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WelbeHealth Expands PACE into Long Beach and Fresno

May 13, 2020

WelbeHealth, operator of PACE programs across California, announced the enrollment of its first participants at LA Coast PACE in Long Beach and the upcoming launch of its fourth program, Sequoia PACE, in Fresno. The company has rapidly shifted to a remote home care model to serve seniors safely during the Covid-19 pandemic and continues to enroll new participants in its service areas across California.

PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly) is a longstanding Medicare and Medicaid program that provides comprehensive medical and social services enabling older adults to live in the community instead of a nursing home or other care facility. The program has a long track record of positive outcomes, including longer life expectancy (by more than one year), improved quality of life, reduced rates of depression and dementia, and enhanced personal empowerment for seniors. PACE services are available at no cost to most participants as part of their Medicare and Medi-Cal benefits.

“In our HomePACE model of remote care, we help seniors stay healthy and thriving while avoiding nursing facilities, which have tragically become hotbeds for the spread of coronavirus,” said Si France, MD, Founder and CEO of WelbeHealth. “We’re excited to expand our all-inclusive model of care into the greater Long Beach and Fresno regions to serve more vulnerable seniors when they need it most.”

LA Coast PACE’s first participants will enroll with the program on June 1, receiving comprehensive home-based medical care, dental care, physical and occupational therapy, and personal care such as assistance with bathing and meals. The program serves nursing home-eligible seniors across the South Bay and Westside region, including in Long Beach, Artesia, Cerritos, Carson, Torrance, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, El Segundo, Culver City, and other nearby communities.

Sequoia PACE, WelbeHealth’s fourth PACE program, will open later this year to serve seniors in Fresno, Kings, Madera, and Tulare Counties, including in Fresno, Clovis, Madera, Hanford, Tulare, and surrounding cities.

“There has never been a stronger imperative to keep frail seniors living more independently in their homes and communities,” said Sophia Guel-Valenzuela, Regional Vice President & Executive Director of LA Coast PACE. “We’re eager to help more seniors reach their full potential and live with confidence, purpose, and joy.”

WelbeHealth has rapidly adapted to serve seniors during the Covid-19 pandemic, shifting to a remote home-based model to continue providing care while enabling participants to stay physically distanced to reduce the spread of the virus. The company’s PACE programs provide 4G LTE “WelbeLink” tablets to each senior, enabling regular video communications to manage medical and social needs. When in-person care is required, it’s performed by a single caregiver in the home whenever possible. The programs have even continued many of their usual games and recreational activities remotely, combatting the dangerous social isolation affecting many seniors today.

Older adults and people with underlying medical conditions are at particularly high risk during the coronavirus pandemic, underscoring the benefits of a home-based care model. According to the National PACE Association, the average PACE participant in the U.S. is 77 years old with 8 medical conditions, many of which are chronic conditions such as diabetes, dementia, coronary artery disease, and cerebrovascular disease. PACE serves as an alternative to nursing homes as reports emerge that nearly 40 percent of California’s coronavirus deaths have occurred in the facilities.

In addition to LA Coast PACE and Sequoia PACE, WelbeHealth also operates Stockton PACE in the Stockton-Modesto region and Pacific PACE, which serves Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank, North Hollywood, and surrounding areas. The company continues to hire new team members at each of its programs across clinical and home health roles to meet community health needs.

For more about the seniorcare services that our PACE program provides, click here.

National Nurse’s Month Profile – Ivette Zoltzman

May 12, 2020

Ivette Zoltzman comes to the WelbeHealth family from UCLA, where she worked in the outpatient clinic working on wound care patients, a job she loved. She now works as a Home Care RN, working for our Pacific PACE center in Pasadena. She joined the WelbeHealth team because she really wanted to make a difference in her patients’ lives. “Even if I made one person happy or touched their lives one way or another, I know I did my job right. As a nurse, I have the privilege of helping others when they are the most vulnerable,” she added.

Ivette had not originally planned on becoming a nurse but was persuaded by some sage advice from her father. Growing up, she wanted to be a homicide detective because she loved to investigate clues, crimes and assessments, but her father told her no. “My father said to me you can do anything homicide related through nursing,” she explained. “Become a Registered Nurse and you will have so many opportunities open up for you. Even though I did not become a Forensic Nurse, I am glad I took my father’s advice.”

Her advice to her ten-year old self – “Start your nursing career as soon as you graduate from high school. You will be able to travel the world.”

