Continue to do the good work you do. Together we do make a difference.

In this E-newsletter:

• What’s Up With RSCs
• Best Practices In New Hampshire
• How Do You Deal With…?
• Did You Know?
• Save The Date!
• New Hampshire Housing News
• How To Contact Us
• Archived Newsletters

 

Goodbye to: Anda Tubalkain, Housing Services Coordinator, who left New Hampshire Housing in May for a position with the ALS Association. During her six years with us, Anda implemented HUD’s Nursing Home Transition Program and provided support and training for RSCs. Her position will not be filled. You may contact Lynn Lippitt for anything related to service coordination.

Carolyn Mitchell, RSC at Milford Mill/Lindsey Landing in Milford. Her dedication and commitment to linking the residents of these properties with community resources was outstanding. She is continuing her work to support seniors in their homes through the Granite State Organizing Project’s pilot transportation program. She is involved in developing a new senior center in Milford as well.

Welcome to:

Lydia Bailey, RSC at Rush Square in Henniker
Cathy Boudreau, RSC at Xavier House in Nashua
Cynthia Dominguez, RSC at Varney Apartments in Manchester
Jackie McIsaac, RSC at Highland House in Whitefield

Congratulations to: Emily Keith, Director, Community Building & Organizing for the Gilman Housing Trust in Lyndonville, Vt., on her new position. Emily continues to provide service coordination for properties in upper Grafton and Coos counties.

NHAPSC news:

NHAPSC held its annual meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 16 and elected the following officers for 2009:

President – Judy Valleri, RSC, Belknap/Merrimack CAP
Vice President – Anastra Madden, RSC, MB Management Company
Secretary – Emily Keith, Director, Community Building & Organizing for the Gilman Housing Trust
Treasurer – Claire LeMay, Director of Services, Laconia Housing and Redevelopment Authority

Claudia Boozer-Blasco, M.Ed., Extension Educator for UNH Cooperative Extension gave an excellent presentation about food safety. She was informative and entertaining, challenging myths and giving best practices based on the latest research. This workshop is great for residents, too. Three key thoughts we came away with were:

• Wash – Keep hands, utensils and food preparation areas clean and prepare foods separately to avoid contamination of raw meat, poultry and eggs with other food.
• Heat – Cook all meat, poultry and eggs to recommended temperatures.
• Refrigerate – Never defrost food at room temperature, and refrigerate food that has been cooked within two hours, separating large amounts into small containers.

NHAPSC and New Hampshire Housing have teamed up to hold the RSC Roundtables and the NHAPSC quarterly meetings on the same day once a quarter. This change will make it easier for many RSCs to attend both meetings – we hope it makes it easier for you as well. The next RSC Roundtable is at Horseshoe Pond in Concord from 9:30 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, Dec. 2, followed by a joint lunch and the NHAPSC meeting. More information will be coming soon.

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Anastra Madden, RSC for MB Management Company, organized a Senior Health Fair last spring with three residents from Cocheco Park and three residents from Riverview Apartments. There was a presentation on memory loss and what to do about it, 13 exhibits, five chair massage stations and one reiki chair station. To add to the healthy ambiance, Anastra found a garden store to donate plants (just for the day) to decorate the fair with for the cost of transporting the plants. Of the 112 people attending, 50 came from the larger Dover community and 14 from surrounding towns. The evaluation surveys showed that both the attendees and the exhibitors felt it was well worth their time and that they would participate in the event again. To view pictures, click here.

Lois Dean, RSC for Stewart Properties, found a local farmer willing to take resident orders for fresh eggs and vegetables and deliver them to residents. This is a good time to talk to farmers about setting something up for next year’s crop.

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Understanding difficult behaviors and personalities was the topic of the New Hampshire Housing’s Housing Services September workshop by Anita Herring, Exeter Team Leader of Community Services for the Seacoast Mental Health Center. After sharing what treatment they offer people with borderline personality disorder, Anita stressed the most important thing an RSC or property manager can do is to take care of her or himself, find ways to reduce stress and get support from others.

Anita emphasized that while you cannot change someone’s personality, you can set limits. She also laid out the following steps as she discussed several of the case studies provided by RSCs.

• Know your boundaries and limits and stick to them, such as the amount of time you have, what you consider acceptable behavior and language, how you handle confidentiality and what your role is in relation to the resident’s concern.
• Listen to their story about their concern, letting them vent before trying to problem solve.
• Validate the person’s perception of the problem and their feelings about it, including their intensity – I can see how upset you are that she did (did not)....
• Accept that you cannot change the person’s perception, feelings or personality and they probably cannot change it either. Focus on what they can change – their behavior.
• Find the strength in the person’s challenging behavior and validate it. For example, she’s concerned about others; he knows the rules, etc.
• Be direct with the person about how their behavior is affecting their relationships with yourself and others at a time when they are not upset.
• Find a way to redirect their strengths to a more positive behavior.

