Sherman L-R Linda Abbit, Aileen Sherman and Linda Scheck
Music and Art Therapy with Lauren Lugo What a lovely pleasure it has
been meeting you and your loved ones. For those who I have not met, my name is Lauren
Lugo, and I have a passion to share my love for the performing arts. During the week, I visit
the cottages and entertain the residents with various art activities.
In music therapy, we sing-a-long to the songs of the jazzy blues to show tunes. Our favorites
have been, engaging in history and music from Louis Armstrong, Perry Como, Fred Astaire
&Ginger Rogers & many more! We have great conversations about artists and music pieces
that bring the residents fond memories. For this month, we are expanding our repertoire to
Glenn Miller's composition of big band to honor our residents who have served our country.
During the upcoming summer months, we have been inspired to paint with watercolors
from beautiful scenes of tropic islands to light houses in the East Coast. I wish you all a very
happy & cool summer. Please feel free to join us!
Toni Imus’s Music Corner The residents and I had a great start for the New
Year, 2013! We sang love songs for Valentine’s Day in February. In March, we sang lots of
Irish songs for St. Patrick’s Day and then Easter songs at Easter. We dressed up in Irish
outfits with hats, so much fun! And on Easter, we dressed in angel crowns or bunny ears,
cute! We sang songs for Mother’s Day and will be singing songs for Father’s Day. Pictures
will be appearing on the website.
After the holidays, we also sang some Jazz and Big Band music. For Memorial Day, residents
enjoyed singing patriotic songs and waving flags to the music. We then moved onto Pop
Music and in between this Pop Music, we will sing Hymns for 1-2 weeks in the program and
then go back to the Pop Music.
For the summer, I have lined up the music to include: Sing-alongs to Nostalgic Music and
Patriotic Songs for July 4th
, Independence Day. And we will be doing Dance Music and then
singing Broadway Music. During all of these sessions, we include playing of musical
instruments.
Music and Activities with Mark Neria Mark's music once again will be
performing the hit songs of the 40's, 50's and 60's. The hit songs of the most famous
crooners that the Irvine Cottage residents have loved will be performed. There will be an
emphasis on fun songs of the summer and we will still have bingo and slot machine
for prizes.
Support Group Would you like to join a support group? Our own Linda Abbit leads a monthly group on the
2nd Wednesday of every month and has a list of all family support groups for those caring
for seniors with memory loss. Please contact her at 714-343-8252 for more information.
Aegis of Laguna Niguel: 32170 Niguel Road, Laguna Niguel 92677 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm.
Special Birthday Celebration ~
Happy 100th birthday Mary!
A special birthday party was held at Irvine Cottage 8 in Irvine on
Saturday June 1st to celebrate Mary Tomasino turning 100 years old!
Mary was joined by her family and even her great grandchildren.
When Mary was asked about
turning 100, her response was
“Me, 100? No that can’t be!”
Congratulations to Mary on
this great milestone, all of us at Irvine Cottages wish
her continued health and happiness.
Happy Birthday Mary!
100 % on State Survey Congratulations to cottage 3 for 100 percent survey with no deficiencies! We hope you
enjoy your bonus! Thank you for the wonderful care and concern of our residents.
Staff Training at the Cottages Training is always ongoing at the cottages. Staff have received the following training
over the past few months:
Residents Rights, Medication Training, Prevention of Dehydration and Constipation,
Proper Nutrition for the Elderly, Dementia Training and Brain Health,
Observing Professional Boundaries for Caregivers and Food Preparation.
Celebrating our residents birthdays is very important to us. Every resident will receive a
special gift, birthday cake, balloon and card. Please call Gina Marzan (949) 633-1595 if you’d
like to visit. Happy Birthday to all of hard working staff who have birthdays in May, June,
July, August and September. Did you know that all full time staff who have worked for
Irvine Cottages for over a year receive a cash birthday bonus. Happy Birthday!
