Dignity, January 01, 2006, Image 1

What every homecare worker should
know about Natural Supports
Wilma South, a Klamath Falls
homecare worker, provided in-home
services to her elderly mother, Dora
Casey, for 3 years. When Dora was
discharged from the hospital after
breaking a hip, she was not able to
recuperate at home, so Wilma
brought her mother home. Wilma
was denied a relative foster home
license. The branch office told her
"we don't license relative foster
homes anymore". Not true. The leg­
islature contemplated ending relative
foster home program, but they never
did, partially based on union mem­
bers' intense lobby efforts.
After 2 months, Dora was able to
resume living on her own and
moved into a house next door and
Wilma reapplied to resume being
her paid caregiver. Wilma was asked
during the intake process, "Dora is
your mother. Wouldn't you help her
even if you weren't getting paid?"
Wilma replied "Yes, of course I
would?" Based on that question and
answer, the Klamath Falls Branch of
Senior Services denied Wilma's
mother's request for paid homecare
services because Wilma was a
natural support.
"It was a trick question" Wilma said.
"My mother had to appeal the denial
in August and we just received a
favorable ruling from the judge. I still
don't know if I'll get paid back wages
for the time I cared for my mother
while we were going through this
whole process."
The DHS policy on Natural Supports
(411 -030-0040) says that "...payments
for in-home support services are not
intended to replace the resources
available to a client from their natural
support system of relatives, friends,
and neighbors. Payment ...can be
authorized only when such resources
are not available, not sufficient, or
cannot be developed to adequately
meet the needs of the client."
When your client is being
assessed or reassessed for
services, family, friends or
neighbors who are acting as
"natural supports", need to
have a clearly stated position
on what they would be
willing to do free of charge,
if anything, and what their
expectation are in terms of
being paid for services you
provide to your client. If
you believe that "natural
supports" have been
misinterpreted or arbitrarily
assigned, talk with your
client about asking for a
re-assessment of the care
plan or ask for a hearing by
calling the branch office.
Dora Casey with daughter and caregiver Wilma South, Klamath Falls