senior care
Meet Karen Green-Heyward
Some of the hardest moments in health care are not medical. They are the moments when you sit in a room, hear a lot of words, and have no idea what to do next. Karen Green-Heyward works in those moments. She is a Strategic Advocacy Consultant and Patient Advocate with Umbra Health Advocacy. She helps…
Read MoreQuestions to Ask a Long Term Care Facility
What Questions Should You Ask a Long-Term Care Facility? Choosing an assisted living community, nursing home, or memory care facility is one of the most important decisions a family will make. The brochures all look beautiful. The tours all highlight the best features. But how do you really know if a place will provide good…
Read MoreMeet Kim Cornish, LPN
Kim Cornish, LPN, is a licensed practical nurse and patient advocate with Umbra Health Advocacy. Over 18 years, she has worked across clinical, telehealth, and community health settings, including case management, chronic care coordination, behavioral health, and quality assurance. That breadth gives Kim a clear view of how the healthcare system works, and how to…
Read MoreWhen is it time for Memory Care?
Few decisions weigh on families more than recognizing when a loved one with dementia needs more care than home can provide. That often means moving to memory care. We talked with Lori Maloney, a long-term care expert and Umbra Health Advocate, about how families can recognize when memory care is needed and what to expect…
Read MoreNursing Home Red Flags: How to Tell if Your Loved One is Getting Good Care
When someone you love lives in a nursing home or long-term care facility, you cannot be there every hour of every day. That is one of the hardest parts of being a family caregiver. Here is the good news. Care leaves clues. This article explores the top nursing home red flags. We asked three patient…
Read MoreCase Study: A Safe Rehab Discharge After Falls
Getting mom home safely after rehab discharge Often when loved ones are in rehab, a family will get a call out of the blue ‘She’s being discharged tomorrow.’ No warning. No instructions. They wonder, what do I need do to prepare for a rehab discharge? That is when the panic sets in. Who will care…
Read MoreWhat do Assisted Living Costs Include?
Understanding Base Rates, Levels of Care, and Hidden Costs When families start looking at assisted living for a loved one, the monthly price tag can seem manageable. But many discover that the number on the brochure is just the starting point. The services they assumed were included often cost extra. We talked with Lori Maloney,…
Read MorePatient Advocate Profile: Meet Yvette Lyles
Yvette Lyles is a patient advocate and senior care consultant with Umbra Health Advocacy. She brings a blended background in healthcare advocacy and a deep dedication to supporting older adults, their caregivers, and families. Yvette Lyles’s story “My work is rooted in personal experience. I became an advocate long before I made it my profession.…
Read MoreDoes Medicare pay for nursing homes?
The Truth About What Is (and Is Not) Covered One of the most common and costly misunderstandings about senior care is that Medicare pays for nursing home stays. Many families assume that after a lifetime of paying into Medicare, it will cover long-term care when they need it. This is not true. Understanding what Medicare…
Read MoreSenior Loneliness Is a Health Crisis
This Mental Health Awareness Month, Let’s Treat It Like One. May is Mental Health Awareness Month. It’s a good time to talk about something many older adults are quietly struggling with: senior loneliness. Loneliness might sound like just a feeling. It’s actually a serious health risk for seniors. It can hurt the brain, the heart,…
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