Visiting Angels Honored by the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce

Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce
Business Excellence Award Winner

The Business Excellence Award is presented to 25 businesses by the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce who show exemplary commitment to their community and strive to improve the quality of life for the people of Southern Nevada. On Thursday, October 30, Visiting Angels was chosen by a committee of several business and community leaders within Las Vegas to receive the Business Excellence Award for their service to the community. The award ceremony was held at the Green Valley Ranch.

Award for Excellence

Visiting Angels is a senior home care agency that helps clients remain independent in their own home. This commitment to helping improve the quality of life for the elderly and their loved ones is just one reason that they have risen as Trailblazers within Las Vegas. For example, they assist with items like personal hygiene, dressing, meal preparation, light housekeeping, even transportation to doctor appointments and more. Clients find that their services are more affordable than other options like moving a family member into an assisted living facility.

Operating since 2000, Visiting Angels now has offices in Las Vegas as well as Henderson and have over 270 caregivers who assist seniors all across the Vegas Valley. In keeping with their mission of “...restoring hope through assisting in healing the emotional, spiritual and physical well-being of the individual”. Visiting Angels participates with several local organizations such as the SNCCA, the Nevada Lifespan Respite Care Coalition and sponsors many senior health events like the Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk.

The Business Excellence Award which has been honoring local Las Vegas businesses for their diversity, creativity and ingenuity of the local business community since 2006. Visiting Angels is honored to accept the award and will continue to strive to help the elderly community and their families in any way that they can.

10 Ways to Deal With Caregiver Stress

Care-giving for a loved one can simultaneously be one of the most rewarding and most stressful periods of a person's life. All too often, caregivers neglect their own needs, and this leads to burnout and an inability to continue effective care giving. Below are ten vital tips for caregivers to continue looking after both themselves and their loved ones.

1. Get enough sleep. Fatigue leads to depression and poor decision making; a good night's sleep can make an enormous difference in the body's ability to cope with stress.

2. Eat regular, nutritious meals. Like sleep, the role of eating right cannot be underestimated. Cooking bulk meals and buying healthy snacks makes this easier.

3. Get some exercise. This doesn't have to mean leaving for long runs or gym sessions; DVDs or home exercise equipment can give caregivers the opportunity to be active without going far from their charges.

4. Talk to others. Too many caregivers keep their stress bottled up. Trusted friends outside of the family can be good listeners.

5. Avoid negative self-talk and guilt. Caregivers have a tendency to feel that nothing they do is enough. Most likely, though, caregivers are doing the best they can.

6. Acknowledge frustration and other negative feelings. It's possible to avoid negativity as suggested above without bottling up negative feelings. The key is to avoid wallowing in or acting on those feelings.

7. Explore meditation and prayer. Mental health can be greatly improved by spending just a few minutes per day in either of these activities, and they can be tailored to fit the caregiver's belief system.

8. Ask for help. Too often, caregiving within a family falls mainly to one person. Caregivers should not hesitate to ask others for assistance.

9. Take breaks. Many caregivers feel they cannot take even short breaks to themselves, but it's important to have a few hours off here and there from constant caregiving.

10. Look into outside services. There are both community and private resources that provide activities and other services for elderly and others in need of care.

Visiting Angels is a home care agency that can provide many services from shopping assistance and meal preparation to weekend, live-in and longterm care. Caregivers who call on Visiting Angels will find a number of options that allow their loved ones to continue receiving the best care possible while taking steps to look after themselves as well.

The Top Elderly Careger Challenges

Although it can be rewarding caring for elderly parents, the challenges can easily become overwhelming for adult children who may be concerned about whether they're providing enough physical and emotional support for their loved ones on a consistent basis. Without professional help, the tasks can become difficult to perform with proper efficiency and care, especially for caregivers who have a career outside of the environment. For many caregivers, there are common challenges that can make it difficult to impossible for both the elder and provider to thrive.

Managing Emotional Stress

It can be extremely tasking caring for a loved one as their well-being is often in the hands of a loved one who may not be equipped both physically and financially to provide enough care. This can bring on guilt towards oneself and even bitterness toward the elder for the time and energy it takes, often affecting the financial and emotional stability of the caregiver.

This can be difficult to balance as caregivers who are often related to the individual can have more emotions involved and are trying to manage other responsibilities, which include a family of their own and a full-time career.

Without properly balancing both the personal life and time caring for the elder, it can cause anxiety, depression, and emotional burn-out that can create an uncomfortable and even unhealthy environment for both individuals.

Finances

Although it may be enjoyable to care for a loved one, it is not cheap. Those who care for relatives often pay an average of $5,500 annually of their own money, putting a financial strain on their own wallet and making it difficult to stay afloat, aside from the transportation, time, and medication often paid for, which often increases with time as the elder's health deteriorates and requires more attention.

Lack of Experiences

For caregivers who are inexperienced, it can be difficult having enough skill and knowledge in a number of fields that include medical, legal, and social education, making it difficult for the elder to thrive and even improve in their condition. Those with inexperience with caregiving can also have a lack of experience, making it difficult to provide time management and properly evaluate the individual on a daily basis without other distractions.

