EODD caregiver programs provide respite vouchers

MUSKOGEE – The Eastern Oklahoma Development District Area Agency on Aging announces two respite vouchers available for its Caregiver and Senior Raising Children programs.

The Caregiver program assists people who are caring for elders 60 years and older who need assistance with dressing, walking, transferring, bathing, eating and toileting or people who have health-related problems such as Alzheimer’s disease, dementia or Parkinson’s disease.

“The Caregiver program is for a daughter taking care of her mom with dementia, or a husband taking care of his wife with dementia,” EODD planner Stacy Nicholson said. “It provides a little bit of money through a voucher to hire someone 18 years or older that doesn’t live in the home to give them a break. They can go to the grocery store or they can go get their hair done or they can go shopping or something to get out and away from their everyday duties of taking care of somebody else.”

A voucher for $300 for a three-month period is provided to finance the needed assistance to the caregiver.

“We provide them a voucher and then they can pay someone, as long as they’re 18 or older and they don’t live in the same home as the care recipient, they can pay them to give them a break or to help them out,” EODD Social Services specialist Alysa Kinnell said.

Vouchers are also provided for the Seniors Raising Children program for those 55 and older who care for a relative child that is 18 years and younger.

Like the Caregiver program, Seniors Raising Children provide $300 for a six-month period for caregivers to hire someone to come in and either help or give them a break to take on errands or personal time as needed.

There are no income guidelines for the programs.

For information, call 918-682-7891 or 1-800-211-2116.