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One of the first places you should contact is to your Area Agency on Aging (AAA). If your family member has a limited income, he or she may be eligible for services provided through the AAA including homemaker home health aide services, transportation, home-delivered meals, chore and home repair as well as legal assistance. Area Agencies on Aging can direct you to other sources of help for older persons with limited incomes such as subsidized housing, food stamps, Supplemental Security Income, Medicaid or the Qualified Medicare Beneficiary program which covers the cost of the Part A and B insurance premiums for low-income elderly. While your Area Agency on Aging may not be able to provide supportive in-home services for older people who have higher incomes, your AAA may be able to make suggestions about how you can find home care workers whom you can hire directly. Your Area Agency also has information on home care agencies and volunteer groups that provide such services as transportation, chore, respite, yard work and home repair services. In addition to these information and referral services, many AAA's also will provide an assessment of the older person's needs. AAA's can also direct you to senior center programs which are suitable for older persons who have minor problems with mobility and activities of daily living and to adult day care programs which serve older persons with serious limitations with mobility, dementia, or medical conditions which require daily attention. In addition to your Area Agency on Aging, good sources for referrals to individual home care workers and home care agencies include the Hospital or Nursing Home Discharge Planner or Social Worker, if your older relative has been hospitalized. Information obtained from Administration on Aging |