To learn more about the PACE services Ivette and our other nurses help provide, click here.

Addressing Senior Isolation: Radio Interview

May 11, 2020

Combating senior isolation and loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic and what WelbeHealth has done to combat this issue was the topic that Jillian Simon and Kristi Halva discussed this weekend in a radio interview. The importance of combating senior isolation has become a growing issue during this time as the CDC recently reported on the links between isolation and disease on the senior population. The steps we took not only helped provide a conduit for seniors to socialize with our staff and find entertaining ways to keep busy, but also allowed our staff to be able to provide the services our seniors needed to stay healthy and independently in a remote setting.

To learn more about the other senior care services PACE provides, click here.

National Women’s Health Week

May 11, 2020

It’s National Women’s Health Week!

We encourage all women to take charge of their health so they can live long, independent lives in their homes and communities for as long as possible.

Per CDC Guidelines, you can learn steps for better health.

To improve your physical and mental health, you can:

Visit a doctor or nurse for a well-woman visit (checkup) and preventive screenings.
Get active.
Eat healthy.
Pay attention to mental health, including getting enough sleep and managing stress. Learn about depression among women.
Avoid unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking, texting while driving, and not wearing a a seatbelt or bicycle helmet.

To learn what services we provide to improve our senior’s health, click here.

Updated Symptoms for COVID-19 from the CDC

May 7, 2020

The Center for Disease Control has updated the symptoms related to COVID-19. People with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported – ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness. Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus.

People with at least one of these symptoms may have COVID-19:

Cough
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing

Or at least two of these symptoms:

Fever
Chills
Repeated shaking with chills
Muscle pain
Headache
Sore throat
New loss of taste or smell

If you are experiencing any combination of these symptoms, please contact your physician as soon as possible.

As a reminder:

The CDC has advised that older adults and people with severe chronic medical conditions stay at home as much as possible. In addition, you should avoid participating in the following activities: traveling by airplane, going to theaters, attending family events, shopping and going to religious ceremonies. If you are enrolled in PACE, you fall into this category and are extremely vulnerable to the coronavirus, so you should please follow the CDC’s advice and remain sheltered at home and avoid leaving except for essential needs.
In the event that you need to go out in public, the CDC and Public Health recommend that the general public wear non-medical face coverings (e.g. cloth masks) when out in common spaces.

We know that there are a lot of news outlets that are providing conflicting information during this time. Our physicians are monitoring all of the guidance on an ongoing basis and are committed to ensuring that you all get the right information. PACE participants can have any specific questions at any time answered by contacting us via the WelbeLinks!

For more information on PACE services, click here.

National Nurse’s Month Profile – Thuy Pham

May 6, 2020

Thuy Pham is a Nurse Practitioner at WelbeHealth’s Stockton PACE center, which provides health and wellness care in the Stockton and surrounding areas to seniors, helping them live more independently in their homes and communities. Thuy came to the WelbeHealth team after working as a hospice/palliative nurse practitioner.

Early on Thuy aspired to be a teacher or a caregiver when she grew up. Her inspiration to become a nurse came due to a family illness. “My father was really sick when I was a child. We spent a lot of time in the hospital. I was inspired by compassionate nurses and wanted to deliver the same quality care.”, she explained. Her inspiration is demonstrated daily as she delivers compassionate care to local seniors who can live more independently with the help of Thuy and the rest of the Stockton PACE interdisciplinary care team. When asked what motivated her each day to serve the community’s local seniors, she replied, “My desire to provide quality healthcare and the wonderful teammates I get to do it with!”

If Thuy could give advice to her younger self to meet the challenges in life, she said it would be “What doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger.”

To learn more about PACE services, click here.

National Nurse’s Month Profile – Alyssa Triyoes

May 4, 2020

In honor of National Nurses Month, we will be featuring the amazing nurses who are an integral part of our interdisciplinary care team.

Alyssa Triyoes is Clinic RN at WelbeHealth’s LA Coast PACE center and prefers to go by Alice. The soon to be launched LA Coast PACE center will serve seniors in Long Beach and the surrounding areas. “I can’t wait for it to open” Alice said excitedly.

When she was younger, Alice aspired to be an architect, however a combination of her dad’s work ethic and mom’s selflessness and model on how to care made it clear to her that nursing would come more naturally than any other profession. These traits serve her well in providing health and wellness care for seniors, helping them live more independently in their homes and communities.

