Functional Lifestyle Solutions

10/16/2025

Check out this great article! We love serving our community! 💜

The Nicholas Family – A Heart for Helping...

Jeffrey and Carrie Nicholas love celebrating the milestones in their life, and this year brought a big one. April 8th marked their 20th wedding anniversary! One wild ride and two kids later, the pair are so glad their mutual friends introduced them all those years ago.

Carrie has a true heart for helping. She graduated from Sinclair Community College as an occupational therapy assistant and has worked in nursing homes and home health care, where her main focus was on the geriatric population and helping them to remain independent for as long as possible. “This is my true calling,” Carrie says, “helping people get back to their normal daily life or being able to maintain their life in their own home.” She now owns a concierge caregiving and wellness agency, Functional Lifestyle Solutions, which assists others with simple companion care to more experienced professional care. “I want to provide a higher standard of care,” she says proudly of her work.

Jeffrey graduated from a surgical technology program in Florida and has a degree in finance. Beginning in sales and subsequently being promoted to the finance department, he has worked for the Jeff Schmitt Auto Group for the past 14 years.

Jeffrey and Carrie have two children, Dylan and Aly. Dylan, age 13, is passionate about sports. He loves to watch and play all of them, but playing basketball and football is his favorite pastime. He has played basketball for 10 years and football nearly as long. He was on the Kettering Future Firebirds team for two years and made the 7th grade basketball team this year. He also joined the track team for the first time.

Aly is 12 years old and loves to dance. She’s been dancing for the past eight years since the age of three, progressing and adding on new genres. She currently does ballet, jazz and modern at the South Dayton School of Dance in Centerville and was asked to join the dance company last year at only 10 years old. Many weeks, she dances five to six days out of seven!

Both Dylan and Aly enjoy math, taking after their father, and both are in Honors Math and ELA at school. While Dylan is an amazing athlete and Aly is an amazing dancer, Aly’s most interesting claim to fame is being able to touch her nose with her tongue.

Completing the family is 5-year-old Cassie, their Mini Sheepadoodle. Cassie has her own claim to fame and can perform tricks on command. She is spunky and loves to run, chasing after balls and happily going full tilt with sticks in her mouth.

The family loves to hang out together and attend sporting events, both those that the kids are participating in and those of their favorite teams. They love to read and travel (visiting Florida at least once a year to catch up with family and go boating) and are strong believers in supporting local. Carrie is the Vice President of the Women’s Community Outreach of the Miami Valley, which assists other non profit organizations, effectively helping many people in the community. The WCO holds educational events for women and also puts on an annual event for first responders in the Clark County area.

The Nicholas family have lived in Kettering for eight years and love it here. “We knew we wanted to be in the Kettering school district and our neighborhood is beautiful,” Jeffrey and Carrie explain. “We are nice and close to the pool for the summer and there are lots of kids around.” Carrie elaborates, “We like to keep busy, and I always feel like I’m learning something from everyone around me and becoming a better person.”

09/28/2025

Good reminders for those we care for. 💜

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AL7t7KMFs/?mibextid=wwXIfr

I know the exact pressure it takes to crack a rib during CPR. But last Tuesday, I learned a patient’s silence can break a doctor’s soul.

His name was David Chen, but on my screen, he was "Male, 82, Congestive Heart Failure, Room 402." I spent seven minutes with him that morning. Seven minutes to check his vitals, listen to the fluid in his lungs, adjust his diuretics, and type 24 required data points into his Electronic Health Record. He tried to tell me something, gesturing toward a faded photo on his nightstand. I nodded, said "we'll talk later," and moved on. There was no billing code for "talk later."

Mr. Chen died that afternoon. As a nurse quietly cleared his belongings, she handed me the photo. It was him as a young man, beaming, his arm around a woman, standing before a small grocery store with "CHEN'S MARKET" painted on the window.

The realization hit me like a physical blow. I knew his ejection fraction and his creatinine levels. I knew his insurance provider and his allergy to penicillin. But I didn't know his wife's name or that he had built a life from nothing with his own two hands. I hadn’t treated David Chen. I had managed the decline of a failing organ system. And in the sterile efficiency of it all, I had lost a piece of myself.

The next day, I bought a small, black Moleskine notebook. It felt like an act of rebellion.

My first patient was Eleanor Gable, a frail woman lost in a sea of white bedsheets, diagnosed with pneumonia. I did my exam, updated her chart, and just as I was about to leave, I paused. I turned back from the door.

"Mrs. Gable," I said, my voice feeling strange. "Tell me one thing about yourself that’s not in this file."

Her tired eyes widened in surprise. A faint smile touched her lips. "I was a second-grade teacher," she whispered. "The best sound in the world... is the silence that comes just after a child finally reads a sentence on their own."

I wrote it down in my notebook. Eleanor Gable: Taught children how to read.

I kept doing it. My little black book began to fill with ghosts of lives lived.

Frank Miller: Drove a yellow cab in New York for 40 years.
Maria Flores: Her mole recipe won the state fair in Texas, three years running.
Sam Jones: Proposed to his wife on the Kiss Cam at a Dodgers game.

Something began to change. The burnout, that heavy, gray cloak I’d been wearing for years, started to feel a little lighter. Before entering a room, I’d glance at my notebook. I wasn’t walking in to see the "acute pancreatitis in 207." I was walking in to see Frank, who probably had a million stories about the city. My patients felt it too. They'd sit up a little straighter. A light would flicker back in their eyes. They felt seen.