Resident May Birthdays
May 7th ~ Sonia Voyez
May 30th ~ Nyla Okholm
May 21st ~ Jospeh Volz
Resident July Birthdays
July 3rd ~ Mary Joyce Huston
July 1oth ~ Joann Atterholt
July 11th ~ Margaret “Peggy” Brown
July 19th ~ Constance “Connie” Nikitos
July 19th ~ Joann Spiegelman
Resident June Birthdays
June 4th ~ Mary Tomasino
June 22nd ~ Alice Kaminski
June 28th ~ Ray Eggiman
Resident August Birthdays
August 2nd ~ Madeline “Vicky” Volpe
August 10th ~ Teresa Foley
August 12th ~ Faith Rees
August 17th ~ Connie McIver
August 17th ~ Ida Mitchell
August 28th ~ Ada Perlof
August 31st ~ Marcia Merrill Resident September Birthdays
September 15th ~ Florence Johnson
September 21st ~ Thelma Haase
Staff September Birthdays
September 14th ~ Regina Valleau
Staff June Birthdays
June 15th ~ Hector Juarez
June 17th ~ Alex Valle
June 27th ~ Henry Magbiray
Staff July Birthdays
July 5th ~ Antonio Tizon
July 26th ~ Conrad Coronel Staff May Birthdays
May 2nd ~ Saturnino Ketagan
May 5th ~ Adonis Adaci
May 8th ~ Noel Deguzman
May 10th ~ Purita Deguzman
May 17th ~ Esmael Ludaes
Staff August Birthdays
August 2nd ~ Charles Millevo
August 4th ~ Caridad David
August 13th ~ Nestor Dayao
August 15th ~ Maricar Regala
Irvine Cottages Resident and Staff Birthdays
We hope all of our
residents and their
families had a great
4th of July
To celebrate the Birthday of
The United States of America Irvine Cottages
residents enjoyed a BBQ
Hamburger lunch, Potato
Salad and
assorted Cookies for
dessert
A big thank you to all of our house managers for all of their hard work on the care plans.
Please let Michelle know if you are not receiving your loved ones care plan at
[email protected] or (949) 463-5075
Daily Exercise
Caregivers are encouraged to exercise their residents daily between 10 and 11 am. They are
to engage all residents who are able, in some stretching, range of motion exercises and
ball toss. Even hospice patients are required to have one-on-one exercise every day.
5-10 minutes of one-on-one exercise every day is essential for improving dementia!
Cottage Massages
Thank you to Sheila Busch who visits all 11 cottages and gives our residents
massages. The resident’s really enjoy her visits. If you would like your loved ones to receive
extra massages, please contact Sheila: (949) 705-8419
July is Barbecue Month at the Cottages
Menu choices include:
Beef and/or Turkey Burgers
Grilled/BBQ Chicken
Grilled Vegetables
Salad/Pasta Salad
Fruit/baked desserts
Every Friday at Lunch Time in each Cottage!
Thank you to all of the families who have already donated
to the Irvine Cottages Spring Raffle!
We have received a lot of “Goodies” for the raffle! The raffle will be drawn at the Irvine
Cottages Employee Appreciation Party which will now be held on July 31st - so there is still
time to donate! Staff will enjoy a party held in private box suites at the Honda Center in
Anaheim to enjoy Ringling Brothers - Barnum & Baily Circus!
Each Caregiver will get a raffle ticket and we are hoping to raise 50 items!
Irvine Cottages has donated the following items and we look forward to receiving some
additional items from our families to add to it.
1st Prize: 4 tickets to Disneyland, day passes to both parks with transportation, 2nd Prize:
Knott’s Berry Farm: four passes with transportation, 3rd Prize: In addition to a birthday
bonus money they will get the day off with pay, 4th Prize: 4th of July 2014 off with pay!
We can still really use your help to make this list even better, hopefully so every member of
staff can receive a raffle prize. We would love gift cards, grocery cards and/or clothing items
such as mittens or scarfs or anything you feel your caregivers would enjoy. Any amount will
be appreciated. If you have a gift basket please leave
it at the cottage and Michelle will pick it up.
Please contact Michelle at
949-463-5075 if you’d like to donate a cash
donation and she will buy some gift cards.
As always, we thank all families for their
generosity and send a big thank you to
everyone for helping us thank our caregivers!
Concerns? If you or a family
member ever have any
concerns about the care
your loved one is
receiving please feel free
to call Aileen at
714-349-9388
Movie Time At The Cottages Every week each home hosts Movie Time.
Popcorn and snacks are served and a different
movie is shown every week. Residents love old
movies. Let us know if you have any suggestions
or old DVD movies that you’d like to donate.
Gina will also be planning outings to Cottage 9 to
watch movies in the home theatre room.
Irvine Cottages Spring Raffle
Employee of the Month….June 2013 Carlota Cayabyab, Irvine Cottage 6
Carlota C. “Carol” Cayabyab works at Irvine Cottage 6. She was born in the Philippines and
grew up with her parents Gresorio and Ocaria and her 10 brothers and sisters. She is
married to Felipe and together they have 3 children; Cathy, Ricky and Jesse James.
Carol says that one her favorite movies is Ghost, loves the song Unchained Melody and ones
of her favorite singers is Ryan Cayabyab. She loves to eat at Chinese restaurants and her
favorite foods include adobo, enbotido and chop suey. She enjoys reading Readers Digest
magazine and says two of her favorite places to visit are London and Baguio City in the
Philippines. If she could travel anywhere, she would choose London.
Carol says that spending time with her family, especially her grandchildren is what makes her
very happy.
