March-April 2009

A Newsletter for GMMPCPI Employees

T h e M a n a g e m e n t T e a m

KAMENDRA N. MISHRA

Chai rman, Pres ident & CEO

MARY ANN P. MAGSAYSAY Vice Pres ident

LINDA CASTILLO

Operat ions Manager

DAVID EGESSAH, OTR/L

Direc tor o f Therapy

H u m a n R es o u r c es

Anna Francesca ROSETE

R e t e n t i o n / R e cr u i t m e n t C oo r d in a t o r

Zadel CABRERA, OTR/L

C l i n i c a l M a n a g e r s

Zadel CABRERA, OTR/L Occupational Therapy

Christopher DE LA ROSA, RPT Physical Therapy

G M M P C P I L e a r n i n g C e n t e r

Celeste Mar ie ANTONIO, OTR/L

P r o f es s i o na l L i c e ns es

Vivien MEDINA, RPT

T r a in i n g a n d D e ve l o p m e n t

Frank l in HERRERA, OTR/L Viv ien MEDINA, RPT

P r og r a m A r e a Ma n a g e r s

David EGESSAH, OTR/L Roselle SOLIJON, OTR/L

Assistant: Abigail FORTICH, RPT Jean Paul ROJAS, RPT

Assistant: Ariel SALTO, RPT Assistant: Karen CORDOVA,R PT

Rinna DAYMIEL, OTR/L

C o n t a c t I n f o r m a t i o n

GMM Pro -Care Providers, Inc.

214 W. 5th St reet Jopl in , MO 64801

phone: 417 .782.2917 www.gmmpcpi .com

D ear Colleagues: The past six months or so have witnessed

unprecedented unemployment and an honest realization of the need for finan-cial discipline. Financial discipline negli-gence at an individual, family and at higher levels such as the state to which we belong, our country and the world has been so transparent that it has be-come the topic of conversation in every household. How did we get here? Again, this is a question where for lots of analy-sis and one to which the blame game is exercised from the individual to the global level. I brought up this subject in several ways during our meetings over the last two years. To me, one common factor for this crisis is the "GREED" which enveloped us in every walk of life, from corporate America to our prayer places. Executive compensation and bonuses to our preachers sharing the parable of the camel and the Rich Man, but not hesitating to live a luxurious life, on the ten or twenty dollar weekly dona-tions from the poor and working classes! GREED, not financial well-being through Wall Street trickled down to Main Street and engulfed us. It con-tinues to engulf us as a student likes to get a better grade without studying, a worker an eight-hour salary without put-ting honest eight hours' work and spend-ing money beyond their means. Thanks to HIM that it just trickled and has not affected all of us. We still have hope for correction and coming to the right path. Here are six steps, I feel, will help us in getting out of this crisis and be on the right path to attain HIS pur-pose on this earth. LISTEN: 1. God has given all of us two ears and one mouth. It appears he wanted us to talk less and listen more! Listen to peo-ple surrounding you. Listen to na-ture. Listen to yourself by giving your-self scheduled quiet time alone. If you are attending a seminar or you are stu-dent attending classes, listen.

Please do not drift and pretend to be lis-tening but honestly listen! LEARN: 2. In listening to others and yourself, you will digest all that you have listened to. It will relate to your problem and will give you a solution. It will open the path to your future. It will make you learn prag-matic steps to not only correct your finan-cial missteps, but will lead to future suc-cess. EXECUTE: 3. Execution of what you have learned by listening is important as more often, all of us learn but do not act on our learn-ing. Sometimes, we plan based on our learning but those plans seldom see the light of action and execution. DISCIPLINE: 4. All of the above steps require a very strong sense of discipline. Without disci-pline, steps towards the activities above come and go in a haphazard way. It touches our current and future problems in a random manner without elucidating our current path or future direction. ATTITUDE: 5. It is needless to say that all of the above steps will require a positive ATTI-TUDE. Positive attitude acts like a bind-ing agent in keeping all steps towards success in their appropriate places. And finally… HUMILITY: 6. I do not need to emphasize the impor-tance of being humble. All of you are fa-miliar with people and situations in your life where not being humble has derailed all attainable accomplishment. God bless you, my dears, and enlighten you to take advantage of these SIX steps towards success and being miles away from GREED. Sincerely,

