Memorial Day is a special day to honor and remember those who died while serving in the U.S. military. A day dedicated to showing respect and reflecting on the ultimate sacrifice of military personnel to defend our country’s freedoms.

This day can be honored in senior living facilities with a moment of silence for the fallen, a memorial parade in the halls, or the rising of the flag at half-staff.

It’s important to honor our heroes by highlighting the benefits available to them. Did you know the VA offers Aid and Attendance, an additional benefit program for veterans and surviving spouses?

Let’s get into the details. On average in the state of Georgia, the cost of staying at a senior living facility for a month is $3,500. According to the U.S. News, "Veterans and their spouses have multiple financial benefits that can help cover the cost of assisted living," says Rick Wigginton, Chief Sales Officer with Brookdale Senior Living, a Tennessee-based senior living company with 675 senior living communities in 41 states across the country.

These benefits are separate from Medicare or Medicaid benefits, adds Dana Taylor, a social worker and senior regional manager for Veterans Home Care based in St. Louis, Missouri. Medicare is a federal health insurance program for adults 65 and over. Medicaid is a combined state and federal program that provides health coverage to low-income individuals, regardless of age. The VA's Aid & Attendance and Housebound program is part of pension benefits for veterans and surviving spouses. These benefits, the VA reports, "are paid in addition to monthly pension, and they are not paid without eligibility to pension," meaning that you can't access this benefit if you're not a pensioned veteran or a survivor of a pensioned veteran.

To qualify for the program, you must:

• Be a veteran of war-era with an honorable discharge or be the surviving spouse of a veteran of war-era with an honorable discharge.
• Need medical assistance.
• Need financial assistance.

Aid & Attendance is received when you meet one of several potential conditions, including:

• Requiring the aid of another person to perform the activities of daily living. These personal functions include bathing, dressing, eating, toileting, or assistance in staying safe from hazards in your daily environment
• Being disabled to the point of being bedridden, beyond what would be considered normal recovery from a course of treatment like surgery.
• Being a patient in a nursing home because of physical or mental incapacity.
• Having very poor eyesight (5/200 corrected visual acuity or less in both eyes) or a field of vision limited to 5 degrees or less.

This program can make a huge difference for veterans and their families, offering peace of mind and much-needed support.

To find out more information, visit https://www.va.gov/health-care/about-va-health-benefits/long-term-care/

It has been three years since the COVID-19 outbreak and the unfortunate labor shortage struggle continues. We have created different alternatives that have allowed us to continue life as we once knew it. But the question is how are companies able to adapt to this labor shortage and how do they come out on the other side stronger than ever? These labor insufficiencies have affected the nursing population tremendously and are now trickling into the world of IT.

Sadly, healthcare industries took a heavy hit with this. Staffing poverties are nothing new for Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNF), yet it is highly unfortunate. When there is a staffing shortage not only does that overwork the staff that is already available, it puts a strain on the company as a whole. These businesses are unsure how to improve the facility crisis or how to properly prevent it!

IT industries are experiencing staffing shortages as well due to non-flexible work hours, a lack of remote working options, feeling under-appreciated, and even the possibility of a toxic work environment. According to Sherweb.com "A whopping 85% said they felt their company focused more on attracting new talent than investing in existing staff. It is estimated that the demand for IT specialists will increase by 22%." This is a much faster increase than any other occupation and can result in nearly 85 million tech talent shortages! However, primeCLOUD can provide the staff augmentation you are yearning for during these critical times.

Companies are always evolving and changing. People come and go, but what if you have staff resign unexpectedly? It happens. This same scenario recently happened to a company we partnered with. A senior networking staff member had resigned and the company did not have a backup plan. Luckily, we were their backup plan as our company was able to provide the work they needed to fill that position. Why replace a hard worker with a supplemented lack of talent quick hire? Rely on us to fill in the gaps when needed with high-quality and skilled technicians!