One of her previous jobs included working as an accounts officer at a university in the
Philippines and she is now grateful for being given the opportunity to work for Irvine
Cottages. Carol says her best qualities are that she is honest and a very compassionate
person. Three words to describe her include serious, responsible and honest. Carol says that
in her lifetime, she would love to join a pilgrimage in Italy and says that people would be
surprised to know that she is a very soft hearted, generous and down to earth person.
Thank you Carlota for your continuous hard work and outstanding care for our residents!
Employee of the Month….July 2013 Elinore Lagman, Irvine Cottage 3
Elinore “Nor” Dizon Lagman works at Irvine Cottage 3. She was born in the
Philippines and lived with her parents Ramon and Florencia who were a farmer and a
housewife. She has 4 brothers and 3 sisters and is married to Dads P. Lagman, together they
have 2 children. One of Elinore's previous jobs was a banker at the Land Bank of the
Philippines.
Elinore loves comedies and loves the music of Connie Francis and Frank Sinatra. Her favorite
restaurants include Asian Buffet Restaurants and she loves Filipino and Chinese food. One of
her favorite places to visit is Rome, Italy and if she could travel anywhere in the world, she
would choose to visit Europe.
Elinore says that being healthy and knowing that her children are now professionals makes
her happy. She is grateful for her good job, good health and her good employer.
Elinore says her best qualities are that she is loyal, understanding and friendly. She says 3
words she would use to describe herself are that she is hardworking, patient and honest.
She also adds that she would love to have a successful business in the Philippines someday.
Thank you Elinore for your continuous hard work and outstanding care for our residents!
Employee of the Month….August 2013
Monina Dela Cruz, Irvine Cottage 9
Monina Mayorga De La Cruz “Nina” works at Irvine Cottage 9 in Newport Beach. She was born in
Quezon Province in the Philippines. She lived with her Mother and father who were a housewife and
a farmer. She has a brother and 4 sisters. She is married to Roberto Dela Cruz who is also a
caregiver at Irvine Cottages and together they have 4 children. Some of her other jobs have
included sales representative in real estate, research aide and assistant at the Forest Research
Institute in the Philippines. Some of her favorite movies include Titanic and Gone with the Wind and
she loves to listen to classical music, Whitney Houston and Kenny Rogers. Nina enjoys reading and
one of her favorite authors is Danielle Steel. She loves to eat out at Asian restaurants and some of
her favorite foods include Chop Suey, Salads, Fruits and Vegetables. If Nina could travel anywhere in
the world, she would choose Rome, Italy, France and England and lists England, Canada and the
Philippines as her favorite places to visit. Nina says that having a good family ties and enabling her
children to finish their education makes her happy. She is grateful for being alive, being healthy and
strong and says that some of her best qualities are that she is hardworking, generous and kind
hearted. Three words she would use to describe herself are simple, flexible and trustworthy. She
also says people would be surprised to know that as a teenager she was able to climb 12 meter trees
to collect coconuts and that she believes education is the foundation of life. She herself worked
hard to finish her studies and along with her loving husband made her dream come true by moving
to America.
Thank you Monina for your continuous hard work and outstanding care for our residents!
Employee of the Month….September 2013 Alejandro “Alex” Constantino ~ Irvine Cottage 10
Alejandro Revilla Constantino Sr “Alex” works at Irvine Cottage 10 in Mission Viejo. He was born
in the Philippines and is the only child of his parents; Jose and Carmen. He is married to Sotera
and together they have 4 children; Frederick, Gina, Alejandro Jr. and Janice.
Alex says that he enjoys all kinds of detective movies and enjoys listening to love songs
especially any by the Beatles and the Bee Gees. He enjoys eating at Asian restaurants as Asian
food is his favorite. When he has some free time Alex enjoys reading. He says that he enjoys
travelling and if he could go anywhere, he would choose London and New Zealand. Alex says
that his family makes him happy and that he is grateful for his family and good health.
Alex says that some of his best qualities and three words that describe him are that is he is very
hardworking, responsible and patient. He also says that he would like to get involved in charity
work and always be responsible in his work and with his family.
hank you Alexander for your continuous hard work and outstanding care to our residents!
Memories In The Making….. Thank you to Clarice, Casey, Bailey and Lauren for visiting our
residents for Art Therapy. Here are some pictures of some of
our talented and very proud residents
with their beautiful Art.
Cottage Outings… Residents enjoy going out with Gina
on outings. Some of their favorite
places to go are to Starbucks, going
for ice
cream and
helping
Gina at the
grocery
store and CVS Pharmacy. They enjoy
going on walks around the neighborhood
and to local parks. Trips to Irvine Lake and taking relaxing rides
in the van to visit other residents is fun too! During the
summer months we are hoping to take small groups of
residents to walk along the beach. Thank you Gina!
