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Helping Older Adults Stay in Place

An experimental program in Baltimore is aimed at keeping older adults more independent and in their own homes longer. The results are empowering seniors who might otherwise have to live full-time in assisted living facilities.

The Community Aging in Place, Advancing Better Living for Elders program - or CAPABLE, saved Medicare approximately $10,000 a year in health care costs per participant throughout the two-year trial. And while the primary focus is heath care, it is not exclusively aimed at that. Each participant can establish their own goals or needs.

Each program participant receives in-home visits over a five-month period, four from a registered nurse and six from an occupational therapist. Depending on the participant's living situation and goals for improved at-home functioning, the therapist contracts with a nonprofit handyman service to install grab bars or handrails, repair loose linoleum, or make other small fixes using a budget of just $1000. Another $300 per client is available for items such as a shower chair, heating pad, or other miscellaneous small-ticket items. The participants have no out-of-pocket expenses, as the funds were made available through the CAPABLE program.

“I just came out of a nursing home, and I thought it was great to have home care,” says Woody McLaughlin, 66, who was a CAPABLE participant last fall. His visiting care team showed him how best to position himself as he cooked and bathed, and how to safely move if he fell. “They were very helpful. They helped me get my strength back.”

After the trial was completed, the participants were surveyed, and 75 percent felt that their activities of daily living, including basic functions like bathing, dressing, and eating, had improved. A majority had reduced symptoms of depression and nearly two-thirds improved their ability to manage medications, go grocery shopping, and do other activities.

In-home care professionals would continually ask clients questions such as, are you depressed? Is anything bothering you? Older seniors who live alone are prone to depression and isolation. After a while, the in-home care specialist became like family to the study participants.

Apart from the Medicaid savings, the program's success lies in allowing the participants - and their families - determine the goals and empowering the seniors to perform tasks on their own, in their own home.

A long-term goal of the program itself is to help the participants in the long-run. Programs like this, and in-home care in general, have shown to delay the day when aging seniors are forced to move to a full-time facility, or even eliminate the need altogether.

Original article published on nextavenue.org.

Serving Orlando, Maitland, and Winter Park, Florida

Visiting Angels ORLANDO, FLORIDA
2221 Lee Rd #17
Winter Park, FL 32789
Phone: 407-236-9997
Fax: 407-740-8744
299995316

Serving Orlando, Maitland, and Winter Park, Florida

Visiting Angels ORLANDO, FLORIDA
2221 Lee Rd #17
Winter Park, FL 32789
Phone: 407-236-9997
Fax: 407-740-8744
299995316