Personal Care Assistance
Having personal care assistants (PCAs) who know a lot and are well-trained is super important for someone with a spinal cord injury to live well at home. Good news! There's a free online course that can help train these PCAs. It's called "Understanding Spinal Cord Injury: A Course for Personal Care Assistants." This course helps PCAs learn more about spinal cord injuries, get better at talking with the person they're helping, and give even better care. You can share this course with PCAs who get paid and also with family members who are helping with care.
Becoming a Paid Personal Care Assistant
Many states have Medicaid programs, often called "self-direction" or "consumer-directed" programs (like Home and Community-Based Services Waivers) that let people who need care hire and even pay family members to be their caregivers. To learn more about these programs, how to qualify, and how to apply, you can contact your state's Medicaid office or your local Area Agency on Aging.
Funding Personal Care Assistance
Here are more ways people with spinal cord injuries (SCI) can pay for help if they're not on Medicaid:
-
Money from Accidents or Work Injuries: If someone's SCI happened because of an accident at work or a car crash, the money they get from workers' compensation (for work injuries) or auto insurance (for car crashes) might include money to pay for long-term care and caregivers.
-
Paying from Your Own Pocket: Some people use their own money, savings, or income to pay for caregivers. This is called "private pay." It can be very expensive because caregivers usually get paid by the hour.
-
Special Needs Trusts: These are like special bank accounts set up legally for people with disabilities. They let individuals keep their money without losing their chance to get help from government programs like Medicaid. The money in a Special Needs Trust can be used to pay for things that make life better, even if government programs don't cover them, like some caregiver costs.
-
State Programs (Not Medicaid): Some states have their own programs (separate from Medicaid) run by departments that help people with disabilities or by local Area Agencies on Aging. These programs might offer some money or resources to help pay for personal care.
Figuring out how to pay for care after an SCI can be tricky. It's often a good idea to talk to a financial expert who understands disabilities, a social worker, or someone who helps manage cases. They can help you look at all your choices and make a plan for long-term care.