VNA Launches New Home Health Care Service

By Kaaren Valenta

The Visiting Nurse Association (VNA) of Newtown is launching a new home health care program, Home Helpers Services, for Newtown residents. The program will help provide home health aides and homemakers to assist persons who are sick or disabled and who cannot afford to pay for help.

 “We have been working hard and long to make this program a reality for Newtown,” said VNA President Mae S. Schmidle. “We are pleased to say that all Newtown residents have to do is dial 426-8241 to be in touch with the new program now.”

Services will be delivered through the Bethel Visiting Nurse Association.

“The whole idea for this program is to help those people who are sick or disabled and need a little help – an hour or two a week for a short time – but who can’t afford to pay for it,” said Judy Malin, director of the Bethel VNA. “It is a cost-sharing program.”

For the first year of the service, the Newtown VNA will offset about half of the cost. Persons who receive the service will be charged according to their ability to pay.

“The VNA has also carefully reviewed a system for payment for services giving careful consideration to the over 80-year-old VNA policy that no one will be denied essential care,” Mrs Schmidle said. “The Newtown VNA motto is that no one will be denied essential service because of an inability to pay and this will certainly apply to this new program.”

Home health aides provide hands-on services such as assistance with bathing and dressing. They are certified para-professionals who are licensed by the state.

Homemakers do not provide any personal care. Their purpose is to provide a safe, clean environment for individuals who can remain independent at home with some additional help. Homemakers do light housekeeping and run errands.

“These ladies are not house cleaners,” Ms Malin emphasized. “They are only going to be there an hour or two a week. It’s just a little help for someone at a time when that person really needs it.” 

The home health aides and homemakers will work under the supervision of a primary care nurse who will determine the level of service that is needed. If it is determined that the client’s needs are greater – that the client needs nursing services, physical therapy or occupational therapy, for example – these will be arranged by the VNA and billed through Medicare, private insurance, or Medicaid.

The cost of the nurses who will do the evaluations will be underwritten by the Newtown Health District, according to Health District Director Mark Cooper.

Mrs Schmidle said the VNA recognizes that some home helpers may need training or additional education so options for offering scholarship assistance will be reviewed.

The Newtown VNA does not directly employ its own nursing staff. It offers many services, including regularly scheduled well-baby clinics and blood pressure screenings, by contracting for staff through the Danbury VNA. The Home Helpers program will use staff supplied by the Bethel VNA.

“We’re very excited about this,” Mrs Schmidle said. “We have been getting a lot of calls from people who have expressed a definite need for this service.”

The new program was launched after an exploratory study by a committee that included Mae Schmidle, Dr Thomas Draper, Christine Wiemels, Margareta Kotch, Carole Polcyn, Maureen McLachlan, and Mark Cooper.