With Your Family in Mind

Many people are willing to voluntarily care for a parent or loved one without any promise of compensation.  Even so, a growing number of people are entering into caregiver contracts with their family members.  Having such a contract has many benefits.  It rewards the family member doing the work.  It can help alleviate tension between family members by making sure the work is fairly compensated.  In addition, it can be a be a key part of Medi-Cal planning, helping to spend down savings so that the elder might more easily be able to qualify for Medi-Cal long-term care coverage, if necessary.

Santa Clarita Magazine readers have been sending in great questions about the voiceover business.  This month, a reader writes in asking about auditioning, etiquette and protocol.

Q: Someone solicited me to audition last night, per email.  Here’s the mail:

Preferred provider organizations (PPOs) and health maintenance organizations (HMOs) are both managed care health systems.  Each has significant advantages you should consider when deciding which is better for you and your family.

Divorce involves not only the physical and financial separation of two people, but also the emotional.  High conflict divorces result out of the emotional issues clouding and affecting the decision making in the other areas.

Are we qualified for relationships?  What about parenting?  Qualifications are scrutinized for job applications, driver’s licenses or credit requests.  Yet when couples marry or become parents, experience isn’t questioned.  School teaches us to tie our shoes, that two plus two equals four and how to read.  But what about maintaining important relationships, running a household or distinguishing between love and intimacy?  Shouldn’t something as important as rearing children require proof of experience?

Robin Peters is the nominated winner this month for her outstanding contribution to educational excellence in the Santa Clarita Valley.  The following was an essay submitted about her by her co-worker Ernestina Aguilar:

Summertime is upon us and it’s time to take that long awaited vacation.  However, summer vacations can be surprisingly expensive.  Vacations and weekend getaways are something to look forward to and with careful planning they can fit into your spending plan.  

A day at the beach can do a world of wonders for a person’s state of mind.  But, can the snarled traffic that you have to drive through to get there cause even more stress than it’s worth?  Now there is a convenient alternative, a beach bus trip courtesy of a collaborative program between the City of Santa Clarita and L.A. County. 

Imagine what it would be like if you were on a sports team that did not have a coach, never practiced and never discussed anything without a game plan.  How comfortable would you feel taking the field against your well-prepared opponent?

What Is Best For Your Child?

Research shows that between five and 10 percent of all children have some speech and/or language difficulty and one in 150 children have autism.  Therefore, selecting the best and most effective therapy services for your child is of paramount importance.  

One of the things I have looked forward to since becoming pregnant has been my baby shower.  I was just so excited to see everyone that I hold dear to my heart.  So you can just imagine how I’ve been the last couple of weeks leading up to my baby shower.  The big day finally came on May 20th and my shower was held at a wonderful local restaurant in Santa Clarita. 

For every primary caregiver out there, you will find at least double the number of long distance or secondary caregivers who may see the person being cared for on a sporadic basis.  The aspect of not knowing what is happening on a day-to-day level, combined with often having little or no say in what care is being provided, is a lethal stress bomb waiting to blow.

Over 300 employees were relocated, when Child Care Resource Center’s (CCRC) new Chatsworth Headquarters opened on Monday, June 25th at 20001 Prairie Street, just west of Northridge Fashion Center Mall.  

Newhall Church of the Nazarene recently opened their new Family Life Center, located next to the church on the Old Road.  The day was marked with a huge fiesta and ribbon-cutting ceremony, celebrating years of hard work and anticipation.  Food was served and the kids hit the pinatas ‘til candy poured out.

As we celebrate July 4th and the official beginning of summer 2007, our minds most naturally gravitate toward thinking about freedom in all of its expressions and forms.  Our minds consider the freedom that summer vacation brings with escape from the press of demanding school schedules and work routines, of certain deadlines and often unreasonable expectations.  

I would like to tell you about a typical family situation that is common among my clients.  The adult children call for an appointment after Dad has suffered a stroke.  He is in the hospital and not doing well.  The hospital wants to discharge him to a skilled nursing facility with a monthly private pay bill well over $5,000 per month.  The adult children need information and guidance regarding their Dad’s future.  

Odds are you have already called 411, 511 or 911.  In California, the California Public Utilities Commission has authorized information and referral service providers in 12 counties to utilize the 2-1-1 dialing code which includes Los Angeles County.  The California Alliance of Information and Referral Services projects that 2-1-1 will be available to 80 percent of Californians by the end of 2007.

Continuing the trend from last month, I decided to let the geniuses at Apple Inc. tell you why you should get a Mac instead of a PC.  Here are some important things to think about when upgrading, especially if you are considering upgrading your PC to run Windows Vista.