Kamendra N. Mishra

6 STEPS TO SUCCESS

by Kamendra N. Mishra, President & CEO, GMMPCPI

G MM welcomed John Lardizabal in December 2008. He was deployed to Ottawa Nursing Facil-ity in Illinois. Prior to joining GMM, John worked as a physical therapist in the Mactan Doc-

tors’Hospital in Lapu-lapu City, Cebu where he was respon-sible for assessments, treatment and physical therapy. John came to know about GMM through Zadel Cabrera and the GMM seminar that she conducted in Cebu last year. He expects nothing but honesty from his col-leagues, his work place and the company. He describes himself as simple, ―just like and amoeba.‖ John’s challenges immediately started right as he was deployed. He was sent to Ottawa Nursing Home. He covered for one of those rare and unfortunate moments where an ex-GMM employee breached her contract, and was a no-show at work after successive sick leave submis-sions to the GMM office, leaving quite a mess at her facility. Fortunately for GMM, John was ready for deployment. His success in overcoming the challenge of being so new to the job and cleaning up after someone’s negligence and paper work shows John’s dynamism and willingness to be part of the team. Learn more about John’s secrets to success:

Tell us about your facility and the work that you do there. I work in a county home in Ottawa, IL. From the first day I've had a full caseload with a mix of both MED A and B patients. It was overwhelming at first, but in time I got used to the heavy caseload, which is good for my productivity. I work with a Rehab Tech, Lora Turczyn, who can do Thera Ex activities while I do the rest of the treatments. She's a big help for me, our teamwork is somehting I can call a 1 -2 punch or maybe a Stockton-Malone thing.S I also work with three different PTA's, Matthew Steele, Vicki Anderson and Sheila File. They've all been very nice to a newcomer like me, and I hold a lot of respect for them. My PD is Janet Cetwinski, who's also been very nice, although at first I felt as if she was pushing me real hard. I work well with her and she's mainly responsible for my excellent productivity. Her OT is Don Briones, who's also a filipino.

What does your normal work day consist of? My normal day begins like any other physical therapist's day. Wake up @ 5am to prepare breakfast, lunch and the 30-minute drive to work. There are usually one or two pa-tients about done with OT when I get there so I log in and start as soon as I set my things on my little table. I do con-current and group treatments with my Med A's. I use my lunch times to do my paperwork as much as possible. I jog every other day after work and I play soccer during the weekends to keep me fit and take the pressure off.

What inspires you to keep working? Can you tell us about keeps you going? The patients inspire me to keep working and doing my job. I work with some great staff in the nursing home and they are very patient and motivated. There are no restraints used in the building and they want as many people out of the wheelchairs as possible.

The patients make it very easy to work with and more often than not come to the door for therapy before I go in search of them. My parents, family, friends and loved ones here and back home. I can't be what I am if not for their sacri-fices.

LIFELINE thinks that you are a role model for GMM therapists. Do you have any pointers about teamwork for those who work together in facili-ties? Being a newcomer, the only pointers I can share about teamwork are to work well with the people around you and to give respect in order to get it.

What makes great therapists like you?- I don't know, I honestly don't think of myself as one. But definitely that would be one of my goals. Surely, hard work, perseverance, patience and prayers will get me there.

What advice can you give your colleagues in terms of productivity, attitude about the work, outlook in life? Advice for productivity has to be the concurrent and group treatments. It gives you paperwork time while keep-ing you productive. We try to have fun at work, we joke and talk to the patients with just about anything. Just think-ing of work as fun eases the stress and the pressure off. I believe in the saying "just do the job and get done with it.‖ I try not to complain and finish the work in front of me as much and as fast as possible and I think that attitude has helped me a lot from my first job as a fast food service crew to my current job as a physical therapist here in America. My outlook in life is simple: take care of those who took care of me.

FEATURED THERAPIST: JOHN LARDIZABAL

2 LIFELINE MARCH-APRIL 2009

GMM Featured Therapist, John Lardizabal was with his brand new car, ready to leave for his first facility. He joined GMM in 2008.

MARCH– APRIL 2009 LIFELINE 3

Looking Back at My Life in the USA by Naomie Corro, OTR

I have been a GMM therapist for 4 years. GMM was a part of the major milestones in my life here in USA. I started out coming here in the USA

