Sheets seeks to power a revolution in senior care

"I was born an old person in a young body," says Sisters resident Kelly Sheets. "I always love the transparency I feel when I talk with elders."

The passion felt by Sheets for improving the level of care for our elders, a population she loves working with, is palpably evident as she talks about her new business.

She is following her passion to empower caregivers and managers in elder care to love their lives and their work and have that translate to the way they care for elders. Her intention is to create a revolution in the senior-care industry. She provides training, resources, support and consulting to empower caregivers, evolve managers into leaders and, in turn, give families and businesses a stronger foundation in elder care.

Kelly's business, TheSpunkyCaregiver.com, takes her across the country to share her knowledge and philosophy of care as well as her boundless enthusiasm. At her website, http://www.TheSpunkyCaregiver.com, people can access regular posts and valuable resources to stay energized, informed and engaged in life. She also has a Facebook page, The Spunky Caregiver, full of inspirational and motivational material.

Kelly began her career as a recreation therapist with a degree from Clemson University.

She brings to her business years of experience working with elders as assistant director and then director of assisted living in retirement communities, executive director of a senior care property, and manager of care for a home-health agency.

She promotes person-centered care, in which the client/resident/patient is considered an integral part of the care team, actively involved in all care decisions, taking into account their personal preferences and what is their "normalcy." They are not forced into categories like in the old medical model of care where they are their diagnosis and treated as such - "the Parkinson's in room 8." The person-centered philosophy informs everything Kelly teaches.

Final touches are being put on Kelly's "Spunky Caregiver Method Workbook" that was developed from her online course. She also has a book on meditation, "How to Lead Meditation Groups for Seniors." Both books, in the process of final editing, will be published in the next few months and be available on her website and at Amazon.com.

Another venture in which Kelly is engaged is providing marketing for FIT Kits, a unique collection of items to stimulate and engage a person who is living with any stage of dementia. They can be used by the person independently or provide an opportunity for meaningful engagement with family and friends. The kits address a number of different interests, including art, travel, sports, games, animals, puzzles and relaxation. Funded by the National Institute on Aging, each kit includes a copy of FIT's exclusive handbook, "Understanding Dementia." Each kit sells for $49.95, including shipping, and can be viewed and ordered at http://www.fitkits.org.

Kelly asserts that, "We are at a place in the history of our country when we have the opportunity to make a lasting change in how we care for our elders. Beginning now we will have the largest number of elders ever in our history and they are going to demand a new paradigm of care."

She encourages people to make their voices heard so we don't just end up with bigger and fancier warehouses in which to store our elders. She would like to see person-centered facilities built that create a homelike atmosphere in which residents feel loved, cared for and supported.

One of the biggest voids Kelly sees in Sisters is no assisted-living facility or senior residences except for one five-bed adult foster home. As residents age and can no longer live independently, they are forced to leave their friends, doctors, churches and familiar surroundings here in Sisters to be cared for elsewhere. Kelly's dream would be to open a senior living facility here in Sisters.