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PAGE 17 - The Georgia Bulletin, July 19, 1990
Elderly In-Home Services A 'Mission,' A 'Calling'
BY THEA JARVIS
Catholic Social Services’ Aging Services unit, in partnership
with two metro Atlanta parishes, last month began a project of
In-Home Services to the Elderly. The program addresses the
needs of homebound elderly in St. Thomas More and Immacu
late Heart of Mary churches, enabling older persons with limited
mobility to remain in their own homes as long as possible.
In her office at St. Thomas More rectory in Decatur, In-Home
Services coordinator Pat Duggan believes the project is a
financial and psychological boon to an aging population.
“We can provide the same kind of service any (nursing)
agency can offer but at a lower cost,” she explained. “We can
do this because our overhead is low.”
With on-hands experience as partner in a $3.5 million private
nursing agency for seven years, Mrs. Duggan speaks from a well
of knowledge and know-how. She has staffed hospitals, nursing
homes and private duty assignments in metro Atlanta with
nurse’s aides who handled clients’ critical and/or custodial care.
Her current goal is to provide the same high-level care in the
context of Christian outreach.
“It’s like a calling, a mission,” she said, adding that the
substantial reduction m her salary is “not important.” Mrs.
Duggan sold her interest in the agency she co-owned in 1989,
citing burnout and her mother’s terminal illness as major
influences. Pressured by friends to pursue the In-Home Services
job, Mrs. Duggan admits praying, “God, it’s your program, your
baby. The elderly and sick need help.” Shortly after her
mother’s death, Mrs. Duggan was chosen out of 36 applicants
interviewed for the coordinator’s position.
Currently, Pat Duggan is the only salaried staff member of
IHS. Her busy days are filled with visits to prospective clients
referred by concerned and overstretched family members. These
visits flesh out vital statistics and allow her to personally
appraise a situation before assigning a nurse’s aide to the case.
If expanded medical assessment is needed, a registered nurse is
drawn from a pool of volunteer R.N.s garnered by IHS. Other
wise, Mrs. Duggan contracts with a certified nurse’s aide who
then meets with the patient and his family and works up an
individualized care plan.
Certified nurse’s aides, Mrs. Duggan remarked, are carefully
trained in the personal care field. Their duties include taking
vital signs, reminding patients of medication times, bathing,
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changing beds and catheters, preparing meals and assisting
patients in their exercise.
“Nurse’s aides do much more than a volunteer could do,” Pat
Pat Duggan
Immaculate Heart of Mary churches will receive orientation from
the Social Services Department of St. Joseph’s Hospital to
prepare them for the “Helpmate” facet of IHS. Helpmates assist
IHS clients by driving them to doctor’s appointments or the local
grocery, mowing a lawn, cleaning gutters, replacing a washer in
a leaky faucet, sharing a movie or a walk. The Helpmate arm of
In-Home Services requires as little as one to two hours a week
and encourages the gift of time and friendship to homebound
elderly. Although Helpmate volunteers receive no recompense,
a low hourly fee is charged to cover overhead and indigent care.
In-Home Services is a two-year pilot project and must stand
on its financial feet by 1991. Seed money, in the form of grants
from the Metropolitan Atlanta Community Foundation and
Georgia Power Company, as well as individual and parish
donations, totaled $36,000. Expansion and continuation of the
program depends on its ability to maintain financial health
through continued contributions and funds generated by IHS
fees.
“The idea for In-Home Services was formed from the calls
that came in constantly from people searching for this type of
care,” said Betsy Styles, head of the Aging Services branch of
Catholic Social Services. ‘ ‘Our vision is that this program will
someday be available in every parish in the archdiocese.”
Parishes could pool their resources, as St. Thomas More and
Immaculate Heart of Mary have done, she explained, and such
combinations would be especially effective in rural areas..
Already feedback on the fledgling project has been positive.
“This is the service that we need,” responded one harried
daughter who thought she would have to place her aging parent
in a full-care facility, Ms. Styles reported. “The need is so great
that people outside St. Thomas More hear about (IHS) and call
Pat Duggan. We hope parishes will want to start up In-Home
Services in their own church communities.”
(For further information on In-Home Services, call Pat
Duggan at 378-3972 or Betsy Styles at 881-6571)
Duggan emphasized, although volunteers are an integral part of
the In-Home Services agenda.
This summer, 172 individuals from St. Thomas More and
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