In our latest episode, Theresa sat down with Gina Brockman, a Sales Counselor at the community that will be hosting the 6th Annual Wellness Expo at Water’s Edge of Bradenton on October 12!
Gina talks about the offerings of the community including Independent Living, Assisted Living, Memory Care, and 2-bedroom independent living villas with attached garages! The community sits on 37 acres of serene natural landscape and boasts over 19,000 square feet of fantastic amenities. It's not just where we're hosting the expo; it's a place where residents find a home and a community of care and support.
In this video, you’ll also learn about the concierge program that we at Home Helpers Home Care provide that is exclusive to Water’s Edge of Bradenton residents!
Join us for this conversation and learn a little about the place where we'll all come together for the Wellness Expo!!
#HealthcareHeroesUnplugged #WaterEdgeOfBradenton #WellnessExpo
Transcript:
[Theresa] Three, two, one. Hello, everyone. This is Theresa Capuano-Scott with Home Helpers of Bradenton. Welcome to Health Care Heroes Unplugged. Today I’m here with Gina Brockman of Water’s Edge of Bradenton. Thank you for joining us today, Gina.
[Gina] Absolutely
[Theresa] So, Gina, what we’d like to find out about today, is a little bit about your community, the levels of care that you offer, and how you folks help with the transition for new residents. Also, if they need to transition through the different levels of care. Just talk about some of the unique services that you offer here for your residents. So the first thing I want to ask you, Gina, is how long have you been in senior living and how long have you been at Water’s Edge?
[Gina] I have been in senior living for five years. I have been with this company for that time. And specifically at the Water’s Edge of Bradenton has been for the past two years.
[Theresa] Wonderful. And can you tell us a little bit about the levels of care that you have here on this campus?
[Gina] Absolutely. So here in the Water’s Edge of Bradenton Senior living is pretty special in the local area. We do offer water offer independent living villas, independent apartments, as well as assisted living in memory care. A niche that we have is our village. They are a very unique product that we offer and those are all independent living all two bedrooms with an attached garage. Then we get into our independent living apartments. Those are part of a bigger complex, and then we add on a few more services moving down the line. We have assisted living, which provides staff onsite for care needs, and then we have our memory care, which is assisted living but in a secure environment.
[Theresa] Very good. Thank you. Now, I understand that you have some programs in place to help the new residents who are coming in, either as brand new or transitioning through the different levels of care. Can you tell us a little bit about those?
[Gina] Sure. So we understand that this process is not easy coming into a community where you don’t know anybody. It’s very overwhelming. We understand that. So we have taken our time in creating programs that really help with that and help make that resident feel calmer with the transition and help that transition go as smoothly as possible. Some of those programs include our resident ambassador program, which is a volunteer resident who has gone through the same exact process that our new resident is going through. We kind of have them meet up and that resident ambassador is making sure that all their questions get answered. They are helping them meet new residents, meet new staff, take them around, show them the community, and even will always invite them to activities and meals, especially through those first few weeks to really help them adjust.
[Theresa] So helpful.
[Gina] Yes. Another program that we have is really just with our staff every staff member that we have here, we have different departments, and across departments, there is the staff that will then meet with the resident. It’s usually spanned over the first few days up to a week. Again, that first week there is very overwhelming. So the staff member, the department manager will go in and introduce themselves, tell them more specifically about how they can help that resident, what they offer, or tell them about their department and how things work. So that way they can really get a better understanding and know who to go to when the time arises for their specific questions.
[Theresa] Well, that’s very helpful that they do that because a lot of times they build a relationship with the sales manager. That’s your first point of contact; they can just feel like they can go to sales for anything. And we sales managers can help them all the time. So it’s super important for the family, the resident, and the staff that you know that that program is completed so that the resident knows the right person to go to to get their questions answered.
[Gina] Absolutely.
[Theresa] So I understand that you all work with a local home health company here that’s pretty much onsite in your building. Can you tell us about them?
[Gina] Yes, absolutely. Thank you for bringing that up. We do have some great relationships with some local health home health companies and home care companies as well. One of them in particular is our home care company. We have created this very unique partnership with them that we refer to as a concierge program. It is done through home helpers and it is one of my favorite offerings we have here at Water’s Edge. That particular program is where they can step in through Home Helpers and meet the additional needs of the resident, which can be anything and everything. It can start as minimal as a companionship work up to further housekeeping and add on even additional services when it comes to bathing assistance, dressing assistance, medications and all that right there really accentuates with our residents because they get to know some of these gals through home helpers that are here each and every day. It’s the same one. They form those trusting relationships. And my favorite part is that the minimum to have them with our residents in particular at Water’s Edge is a 15-minute minimum that is required to sign up with them.
