What kind of help do you need?

Home Health Aides (HHA), and Personal Care Aides (PCA), provide assistance with activities of daily living to promote and maintain personal independence.

Activities of daily living include:
• - Personal hygiene and assistance with dressing
• - Meal preparation, including special diets; planning, cooking, serving and feeding
• - Light housekeeping and laundry
• - Walking and transfers: bed to chair, sit to stand
• - Medication reminders
• - Accompany to Doctor’s appointments
• - Errands in neighborhood

HHA’s and PCAS’s assist with all necessary daily activities providing support to family members. Our qualified HHA’s and PCA’S are screened through references and FBI fingerprinting.

We also offer monitoring services such as TeleHealth, UTI and Falls Intervention programs for people who just need assistance managing these conditions.

We also offer CDPAP, a Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program. CDPAP is an alternative to traditional home care. It is a Medicaid program that enables self-directing individuals to assume the responsibilities of their own care. CDPAP helps promote independence and empowerment for the individual in need.

We provide support to family members.

CDPAP is an alternative to traditional home care. It is a Medicaid program that enables self directing individuals or their administrators, to assume the responsibilities of their own care. CDPAP helps promote independence and Consumer Empowerment.

• Consumers will recruit, interview, hire, train, supervise, and (if needed) dismiss their personal assistants.
• Consumers may hire as many personal assistants as needed to accommodate their life styles, authorized hours, and individual needs.
• Consumers will be able to distribute paychecks to their personal assistants on a weekly basis.

You can also download instructions on how to search online for a CDPAP or advertise a CDPAP job opening here: CDPAP-JOBS.pdf.

Download this form for tips on recruiting and interviewing a potential Personal Assistant: Recruiting & Interviewing Tips

What does my Personal Assistant (PA) need to begin working for me?
Your PA will need a physical within the past year, proof of immunizations, a PPD, health assessment, and your PA must be able to legally work in the United States. Applications with all current information and requirements can be sent upon request.

What benefits are available to my Personal Assistant?
- A competitive salary
- Paid vacation
- Paid holidays
- Medical Benefits
- Dental
- Free Life insurance policy
- Retirement plan – 401K

Why should I choose South Shore Home Health Services, Inc. to be my CDPAP provider?
South Shore Home Health Services, Inc. is owned and operated by two Registered Nurses who have worked in the health care field for over 40 years. South Shore Home Health Services, Inc. has been providing CDPAP services since it was first offered as a pilot program. We are committed to assisting each consumer in achieving his/her goal, while encouraging independence.
South Shore Home Health Services, Inc. has experience in all different aspects of home care and our healthcare team is friendly, knowledgeable and looking forward to helping you with the CDPAP process.

How do I become a CDPAP consumer?
If you are a Medicaid recipient approved for home care and you are self directing, or have a person who is willing and able to be your administrator, call your local Department of Social Services to request enrollment in the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP). Once you have been approved for CDPAP, you can begin the process of hiring your personal assistant. South Shore Home Health Services can guide you. CDPAP allows you to hire friends or even some family members to assist you with your care. Ask our CDPAP specialist for details.

If you have questions regarding the program or would like to sign up with South Shore Home Health Services, Inc. please contact Jackie Datkun, CDPAP at (631) 567-6555 ext 16.

Jacqueline has been working for South Shore Home Health Services, Inc. for 11 years as a nursing coordinator and for the past 6 years she has been instrumental in the growth of the CDPAP at South Shore Home Health Services, Inc. South Shore Home Health Services, Inc. has been providing CDPAP services since it was first offered as a pilot program in 1999. To learn more about the CDPAP visit our website at www.southshorehomehealth.com.

“Telehealth benefits long-term patients,” said Kathy McCarthy, RN, Director of Patient Services at South Shore Home Health in Oakdale, N.Y. “It’s an excellent teaching tool for making patients more self-aware.”

Patients can see the cause and effect, such as the relationship between salt and different foods and their blood pressure, or for diabetics, how the food they consume affects their blood sugar, she explained.

