Personal Care Assistant Hours

AlzWife2023

My unmarried partner is about stage 5. I do everything for him. He can still shower and toilet on his own, but I do absolutely everything else for him. Massachusetts pays any family member except a legally married spouse to provide PCA care. I have not started the paperwork yet, but I wonder how many hours of PCA care he’ll be entitled to? If your LO is currently getting PCA care…how many hours does your state cover & what stage is your LO?

M1

Hi Justine, I'm not in Massachusetts, but I work for our state Medicaid program.  Unfortunately it probably won't be many hours.  Assuming most states do this in the same fashion, it is calculated based on hands-on needs for assistance with bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, transfers, walking, meal preparation and setup.  Usually there is a maximum amount of time they'll allot for each task unless there's a good reason to go outside those boundaries (such as, 20 minutes per day for dressing, for example).  They my cover some time for help with household chores, but usually not much, especially when there's any companion living in the house (known as "natural supports."  They will usually not pay for supervision or sitter services, unless they are having to cover large amounts of time when you're at work (for example, if the caregiver is gone for more than four hours, that is defined as "attendant care" in which safety supervision is allowed, but if it's really for personal care (meaning less than 4 hours per day), they will not pay for supervision or sitter services.  it's kind of a catch-22.   Maybe you'll be pleasantly surprised, but--better keep your expectations low.  Hope that helps...

AlzWife2023

Thanks M1. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. I called an elder lawyer & we’ll hear back on Monday with an appointment date. I’ll post here again once I have more information.

joytoy

I live in arizona taking care of my partner in stage 5 vascular dementia.  I get 25 hrs. per week  I can choose what hrs. and days since I live here.  I would be caring for him even if I didnt get paid but with the money I save half and spend the other half on living expenses for us both. Sometimes I really feel like I deserve it.  This is the hardest job Ive ever had.

AlzWife2023

Hi joytoy, thanks for your response. I hope we can get that many hours. It will lessen the stress financially.

AlzWife2023

Just want to thank you again joytoy for sharing that info. And I neglected to say in my earlier reply that YOU DO DESRVE the pay and it is an extremely tough job. I hope you're well.