The Butterfly Files June 2018 June Happenings ~

June is the 1st Official

Month of Summer

Dedication Ceremony of

The Franklin VNA & Hospice

Teuscher-Wilson

Hospice Garden

June 9

Spring Grief Support Group

June 6, 13, 20 & 27

Powerful Tools for Caregivers

6 week Program

Starts June 21

Foot Care & Blood

Pressure Clinics

See our calendar for dates/details

Franklin VNA & Hospice

Congratulates Deborah

Richardson on her certification for the National Alliance of

Wound Care and Ostomy

Deb has already been a strong part of our nursing team and we are pleased that she has taken the difficult and rewarding step to achieve this National ertification. Her new role as a Wound and Ostomy Care certified nurse will allow her to better care for the complicated wounds people within our community have, a more frequent issue now, with earlier releases from hospitals to homes. While we already have a strong partnership with our area wound clinics, having her in-house to further our expertise in wound care will be another valuable piece to our strong clinical team. Thank you, Deb, for all your hard work - and congratulations! Why are we so excited? Well, a recent study in the Journal of Wound, Ostomy and Continence Nursing showed that hospitals who employed specialty wound and ostomy care nurses had a low-er risk of hospital-acquired pressure injuries and a more than 50% reduction in the rate of the more serious stage 3 and 4 pressure injuries. The study showed that these nurses have been clinically proven to improve patient outcomes, heal wounds faster and re-duce severity of hospital-acquired pressure injuries. We are confi-dent that similar gains will be seen in home-based care settings where people have been determined to be well enough to be dis-charged to continue their wound care in the privacy and comfort of their own home.

Our mission is to provide quality Home Health Care, Hospice

and education to individuals and families in our communities

so that they may reach their highest level of independence.

Franklin VNA & Hospice wants to help you answer

the question … What is the differences between

Comfort Care, Palliative Care & Hospice Care?

When former First Lady Barbara Bush chose to seek comfort care measures rather

than further hospitalizations and curative measures, conversations and questions about what Comfort Care

entails arose. What exactly is Comfort Care? How is it different from Palliative Care or Hospice Care? How

should individuals and their families approach End of Life care decisions?

Comfort Care

A plan that is focused on symptom control and stress relief to provide quality to the end of life process

Can be provided at home with a care agency or by the staff of a long term care facility

Coverage of services are dependent on individual insurance plans.

Palliative Care

Care which is provided either with curative treatment or after treatment has stopped

both patient and family-centered

focused on relief of the stress and symptoms of a serious illness to improve quality of life.

An example of this is treating the nausea and fatigue for a patient with cancer, while they are continuing

to receive chemotherapy in an effort to cure that cancer

Hospice Care

Focuses on relieving the stress and symptoms of a terminal disease that is at a point when an individual no

longer wants to seek treatment

Provided by a Visiting Nurse Association certified as a Hospice provider or through a for-profit private Hos-

pice care group

can happen in the home, in a hospice house or in a long term care facility

Provides an Interdisciplinary team of professionals that may include

a physician nurse social worker allied therapists counselors

home health aides spiritual and grief support trained volunteers

Available to individuals eligible for Medicare, most private insurances, and Medicaid

Benefit can cover medication costs associated with your illness equipment such as a hospital bed or

oxygen, and pays for not only the nurse to visit you but also provides emotional, psycho-social and spiritual

care

Check out our digital version of this

newsletter on our website!

www.FranklinVNA.org Hospice Care

Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday

1 2

Spring Grief Sup-port Group Every Wednesday this month 2pm -4pm Please call for registration

3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Blood Pressure Clinic

Belmont Senior Center 10:30am – 11:15am

Foot Care Clinic

Franklin VNA & Hospice Please Call for Appt.

Blood Pressure Clinic

Salisbury Senior Center 11:15am – 12:00pm

Hospice Garden

Opening

Ceremony

Franklin VNA &

Hospice

11am

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Drop-In Bereavement

Group Franklin VNA & Hospice 2pm-3:30pm Please call to register

Foot Care Clinic

Franklin VNA & Hospice Please Call for Appt.

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Blood Pressure Clinic

Tilton Senior Center 11 Grange Rd, Tilton 10:30am – 11:30am

Foot Care Clinic

Tilton Senior Center 11 Grange Rd, Tilton Please Call for Appt

Blood Pressure Clinic

Northfield Com-munity Pines 61 Summer St. 11am – 12pm Powerful Tools for Caregivers

Please call to register

24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Blood Pressure Clinic

Tripp Center Bessie Rowell Comm Center 10:30am – 11:30am

Foot Care Clinic

Franklin VNA & Hospice Please Call for Appt.

Franklin VNA & Hospice

75 Chestnut St

Franklin, NH 03235

934-3454

June 2018

Recipe from the kitchen of one of our staff members….

