Reflections from June

I finally get to use one of my all-time favorite pictures. June 24th was Take Your Dog to Work Day. Did anyone participate? I followed this big guy on my way home from work one day and was lucky enough to pull up next to him at a stop light.

You may ask, “How does this relate to the Amazing Care Network?” In an article from Mayo Clinic, “Pet Therapy: Man’s best friend as healer”, pet therapy is gaining fans in health care and beyond. Having a pet visit you has been found to improve recovery times, lessen depression, and reduce pain, anxiety and fatigue in individuals with a wide range of health problems. Not all pets qualify to participate. The Mayo Clinic uses certified therapy dogs in their Caring Canines program. How would you like this guy visiting you at home or in the hospital?

If you can’t have pets for whatever reason (our household has both dog and cat allergies), there are alternatives. While attending the 13th Annual Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit at Santa Clara University, we were introduced to Joy for All – Companion Pets by Hasbro. These life-like cats were passed around the conference hall demonstrating their abilities to purr, meow, move their heads, paws and they will roll over if you pet them long enough. Through Hasbro’ research and development, they found that these Companion Pets bring comfort and companionship to all ages. The Hasbro representative says, “Why should kids have all the fun?” I know what my mom is getting for her birthday.

A Dedication to Men & Fathers

We celebrated our Fathers’ on June 19th. The role that Fathers play in our lives at every age cannot be recognized by this single day. To our Dads: The lessons you’ve taught us. The tears you’ve wiped. The laughter you bring. Thanks to all the amazing Dads in our lives. We love you!

A Harvard-based study supports one of Amazing Care Network’s four pillars: to form and support your Alliances, your network, friendships and connections. The study indicated men with strong alliances tend to live longer. Men…the Amazing Care Network is here to support you and your friendships and connections.

July & Where we are going…?

As we and our loved ones age, “independence” can take on a variety of forms – living in our own homes, driving our cars, and managing our finances to name a few. ACN wants to be your partner to help you traverse through these changes. We listened to you and are in the process of a website upgrade which is expected to be released in late August. One of the concepts that will be changing is the development of our pillars of existence depicted below, and the identification of our tag line of “We Care about you!”

With the four Care pillars of 1) C = Caregiving, 2) A = Alliances, 3) R = Resources, and 4) E = Economics, we hope to further solidify why we exist.

ACN Care Card Product Launch

In alignment with our Caregiving pillar, we are happy to announce that we have launched the ACN Care Card, a smart debit card. Check out our microsite at www.acncarecard.com
The ACN Care Card is for caregivers of all types. The spending on the card can be managed according to specific care needs whether for medical purposes or general spending. Spending can be controlled both by the prepaid dollars available on the card and at the merchant level. Mobile features are available and real-time alerts provide instant transparency into spending.
We are beginning our sales and marketing campaign directly to home health care agencies who have caregivers that are making purchases on behalf of their clients. Other channels are emerging daily for the use of this type of a smart debit card.

I am passionate about the success of this program after experiencing misuse of my mom’s identity and finances which you will hear about in more details in the next “Member Spotlight”.
Lots of good things happening!

From the President’s desk to you, make it an amazing month!
~ Dawn