Grant will hire outreach specialist

Some north country nursing home residents will get help moving back to their old communities.

Nine agencies throughout the state were awarded shares of $1.15 million in state Department of Health Money Follows the Person demonstration project grants. The effort attempts to identify nursing home residents who want to move in with family or with a caretaker or move out on their own with hired help.

ARISE Child & Family Service Inc., Syracuse, was awarded a $100,000 grant to hire an outreach specialist who will be in touch with nursing homes in the agency's coverage area of Jefferson, Lewis, St. Lawrence, Herkimer, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga and Oswego counties to determine how best to serve people who want to move elsewhere in the community.

The outreach coordinator will be hired by January, and will assist with nursing home residents' discharge plans, said Nina Lutz, ARISE director of independent living services.

"Our goal is to get in touch with every person who's expressed interest in moving back to the community," Ms. Lutz said. "We will not be making the determination if it's feasible, but we will be making them understand all of the services in the community."

Ms. Lutz said the Department of Health has identified nursing home residents in the north country who have expressed interest, and ARISE will receive those names once contracts and subcontracts are signed. She said ARISE plans to work with the Northern Regional Center for Independent Living, Watertown, to connect residents with resources they may need to move.

"For the individual, it will really increase quality of life," Ms. Lutz said. "It's very lonely to be in a nursing home. The problem with nursing homes is once people enter, it becomes more difficult to get back into the community. A lot has to do with the needs individuals have, so we're trying to link them up with home- and community-based services."

An $85,000 grant also was awarded to the Southern Adirondack Independent Living Center to serve nine counties, including Franklin County.