Massachusetts: Caregiver Homes Program
Posted by Patti on March 27th, 2007 / Print This Post
From Massachusetts:
After her mother died last May, Susanne Kimball began to care for her 88-year-old father, Manuel Silva, full time at his house in Bayview.In the morning she bathes and dresses him, then makes his breakfast and helps him with his medications. She assists him back into his room where he lights a single candle at the altar of his late wife of 66 years. For the rest of the day, Kimball said her father will sit outside if it isn’t too chilly, watch as she does housework, talk to other family members who might phone or stop by the house, and always tunes in at 7 p.m. for “Walker, Texas Ranger.”
“I feel great,” Silva said, “because she always does what I ask of her. She’s been awful good to me.”
“You can never be too good to your father,” said Kimball, 63, as she rubbed her father’s shoulder affectionately.
For Kimball and many other Massachusetts residents, the norm for placing aging parents or disabled adults into nursing homes is becoming a thing of the past. A new state and federally funded program pays them up to $18,000 to take care of aging parents at home or provide foster care for elderly strangers or disabled adults.
“It’s a supplement for me to stay home and be with my dad,” Kimball said, “and keep him away from a nursing home.”
The program, which got underway Dec. 1, is called Caregiver Homes and is managed by Seniorlink Inc., which is based in Boston. Both the state’s Executive Office of Elder Affairs and federal Medicaid provide financial support for the program.
Read more about this program here.
This sounds like a model other states could follow. It’s cheaper than nursing home placement and obviously much better.
March 30th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
They can afford to pay her to stay home and take care of her father? That’s very good. What happens when she needs a break or can’t handle it anymore?
May 18th, 2007 at 11:32 pm
I think this is a great idea. I had to give up my job to care for a dying family member once I went deeply into debt because of that. I wish they had this program back then It would have saved me a lot of trouble. I do agree with you Holly respite care should be part of the program I also think education about when to consider using a home might be a good idea