single in Dec 2004, and my first year with GMM was a mile-stone. I experienced rapid growth as a person and as a pro-fessional. I could never forget my very first facility in the small town called Licking, Missouri. I was lucky because the whole GMM management staff was very supportive. On top of these, my very first program director was a professor and a mentor. I definitely learned a lot from her! The first series of the life-changing events I had was my car accident two months before my scheduled vacation for my wedding in the Philippines. Ma’am Mary Ann and Sir Ken rushed to Rolla, all the way from Joplin just to see me in person. Ma’am Linda was calling my cell phone very often to check my condition. I could not forget how genuine their commit-ment is to their employees. I was also blessed with very supportive colleagues in the Rolla area: Mary Carmel, Marjorie Ham , Jason Sablan to name a few. Luckily, I only suffered minor physical bruises when my accident happened on a Thursday. I was back to work the Monday after that weekend! In my second year with GMM, I got married to my won-derful husband who used to work in ship navigation, and who sacrificed and left his job before joining me in the US to fulfill our American dream. During my third year, I had the most wonderful blessing I could ever receive. I gave birth to my daughter. Both the third and fourth year together were new chapters with me and my husband raising our daughter, and me still working full-time as a GMM therapist. Now, how could I ever erase GMM in my life when all of those life-changing moments, I shared with GMM? With all the major milestones happening in my life during that time, working full-time for GMM offered me the means to provide for my family financially. Even when I left to work for an-other company after completing my 4 years, deep in my heart, Ma’am Mary Ann, Sir Ken, Ma’am Linda, The Legal Department and the rest of the GMM management were still there.

I personally experienced a problem with my legal papers when I transferred to another company. I know a lot of therapists have had problems with legal papers, visas, etc in other big companies. I never had this the entire time I was with GMM. Maybe I was lucky, or maybe not. Maybe they are just people blessed with talents, skills and genuineness that made it all work out for me. I was gone from GMM for 3+ months, but it seemed longer because of the uncertainty of the situa-tion that I was experiencing at that time. Now that I am back with GMM, it's like going back to your home and your family. The same feeling of security having familiar people around, the management that offered their genu-ine commitment to their employees made me confident again. The issue is not about how much salary you are making, how much money is in your bank account, or in which part of the world you live. It is about having job security, especially in these nebulous economic times, and I have had that with GMM all along. This is my tes-timony. Hopefully, during the fall of 2009, I will be starting my MSOT degree. Being a wife of a wonderful and sup-portive husband, a mother of a 2 year-old daughter to raise, a full-time Occupational Therapist in GMM, added to that, becoming a student, will bring a very hectic pe-riod in my life, but I will not give up on any of these roles for they make me whole. I am looking forward to opening another chapter of my life full of blessings, op-portunities, possibilities, sharing knowledge and men-toring. This is my calling.

4+ Years of Service

Noel Fernandez

03/17/2005

Trixy Ypil

03/01/2005

Franklin Herrera

04/07/2005

Roselle Solijon

04/07/2005

2+ Years of Service

Leah A. Balonzo

03/15/07

Gay A. Bigcas

03/15/07

Karen Ann Manzano

03/15/07

Christine Saso

03/15/07

Lolita Concha

04/23/07

Ma’am Linda– 03.08

David Egessah– 03.14

Ms. Anna– 03.19

Christine Saso– 03.19

Mary Ann Cusi– 04.07

Sheryl Gabana– 04.15

Gay Bigcas– 04.17

MJ Cabrera– 04.19

Mikhail Noel– 04.25

Ryan Urbano

First Place

Phyllis Raagas

Second Place

Raymund Solijon

Third Place

Richard Pestillos

Fourth Place

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR

ACHIEVERS FOR THE MONTH

OF MARCH!!

Ye a r s o f S e r v i c e

M I L E S T O N E

L eah Mae Barredo joined GMM Pro-Care Providers, Inc. in March 2009.

She worked as a physical therapist in various Philip-pine institutions such as the Visayas Community Medical Center. She also had work experience as a spa therapist at the Hilton Cebu Resort and Spa. Leah earned her Bachelor of Science in Physical Therapy Degree from the Cebu Doctors College. She learned about GMM from some peers. She is deployed at the Rochelle

Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in Rochelle, IL. Leah is part of Rinna Daymiel’s dynamic PAM group. GMM welcomes her!

DEPLOYMENT NEWS

4 LIFELINE MARCH-APRIL 2009

WELCOME, LEAH MAE BARREDO!

NOTES FROM THE HR DESK

YOUR REVISED BENEFITS BE AWARE OF THE NEW PTO POLICY

Effective January 2009, GMM's PTO Policy is as Follows:

Accrual Rates: 0-12 months of service- 13 days + 6 Holi-days- 4.33 hours per pay period; 103.92 hours annually 12 months.- 24 months.of service- 15 days + 6 Holidays- 5.00 hours per pay period; 120 hours annually 24 months- 36 months of service- 17 days

+ 6 Holidays- 5.67 hours per pay period; 136.08 hours annu-ally

36 months- 48 months of service- 19 days + 6 Holidays- 6.33

hours per pay period; 151.92 hours annually 48 months of service and more- 21 days + 6 Holidays- 7.00

hours per pay period; 168.00 hours annually Paid Time off is 100% cash convertible at the end of the year, provided that you have 40 hours of accrued Paid Time Off in the bank. In the even that an employee's contract with GMM is breached, GMM will not pay that employee the balance of his/her PTO. PTO requests will only be approved if you have PTO avail-able to you. If you do not have the balance, you may request for time off without pay.

