Lynn, MA Seniors Have New Option for Long-Term Care
Boston, MA - February 20, 2006 - An innovative new eldercare program offers seniors who require intensive care and supervision a much-desired, cost-effective alternative to nursing homes.
Caregiver Homes will launch in Lynn and Beverly Massachusetts in February, 2006 as a partnership between Elder Service Plan of the North Shore's PACE program and Seniorlink, a Boston-based eldercare company. The Caregiver Homes program is steadily expanding to become a State-wide network of host homes for elders. Every host home is the actual residence of a caregiver who is paid to take in and provide 24-hour care and supervision for an elder or, at most, two elders.
Various programs in Massachusetts aim to increase access to home and community-based services for elders, including PACE, but Caregiver Homes is the first solution to address the need for 24-hour care in a community setting. The goal is to give seniors a higher quality of life by delaying or even preventing nursing home care.
To participate in the program, seniors must be eligible for nursing home placement, requiring daily assistance with personal care and extensive support for meal preparation, transportation and other activities. They also must be enrollees of Elder Service Plan of North Shore.
Caregivers may be a family member of the elder. The program also recruits caregivers for elders for whom living with a family member is not an option. All caregivers receive training, including the skills necessary to manage specific needs or conditions, such as a senior who has Alzheimer's disease.
"Our caregivers are compassionate people. To them, the program is not just an opportunity to work from home, but a chance to enhance an elder's life," said Janice Masi, MA, Director of Clinical Services at Seniorlink. Seniorlink is a nationwide eldercare company, offering a full range of geriatric care management services. It launched the first Caregiver Homes in early 2005.
Caregivers provide direct care and supervision 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including laundry, meal preparation, shopping and physical assistance with bathing, dressing and eating. Each caregiver is carefully screened through a series of interviews, a home assessment and reference checks (including a criminal background check). Other members of the same household are similarly screened.
Caregiver Homes has generated considerable interest from elder service organizations around Massachusetts and elsewhere, including from the Commonwealth itself. Caregiver Homes participates in a State-sponsored pilot project, providing homes for 30 elders in conjunction with Massachusetts' home care program. As a state that relies heavily on skilled nursing care, the Commonwealth is interested in the cost saving associated with Caregiver Homes, which saves approximately 40 percent of the cost of a nursing home.
Elder Service Plan of the North Shore, located in Lynn, has been offering the PACE Model of Care to seniors for over 10 years. PACE, which stands for Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, coordinates and provides all needed preventive, primary, acute and long-term care services which assist its participants to continue living in the community.
"Caregiver Homes is perfectly aligned with the PACE philosophy of helping elders to live as independently as possible. It is a much-needed option for elders at risk for nursing home placement, and we are delighted to offer it to our participants," said Carol Suleski, Executive Director of Elder Service Plan of the North Shore.
For more information about becoming a caregiver, contact Seniorlink at 866-797-2342. To refer an elder to the program, contact Linda LeBlanc at Elder Service Plan of North Shore at 781-715-6608.
Contact:
David Young, Ph.D.
Vice President, Operations
Seniorlink
617-456-3700