Another home health agency that is at our doors each and every day and start of Southwest, they are a local therapy company and again, they are the ones that will help come in and introduce themselves right away to these new residents. And if they need their services, they are in the door right away helping them again. That helps them get settled in and really gives that resident a piece of every part of their life, the daily needs of their life being met.
[Theresa] So, Southwest Florida Home Health can provide physical therapy and occupational therapy. You folks at Water’s Edge have a gym that is onsite, also a beautiful pool that is outside, and then Home Helpers Home Care can come in and assist also with the activities of daily living, but additional housekeeping services, bathing, medication reminders, companionship, a number of different things also very helpful when someone is just being released from the hospital or from the rehab and just needs some additional support. We can walk dogs and all different kinds of things, so we’re really there as a friend and extra support of course. So. So that’s great.
So you have a lot of different things that are in place that help with the transition process because like you said, it’s definitely not easy by any means. And then can you just tell us a little bit about the differences between independent living and assisted living, the services that are offered in each?
[Gina] Sure, I absolutely can. So the biggest difference between independent living and assisted living really at the end of the day comes down to having full-time staff, independent living is you’re not at a need where you have these assistance needs. You can kind of function day to day on your own. And we are here to help support our independent living residents as needed.
When it comes to assisted living. That is more looked at when a resident will have some sort of health care need and activities of daily living they need help with. And when it comes to that, then we have full-time staff, we have aides, we have med techs, we have nurses and continue on. We have a director of nurses and they’re in the building 24 seven to help with any and all care needs of our residents that are in assisted living.
[Theresa] So because you have them 24/7, that means that you have special licensure above standard licensure and the assisted living and memory care called LNS? Correct, right?
[Gina] LNS stands for Limited Nursing Services. Correct. And that is very unique. Again, to Water’s Edge of Bradenton Assisted Living. That license allows our staff to have certain types of training, allows them to kind of be able to just handle a little bit more of care, and needs a little higher acuity and higher acuity care needs.
[Theresa] So that would be things like checking blood sugars and administering insulin can help with oxygen CPAP machines, correct? The Foley catheters, folks that have just a standard licensure normally are not able to help with that. But Water’s Edge of Bradenton does have the higher licensure LNSs Limited Nursing Service that is able to help with those things amongst others. So is that also available through memory care as well as assisted living?
[Gina] Absolutely. So anything that’s available in assisted living is available in memory care. Great. Memory care actually adds a little bit more where it becomes very distinct and specific to dementia and related to Alzheimer’s.
We have specific memory care programming and we have a wonderful, wonderful memory care coordinator who really focuses on Alzheimer’s and dementia. So you take everything you’re getting in assisted living and you’re adding a secure environment with special attention being paid to dementia and Alzheimer’s. And that becomes our wonderful memory care.
[Theresa] That’s fabulous. Well, Water’s Edge of Bradenton will always be a very close special community to my heart. The very last thing that I want to mention is that there is a very big Wellness Expo that Water’s Edge is hosting, along with Home Helpers of Bradenton, as well as Southwest Florida Home Care, which will be held on October 12th between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Lots of different resources that are available in the community, different health care resources. This is open to everyone in our Manatee and Sarasota counties. We will also be having the 3D mobile mammography bus there and Suncoast Blood bus will be there as well.
So if you have any questions about that, please call Gina or the Home Helpers Office. I want to thank you so much for allowing us to come in and interview you today. Please call Gina for a tour and more information about Water’s Edge of Bradenton. Have a great day.
[Gina] Hope to see you at the Expo and thank you, Theresa and Home Helpers for always including us in everything you do for us. Thank you so much.
[Theresa] We appreciate you. Bye bye.
HOME HELPERS OF BRADENTON
Home Helpers of Bradenton is one of the region's leading home care franchises specializing in comprehensive services for seniors. Home Helpers' sole mission is to make life easier for clients and their families. Based in Bradenton, Florida, the company serves all of Manatee County, including the communities of Anna Maria, Bradenton, Bradenton Beach, Ellenton, Holmes Beach, Lakewood Ranch, Longboat Key, Palmetto, and Parrish. For more information or to request a free in-home care assessment, contact our office at (941) 499-5946 or visit our website at www.homehelpershomecare.com/bradenton