BIRTHDAYS

MAXIMUM HOURS

WORKED AWARD

MARCH– APRIL 2009 LIFELINE 5 THE LEARNING CORNER

REHABILITATION FOR PATIENTS WITH DIMENTIA by Celeste Marie Antonio, OTR

D ementia and Alz-heimer’s Disease are very common diagnoses we encounter in the fa-

cilities we work in. It is very challenging to help our patients with dementia as they can be un-cooperative and even combative at times. The purpose of this arti-cle is to provide helpful knowl-edge as to the different stages of

dementia and how to handle our patients suffering from this disease. Several of our colleagues have attended courses related to dementia and have shared very infor-mative facts and treatment suggestions in our Learning Center Directory. In this article, their contributions are compiled, along with the Global Deterioration Scale for Assessment of Primary Degenerative Dementia.

Global Deterioration Scale (GDS) The Global Deterioration Scale is a global rating scale which is used to summarize whether an individual has cognitive impairments consistent with dementia (including Alzheimer's disease). Individuals are rated according to a seven-point scale, as outlined below; a score of 4 or higher is usually considered to be indica-tive of dementia. A score of 3 on the GDS is considered consistent with mild cognitive impairment (MCI); people with MCI are at heightened risk to develop dementia within the next few years. GDS Rating: 1 = Patient has no complaints of memory deficit; clini-cian can detect no memory deficit evident during inter-view. 2 = Patient complains of memory deficit (forgetting names, forgetting where one has placed objects), but clinician can detect no objective evidence of a memory deficit during interview. 3 = Patient shows evidence of mild memory deficit dur-ing intensive clinical interview; symptoms include:

miliar location, may forget familiar names, may have problems finding the correct word

-workers are aware of memory lapses

tration

4 = Patient shows clear-cut evidence of memory deficit during interview with clinician, including de-creased memory of current and recent events, de-creased ability to travel or handle finances, inabil-ity to perform complex tasks. Patient may also deny there is any problem with his/her memory even though it is evident to friends and family. 5 = Patient can no longer handle activities of daily life without some assistance; patient is unable to recall a major aspect of current life such as own address or telephone number, and may have trou-ble choosing proper clothing to wear (e.g. deciding whether a coat is required). 6 = Patient is largely unaware of all recent events and experiences; may forget spouse's name, may become incontinent, may show personality changes. 7 = Patient loses all verbal abilities over the course of this stage; patient is incontinent and requires help with feeding and toileting; patient begins to lose basic motor skills (e.g. ability to walk). The GDS scale was originally presented by B. Reisberg, S. Ferris, M. de Leon and T. Crook ("The global deterioration scale for assessment of pri-mary degenerative dementia," in American Journal of Psychiatry, vol. 139, pp/. 1136-1139.) Treatment Suggestions and Insights from GMM

therapists: Franklin Herrera attended a course in July 2008 entitled, ―Therapeutic Approaches to Dementia‖, conducted by Lenny Butler MS OTR. These are what he learned from the course in his own words, ―I learned about the Stages of Dementia with their characteristics based on Global Deterioration Scale and practical approaches in dealing with dif-ferent mental and behavioral manifestations with dementia patients. ―My Way‖ is an approach to put a functional baseline to patients with dementia, the sooner, the better. This will establish patients pref-erences with ADL’s and leisure activities. When the time comes, the patient can no longer commu-nicate effectively or express his needs to caregiv-ers, thus, making the burden of care, less stressful to the patient. If you have a patient who constantly asks for their mother or father or significant other and refuse to come to the activity, you may want to ask about that person and divert attention with HOHA if needed to initiate the task. Like ―while waiting for your father, let us try doing this…‖ Pa-tients who are diagnosed with Ctd. on p. 10.

L E G A L E Y E S by GMMPCPI Legal Department

FOCUS: DUAL CITIZENSHIP FOR BABIES

G MM’s growth continues not just through the addition of therapists into its team, but through the little ones born to its therapists. In recent years, GMM has joyfully welcomed

a growing number of ―Made In The USA‖ bundles of joy into its family. And as we cheer and celebrate the birth of the ―American baby‖ born to our colleagues, we also hear of these very babies’ grandparents asking - ―but isn’t the baby also Filipino?‖ Indeed, to many of our parents, preserving the child’s Filipino citizenship is a way of honoring the child’s heritage and family ties. In response to those concerns and questions, we decided to feature this topic on dual citizenship.

