Confronting a Challenge Head On
Caring for a disabled family member is a challenge people face more and more as lives grow longer and disabilities are dealt with more effectively. More than 40 million Americans are caring for a disabled or aged person at home, and, nine out of 10 times, it is a family member.
For the patient, getting your home care from a family member can be the best combination of competence and comfort. Yet, as anyone who has undertaken this responsibility as the caregiver can tell you, the breadth of the demands, the stress of constant attention, and the financial strain – which can include giving up one’s own employment to be the caregiver – can add up to a burden that’s hard to bear for long.
Still, the advantages of care within the circle of family or friends can outweigh these challenges, if the caregiver can learn the necessary skills and balance the duties of care with the demands of their own lives. Few, if any, people come to the situation with all these skills in place.
Getting Help to Put the Right Arrangements in Place
Now there’s help for securing the kind of care that allows people to stay in their home, attended by people they know. The Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services offers a program to do just that. Consumer Directed Services provides for the kind of help you need to set up home care with a family member, neighbor or friend as your caregiver. These services include:
- Training you to hire and supervise attendants
- Performing background checks on attendants
- Processing payroll and billing
- Helping complete paperwork
- Assisting with problems that may arise
Knowing the Help You Need
With Consumer Directed Services (CDS), CoxHealth at Home can train you to hire and supervise attendants – whether family, friends, or neighbors – help complete paperwork, background checks, and handle payroll and billing for getting qualified care at home.
We can help you get services like these at no cost to you, if you qualify for CDS:
- Bathing and personal care
- Transportation and shopping
- Meal preparation and help with feeding
- Maintenance and help with equipment, aids and prostheses
- Ambulation, housekeeping and other functions of daily living
If you’re 65 or older, or disabled, qualify for Medicaid, and can direct your own care, then you may qualify for Consumer Directed Services. CoxHealth at Home can help you find out. Just Contact one of our Care Coordinators.
