Elder care
Program aims to keep seniors healthy, in home as long as possible With baby boomers reaching retirement age, emphasis on elder care is growing, especially by business. In 1998, the federal government enacted PACE (Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly) to help keep the elderly in their homes as long as possible. The program, which Pennsylvania named LIFE since it already has a prescription program called PACE, is designed to offer another option for senior citizens’ long-term care, according to Mark Irwin, chief operating officer of SeniorLIFE, which has opened a facility in Uniontown.
“There are not enough nursing homes for the baby boomers as they grow older. With facilities that offer in-home services and care during the day, seniors can remain in their homes longer, which is what they want to do. The government saw this and developed the PACE program.”
LIFE is a managed care program for frail elderly recipients who have been determined to need “nursing facility level of care” but wish to remain in their home and community as long as possible, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare.
Rick Graciano, one of the principals in SeniorLIFE, said the PACE/LIFE program is modeled after a Chinese-American program that started in the 1970s called On Lok.
On Lok has grown as a senior day health care center to a complete heath and heath-related services program that is now replicated throughout the United States. “We began in 1971 as one of the country’s first senior day health centers, a place that took care of older adults in the Chinatown, North Beach, and Polk Gulch neighborhoods,” according to the On Lok Web site. “Elders in these communities received hot meals, health and social services, supervision, and returned to their homes in the evening. At this point, fragmented care was the norm, so we decided to innovate and start creating our own holistic plan.”
Similarly, LIFE provides a comprehensive all-inclusive package of services to meet their needs. The program is known nationally as PACE. All of the PACE providers in Pennsylvania have the name “LIFE” in their name (Living Independence for the Elderly). The first programs were implemented in Pennsylvania in 1998. Today, there are more than 20 centers in the state offering LIFE services.
Eligibility requirements are that a person must be 55 or older and be eligible for nursing facility care through the local Area Agency on Aging. A person also must be eligible for medical assistance or may pay privately for the services; reside in the area served by a LIFE provider; and be able to be safely served in the community as determined by a LIFE provider.
Services that are available under the LIFE program include, primary medical care, therapies, personal care, pharmaceuticals, recreational and socialization activities, nursing, monitoring, meals, transportation, specialists, in-patient and out-patient hospital visits, lab and X-ray services, eye glasses, hearing aides, and dentures, emergency care and nursing facility.
The program is centered around an adult day health center where recipients receive most services. Transportation is provided to and from centers and other services. Home care is provided as needed and can include helping bathe, dress and doing light laundry.
If needed, home issues are identified and addressed to ensure safe home environment. If the participant experiences an acute episode, they are hospitalized. If the participant can no longer be cared for in the community, nursing facility placement will occur. All medical assistance services are arranged through LIFE providers, according to the DPW.
SeniorLIFE on Thursday opened its first Fayette County facility in an extensively renovated grocery store at 89 W. Fayette St., Uniontown.
“This program is only available through Medicare and Medicaid,” Irwin explained, adding his company has been operating a senior care center in Johnstown since 2004. SeniorLIFE, he said, plans to add seven more centers over the next year. “We are opening one in Washington, which will be our third center, and plan to open one in Greensburg next year.” Other centers will open in York, Harrisburg and Indiana.
SeniorLIFE, headquartered in Johnstown, spent about $3.5 million on its Uniontown center.
The privately held for-profit company bought the former Foodland grocery store at 89 W. Fayette St. and has spent the past year renovating the 15,000-square foot structure into a senior care facility that can ultimately accommodate 250 members, Irwin said.
“We have about 18 employees at present and will ramp that up to about 100 as we reach maturity,” Irwin said. All of the employees are from the area, he added. Starting pay for aides at present is $10.10 an hour. “But that will be going up in January,” Irwin said, adding, “We have a variety of full and part-time positions. We are looking for good people.”
“We will be serving people in Connellsville and Brownsville. That’s why we located this center in the proximity of those towns. We were really lucky to find this site, since it is so centrally located,” Irwin said.
“We work closely with the Area Agency on Aging. They are our gatekeeper. They have to approve someone first as a member of our center. The person can apply through our center and we will send the information to the Area Agency on Aging, which will do an assessment,” he said.
“This facility will be open during the day but we are responsible for our members’ care 24-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week,” Irwin said.
The center will oversee its members’ health needs “so we can also avoid preventable hospital stays.”
The center, which has a full-service kitchen, provides meals for members’ based on their dietary needs. “We will prepare meals for them to take home,” Irwin said.
“Members can come to the center as often as they want during the week. If they want to come one day, that’s fine. If they want to come every day, that’s fine,” he added.
The center offers a rehabilitation area, personal care area, which includes bathing facilities and laundry.
Services at the local center include access to an in-house physician, 24-hour physician. “We ask members to use our physician for their primary care since he is here all the time (during hours the center is open). We also have a pharmacy so our members can get their meds here,” Irwin said.
Current eligibility requirements are that the person be at least 60, resides in Fayette County, is determined to be medically eligible and is determined by SeniorLIFE staff to be able to be safely served in the community. Irwin said once the facility receives Medicaid approval, the age requirement will be 55 years.
The Uniontown center will be open from about 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Public open houses will be held through November. Facility tours and education will be available from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday or by appointment.
For more information, call 724-434-LIFE (5433).