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Fall, 2009 Happy Thanksgiving and welcome to the CoHealth Newsletter. In this issue we highlight some exciting changes to our website, talk about the two arms of Concept Healthcare, and expand our education outreach with free memberships for students: Topics:
Enjoy the material.
To everyone who took part in our online courses and live training events over the past year, Thank You! We have added lots of new content and look forward to seeing you back soon.
Happy Holidays.
Joe Casciani - President, Concept Healthcare CoHealth.Org becomes CoHealth.Com Concept Healthcare inaugurated its website for online training in the spring of 2008, www.cohealth.org. The site then underwent several changes, as all websites do. We dispensed with the 7-floor “virtual library” and other early approaches, all the while fixing glitches and striving to give our visitors essential information. Then, quietly in the background this summer, the site migrated to a new web developer, new host, and a new address, www.cohealth.com. A fresh values proposition, prominently displayed, describes who we are and what we offer. Individual and institutional members will find improvements in accessing their accounts, and various, promotional discounts are available for new users. Visitors can find items of interest more easily because of new search features, and an expanded testimonials page lends added credibility to the subject matter. We hope you like the improvements. (NB: with the aid of re-directing features, you can reach the site using the .org or the .com address; all CoHealth email addresses are unchanged.) Visit the site, tell your friends and colleagues about it, and send us your comments, info@cohealth.org. About Us: The CoHealth Care Group and the CoHealth Institute Concept Healthcare has two divisions, the CoHealth Care Group and the CoHealth Institute. The CoHealth Care Group brings mental health professionals into LTC facilities, currently numbering 45 homes in California and Texas. We actively promote the concept of partnering with these facilities, to ensure that these services become part of the fabric of the facility. As a result, the clinical staff in these homes, from nursing, rehab, social services and activities, to the aides on the front line, know the CoHealth practitioner, which residents are being followed on caseload, and what the treatment plans are for these individual residents. This is essential in integrated care. The CoHealth Institute is the training arm, bringing educational programs to professionals, paraprofessionals, and family caregivers working with older adults. Over the past year, several live training events have been presented by noted authorities: Peter Lichtenberg on dementia, Erlene Rosowsky on personality disorders in older adults, Brenda Billimoria on medical necessity and on ethical dilemmas in LTC, Ron Rook on CBT approaches with nursing home patients, Margie Norris on Medicare and reimbursement, Victor Molinari on serious mental illness in older adults, Sally Browder on rehab psychology, and Joseph Casciani on behavior medicine and health and behavior CPT codes. In addition to these live events, the Institute has over 40 online courses, available 24/7, bringing practical, everyday topics to the user, many with CE credit (CE). Two San Diego Nursing Homes in the Spotlight In this Newsletter, we are pleased to profile two San Diego nursing homes the CoHealth Care Group contracts with for behavioral health services: Cottonwood Canyon Healthcare Center and Villa las Palmas Healthcare Center. Both facilities understand and have embraced the concept of bringing behavioral health to those residents who can benefit, especially the short term, rehab population. The CoHealth psychologist, Dr. Jeanne Peterson, spends several days each week in the homes, helping to remove psychological barriers to the residents’ rehabilitation so they remain eligible for Part A benefits and hopefully, can return to the community. This happens by closely collaborating with the IDT, by referring residents shortly after admission, and by regularly participating in resident care conferences. Both of these facilities, and the unnamed, dozens of others in the CoHealth Care Group, are to be recognized for their integrated care approaches, and for seeing what behavioral health consultants bring to their residents and families, and the treatment team. "The collaboration between CO-HEALTH and REHAB has been of great benefit to our residents. We often encounter situations where residents are dealing with fears, express a sense of hopelessness, difficulty dealing with their current situation due to some dramatic event in their life – to mention a few. These factors can affect the outlook and the progress of our residents during their rehabilitation. CO-HEALTH works side-by-side with Rehab and the entire Interdisciplinary Team to provide supportive services to our residents. They address any barriers that the individual might encounter. The patient is being provided with coping skills/tools to assist them with achieving their maximum potential and to return back to home or to a lower level of care. We have seen the change in our Residents, and value this great partnership.”