We continued discussing this topic at the RSC Roundtable the following week and several RSCs shared how they found at least partial success in changing the behaviors of their most challenging residents. Below are some of the things that RSCs found useful:

• Ask a REAP Counselor to work with the resident and provide education to other residents on how to handle difficult people.
• Develop a contract with the resident to avoid eviction.
• Follow through with consequences, such as starting the eviction process after other steps have failed and calling the police when staff or residents are threatened.
• Work with a Wrap Around Team or other service providers to develop a consistent message to the resident about the consequences of their behavior.

“When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures of emotion.” — Dale Carnegie

Whose Decision Is It Anyway? This was the topic of the RSC track at New Hampshire Housing’s annual housing conference held Tuesday, Oct. 14. Mary McGuire, esquire, a staff attorney with the Bureau of Elderly and Adult Services, gave attendees a thorough understanding of when to use guardianship, durable power of attorney or a living will in assisting adults and the different things each covers. Guardianships are involuntary and McGuire strongly recommends that an attorney be involved in setting these up. Durable powers of attorney and living wills are voluntary and may be revoked at any time. A doctor declaring in writing that the person is incapable to make informed decisions about his/her medical treatment activates them. Again, these are voluntary instruments. For more information and guides in different languages, click here. To view her Powerpoint presentation from the housing conference, click here.

McGuire also clarified the difference between competency and capacity, which are defined and handled differently by each state. Competency is a legal term about the individual’s understanding of a specific set of circumstances and is decided by a judge. Mental capacity is about the individual’s ability to manage his/her day-to-day life and is determined by a doctor.

If you have not yet attended this workshop, it’s well worth it. There is so much information provided that can’t be gleaned by just looking at the handouts or the browsing the webpage. McGuire or another staff attorney will also come to your communities to do a workshop.

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Medicare Open Enrollment begins November 5. Each year, plans adjust what they cost and what they cover. Now is the time for people with Medicare to review the changes being made by their current plan and compare it to others to make sure it still meets their needs. Those who don't have prescription drug coverage can also enroll in a drug plan during open enrollment.

Some beneficiaries may see significant premium increases or changes—such as reduced coverage in the gap—if they stay in the same prescription drug plan in 2009. Medicare encourages individual beneficiaries to review how their plans are changing and what other options are available. There are four ways to review and compare plans:

1. Call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227, TTY 1-877-486-2048). Help is available from trained Medicare representatives 24-hours a day.
2. Visit www.medicare.gov. Compare costs, coverage and more. Get an estimate of your out-of pocket costs for the year.
3. See the listing of plans in your "Medicare & You" handbook and information sent to you by your plan.
4. Talk with local Medicare experts at your State Health Insurance Assistance Program.

NH ServiceLink Resource Center is the local State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) that can provide personalized assistance. People with Medicare - or their families can call toll-free 1-866-634-9412 to make an appointment.

Notice from the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Services: As of Oct. 1, 2008, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is the new name for the Federal Food Stamp Program. The new name better reflects their nutrition focus and other changes they have made to better meet the needs of their clients. Program improvements include an increase in the minimum food stamp benefit (from $10 to $14) and standard deduction, elimination of the cap on dependent and child care deductions and the exclusion of education and retirement accounts from countable resources.

SNAP is the federal name for the program. State programs may have different names. Please reassure your clients that the name change will not disrupt service or benefits. Through nutrition education partners, SNAP continues to help clients learn to make healthy eating and active lifestyle choices.

Please help spread the word about SNAP. They have developed a number of SNAP resources, including newsletter articles (short and long versions), labels for your materials and fact sheets. For access to these materials and more information about the name change, please visit http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/snap.htm. If you have any questions, please contact Laura Griffin at laura.griffin@fns.usda.gov.

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December 2008

9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 2: RSC Roundtable and NHAPSC meeting Horseshoe Pond, Concord, NH

January 2009

9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 20: Verbal Judo: Tactical Communications, the first in New Hampshire Housing’s 2009 Housing Services workshop series will be held at the Derryfield Country Club in Manchester, NH. A brochure covering all 2009 Housing Services workshops will be e-mailed soon.

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The U.S. Green Building Council awarded a platinum certification for the transitional living home, located at 100 Union Street in Manchester. The project is the first multi-family platinum LEED certified project in the nation.

Joan Goeckel joined our Housing Services group in July as an FSS Coordinator. Her past work developing and providing training to staff at a large corporation has allowed us to continue to grow our new Phone n' Learn workshops for GOAL clients.

Don’t get left out of the information loop! Remember to update New Hampshire Housing with any changes in your contact information (e-mail addresses, mailing address, telephone numbers, employment changes, etc.).

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