Ask Mike - In need of respite services for my mom

Dear Short Term Need,

Thanks for writing. You currently are caring for your elderly, blind mom. You are going on a two week vacation and want to know if there are places she could go to stay for a short while, in case of emergency.

What you are asking about is broadly referred to as "respite services", or "respite care". Some nursing facilities allow for planned brief stays for respite and it is possible that assisted living facilities, or other types of providers may also provide respite care/short term stay services. A quick search consisting of typing "respite care" along with your city and state (Illinois) into my search engine resulted in options for respite provided by area nursing facilities, as well as that provided by a senior housing and eldercare agency.

The mission of the PAS Center and "Ask Mike" is to focus on personal assistance services (PAS), also called "in-home services", "home-care" and "attendant services". It sounds from your email like your mother lives in her own home. The same search mentioned above also results in several respite programs that provide services in people's own homes. This option would definitely be less disruptive than your mother having to go live somewhere else and it likely would be less expensive than facility-based services. You may want to consider in-home respite services.

The PAS Center website is chock full of all sorts of information, research and publications about PAS, including respite. The PAS Center website can be of assistance as a source of possible referrals for respite providers. It could also be a possible source for obtaining information about quality and reliability of respite providers. Go to www.pascenter.org Next, click on "State Information" located at the top of the left-hand menu on the homepage. Next, click on "Agencies Related to PAS"; third from the top beneath the heading "State Background and Contact Information for Resources and Agencies Related to PAS". Next, click on "Illinois" on the map of the USA. Next click on "Home Health Agencies". This selection provides contact information including the website address for the Department of Human Services. Another possibility on the same PAS Center website page is "State Unit on Aging". Click on this selection to obtain contact information, including a website address. The "Illinois State Unit on Aging" has a program called "Illinois Family Caregiver Support" that may be a possible source of information about, and referrals to, providers as well as insight into such matters as quality and reliability of providers.

I hope this information is helpful. Have a great vacation!

Mike Oxford.