2019-07-11_mlicoudis_Lisa Zucker CV Home Care.docx

Lisa Zucker CVHome Care Bilingue

174 St Vincent, Ste Agathe des Monts, J8C 2B4

(819)321-2817 (res)      (819)631-1022 (cell)

lisazucker@hotmail.ca

2019-pres	Societé Alzheimer des Laurentides : Temporary Full-Time Replacement as Home Care Support for 7 families dealing with dementia.  Four-hour weekly visit per family. Physical and cognitive stimulation : 1) I use a CD with sitting tai chi exercises for seniors. Eases arthitis and back pain, energizes, rejuvenates;  2) Balloon badminton indoors as a mild aerobic session; 3) Laptop solitaire as a sequence & memory refresh;  4) Scrabble as a spatial and verbal refresh; 5) Laptop classical music appreciation; 6) Outings : group chair yoga, a plant nursery, Botanical Gardens, Atwater Market, Segal theater (matinée); Thai massage, afternoon concert;

Cummings Center (lectures, art shows, drop-in café Shalom) 7) Hand massage de-stressor; 8) Chop veggies to help the cook (=me); 8) Sweet Snacks & toilet reminders; 9) Constant check-in with « couch dwellers». 10) Pastel portrait sketch (5 minutes) inspires autobiographical  artwork. Art liberates our humanity.

What is Art Therapy? When I sketch my comrade, she feels her expression emerging. I use this to inspire her to do autobiographical art which recalls her longterm memories.

How to Handle a Sudden Meltdown : I speak softly and assume that this too will pass. I don’t use a frontal posture but stand on oblique without confronting. Most useful is to deflect to another subject of attention. Sweet snacks work remarkably well—also cranberry juice—the red color seems to grab the focus. (Oh! It’s time for your juice, right?) Or : Das ist nicht so schwer…

2016-18	Stroke Rehab/ Dementia Care : Home care  for a person  handicapped  from (AVC) et consequent dementia. When this woman of 83 returned home after six months in the hospital, she was uncommunicative. I often asked her to make simple choices to help her emerge from her isolation. I drove her to her church when no one was there to help her remember her faith and her community, and to ease her self-consciousness about her wheelchair. Taught her to walk in coordination with Rachel Daoust, physiotherapist for the CLSC (25 minutes or exercise per day). Encouraged her to have walks and talks in the street with her supportive neighbours. Helped her reconstruct her history through stories. Helped her re-identify people she had forgotten. Discussed the news, weather, holidays to help her stay connected. Assistance for dressing, hygiene (sponge baths), meal prep, supervised medications, shopping.

Her husband : Post operative Care. Arranged ambulance rescue for his Transient Ischemic Attack. I was originally there to give him respite while I helped his wife. I assumed more responsibilities as his senility advanced: driving, accompaniment to doctors, blood pressure readings; medications, checkup calls. While I put them on the list with GMAC, I took every opportunity to present this couple to new doctors at the Montcalm clinic. Eventually I found them a doctor. Their children lived in Ontario. Clients : Barbara Staniforth, Rathwell Morrison.

Referral : CLSC Physiotherapist: Rachel Daoust  (819)425-3771 x 35017

2015-16	Alzheimer care : Home Care for a late stage Alzheimer person in Ste Agathe. Regular telephone calls to his wife at work during the day for her reassurance. Day support including sunny lunches on the patio, snacks with medications, painting sessions, walks, reading with discussions en French and English, and memory stimulation. I asked him to teach me his native language to help him recall his past. Much of the talk was written on paper as he had a hearing deficit and refused his hearing aids. As his illness advanced, I had to become more strategic in keeping him from wandering. We  upgraded the locks. I also gave him reassurance about his visual illusions. Weekly consultations with Daniel Desjardins, intervenant of the CLSC on Alzheimer care.

Recommendation : Reinhilde Brand (819)321-2621 (res)

2015	Hoyer Lift : Home care support for a personne handicapped with multiple sclerosis . I received training on operating a Hoyer lift (lève personne). Nighttime care involved changing her toilet and then building a « pyramid » of bed linens around her sensitive body so as not to impose any pressure or irritation. Helped organize and show her photographs and books which she could not handle.  This was also an act of organizing her history—all the documents and images that were witness to her value as a human being. We read to each other. I administered meds.

Recommendation : Yola Kuzmicki (450)465-8864

CERTIFICATION : RED CROSS FIRST AID CPR/AED Level C

Emergency Aid; Choking; Heart attack; Stroke; Tourniquet; CPR; AED; Anaphylaxis; Wound Care ; Burns; Injuries; Poisons; Diabetic Emergencies

EDUCATION B.A. Honors English, York University, Toronto. Summa cum laude.