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Margit Perfecto, Director of Rehabilitation (above, 4th from left), Cottonwood Canyon Healthcare Center
Complimentary CoHealth Membership for Students An annual membership on the CoHealth website offers a 25% discount on courses and conference registrations. Now, CoHealth is extending individual memberships to all students, with the same discount and a waiver of the annual membership fee. Undergraduate and graduate student status can be verified with a photocopy of an ID card or a letter from a faculty member. Have the students you know contact the CoHealth office (info@cohealth.org) for this free membership. We will assign a personal user code, and when used on checkout, the discount is applied on all purchases. (Institutional members receive the same 25% discount for all employees, for an annual fee; see Membership.) New Nursing Home Practice Development Course Scheduled Another series of classes on developing a mental health practice in long term care facilities is being offered in an accelerated format, and is tentatively scheduled on two consecutive Tuesdays and Wednesdays in January, the 19th and 20th, and the 26th and 27th. Each class runs 2.5 hours, and highlights four central themes: (1) aging fundamentals, (2) the nursing home environment and practice building, (3) geropsychology assessment and treatment protocols, and (4) Medicare documentation, billing and reimbursement. Optional items include billing and marketing services. For information on registering, fees, and other scheduling requests, and to receive a copy of the course curriculum, please call the CoHealth office at 858-272-3992 or info@cohealth.org. |
CoHealth Courses for Direct Care Workers There are courses on the CoHealth website to help nurses' aides, home care workers, and other human services employees learn about older adults. The content is at a beginner's level, so the topics are useful in building an elementary understanding of decline in aging: The 3 D's: Depression, Dementia and Delirium; How They are Alike and How they are Different Working with the Terminally Ill Sensory Losses in Older Adults: Behavioral Apporaches for Caregivers
The National Institute for Care of the Elderly, in Toronto, Canada, has some handy, pocket-size checklists (www.nicenet.ca): Caregiver Abuse Screen (CASE), the Elder Abuse Suspicion Index (EASI), and the Indicators of Abuse (IOA) screen help to identify possible elder abuse. A depression checklist covers predisposing factors, suicide risk, and a useful mnemonic for the 8 signs of depression: SIG E CAPS (Sleep difficulty, loss of Interest, Guilt feelings, low Energy, Concentration difficulty, problems with Appetite, Psychomotor retardation or agitation, and Suicidal thoughts). There is also a self-screening booklet recommending when older adults with common health problems should seek a medical consult, e.g., hearing and vision difficulties, sleep apnea, prostate disorders, and urinary incontinence.
The National Institute on Aging has a wealth of free publications at www.nia.nih.gov/HealthInformation, and you can request Spanish versions at www.nia.nih.gov/Espanol. Most publications are for the consumer on general facts on aging, disease prevention, and Alzheimer’s disease, while many are written for professional
audiences. Bulk quantities are also available.
With the growing awareness that depression in older adults is a public health issue, the CDC has spotlighted three evidence-based programs for treating depression in the community. All three programs follow a depression “care management” model, where care managers focus on patient involvement in a structured, interdisciplinary treatment plan. The programs are Impact (Improving Mood-promoting Access to Collaborative Treatment), PEARLS (Program to Encourage Active Rewarding Lives for Seniors) and IDEAS (Identifying Depression, Empowering Activities for Seniors). Further information is available for: IMPACT (Diane Powers, powersd@u.washington.edu), PEARLS (Sheryl Schwartz sheryls@washington.edu and IDEAS (Nancy Wilson nwilson@bcm.edu).
The Heinz Family Philanthropies has started a project entitled "10 QUESTIONS TO ANSWER..." About Long-term Care. The 10 Answers will provide the most up-to-date, concise, accurate, and unbiased information related to important issues about long-term care. Answers can be found on when LTC is needed, which to select -- a nursing home or assisted living, whether to purchase LTC insurance, and others. www.tenquestionstoanswer.org
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