Your kidneys do a lot of work to keep you healthy. They regulate the volume of fluids in your body and help maintain a healthy blood pressure. They filter waste from your blood and help with the balance of minerals. They help with the activation of vitamin D and the production of red blood cells.
Your dad’s been diagnosed with kidney disease. He’s always tired and thirsty. His extremities swell up, making it hard for him to wear shoes. He cannot manage on his own.
Part of his care plan is to undergo hemodialysis at home. His medical team is going to train you to help him. He also needs help with mobility, meals, medications, and personal care.
You’ve agreed to be his family caregiver for this process, but that means quitting your job. Did you know you may qualify to get paid to help him?
Getting Paid to Care for Your Dad
You may qualify for payment through Missouri’s CDS program for the in-home care services that you provide. One of the biggest qualifiers is that your dad must be enrolled in MO HealthNet. He needs to have a proven need for help with activities of daily living (ADLs) and sometimes instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs).
If you’re helping your dad with showering, grooming, personal care, and oral hygiene, you’re already helping him with some ADLs. Others include helping him get dressed, helping him with toileting, and assisting him with transfers and ambulation.
Kidney disease makes your dad extremely tired. He cannot do things around the home that qualify as IADLs. He can’t vacuum his floors, do the laundry, cook meals, or drive his car. You do all of that for him.
Your Dad Must Fit the Guidelines
To qualify for Consumer Directed Services, your dad needs to be able to direct you regarding how he wants you to assist him. He needs to require the same level of care he’d get in a nursing home. He needs assistance to complete ADLs.
A nurse or Medicaid nurse goes to your home to assess his needs. That helps determine how many hours of care he needs his personal care attendant (you) to help with.
Once that’s approved, and a care plan is established, you can be named as your dad’s caregiver, providing you’re not also his medical or financial power of attorney. If you are, you’re not qualified to get paid to provide his care.
Consumer Directed Services in Missouri offer family caregivers the chance to get paid to care for an aging family member. There are qualifications that your dad must meet. Learn more about them by calling an expert in Consumer Directed Services.
If you or an aging loved-one is considering Consumer Directed Services in ferguson, MO please contact the caring staff at Home Care MO today. (314) 501-5330
We offer consumer directed services (CDS) in St. Louis County, St. Louis City and St. Charles, as well as Crawford, Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln, Montgomery, Pike, St. Francois, Ste Genevieve, Warren and Washington Counties.
Home Care MO was established by veteran home care agency owners. Home Care MO is a home care agency that works with Missouri’s Consumer Directed Services (CDS) program. CDS is a Medicaid-funded program that enables you to hire the person of your choice to help with your care. This caregiver is also called a personal care attendant (PCA).
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