Proper elder care requires a collaborative effort to ensure the proper well-being and stability for each individual. For professional care and assistance, we recommend Visiting Angels.

Loving Life Over 60 with Visiting Angels in Las Vegas

Channel 99 - Sun City Anthem - Talks with Visiting Angels in Las Vegas, NV.

Fleurette:  Welcome to Loving Life Over 60. Today we are visiting with
Visiting Angels, the owner and President Michael DiAsio and his wife, who
is the co-owner and Administrator, Jackie DiAsio. Well, thank you for
visiting us. Tell us, how long has Visiting Angels been in Southern Nevada?

Jackie:     We're a non-medical home care agency. We are completing our
                 12th year in business. We have about 225 employees. We
                 assist roughly about 450 clients per day.

Fleurette:  Now how much does Visiting Angels' service cost?

Michael:    The highest price is $20 an hour. If they use us for real long
                 days or shifts, which start at 12 hours a day and go up to
                 24 hours a day, the price per hour goes all the way down to
                 $16.

Fleurette:  Tell us, why would a family want to use Visiting Angels instead
                 of assisted living or a nursing home?

Michael:    Most of our services and our real goal is to keep people in
                 their home. We feel they're more comfortable, they're
                 happier, they're around their surroundings, they're
                 probably more apt to have family and friends come and visit
                 them. To be quite honest with you, it's really more
                 affordable for our typical client than going into a
                 community such as that.

Fleurette:  Now how does Visiting Angels hire and screen its employees?

Jackie:     We ask that our employees have at least one year experience.
                 That could be taking care of a loved one or actually
                 working in a nursing home setting or at an agency. We also
                 do a background check, that would be an FBI and state
                 background check on every employee. They also have to have
                 a two-step TB test, first aid and CPR training, and we
                 offer a 16 hour training program here free of charge for
                 all of our employees before they go out into the field.

Fleurette:  Tell me, is Visiting Angels looking for more employees?

Jackie:     We are always looking for new employees. We're always looking.

Michael:    Males and females.

Fleurette:  Oh yes.

Michael:    Yeah. We have both. We have needs for both. We have many more
                 females, but we're also looking for male caregivers.

Fleurette:  What makes Visiting Angels unique from others in this industry?

Michael:    Well, I would say it's our experience. Not just here at the
                 office. We've been here for 12 years. But it's our
                 caregivers' experience. Our typical employee, or typical
                 caregiver that is, has been with us three or four years. We
                 know these people. They've been providing care for the
                 community here for years. We know what they're capable of.
                 We get tons of compliments on them. I think that's what
                 separates us from many of the others in this industry or
                 even the private caregivers. Our experience. They've been
                 trained. If one of them gets up in the morning and their
                 car doesn't work, we have 250 employees, and we get
                 somebody else over there. They're very responsible and
                 reliable. They make the difference in our agency.

Fleurette:  How long is the training for the employees?

Michael:    It's two days. It's right here. We have a full-time trainer.
                 It's every Tuesday and Wednesday. It's eight hours. Then
                 every year we're required to bring them back through for
                 another eight hours of training here at our community. At
                 that point, even initially, but also when we do the eight
                 hours of in-service training, we spend a lot of time also
                 working on how to assist somebody who has memory loss
                 issues, whether it be dementia or Alzheimer's. We actually
                 bring in the management from the Alzheimer's Association to
                 come in here and train our caregivers on how to assist
                 somebody with that condition.

Visiting Angels
9436 W Lake Mead Blvd, Ste 11F
Las Vegas, NV  89134
(702) 562-3322
http://www.visitingangels.com/vegas/home

Dates of Upcoming Community Meetings for Caregivers

Visiting Angels, one of the largest home health care agencies in the Las Vegas, Nevada area, has just announced the dates of its upcoming community meetings. The meetings, which are designed for family members who are caring for a loved one with memory loss, will help attendees learn more about their options for caregivers.

The Friday community meetings that will discuss Las Vegas caregivers and more will be held over the course of the rest of the year; the scheduled dates are:

• June 21, 2013
• August 2, 2013
• August 23, 2013
• Sept. 6, 2013
• Sept. 20, 2013
• Oct. 4, 2013
• Oct. 18, 2013
• Nov. 1, 2013
• Nov. 15, 2013
• Dec. 6, 2013
• Dec. 27, 2013

All meetings will begin at 1 p.m. and will be held at the office of:

Visiting Angels 
1701 N Green Valley Pkwy, 
Suite 9A
Henderson, NV 89074

The office is located in the Legacy Business Park at the corner of Wigwam and Green Valley Pkwy. Anybody who is interested in attending one of these meetings should reserve a seat by calling Michael at 702-407-1100.

As anybody who has ever had to care for a loved one with memory loss knows quite well, it can be an extremely emotionally stressful situation. Many people are unsure of how to provide proper senior care to someone with dementia, Alzheimer’s disease or another type of memory issue.

The founders of Visiting Angels understand how difficult it can be for family members who are dealing with this issue, and how confusing it is to try to determine which home health care option is best. That is why they have scheduled the upcoming meetings; by teaching people about the social services, educational programs and other resources that are available at no cost to caregivers at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, it is hoped that attendees will leave the meeting feeling educated and empowered.