The Caregiver of the Quarter is an individual who exemplifies extraordinary commitment to their clients. They practice empathy and respect while improving their client's quality of life. They are team players who are extremely reliable and cover shifts when they are able. They must be employed with Senior Helpers for a minimum of 6 months and be current with all trainings and expirations. The Caregiver of the Quarter receives a $50 gift card and is put up on the wall of fame in the office.
Laurel Allen is our Caregiver of the Quarter for January, February, and March 2021.
Laurel has been with Senior Helpers for almost 10 years, joining us in December of 2011! Throughout those 10 years Laurel has worked with 30+ clients and proved herself to be a wonderful caregiver; she is caring, has a positive attitude, and is beyond committed to her clients. She is observant and through developing strong relationships with the clients and their families, she is always one step ahead of the game, knowing what the client needs and when. Outside of the client home, Laurel is communicative, attends all trainings with Senior Helpers, and is a team player!
Laurel moved to Carpinteria from Los Angeles 28 years ago. She loves the area, especially getting to go on walks or jogs around the bluffs. This gives her the opportunity to meet people AND dogs! Laurel loves dogs, and dog/house sits as a side job to her caregiving. She enjoys spending time with her sister, her cat Lucy, and doing yoga when she’s not at work.
Laurel began caregiving after her mother passed away. She felt the need to be around other seniors and help them however she could. We think she’s doing a great job engaging her clients and making them feel special and cared for! Thank you Laurel for all your hard work, we're happy to have had you for the last ten years.
Happy Birthday Senior Helpers Santa Barbara!
We are celebrating 12 wonderful years of Senior Helpers here in Santa Barbara. Thank you for all the support, we truly would not be here without our clients, caregivers, staff members, and community partners.
We look forward to continuing to being a part of the community through taking care of our clients and their families.
Birthdays
There are no other birthdays this month... April Fools! There are many and they are all special, Happy Birthday everyone!
Kia Moran, 4/10
Noemi Villegas, 4/12
Frances Hale, 4/15
Gustavo Vazquez, 4/17
Brianna Boggs, 4/20
Deborah Fox, 4/24
Lisa Spinelli, 4/26
Julie Dupak, 4/28
Grace Gallegos, 4/29
Great Place to Work Survey!
Attention Caregivers: This is the third year Senior Helpers will be conducting a company-wide employee survey. This survey will take place beginning April 13, 2021 and we would appreciate your response. This is a great opportunity to let us know how we're doing and how we can continue to provide great service! When we receive more information on how the survey will be conducted, an email will be sent out to all caregivers, please watch out for that! Thank you all for your commitment and hard work, and for making Senior Helpers a Great Place to Work!
New Shirts
Attention Caregivers: We have ordered shirts! If you ordered a specific color, size, or amount, we will give you a call when it arrives. We ordered a few extra, so if you did not place a specific order, but are still interested in getting a new shirt, please let someone in the office know. These extra shirts will be first come, first served.
Fun Food Friday
Attention Caregivers: The office will be hosting a Fun Food Friday on April 16th, 2021 at 12pm (noon). This will be held at the Santa Barbara Mission. Please bring your own drinks, a chair or blanket to sit on, and most importantly yourself. We are so excited to spend time with you after so much time spent virtually or on the phone. Join us on April 16th and see faces you haven't seen in a while, or faces you may have never seen. Sandwiches will be provided! Please RSVP to someone in the office by April 13th.
COVID-19
COVID-19 Vaccines have begun being distributed in Santa Barbara County. We have had several caregivers sign up and receive their first and second doses now! The COVID-19 Vaccine is a series of two shots, with the second dose taking place three weeks to one month after the first. Even with the vaccine it is important to continue wearing a face mask, practice social distancing, and wash hands often.
Please remember to continue responding to our daily symptom checks so we can continue to keep our community healthy! Thank you.
Follow us on Instagram
In March of 2020, we began our Instagram in order to stay connected to our Senior Helpers family! We are still active on it a year later with posts varying between Santa Barbara sunrises, aging and exercise information, and Senior Helpers office staff information. Follow us on Instagram, @seniorhelperssb, to stay up to date with Senior Helpers, and maybe you'll see yourself on there!
MatrixCare Mobile
Elena (our scheduler) is awesome at emailing schedules every week! But sometimes, that email gets lost in the multitude of subscription emails that come through... if you're a caregiver looking for an easy way to check your schedule or clock in and out, contact Emalee to set you up with a username, password, and the app information!
Listen360
At Senior Helpers, we work to take care of our clients and their families, providing them with high quality care. Our caregivers are the foundation of that, working directly with the clients and providing great service. We use Listen360, an anonymous survey, to get feedback from caregivers. This feedback lets us know how we're doing, what we can improve upon, or continue doing. We appreciate these comments and take them seriously.
The survey comes as an email or a text message. The email is sent from survey@listen360.com with the subject line of "Senior Helpers of Santa Barbara Feedback Request". You will be asked to rate our performance on a scale of 1-10 and the opportunity to leave a comment.
In March, we received some 10/10 scores and some positive comments. Here are a few!
"I already have recommended a friend."
"I love how adaptive and communicative the members of Senior Helpers are! Everyone is friendly and always there to lend a helping hand."
"Very flexible schedule and friendly people."
We also received a low score recently with no comment and no name. We would like the opportunity to address this score and the reason behind it, and see what we can do to solve this issue. Feel free to send an email to any of the office staff, so we can help. Or when the next survey comes along, a comment can be provided anonymously.
Thank you for taking the time to helping us improve, we are always learning and striving to be the best we can be!
New Faces
Welcome to our new caregivers, who began working with clients in March. We're excited to have you all on board!
Grace began caregiving by taking care of her grandma and then moved onto working for local agencies. She is always smiling and looks forward to getting to know and working with our clients!
Ellen is a caregiver by nature! She dreamed of caring for people, so she became a nurse in the Philippines. When she moved to the US in 2019, she began working for facilities as a caregiver. We are looking forward to having such an experienced and friendly caregiver on our team!
Lupita is a brand new caregiver and we are so excited to be showing her the ropes. She enjoys working with the elderly, hearing their stories and knowing she is making a difference to someone.
Parkinson's Awareness Month
April is Parkinson's Awareness Month. Parkinson's Disease is a nerve disorder that affects movement and brain functioning. The symptoms generally develop slowly and varies from person to person. The causes are unknown, and there is no cure yet, but there are treatments through medication and surgery. Working closely with a doctor is the best way to get a great quality of life with Parkinson's. Being able to recognize signs now will aid with the disease later on. These signs aren't much to worry about on their own, they're also normal parts of aging, but when more than one a doctor should be contacted.
tremor
small handwriting
loss of smell
trouble sleeping
trouble moving or walking
constipation
soft or low voice
masked face
dizziness or fainting
stooping or hunching over
Senior Helpers Fasth, 1900 State Street Suite B, Santa Barbara, California 93101
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