EvenMORE For You

Brand New Initiative Benefits Patients, Long-Term Care Facilities and Crossroads Team Members

During brief “pre-weekend” visits on Thursdays and Fridays, Crossroads volunteers will perform valuable in-person check-ins with both patients and long-term care facilities with Crossroads’ new volunteer-driven Crossroads Care Connections Service. 

It’s a brand-new idea that’s creating buzz with Crossroads leaders who are enthusiastic about piloting the program in Kansas City. Recruiting will begin April 29.

Finding out if our patients are declining or whether any supplies are needed before the weekend is the singular goal of this new volunteer program that ensures patient comfort while providing an added layer of support to our long-term care facility partners.

Of course, the critical information Crossroads Care Connections volunteers gain will also assist with Crossroads’ staff planning. The volunteers’ role is to communicate pertinent and emergent information to Crossroads immediately following their visits.

We Need Crossroads Care Connections Volunteers!

According to Crossroads Vice President of Patient Support Services, in a tight labor market where it’s difficult to recruit paid team members, recruiting volunteers has become that much more difficult. And the post COVID-19 pandemic world has kept so many volunteers at home.

Market conditions have led to some innovative ideas for volunteer recruitment including targeting students aspiring to careers in healthcare delivery, healthcare administration and even journalism, marketing and event management.

Sherri reminds all team members that, like their ability to refer a family or community member to hospice, prospective volunteers are everywhere. They’re in our families, the children of friends, members of our faith groups and any place you might imagine. 

Stay tuned for more volunteer recruitment tips and news in future editions of EvenMORE for You. All team members are encouraged to help us increase our volunteer corps in every Crossroads location.

401(k) Webinar: Time Well Spent!

Crossroads’ 401(k) plan was the subject of our first benefits webinar and according to team members who attended, it was very beneficial. They gained knowledge of 401(k) retirement plans in general but also how to calculate and approach their own retirement savings. 

Crossroads’ longtime 401(k) Plan Advisor Bo Connor of Merrill Lynch presented the webinar three different times last month.

Cleveland’s Executive Director Catherine Eggleston was one of the webinar attendees. Catherine first noted, “How lucky we are that Crossroads contributes to the 401(k) plan.”

On a personal note, Catherine said, “It (the webinar) helped me to understand amortization of different stocks and bonds. Bo did a wonderful job outlining different paths towards different objectives and long term versus short term financial goals.”

“One thing that stands out about webinars in general is how nice it is for Crossroads to do them for us.” That’s according to Support Services Director Val Criswell in Kansas City.

Learning How Much Money is Needed to Retire

Val admitted it was “eye-opening” to learn how much money is needed to retire. “The 401(k) webinar is relevant to a lot of team members who are several years away from retirement but ready for some preliminary planning or their first retirement planning meeting with a financial planner,” she said.

Roxanne Janzen, Support Services Director in Lenexa and Diana Adams, HR Coordinator in Kansas City learned, based on the calculators Bo presented in the webinar, that they need to save more in their 401(k) plans for retirement.

“The one thing I learned: I am not putting enough money into my 401(k) based on my current age/retirement age. It has led me to reevaluate my accounts to start saving more for my future,” Roxanne said. Diana felt similarly, “I thought it was a very good presentation. It made me realize that I haven’t been contributing enough!! LOL.”

When asked which benefits team members would like to learn more about through webinars, the benefit receiving the most requests was our 401(k) plan. That’s why Bo’s webinar on retirement planning and our 401(k) plan was the first benefits webinar we introduced.

Our second benefits webinar on Nomi Health took place this week. If you missed it, the slides are available on mycrossroadsbenefits.com.

In May, the webinar is on My Benefits Work, Crossroads’ central hub for free support services such as Teladoc, Teladoc Mental Health, Financial Wellness and Counseling Services through our Employee Assistance Program (EAP). 

According to Crossroads leaders, webinars will continue to be presented throughout the year. Stay tuned for upcoming topics!

The Positive Power of Self-Talk

By: Danny Gutknecht
As I was typing away at this article, amidst the rhythmic clicks of the keyboard, I became aware of an internal conversation unfolding that had nothing to do with this article. I paused and wondered: Why, and how, am I suddenly in mid-stream, interrupted by this chatter?

I wondered, why, in the middle of extreme concentration, is this other conversation happening? I wanted the conversation to go away, to discard it as an annoyance. Maybe being busy and having too much on my mind was the culprit. 

But then I thought, what if the conversation had a purpose? What if I was overlooking its significance? Instead, could this chatter be a request from my subconscious knocking on the door, beckoning me towards something I was overlooking? I know from working with leaders, that so many of our conversations, whether fleeting or intense, can be insightful and even transformational, when given the space to be explored. 

So, instead of putting down the keyboard to ponder, like I usually do, I decided to keep writing to see what both, seemingly different conversations had to do with the moment.

Initially, I was writing an article on the “hows” and “benefits” of positive affirmation, which sounds easy to write. But it's not. I'm a generally optimistic person. Optimistic and positive because, I have worked with people who've found themselves in situations that felt negative or even dismal. Yet, time after time, I’ve learned, that by leaning in, instead of resisting, there is a way to transform one's situation. These moments give new perspective, and a new zest for life. I think it’s because of this that I deeply respect both sides of the positive-negative spectrum. I’ve also learned that too much positivity can suppress things that will persist and wreck things, until properly addressed.

Yet, bathing in negativity can create a dismal existence for oneself and everyone around. Living optimistically with more fulfillment is more about understanding how your emotions work for you. And it turns out they have something important to say. 

Famous psychologist Thomas Brinthaupt studied self-talk in patients. Beyond the scientific behavioral analysis, he learned something more important—that our inner conversations serve as a request from our subconscious to pay attention and listen. Our chatter isn't chatter but an invitation to self-discovery.

As I wrote this, I remembered an article a friend sent me this week. New research suggests that one way we improve our own emotional intelligence, and live more positively, is by helping others overcome their challenges. How? Through conversations. Lending others a hand. Something we did much less since COVID. When you are feeling down and the self talk isn’t uplifting, or if a colleague, even someone you don’t get along with, is feeling the same, working through it together can improve everyone’s mood.

This reminds me of Abraham Lincoln's quote, whose leadership style was transcendent, "I do not like that man; I must get to know him better."