Senior program needs homes for patients
The Southwestern Pennsylvania Area Agency on Aging is urgently looking for Greene County residents interested in opening their homes to people in need of 24-hour care.
The Domiciliary Care Program helps match seniors or people with intellectual disability diagnosis or mental health diagnosis with a home where they can live and receive 24-hour care, rather than living in a group home or senior living facility.
“We’re more of a homelike setting,” said Dora Johnson, provider specialist for the program. “We try to incorporate people into the family and it’s more like a family’s care. It allows them to be as independent as they can be.”
Johnson said the program’s been around for more than 30 years and serves Washington, Greene and Fayette counties. Right now, 25 homes participate in Fayette County, while Washington County has 17 homes. But Greene County has none, Johnson said.
“I don’t have the answer as to why that is,” Johnson said. “I don’t know if a lot of people are up in age now and feel like they can’t do it.”
Johnson said she’s been getting referrals from Greene County, but she doesn’t have any homes to offer them.
“People have had to look for homes elsewhere,” she said. “When you’re from a county, that’s really where you want to stay.”
Any individuals or families that participate in the program by opening up their homes receive $978 a month, which the client pays, for each individual they take in and they can take in up to three, as long as their home can accommodate them.
The caretaker will be responsible for providing meals, doing laundry, cleaning, taking care of medications and scheduling and providing transportation for the person’s medical appointments.
To match a client with a home, Johnson said, a care manager will meet with the individual and visit the home to meet the potential caretaker.
“We do a very thorough referral process,” Johnson said. “The person will decide if they want to go into a particular home because we are a voluntary program. The care manager will later follow up to make sure everything is going as it should.”
Johnson said each home is inspected every six months.
“Most of the people who come into our program are here for years,” she said. “They’re pretty satisfied with placement.”
Anyone interested in becoming a certified Domiciliary Care provider or who wants to refer someone to the program, can contact a program specialists at 800-411-5655.