Background. The US follows the jus soli system of recognizing its citizens. Children born in the US are its citizens by birthright, regardless of the citizenship of the child’s parents. Many countries around the world observe the jus soli system of some variation. Some countries such as the Philippines, on the other hand, follow jus san-guini – citizenship recognition because of blood ties, where at least one parent possesses that citizenship. Both jus soli and jus sanguini systems of citizenship converge in the child born to Filipino parents in the US. The Philippine Constitution specifically recognizes dual citizenship, and because of this, your US-born child could very well keep his citizenship and be a dual -citizen. Why would I want to retain my child’s Philippine citizenship? Various reasons. You may want to do it simply to re-tain sentimental ties. You may want to do it to pre-serve the child’s right to own and purchase real prop-erty in the Philippines with minimal restrictions. You may have the noble hopes of your child being able someday to vote for the national leaders of the Philip-pines, and participate in charting the country’s course. Or, you may actually want your child to be voted Presi-dent of the Philippines someday, you stagemother you. (**Note: A child whose Philippine citizenship at birth is a natural-born citizen and can thus be voted to the highest offices of the land). What must I do to document my child’s Philippine citizenship? You must register his birth at the Philippine Consulate nearest you. This will require filling up FA Form 40, the submission of copy of the child’s birth certificate, and proof of the Philippine citizenship of either parent. The Consulate will then forward these to the National Statistics Office in the Philippines for registration. There is a processing fee of $25, which is not bad an investment for a Presidential ambition.

Must the child be legitimate, or born within wed-lock to avail of dual citizenship? No. Will my child lose his citizenship once we, the parents, acquire American citizenship? No. The child is considered to have his/her citizen-ship vested at birth. And the fact that you have changed your citizenship will not automatically di-vest the child of his/hers.

Does my child lose his/her Philippine citizenship if he/she travels on a US passport and has never even travelled to the Philippines? No. Philippine laws recognize dual citizenship, and while person may lose his Philippine citizenship by renunciation, using a US passport and not visiting the Philippines do not amount to renunciation.

6 LIFELINE MARCH– APRIL

“Children born in the US are its

citizens by birthright, regardless

of the citizenship of the child’s

parents. Many countries around

the world observe the jus soli

system of some variation. Some

countries such as the Philip-

pines, on the other hand, follow

jus sanguini – citizenship recog-

nition because of blood ties,

where at least one parent pos-

sesses that citizenship. Both jus

soli and jus sanguini systems of

citizenship converge in the child

born to Filipino parents in the

US. The Philippine Constitution

specifically recognizes dual citi-

zenship, and because of this,

your US-born child could very

well keep his citizenship and be

a dual-citizen.”

MARCH- APRIL 2009 LIFELINE 7

L E G A L E Y E S by GMMPCPI Legal Department

DUAL CITIZENSHIP CONTINUED

SQUINTER POINTS & PRACTICAL TIPS 1. As you travel in and out of the US, it would be a good idea to keep a log of your trips in a little notebook. Record the date you departed the US, the places you’ve been to in that trip, and the date you returned. This is one situation where being O/C about details is actually good thing. 2. Try as best as possible to keep your

boarding passes/stubs. Boarding stubs serve as proof of stay, and can be secondary or corroborative evi-dence of your travels when the stamps made by port officers onto your pass-port are not clear. They may be help-ful for recapturing time for your H-1B visa extensions; or can be used as proof of presence within the US.

3. Everytime you travel out of the US, the I-94 in your passport will be taken from you, and a new one given when you reenter. Keep a copy of every new I-94 that you are given. You can scan a copy for your records. GMM encourages you to provide us with a copy for back-up in case of loss.

4. A guideline for the length of time you travel outside of the US while un-der an H-1B visa is always ―reasonableness‖. Put yourself in the port-of-entry officer’s shoes and ask yourself if your explanation is reason-able and credible. Think -- ―How does the purpose of my trip abroad stack up against the period I was away?‖ An im-portant question to ask also is ―When was the last time I left the US?‖ If you have been travelling on length in-and-out of the US, and within short inter-vals, the officer may wonder how you are even able to maintain your job with that much leaves of absence. It’s all common sense really. The port-of-entry officer can always make calls to verify your allegations, and has the dis-cretion to deny you reentry into the US. Plan travels judiciously.