Before joining the team at WelbeHealth, Alice was a nurse consultant for a community program that served adults with intellectual disabilities who lived in residential homes in Long Beach and the surrounding cities.

When asked what drives her to come to work each day, Alice stated her motivation was “knowing that there is a mission that is greater than myself, in addition to be working alongside amazing, passionate team members that I am beginning to learn how to work with.”

Knowing what she knows now, Alice said that if she could give one piece of advice to her ten year-old self, she would tell her that “life is full of fleeting moments both good and bad but both are meant to be shared and that we are truly never alone.”

To learn more about the services our nurses and the rest of our interdisciplinary care team provides our seniors, click here.

Arthritis Awareness Month

May 1, 2020

May is Arthritis Awareness Month. Many of our participants are afflicted with this condition, including 1 in 4 Americans. The CDC recommends the following to help manage arthritis:

1. Learn new self-management skills.

Join a self-management education workshop, which can help you learn the skills to manage your arthritis and make good decisions about your health.How can a self-management education workshop help me?

Learning strategies to better manage your arthritis can help you:

Feel more in control of your health.
Manage pain and other symptoms.
Carry out daily activities, like going to work and spending time with loved ones.
Reduce stress.
Improve your mood.
Communicate better with your health care provider(s) about your care

2. Be active.

Physical activity is a simple and effective, non-drug way to relieve arthritis pain. Being physically active can reduce pain, improve function, mood, and quality of life for adults with arthritis. Regular physical activity can also reduce your risk of developing other chronic diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes. It can help you manage these conditions if you already have them.

Stay as active as your health allows, and change your activity level depending on your arthritis symptoms. Some physical activity is better than none.

The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommend that adults be physically active at a moderate intensity for 150 minutes per week. Visit the health.gov website to learn more about the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.

Unsure about what kind of activity is safe?

Get more information about how to exercise safely with arthritis or find a community program near you. Physical activity community programs—like Enhanced®Fitness, Walk With Ease, and others—help adults with arthritis be healthier and reduce arthritis symptoms.

3. Talk to your doctor.

Talk to your doctor if you have joint pain and other arthritis symptoms. It’s important to get an accurate diagnosis as soon as possible so you can start treatment and work to minimize symptoms and prevent the disease from getting worse.

The focus of arthritis treatment is to

Reduce pain.
Minimize joint damage.
Improve or maintain function and quality of life.

You can play an active role in controlling your arthritis by attending regular appointments with your health care provider and following your recommended treatment plan. This is especially important if you also have other chronic conditions, like diabetes or heart disease.

4. Manage your weight.

Losing excess weight and staying at a healthy weight is particularly important for people with arthritis. For people who are overweight or obese, losing weight reduces stress on joints, particularly weight bearing joints like the hips and knees. In fact, losing as little as 10 to 12 pounds can improve pain and function for people with arthritis. At any age, low-impact, arthritis-friendly physical activity (like walking) and dietary changes can help you lose weight.

5. Protect your joints.

Joint injuries can cause or worsen arthritis. Choose activities that are easy on the joints like walking, bicycling, and swimming. These low-impact activities have a low risk of injury and do not twist or put too much stress on the joints. Learn more about how to exercise safely with arthritis.

Sports- or work-related injuries to joints can increase the likelihood of developing osteoarthritis. To reduce the likelihood of developing or worsening osteoarthritis, take steps to minimize or prevent injuries to joints, such as wearing protective equipment and avoiding repetitive motion joint damage.

To learn more about PACE services, click here.

Separation anxiety: Coronavirus takes toll on those with Alzheimer’s, their loved ones

April 18, 2020

Alzheimer’s is a tough disease to contend with in the normal, everyday world. Some of the individuals suffering more than most during this time of crisis are those challenged with some form of dementia, especially those with Alzheimer’s. In our transition to a home-based model, we have taken steps to ensure that these individuals and their loved ones continue to get our support. The Record recently wrote a story on this topic here, and our own Executive Director Jillian Simon commented on how our changes provided continued support to this group.

To learn more about PACE services, click here.

New York Times: Just What Older People Didn’t Need: More Isolation

April 13, 2020

Isolation is a high-priority issue with seniors.

The New York Times just printed an article highlighting this issue and how senior groups are tackling it through technology. Although we were not named specifically in the article, it refers to two PACE programs in Southern California that have utilized Grandpads, which we call “WelbeLinks” to combat loneliness and increase their ability to socialize. To learn more about our PACE services, click here.

Click on the logo to read the full story.