Nursing Home Care at Home, the Secret is Out

Senior LIFE Lehigh Valley Talks About a Relatively Unknown Program

Katie Briggs, the outreach coordinator for Senior LIFE Lehigh Valley, spoke to the Lehigh Valley Military Affairs Council on 19 August about a little mentioned, twenty-eight old, aging-in-place program offered through the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services using various contractors. Senior LIFE Lehigh Valley serves about 500 residents from Lehigh and Northampton counties.  What makes it rather unique is its extensive offerings.  The result is nursing home level services in a stay-at-home environment.  This program, called PACE in other states, consequently provides wrap around services to many senior citizens, allowing them a measure of continued independence in their own homes.

While there is interaction with the VA, it became apparent that the VA has not been particularly proactive about revealing this option generated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).  While its own initiatives to do the same do not reduce the user’s income and assets as this one requires, its effort is not available to all veterans.  Therefore, this program should become better known.  In summary, the briefing given was eye opening. 

For more information, see the slides used for the briefing below and this insert which we unfortunately cannot currently find on any Pennsylvania government website page.  If interested in using the program or suggesting it to another, contact your county’s Department of Human Services or the serving county contractor revealed at the bottom of the page in this link, the state’s main webpage for this program not typically known to the general public.