Keep a copy of every I-94

that is given when you reen-

ter. Scan a copy for your re-

cords. Provide GMM with

copies for records in case

they get lost. Before leav-

ing the US, Check your

passport before leaving and

make sure that your I-94 is

secured in it before you

leave your homes for the

airport.

Keep your boarding stubs.

They serve as proof of stay.

They can be secondary evi-

dence of your travels when

the stamps made by port of

entry officers are not clear.

I n my more than 2 years in the USA, I have witnessed the unraveling of the four seasons. For a new comer who lived in a tropical country for most of

my life, I find it so amazing to experience such changes. Flowers bloom in the spring. Heat waves and extreme humidity prevail in the summer. Leaves turn yellow during the autumn. Snow, sleet and ice splatter the streets during the winter. Every season is a phase worth waiting for, and like a child, I excitedly look forward to each one, but as in everything that we have in this world, in order to create balance and harmony, each season has its good and down side, too. Let me share with you a real story de-picting the down side of one of the most awaited seasons. My story is about the experience we had last winter in the Southeast Missouri area. The night of January 26, 2009—the weather forecast showed that there will be a very bad ice storm coming by nightfall. I heard people in the work place say that ice is worse than snow. I remember going home that night, and the rain had poured heavily and a little icy. It continued steadily until midnight with accompanying thunderstorms. The next morning, I remembered waking up startled by the sound of crushing trees nearby. Intrigued, I looked outside and noticed trees bending down. The ice accumulated, cov-ering almost everything around: the ground and grass

spokes with ice and icicles were just everywhere from roofs to cars, to power lines. The temperatures were dropping, with the surroundings getting too cold. The rain hadn’t stopped. In fact, it dropped continuously and heavily. Ro-selle and I decided it was too dangerous to go out and drive 30 miles to work, so we chose to stay home. Around our neighborhood, I spotted some branches in the act of falling into house’s roofs. Others were hanging by the power lines. You can hear from the distance the sounds of falling tree limbs- like hearing an orchestra playing a symphony with its swishes and thuds. Heidi and Noel who live in an apartment in front of us needed to stay with Roselle in order to avoid a long branch awaiting to drop above their bedroom. By mid -noon, our electric lights started to flicker, signaling an in-coming power problem and just as we finished cooking our days’ meal, the power went out.

An Ice Storm to Remember by Joan L. Ozbent, PT

Unaware of an impending calamity, we con-tinue to act like our ordinary day. At one time, my hus-band and I opted to roam the downtown area , trying to survey how the storm had affected the other side of the town. It was obvious that more trees were going down, embracing the ground, and some even fell to the streets, starting to block the highway, causing moder-ate traffic. We also noticed that almost all shops and stores were closed. At night fall, the rain hadn’t stopped yet, and more crushing sounds were heard from afar. The worst thing was that the power didn’t come back. So that night, we took our heaviest and thickest sheets out, flashlight and candle on the lamp stand—we forced ourselves to lay on our cold bed, covered with many blankets, enduring the temperature and total darkness. I remember my husband joking that it will be his first night ever to sleep that early in his entire life. But then, we managed to kill our time by reminiscing about our childhood days, telling about our funniest and most unforgettable experiences. When it was about time to sleep, we carried in our hearts the hope that the power outage was temporary. As we marked our second day of the ice storm, we were thankful that finally, the rain had stopped and the sun was coming out. We went outside and looked in great awe with the incredible site around us: hard, cold, heavy ice everywhere… our apartment complex looked like a crystal ice kingdom… cold… quiet, and trees glimmering with every ray of the sun. It was my first time to witness such a marvelous phenomenon. On the other hand, the severity of the situation was slowly unfolding to all of us-- the streets going in and out of the apartment were almost totally blocked, not passable by car. A lot of the trees were chopped to half, roofs destroyed by tree limbs, nearby power posts were beheaded and power lines were cut or left hang-ing and most were in the ground. It was impossible for us to move smoothly within our premises, more so to go to work and drive on the highway- when we don’t have any idea as to the extent of the destruction. The entire situation was starting to be more disabling, scar-ier. No power, no heat, we didn’t have enough candles to bring us light at night, no canned goods and read to eat food. And to top it all, none of the establishments and stores in town were open: banks, food chains, res-taurants, hotels and even gas stations. We called the electric company and asked about an update, and it turned out that they couldn’t give us a definite time or day as to when the power will be back. Then, we got hold of news that soon, we will be running out of water supply, too. That was the breaking point. I believe that almost all of my friends who live within the area, in one way or another, went into a little panic, just think-ing of a possibility that this will take for a while. The course of events are astonishing yet real.

“...our apartment complex looked

like a crystal ice kingdom...

