The Grant

Between April 1 and May 30, 2004, Home Remedies was awarded a home modifications Trial grant through the Ventura County Area Agency on Aging. The grant was written by Home Remedies in response to a request for proposal. In order to qualify for funds as a for profit business, Home Remedies had to be approved by the California Department of Aging as well as the local Senior Advisory Council. The title of the grant was Home Assessment Vouchers and had three requirements to qualify.

• The care receiver had to be over the age of sixty.
  
  
• There must be a caregiver involved. This most often is a spouse or other family member.
  
  
• You need to be within the county which funded the program, and the area I serve.

The grant pays a set amount to perform an in home needs assessment with the family/caregiver to identify what I refer to as the "barriers to independent living". Each needs assessment has a fixed amount attached, to allow Home Remedies to remove those barriers. Funds not expended are then rolled into another available Needs Assessment Voucher with attached stipend. This allows one stop shopping and quick results. Both are important when you consider the stress in the home.

Helping Families

The trial grant was very successful and led to a renewable three year commitment of which I am entering the second year starting July 2005. The first full year funding gathered statistics and enjoyed a very high rating by the senior advisory council. The first year funding allowed Home Remedies to visit over 110 families. The average expense to the grant pool was under $300.00 per care receiver.

Using What We Learned

Another benefit of being in all these homes was the digital photographs I collected. I was able to use these images and text to put together a presentation called "REMOVING THE BARRIERS TO INDEPENDENT LIVING".

This is a practical guide to doing a needs assessment and includes the four questions to better planning, over 90 actual photos of what others have done to solve their problems, and tips for making the transition to home easier. This self guiding presentation is available online and can be down loaded. Other projects ahead for Home Remedies include a mentor project I hope can be used to spread this type service across the country, The baby boomers are coming of age and have aging parents living in their homes.

By the way, The cost per voucher under the grant was $375.00.