Ida Carter visiting
Irvine Lake
Fern Gertsen visiting Irvine
Lake with her son Tom
Edna Bell and Connie McIver
Irvine Lake
Referrals…...The highest compliment our families can give us is the referral of your
friends and families. Give us a referral that places and we will give you a complimentary
$500 discount on your next monthly statement. Thank you for your trust.
Cottage Interns...Thank you to all of our special interns who will be visiting the
cottages throughout the Summer. Irvine Cottages thanks them for their patience and
kindness, their enthusiasm and positive attitudes and also their compassion and empathy
towards our residents, they thoroughly enjoy all of the visits.
IPods, IPads and Nintendo Wii’s in the Cottages We are very excited to say that residents are enjoying using IPODS and IPADs
in our cottages. All 11 homes enjoy listening to all different era’s of music,
including Big Band Era and Frank Sinatra to name a few. We are seeing some
positive results with our residents - awakening their minds with the use of
music. Residents in some of the homes are enjoying using the Nintendo Wii. Residents can
also play sporting games and even exercise using the Wii.
Games…..Games….Games…..All staff are encouraged to play Games and sing
Karaoke every day! We also hope that all staff will get 100% participation from all the
residents in their cottage. Each home has Magnetic Lap Bingo games and these are a huge
favorite and residents like to play for candy prizes. Some cottages have Nintendo Wii
consoles and some of our staff and interns will be going to all homes and teaching residents
how to play. Exercise and Fun for all!
Take me out to the ball park…. We recently held a raffle between staff ...the
prize up for grabs was 4 VIP tickets to an Angels Baseball game (behind home plate.) Lucky
winners were Antonio Tizon from Cottage 6, Alex Constantino from
Cottage 10,
Roberto Dela Cruz
from
Cottage 9 and
General Manager
Gina Marzan was
chosen to also be
the driver.
Drug Reverses Alzheimer's Disease Deficits in Mice May 23, 2013 — An anti-cancer drug reverses memory deficits in an Alzheimer's disease mouse model, University of Pitts-burgh Graduate School of Public Health researchers confirm in the journal Science.
The research, funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute on Aging and Alzheimer's Association, reviewed previously published findings on the drug bexarotene, approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in cutaneous T cell lymphoma. The Pitt Public Health researchers were able to verify that the drug does significantly improve cognitive deficits in mice expressing gene mutations linked to human Alzheimer's disease, but could not confirm the effect on amyloid plaques. "We believe these findings make a solid case for continued exploration of bexarotene as a therapeutic treatment for Alzheimer's disease," said senior author Rada Koldamova, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in Pitt Public Health's Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. Dr. Koldamova and her colleagues were studying mice expressing human Apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4), the only established genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer's disease, or APOE3, which is known not to increase the risk for Alzheimer's disease, when a Case Western Reserve University study was published last year stating that bexarotene improved memory and rapidly cleared amyloid plaques from the brains of Alzheimer's model mice expressing mouse Apolipoprotein E (APOE). Amyloid plaques consist of toxic protein fragments called amyloid beta that seem to damage neurons in the brain and are believed to cause the associated memory deficits of Alzheimer's disease and, eventually, death. Bexarotene is a compound chemically related to vitamin A that activates Retinoic X Receptors (RXR) found everywhere in the body, including neurons and other brain cells. Once activated, the receptors bind to DNA and regulate the expression of genes that control a variety of biological processes. Increased levels of APOE are one consequence of RXR activation by bexarotene. The Pitt researchers began studying similar compounds a decade ago. "We were already set up to repeat the Case Western Reserve University study to see if we could independently arrive at the same findings," said co-author Iliya Lefterov, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in Pitt Public Health's Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. "While we were able to verify that the mice quickly regained their lost cognitive skills and confirmed the decrease in amyloid beta peptides in the interstitial fluid that surrounds brain cells, we did not find any evidence that the drug cleared the plaques from their brains." The Pitt researchers postulate that the drug works through a different biological process, perhaps by reducing soluble oligomers which, like the plaques, are composed of the toxic amyloid beta protein fragments. However, the oligomers are composed of smaller amounts of amyloid beta and, unlike the plaques, are still able to "move." "We did find a significant decrease in soluble oligomers," said Dr. Koldamova. "It is possible that the oligomers are more dangerous than the plaques in people with Alzheimer's disease. It also is possible that the improvement of cognitive skills in mice treated with bexarotene is unrelated to amyloid beta and the drug works through a completely different, unknown mechanism." In the Pitt experiments, mice with the Alzheimer's gene mutations expressing human APOE3 or APOE4 were able to perform as well in cognitive tests as their non-Alzheimer's counterparts 10 days after beginning treatment with bexarotene. These tests included a spatial test using cues to find a hidden platform in a water maze and a long-term memory test of the mouse's ability to discriminate two familiar objects following introduction of a third, novel object. Bexarotene treatment did not affect the weight or general behavior of the mice. The drug was equally effective in male and female mice.