There are many different risks of labor shortages such as workplace injuries, product liability, and even property! To assist with the lack of time and resources, many healthcare facilities are upgrading to technologically advanced resources. Some are even installing automatic monitoring devices to provide simple and accurate contactless monitoring. These innovative monitoring devices can help provide a variety of vital signs and bio-data features along with indications in a continuous, contactless, and passive manner. With these technology upgrades, proper installation is necessary. Our expert technicians can come to the site and complete those jobs for you as well. 

primeCLOUD can provide over-the-phone assistance as they work effortlessly around the clock 24/7. Aside from primeCLOUDs impeccable 24/7 service, we also can provide network monitoring assistance that oversees problems such as slow traffic or component failure. Allow us to be your boots-on-the-ground service when needed. We provide the tech, so you can provide the care.

With today's rising costs, healthcare facilities must keep a tight grasp on their budgets! With that said, there's a trend of news articles suggesting CIOs are not seeing ROI from moving to cloud-based services.

But MedCityNews is debunking this, reminding us that change is neither easy nor cheap. In their article, Debunking Cloud Cost and ROI Hogwash for Healthcare, they explain how the cloud is in fact revolutionizing healthcare systems, delivering both cost and time savings. 

In another article from Becker's Hospital Review, 'Cloud projects are powering forward': Health system CIOs on cloud spending amid economic pressures, Scott Arnold, Executive Vice President and CIO of Tampa General Hospital, says “We don't view cloud service as a 'nice to have' or unnecessary expense.” 

Why? Because hospitals and healthcare facilities need to move EHRs around while storing patient data in a secure location. The cost to provide a facility with all the on-site equipment and energy for this would easily equal or trample the cost of an IT-provided cloud service that provides cybersecurity, resilience, agility, and scalability. 

The takeaway here is to have patience in seeking ROI from conversion to cloud-based services – and to strategically plan how and when you might embark upon this. But it is a necessary adaptation to meet the healthcare industry's critical and fast-changing needs.

"Cloud power is what drives the rapid digital innovation we see across pretty much every other industry — and it enables healthcare organizations to solve increasingly complex problems more affordably, quickly, and reliably."

Our primeCLOUD team can help by providing you with the strategy, security, cost control, operational efficiency, reliability, and agility to maximize your IT performance. Get in touch to strategize your transition to cloud-based services.

Each week our security team tracks threats, vulnerabilities, and patches announced by leading IT experts and vendors to ensure we prioritize, address, and communicate them to our managed IT services clients.

Below you'll find our recap of events they addressed in the last few months. To check previous reports, see 2022 Security Threats.

If you're not a client, make sure your team knows about these security events, as well as future ones. Just click below to sign up. 

High Impact

Medium Impact

Low Impact

No Impact on Our Clients/FYI

As part of our primeCLOUD services suite, we partner with leading IT vendors to offer security services like ransomware protection, phishing training, multi-factor authorization (MFA), data backup/recovery, and more.

If you're not confident your organization is on top of security threats, vulnerabilities, and patches, it may be time to conduct a cyber security audit.

Or better, get in touch and let us walk you through critical items for your security checklist.

Each week our security team tracks threats, vulnerabilities, and patches announced by leading IT experts and vendors to ensure we prioritize, address, and communicate them to our managed IT services clients.

Below you'll find our monthly recap of all events. To check previous reports, see 2022 Security Threats.

If you're not a client, make sure your team knows about these security events, as well as future ones. Just click below to sign up. 

High Impact

Medium Impact

Low Impact

No Impact on Our Clients/FYI

As part of our primeCLOUD services suite, we partner with leading IT vendors to offer security services like ransomware protection, phishing training, multi-factor authorization (MFA), data backup/recovery, and more.

If you're not confident your organization is on top of security threats, vulnerabilities, and patches, it may be time to conduct a cyber security audit.

Or better, get in touch and let us walk you through critical items for your security checklist.