Recent comments in /f/Connecticut

DummyBill t1_je3e7cm wrote

Reply to comment by jtherese in Spotted in New Milford by British_Rover

if you donate to the church you are donating to cover its attorneys fees to defend against suits by victims and funding their lobbying efforts—including to roll back the statute of limitations for child abuse suits (which they were trying to do here in CT just a few years ago…if not more recently)

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buried_lede t1_je3c1pt wrote

Reply to Connecticut's Elder Care Reckoning by ctmirror

I also have experience with self-paid live in home care and just want to leave one important piece of info for people:

There is a big difference between a home health agency licensed by the health dept and a “homemaker companion” agency that is licensed by the consumer dept. Know the difference and supervise, don’t be supervised, by the latter. Also, don’t let them work beyond their license, which they can easily slide into, and don’t think the quality of care will remain fine if you don’t stay involved.

Edit: oh, another thing, for those families that can stay on top of it who hire in home aids to do non medical care such as meals, bathing etc, you can hire aids directly instead of going to an agency.

You must pay them as employees, not 1099 but lucky for us, payroll companies now cater to home help. ADP, for example, has a relatively affordable payroll service for families who hire home help and take care of the taxes, etc.and cut the checks. Others like Paychex, might too, not sure

I mention this because agencies get paid a lot but the workers get paid very little. If you have the ability to be hands on and get recommendations for experienced aids, you can hire one directly, pay them a truly livable wage and still save money over an agency.

In my experience, lots of aids are pretty honest and caring while some agency reps might not be and can be a pain

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buried_lede t1_je3b5yr wrote

Reply to Connecticut's Elder Care Reckoning by ctmirror

I know someone who tried to take advantage of the home care program and should qualify but the process was endless, application submitted in August, zero action past an interview with him. Tried to resuscitate it in something like December or January. They say oh yes yes, we’re going to help you Two months goes by then a call asking him to submit a whole new application.

Sometimes I think it’s a fake program, like the fake state money set aside to reward essential workers that nobody seemed to get, or the applications for assistance with rent or bills if you were affected by Covid that were never given case numbers and received no response.

I’d understand this kind of performance if we were a poor state like Mississippi and overwhelmed, but we have very well paid state workers with pension and health care benefits that dwarf the benefits of federal employees, albeit, with a good deal of nepotism in the ranks with a straight line to the legislature and governor. We are one of the highest taxed states in the country. I would like benefits to the poor expedited and not bogged down and wasted by inefficient state agencies.

My friend gave up on his home care application for now. He needed the help yesterday and is scrimping along hiring help here and there but the state exhausted his energies and equanimity. He can’t take it anymore, even rejecting help from his friends. Life is short and he doesn’t want it dominated by their dysfunction and mediocrity.

Unfortunately, he would not be interested in talking about it so that’s not much help for ct mirror.

Edit: I just want to add that if the state is leaning towards aging in place ( and I support that) it really has to get it together. The guy I described above is on Medicare and Medicaid and CT Medicaid a while back decided to support care at home. But when someone gets home from rehab in August and still has no ongoing services in January, that’s not a program ready for an influx of new people.

To be clear, he had the medically prescribed home health nurse visits after rehab ( they failed to make the Medicare deadline but they did check in by the third day); the months long delay was for other home supports that are part of this program that Medicaid is supporting now. I don’t have a list of the tasks they do, I am afraid. I had a basic outline. I think it was typical of what a CNA provides and also what is referred to in statute as a “homemaker companion” so they could clean the apartment, make meals etc.

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lublinj2 t1_je394zw wrote

Reply to Spotted in New Milford by British_Rover

There should be more people like the owner of this glorious Ford. If there were, less kids would go through the trauma of inappropriate sexual interaction. Anyone who looks at this different is flat out incorrect and should keep their opinions to themselves.

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