We recently met with Natasha Heimrath of Caregiver Homes, a community-based model of care for frail seniors and disabled people 16 and older to be cared for at home and in their community. The state-funded program pays caregivers – typically, but not always, a family member – who provide full-time care at home, and it supports each client and caregiver with a case management team. In some instances, this stipend allows families to bring an outside caregiver into the home for respite (relief) for the main caregiver.

Our experience suggests that many families are eligible for this program and don’t realize it. We  encourage our clients to make use of this program, and have contacted those who we think may be eligible to put them in touch with Natasha.  We are happy to facilitate this relationship and will work cooperatively with Caregiver Homes any time we serve clients concurrently.

To be covered by the Caregiver Homes program, clients must be eligible for Medicare/MassHealth or be eligible for a “Frail Elder Waiver” (which has a higher income allowance than does Medicare). The caregiver to receive the stipend may not be a legal guardian or spouse, and does not need to be related to the client.

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