The real test came with Leo. He was 22, angry, and refusing dialysis for a condition he’d brought on himself. He was a "difficult patient," a label that in hospital-speak means "we've given up." The team was frustrated.

I walked into his room and sat down, leaving my tablet outside. We sat in silence for a full minute. I didn't look at his monitors. I looked at the intricate drawings covering his arms.

"Who's your artist?" I asked.

He scoffed. "Did 'em myself."

"They're good," I said. "This one... it looks like a blueprint."

For the first time, his gaze lost its hard edge. "Wanted to be an architect," he muttered, "before... all this."

We talked for twenty minutes about buildings, about lines, about creating something permanent. We didn't mention his kidneys once. When I stood up to leave, he said, so quietly I almost missed it, "Okay. We can try the dialysis tomorrow."

Later that night, I opened my Moleskine. I wrote: Leo Vance: Designs cities on paper.

The system I work in is designed to document disease with thousands of data points. It logs every cough, every pill, every lab value. It tells the story of how a body breaks down.

My little black book tells a different story. It tells the story of why a life mattered.

We are taught to practice medicine with data, but we heal with humanity. And in a world drowning in information, a single sentence that says, "I see you," isn't just a kind gesture.

It’s the most powerful medicine we have.

09/26/2025

A Great Lunch N Learn at the Vandalia Senior Center this afternoon with our wonderful Cyndi teaching the seniors about home modifications that can be helpful for seniors to stay in their homes!! And the delicious food from Simply Good Food

Thanks to everyone for coming to see us today!!!

09/23/2025

From a website I was visiting....

I once heard a saying that stayed with me:
“When you become frustrated with older people because of what they cannot do, think of how frustrated they must feel because they can no longer do it.”

How true is that?

We all know the feeling when an older parent or grandparent struggles with something that used to be second nature. Maybe it’s trying to remember a password, lifting something heavy, or just moving a little slower than they once did. Sometimes, without meaning to, we lose patience.

But imagine how it must feel for them. To have lived a full life of independence, only to wake up one day realizing their own body or mind won’t cooperate the way it used to. That must be far more frustrating than anything we could feel in those moments.

Life has a way of shifting the roles we play. One day they held our hands and guided us through the world. Today, it may be our turn to hold theirs. And one day, our children may be doing the same for us.

So instead of letting frustration take over, let’s choose patience. Let’s choose compassion. Because every act of kindness we show to them is a lesson for the next generation watching us. ❤☀

06/03/2025

Today is world bicycle day!

Take a “Virtual Bike Ride”
Watch scenic cycling videos from around the world—YouTube has beautiful routes through Paris, countryside trails, or coastal rides.

05/30/2025

Small Acts Make a Big Impact!

Simple things like brushing someone’s hair or sharing a meal can significantly boost their sense of dignity and happiness. Even sitting outside for awhile can put a smile on their face. You don’t always need to do big things to make a big difference.

05/28/2025

Know When to Get Help:

Bring in professional caregivers for respite or specialized care. We offer multitudes of different services that can help you out and prevent caregiver burden.

fls-home.com

Don’t hesitate to ask siblings or other family members to share the load.

05/27/2025

Foster Independence:
Encourage your l oved ones to do what they can on their own, even if it takes longer.

Use assistive devices (walkers, utensils with easy grips) to maintain autonomy.

05/26/2025

Happy Memorial Day!

Today, we honor and remember the brave men and women who gave their lives in service to our country. Whether you're spending the day reflecting quietly, attending a memorial service, or enjoying time with loved ones, it’s a powerful time to pause and appreciate the freedoms we often take for granted.

If you're caregiving today, thank you for continuing to serve in your own compassionate way—it’s a meaningful kind of service, too.

Would you like ideas for Memorial Day activities, tributes, or even patriotic recipes to share with older family members?

05/23/2025

Functional Lifestyle Solutions
‼️🚨JOB ALERT🚨‼️

We hire PTs, PTAs, OTs, COTAs, STNAs, RNs, LPNs! Great side hustle to supplement your home health job, hospital job, etc!

Job Title: Caregiver

Location: Miami Valley Area

Job Type: Full-Time/Part-Time (daytime, evenings and overnights)

Salary: Starting at $20 (based on experience)

Job Description:
We are looking for compassionate and dedicated individuals to join our team as caregivers. As a caregiver, you will play a vital role in providing support and assistance to individuals who need help with daily activities due to age, illness, or disability. You will be responsible for promoting the well-being and comfort of clients in a friendly, professional manner.

Responsibilities:
Help clients with mobility and transferring as needed.
Provide companionship and emotional support.
Prepare meals and assist with feeding.
Assist to administer medications as directed by healthcare professionals.
Help with light housekeeping, including laundry, cleaning, and organizing.
run errands for clients
Ensure the safety and comfort of clients at all times
Assist clients with personal hygiene, dressing, and grooming (if needed)
Accompany clients to medical appointments (if needed)

Qualifications:
Previous caregiving or healthcare experience is a plus, but not required.
Must be compassionate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Ability to communicate effectively with clients and their families.
Ability to lift and move clients as needed (if applicable).
Must be able to pass a background check.
CPR and First Aid certification will be provided
Must have a valid Driver’s License, auto insurance and reliable transportation.

How to Apply: Please visit our website at https://functionallifestylesolutions.com/careers/ to apply. We look forward to hearing from you!

We’re passionate about providing consistent, high quality care that our clients can trust. If you share that passion, we’d love to have you join our team!