Blueberry Croissant Breakfast Bake Ingredients for 8 servings 1 tube crescent dough ¾ cup (75 g) blueberry, fresh or frozen 8 oz (225 g) cream cheese ⅔ cup (135 g) sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla ¼ cup (60 mL) milk

Preparation Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C.) In a mixing bowl beat cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until creamy. Add eggs, and while beating slowly incorporate the milk until creamy. Set aside. Using cold crescent dough, roll up crescent rolls and curve into crescent shape. Place rolls in an ungreased 9x9 pan. Pour blueberries over the crescent rolls. Pour cream cheese mixture over rolls and blueberries. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 35 minutes or until rolls have become golden brown. Top with powdered sugar. Enjoy!

SUDOKU Sudoku is easy to play and the rules are simple. Fill

in the blanks so that each row, each column and

each of the nine 3x3 grids contain one instance of

each of the numbers 1 through 9. Good luck!!!

We are pleases to offer our weekly

foot clinic.

Keep those toes happy for only $15!

Please call to schedule a time for the Franklin Visiting Nurse Association & Hospice Foot Clinic at 75 Chestnut Street in Franklin, NH. 934-3454

Once a month, every other month we also go to the Tilton Senior Center!

June 20th is our next visit there!

Looking for Ways to Help Support Franklin VNA & Hospice? Monetary Donations

Donations help us to give assistance to those who might not be able to access services and also help to reduce the shortfall be-tween health care reimbursements and the actual costs of providing services. All donations are tax-deductible. Some of the ways to donate: *General donations - your non-direct donation will be used to help provide care to patients in financial need *Fundraisers - There are a number of fundraisers throughout the year to support our programs, most particularly the Hospice program which relies on fundraisers for part of its revenue *Memorials - Remembering a loved one who has passed away is a wonderful tribute! All memorial donations are acknowl-edged to the family of the deceased, where appropriate *Bequests - In your will, you may designate the VNA to receive cash, land, pension funds, real estate and/or other assets from your estate.

Volunteer

Hospice volunteer

Read, talk to or just sit with patient

Run errands for patient

Provide respite for caregivers

Facilitate grief support groups (w/ training)

Provide Reiki, pet therapy

Help out at Hospice fundraisers

Non-Hospice volunteer

Facilitating community health education programs

Administrative and clerical help

Help to plan and staff special events

Help with fundraisers

Powerful Tools for Caregivers Program

Sponsored by Community Action Program Belknap-Merrimack Counties, Inc.

Franklin VNA & Hospice, in partnership with ServiceLink is hosting this FREE 6 week class. Join us every

Thursday from June 21st through July 26th from 2:00pm - 3:30pm at the Franklin VNA & Hospice at 75

Chestnut Street in Franklin, NH. Pre-registration required.

Powerful Tools for Caregivers is a class series designed to help caregivers take better care of themselves

while caring for a family member or friend. In this class caregivers develop a wealth of self-care tools to:

Reduce personal stress

Change negative self-talk

Deal with difficult feelings

Communicate more effectively in challenging situations

Recognize the messages in their emotions

Make tough caregiver decisions

Communicate their needs to family members/healthcare/service providers

Class participants will also receive a copy of The Caregiver Helpbook, developed specifically for the class.

Please call Jane or Amy at 228-6625 by Wednesday June 13, 2018 to register for this FREE class.

Tick Season has begun

Ticks are repulsive disease carriers and we all hate them, here’s what to do…

* First, avoid tick-infested areas such as overgrown grass, brush, and leaf litter and keep your lawn short

and leaf-free so they have fewer places to hide.

* Next, chemical warfare: Use an insect repellent containing DEET or oil of lemon eucalyptus every time

you spend time outdoors

* Then, wear protective clothing (long pants and long sleeves) to keep ticks off skin. This helps decrease

your sun exposure also, and you’re already wearing your sun block daily, right?

* Oh, the tick check! Do daily tick checks on yourself, family members, and pets after being outdoors.

Check between toes, all skin creases and on the scalp.

* Now, if one of those tiny blood-sucking critters does bite you and is imbedded in the skin, use fine-

tipped tweezers to grasp the tick as close to the skin’s surface as possible or if none are available use your

fingernails. Pull upward with steady, even pressure. You don’t want to squeeze them or tear the body off

the head.

* After removing the tick, thoroughly clean the bite area and your hands with rubbing alcohol, an iodine

scrub, or soap and water. If you can, trap the tick between some clear tape to keep it from escaping and

make identifying it easier.

* Last, speak with your doctor or other healthcare provider if you are bitten by a tick or if you notice a

large bull’s-eye rash anywhere on you. Isn’t it good you have that tape-trapped tick to bring with you?