Cold...quiet… and trees glimmer-

ing with every ray of the sun…”

8 LIFELINE MARCH– APRIL 2009

We were not prepared for this. No one has ever ex-pected the magnitude of the ice storm. When some friends suggested to get out of town in order to think and plan and get equipped, we decided to come along. We took a two-hour drive to Memphis. Our drive out of town was a little tricky and challenging. Upon arrival there, we took refuge in a beautiful hotel. We shared rooms with friends and talked about what things and supplies to buy. That night, as I lay down in bed, I thanked God for the warm and safe surroundings. I said a prayer for all of us, lifting up to the Almighty the plans He had for us and asked for His protection and guidance for the com-ing days. While in Memphis, we bought gas burners and bags of charcoal, thinking this will help us with our cook-ing, we also got canned goods and instant noodles, as this will not require too much heating and cooking. We had to bear in mind that we need to save our gas, water and all goodies as much as possible. We bought can-dles, bottled water and anything we can think of that we deemed necessary on our way home. As we were in our ordeal, a lot of friends called in to extend their support, outpouring help came here and there, some offering their houses for an unlimited time. Others even proposed using their washers and dryers for our laundry. Some were in the same situation as we were but more so lucky having a house with gas burners or that they are planning to procure generators. Few of them I knew personally, but since we are buddies with GMM couple Roselle and Raymund Solijon whose acquaintances most of the people were, we tagged along wherever they went. When it was finally time to go back to Kennett, we saw how different it looked like after the ice storm. It was like a ghost town… quiet… eerie… dark and very cold. You can see trees blocking roads, we need to re -route many times to arrive at our destinations. Houses looked old and damaged. The National Guard was out and scattered to secure order and safety. There was a curfew set to avoid unnecessary accidents and dangers. There were no traffic and street lights. The highways were unclean and narrowed by tree branches. We heard over the radio that in our town alone, more than 1,000 power poles and some transmission stations were dam-aged.

The electric company had to ask for utility crews from neighboring towns to start with reconstruction plans. For days, only gas stations were open with enormous numbers of cars and trucks in line. The usual 24- hour Walmart had a specific schedule for store operations in a day. We continued with our daily lives, carpooling to work for a few days. We stayed in friends’ houses during the night and went home everyday for our baths and meals. There was time where we spent the weekend at Jonesborough, too. Sometimes, my husband had to come with me to the facility, staying in the therapy de-partment kitchen just to keep warm during the day. It was really a difficult scenario, but then, we were able to manage.

As days stretched to weeks, some parts of our town re-sumed their power. Slowly, more and more establish-ments went back to business. The town was again start-ing to be alive and familiar. Unfortunately, on our side, we were the last in schedule. So, we continued to stay in our friends’ house until we got our power back. When I try to discern about all of our recent happenings, I come up with a realization. First is that suffering teaches us humility. No one is greater or above the other—we are the same in the eyes of GOD. We must be thankful to all the things that we have—may it be big or small. The second is to value friendship. In our lifetime, we en-counter different people we call friends, some remain a memory and some are presently around. Each we have a different intensity and depth of connection. Each friend has a purpose of coming into our lives. So whoever we have at the moment—we need to appreciate and treasure them, because they are the ones who will be there for us when we need a helping hand. Last, we are blessed be-ing Filipinos, having our culture partly guarantees us that someone will be willing to help and give support no mat-ter what. It maybe our friends, the company we work for, or even just acquaintances. And despite the hardships that we are facing, we will always remain a happy people.

“We are blessed being Filipinos,

having our culture partly guaran-

tees us that someone will be will-

ing to help and give support no

matter what. It may be our

friends, the company we work for,

or even just acquaintances… we

will always remain a happy peo-

ple [despite the hardships we en-

dure].”

Mr. Erkan Ozbent, Joan Lamanilao’s husband, checks out the winter wonderland into which their apartment complex was transformed during the ice storm in MO.

