La Paz Celebrates Nurses Week

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This month, Telecare's La Paz Geropsychiatric Center in Long Beach, CA, recognized their magnificent nursing staff during National Nurses Week.

The festivities began with a continental breakfast on Monday; delicious rootbeer floats were served on Tuesday; a lunch treat from Subway was offered on Wednesday; the rehabilitation department recognized their nursing peers by creating an attractive and tasty candy bar on Thursday; and on Friday, the last day of the event, all nurses were treated to an Italian dinner.

A raffle was held and each member of the nursing department received a lunch tote bag and an engraved pen.

La Paz appreciates its nurses who work hard every day and show extraordinary caring and compassion towards the residents.

CAHF Music & Memory Project at La Paz

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At La Paz Geropsychiatric Center, staff members, Erish McInnis and Kristen Crowe, project leads, show off their mobile Music & Memory cart!

La Paz Geropsychiatric Center in Paramount, CA was chosen to be a part of the pilot study of Music & Memory through CAHF and UC Davis; the program seeks to enliven and enrich the lives of those who have been diagnosed with dementia. La Paz received 15 iPod shuffles from the Music & Memory study program, and 15 residents with a diagnosis of dementia were chosen to participate in the program. Each resident was interviewed to find out more about their favorite music: what artists they enjoyed, what live concerts they’d seen in their youth, any musicals they enjoyed, or what genre was most appealing to them. Rehabilitation staff then worked to download the music on to each resident’s personal iPod.

Although the study is to last for three years, so far there have been some encouraging results:  

  • Residents who prefer to spend their time in their room have been more social with others.

  • Those who are sometimes loud and difficult to redirect, listen to their music quietly with big smiles on their faces and sway to the beat.

  • Others who can be rather disorganized and difficult to understand find their voices and sing full songs with proper lyrics.

We are looking forward to see what other changes may come about in the future to improve the overall well-being of these residents!

TAO and La Paz Celebrate National Nurses Week

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TAO (top row) and La Paz (bottom row) celebrated National Nurses Week, which took place from May 6 to May 12. The nursing staff and mothers were celebrated at TAO, while non-nursing staff at La Paz showed their support and appreciation of the program nurses by dressing in scrubs.

La Paz Veteran’s Day Recognition

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Happy Veteran’s Day to our special LVN Malcolm Edrada. Malcolm served in the U.S. Navy for 10 years as an Engineering Mate. He served on five deployments to the Western Pacific areas such as Singapore, Japan, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia– just to name a few.

One of his greatest accomplishments was when Malcolm was awarded an ESWS pin. This pin is a surface warfare insignia that is a military badge of the U.S. Navy and issued to personnel who are trained and qualified to perform duties aboard surface warships.

When Malcolm was in San Diego, he was “volun-told” to join the Naval Security Force, also known as the Naval Law Enforcement, and he shined. They recognized his talents and Malcom graduated with honors out of a class of about 50 students. Malcolm had an average of 97.5%.

When Malcolm left the U.S. Navy he took about a year off until he decided to become a nurse — LVN.  In January, Malcolm will have worked four years with us. We are honored to have such a kind, courageous, and patient man working with us. Malcolm is the epitome of a great nurse.

Happy Veteran’s Day to Malcolm and all the men and women that serve our country, past, present and future.We are deeply grateful for your service!

La Paz Celebrates Telecare’s 50th!

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La Paz celebrated Telecare’s 50th year with a fun Mardi Gras theme party. Staff munched on BBQ chicken, tri-tip, pulled pork, ribs, salads, a 4-tier cake, and cookies, while listening to tunes from 1965! They even played Telecare Bingo and had 1965-themed trivia. Overall, the party looks and sounds like a great time! Thank you to the staff that worked hard to organize this wonderful event!

La Paz: Garden of Hope

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This year at La Paz, you can see watermelons, cantaloupes, tomatoes, bell peppers, hot peppers, and herbs flourishing in the garden.  Under the supervision of Lenivie Harris, George Cherry, and Dacharee Briggs, dedicated residents have been tending to their plot with extra care.

The residents describe this project as “fun, interesting, relaxing, and good exercise.” Gloria expresses, “There’s nothing better than seeing everything grow, because it gives you joy and pleasure.” Jerry says, “It makes you work up a sweat, but I don’t mind because it makes you feel good.” Lamarre believes gardening is “excellent exercise to soften up the stiff body.” Linda likes “spending time outdoors because it reminds me of being a nursery girl.”

Year after year, the gardening project continues to bring hope, pleasure, and fulfillment to the lives of our residents.