Community Day Success on Saturday the 12th

The 14th annual Franklin Community Day celebration was full of great energy and lots of local support. In addi-tion to the Franklin Fire Department and the local Boy Scout Troop the parade featured the cast of Seussical the Musical from the Franklin Opera House, Knights of Columbus and the Franklin VNA & Hospice team.

Candy, sunglasses and a variety of fun treats were tossed for the eager onlookers to pick up and enjoy all to the tunes of the high school band and the enthusiastic singing of the Opera House singers which made for an enjoyable parade leading down to Odell Park.

Post-parade craft tables, games and information tables abounded as people of all ages took advantage of the food, wonderful hand crafted items and friendly information providers scattered all over the park. Franklin VNA & Hospice provided face painting and fun free items at the booth for anyone interested in learning about home care or hospice, while the Animal Shelter had a variety of pet themed bow ties and fun items for sale to support the shelter.

Though the day was cool several brave souls manned the dunking booth, and White Tiger Karate was also on hand to provide fascinating demonstrations with budding martial arts artists of all ages.

Community Day is not just about the balloons and fried dough though. These local celebrations help to ce-ment the main street businesses, the local organizations and the community together. Strong social ties and supports have been shown to contribute to better health and longevity in its community members and they are a visible demonstration of who is really invested in a community. Kudos to all who attended as parade members, community tables and guests. This support follows perfectly with this year’s theme of “Franklin Recreates and Recreates itself as a Recreational Destination.”

The Franklin VNA & Hospice

Teuscher-Wilson

Hospice Garden

Our clean up in preparation of our Dedication Ceremony on June 9, 2018 went smoothly

thanks to our many volunteers! Thank you to the Winnisquam Agricultural Students and every-

one that came out to help us! We are looking forward to the community seeing all of your

hard work and honor their loved ones!

Franklin VNA & Hospice wants you to take a walk. But not just any walk and not in just any

place. At 11 AM we will dedicate and open a long-awaited garden and memorial patio, the

Teuscher-Wilson Hospice Garden. We invite you to walk the path, visit the patio laid with memo-

rial bricks and meet many of the dedicated people who brought the garden to life.

Barbara Normandin, Executive Director, is proud to have a robust list of donors to mention.

"Watts Water Technologies has truly been wonderful as our Founding Donor. We received dona-

tions in all sizes, from plants our employees grew to the huge number of volunteer hours from the

Winnisquam Agricultural Students but without Watts and the Franklin Elks Lodge we could never

have created the kind of space we have."

The garden is located behind the 75 Chestnut Street VNA building. It will be open to all for walk-

ing, relaxing, and remembering.

Normandin explains, "Nothing would please me more than being able to welcome a crowd to

our garden and then seeing those people visit it again and again. We are the VNA of our com-

munity and we are connected to them in so many ways already. This garden is simply another

invitation for them to keep connecting with us."

The dedication ceremony will take place June 9th at 11 AM - all are welcome!

Proudly servicing our community since 1945

Our Service Area

75 Chestnut Street * Franklin, NH 03235

Phone: 603-934-3454 * Fax: 603-934-2222

Referral Fax Line: 603-934-1234

www.FranklinVNA.org

FRANKLIN VNA SCORES HIGHEST RATING IN PATIENT CARE

We are pleased to announce the most recent Home Health Compare survey results show a 5-star rating in

patient satisfaction for the agency, the highest rating available! This is also the highest rating of any Lakes

Region VNA. In addition, Franklin VNA’s rating for wound care is higher than both the national average and

the average for the state of New Hampshire.

Home Health Compare was established by Medicare as a tool for consumers to use when choosing a home

health care provider to be a source of authoritative information on provider quality. The Home Health Con-

sumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HHCAHPS) is a national survey that asks patients

about their recent experiences with a home health agency. All Medicare-certified VNAs must use the

HHCAHPS survey for their Medicare patients. These survey results form the basis of the Home Health Com-

pare data.

The results from the most recent HHCAHPS survey, which cover the entire calendar year of 2016, show

very high patient satisfaction results for Franklin VNA. The HHCAHPS scores on the following categories:

Professionalism of VNA staff

Communication between patient and VNA staff

Discussion of medication, pain and home safety

Overall care rating of VNA staff

Patient would recommend this agency to family/friends

“We are very pleased with these results, which come as a result of hard work by our staff to ensure that each

patient they see gets the best care we can possibly give. This sometimes requires going that extra mile and our

staff will do that every time.” said Barbara Normandin, Executive Director of Franklin VNA. She continues,

“We are a small agency and, as such, we are able to collaborate with each other, combining the expertise of

several disciplines, easily and seamlessly to make sure that our patients get coordinated and compassionate

care. We care for the whole patient and their family/caregivers.”