MARCH– APRIL 2009 LIFELINE 9

REHABILITATION FOR PATIENTS WITH DIMENTIA CTD. FROIM PAGE 5

Stage 6-7 can’t multi-task, for instance, walking and talking the same time. In such cases, you can give one-step direction. With patients with Stage 5-7 de-mentia, approach at front not at the side. According to studies, their peripheral vision decreases. Pa-tients also develop a downward gaze and their vision will decrease by 36 inches from the floor. In other words, when you talk to patients with this stage, try kneeling down to their level. Every time you go in-side the room, it is recommended to knock, say your name and state your purpose. Some of the patients need constant assurance of what the person will do with them, contrary to most of our practice where we tend to antagonize patients’ perception by providing reality statements. Like, if the patient is carrying a baby doll, and the therapist says that is not a real baby. We end up losing the patient’s trust and rap-port. In such situations, the speaker recommended to get INTO patients reality, per the premise ―what you perceive to be true becomes your reality.‖ Same applies with late stage dementia patients. Mr. Butler recommended diversion technique after initially en-tering patient reality. Mary Jo Ann Salapare OTR/L and several other GMM therapists joined a seminar entitled ―Dementia Care A-Z for Healthcare Professionals‖ conducted by Sue Curfman MA, SLP-CCC. This is what Mary Jo Ann had to share, ―I learned to use cognitive retrain-ing strategies such as space retrieval training In treating my patients to improve activities of daily living, cognitive function and improve safety aware-ness.‖ Space retrieval is an alternate memory inter-vention that uses an expanding schedule of success-ful retrievals from memory to enhance recall. Spaced retrieval is based on the concept of expanding re-trieval practice.

Iris Melany Roxas, OTR/L attended at seminar in October 2008 entitled ―The Role of Cognition in the Treatment of Adults with Dementia, conducted by Sallie Taylor, M.ED. OTR and Theresa Meyer, PT. Iris shared this very valuable information, ―I learned how to use the Allen Model of Cognition for both geriatric and psycho-social settings. This will help me identify the abilities retained by my patients at the point of treatment and their varying degrees of dementia. I will be able to maximize treatment inter-ventions for my patients with varying degrees of de-mentia, and explore and use various assessment tools (especially placemat activity) to identify what degree/level of dementia a patient has in 2 minutes. Documentation-wise, I will be able to establish a rea-son for referral to support medical necessity with ac-curacy and identify positive rehab potential or prog-nostic indicators for each patient with dementia. I would recommend this course to my colleagues since it will equip us with skills to identify and assess a person with dementia and be able to provide a meaningful plan of care that focuses on retained abilities and enhanced function. Another thing is, this course provides hands-on training with placemat ac-tivity as one of the assessment tools used for de-mentia patients.‖ In conclusion, it is imperative to know the various stages of dementia and identify which stage our cli-ents are when we take care of them. It will truly help our treatment strategies, set more realistic goals, give appropriate training to caregivers and most es-pecially allow our clients with dementia enjoy maxi-mum benefits of therapy. References: http://www.memorylossonline.com/summer2003/glossary/gds.html http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-07122006-125829/

unrestricted/Olinde_thesis.pdf

GMM CLASSIFIEDS:

Call Mil-inda at 417.438.8545 For tick-ets or other inquir-ies.

10 LIFELINE MARCH– APRIL 2009

Congratulations To GMM’s Legal Counsel,

Ms. Stephanie Dy on her

wedding to Craig Powers

last February ! We wish

you a very joyful married

life!

Congratula-tions to Francesca Isabel Herrera, the only daugh-ter of GMM OT, Franklin Herrera, for completing her first se-mester of pre-school.

Congratulations to GMM’s 2005 office assistant, Maria Rosete on achieving her undergraduate de-gree! Mia graduates from St. Anselm’s College in New Hampshire with a major in Politics this May.

MARCH– APRIL 2009 LIFELINE 11

A CELEBRA-

TION FOR

GMM’S

ACADEMIC

ACHIEVERS

For your Physical, Occupational and

Speech Therapy Career.

We give you what you need.

Opportunities that you value. Support that you can trust.

Life insurance Paid Time Off Unused Paid Time Off is 100% cash convertible Worker’s compensation and unemployment insurance Continuing Education Assistance Retirement Plan Contribution Relocation Assistance Referral Bonus Career Advancement Joining &/or Continuing Bonus For Foreign-Trained Therapists H-1B and Green Card Full Sponsorship Assistance in review and preparation for therapist’s Certification Examination Travel Assistance to exam destination In-house Clinical Orientation in documentation and paperwork Hands on Training to the facility prior to work assign-

ment Credit Assistance Program Anna Francesca Rosete Human Resources Department 214 W. 5th Street Joplin, MO 64801 Telephone number: 417 782 2917 E-mail: arosete@gmmpcpi.com

GMMPCPI ’s competitive salary offerings

and benefits that rank next to none in the in-dustry are our ways of looking after our peo-ple and their families. We believe in valuing people beyond the work that they do. We treasure the person behind the work. When we help our people look after their needs, the company and all of us stand to gain. We are your lifeline away from home and the partner you can count on— 24/7.

Our Benefits Include: Drug program for employees and their families Dental plan for employees and their families Short term disability insurance Long term disability insurance Professional liability insurance