Little known Community Care could keep you out of a nursing home

Published 12:12 am Saturday, October 18, 2014

ROME — Prefer to live out your life in the comfort of your own home rather than a nursing facility? Then you might want to look into the state of Georgia’s Community Care Services Program (CCSP). It can give qualifying individuals the choice and means to make that decision and may be low cost or even free.

“While there are no age restrictions for participation in CCSP, our services are typically provided to people who are eligible to go to a nursing home, have limited income and resources, but prefer to stay at home,” said CCSP Program Coordinator and Public Health nurse Carole Gooch. “We provide a range of little known and even less understood services that more people need to know about.”

According to Gooch, those services “allow qualifying individuals to determine not only where they live, but how they live, who their caregivers are, how their money is spent and which health care providers they use.”

Managed locally by Northwest Georgia Public Health and administered through the Northwest Georgia Region Area Agency on Aging, CCSP assists elderly and disabled citizens in 15 northwest Georgia counties to live in their home and community under the direction of their personal physician.   

Services vary according to each individual’s specific needs, Gooch explained, and costs are determined on a sliding scale based on income and resources: “Your actual cost share, if any, will be determined by your county’s Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS).”  

“You can apply for CCSP simply by calling the Area Agency on Aging at the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission in Rome at (800) 759-2963,” explained CCSP’s Jenny Eubanks. “You’ll speak with a care specialist gateway screener who’ll screen you for eligibility. Eligible clients will be referred to CCSP for further assessment.”

According to Eubanks, “a CCSP nurse will then visit with you to determine your medical and financial eligibility and customize a service plan, which will be coordinated with your physician, to meet your specific needs. The services you need will be arranged with state-approved providers.”

Services available through CCSP include but are not limited to:

• Personal Support Services provides personal care, housekeeping, home management, proper nutrition and respite care for caregivers. Service over extended periods may be available.

• Adult Day Health provides social, health and rehabilitative services for persons functionally impaired, allowing them to participate in many social and cultural activities.

• Alternative Living Services provides family and group homes with 24-hour supervision, medically-related personal care, nursing supervision and other health-support services.

• Emergency Response Systems provides emergency crisis intervention for medical or environmental emergencies via 24/7 electronic communication between the individual and a central monitoring system.

• Home Delivered Meals provides nutritious meals and nutrition education and counseling.  Meals are available frozen or shelf stable. Hot meals are available in most counties.  

• Home Delivered Services provides skilled, physician-directed nursing care.

Other extended, specially tailored options are available to assist both the individual and the caregiver.

Eubanks encouraged “anyone who believes he or she — or has a loved one who — might need our services to call for additional information. We’ll explain our services, determine if you or your loved one qualifies and start the process that just might keep you out of a nursing home.”

Individuals in these counties should call (800) 759-2963 for additional information about CCSP services: Bartow, Catoosa, Chattooga, Dade, Fannin, Floyd, Gilmer, Gordon, Haralson, Murray, Paulding, Pickens, Polk, Walker and Whitfield.

“When your call is answered by the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission office, just say you are calling about CCSP,” Eubanks advised.

Additional information about CCSP may be found at http://aging.dhs.georgia.gov/community-care-services-program.