“It ties into quality care for the patients,” added Kendra Case, RN, MBA, vice president of disease management at home healthcare provider Amedisys of Baton Rouge, La. “It helps them learn to self-manage their condition based on the choices they make.”

Kathy McCarthy, RN, Director of Patient Services

Electronic home monitoring equipment, such as those from Viterion TeleHealthcare or Cardiocom, allows nurses to check on their patients’ weight, blood pressure, blood sugar and oxygen saturation without leaving the office. Typically, the biometric information flows from the device over the telephone lines to a Web-based portal that contains the data, although wireless devices are entering the market. The nurse then intervenes appropriately.

The Intel Health Guide, a second-generation unit, feeds the data into a decision-support tool that helps nurses spot trends and offers clinician videoconferencing and multimedia patient-education opportunities. The system is customizable to set risk thresholds. It also provides reminders, such as telling patients when to take their medications.

“It’s interactive and more comprehensive,” said Julie Cherry, RN, MSN, PHN, director of professional services for Intel Digital Health Group in Santa Clara, Calif.

Viterion TeleHealthcare Services

South Shore Home Health Services offers patients two different home monitoring options. It initially began installing Viterion TeleHealthcare units in patients’ homes more than five years ago as part of a New York State Department of Health telemedicine grant.

“Patients like it and feel it has made a difference,” McCarthy said.

The agency has since added the Health Anywhere program, in which a home health aide visits patients with a Blackberry smartphone and blue-tooth enabled blood pressure, weight scale and pulse oximetry unit. The device immediately sends the information, transmitting it in real time back to the office.

“Some patients were noncompliant or had difficulty taking their own blood pressure, so the Health Anywhere works better for them, and they like the visit,” McCarthy said.

Across the country, Amedisys has deployed 2,500 Cardiocom devices into the homes of patients at high risk of hospitalization, Case said. The system allows the nurses to ask about how the patients feel in addition to transmitting the biometric data.

“We’re expanding our program this year,” Case said. “We feel it’s been effective.”

Excerpt taken from an article posted on AMN Healthcare’s website;
written by Debra Wood, RN, contributor; September 16, 2010

The Founders’ Spirit Award, inaugurated in 2001, honors the spirit of the intrepid individuals who founded HCP in 1974. The nominee is someone who has demonstrated strong and successful efforts to promote awareness and appreciation of home and community-based services.

Eileen has been on the Board of the Long Island Chapter of the New York State Health Care Providers for 8 years and has recently been appointed Acting Chairperson of the HCP affiliate Community Health Care Services (CHC). She organized the LI Chapter’s “Caregiver of the Year” event for the past 10 years. She coordinates and rallies the chapter members, which consists of the Suffolk and Nassau County licensed home care agencies, to participate yearly on state lobby day as well as visiting legislators in their local offices. She has attended HCP’s Washington lobby day and brings the message for the chapter members. Since 2008, home care providers have sustained over $360 million in cuts, including reimbursement cuts, a gross receipts tax, elimination of the 2009 and 2010 trend factor, and the 1.1% FMAP Contingency Fund cut.

From right to left Maureen Dolan, Controller of South Shore Home Health Services, Inc., Eileen Gerard, Director of Human Resources/Regional Manager, Carol Kolar, Chief Operating Officer, Margaret Coffey, Executive Director

Eileen also organizes South Shore Home Health Service’s annual employee recognition event. In July 2010, South Shore Home Health Services, Inc. recognized 44 employees who have been employed by South Shore Home Health Services, Inc. for over 5 years or more. “I am committed to protecting the real people and real families who depend on home care services as well as our valued caregivers. Without home care our loved ones can not live in their own homes when extra care is needed for them to live safely.”

Eileen graduated from St. Josephs College with a B.S. in Health Administration. She resides in East Patchogue with her husband and two children.

Additional Forms Needed:
HHA-PCA Application

Physical examination information for applicants:
Bayshore area: Medical checklist
Hempstead area: Medical checklist

CORAM, NY—Coram resident and home care recipient, Sylvia Brotman today was visited by Congress Member Tim Bishop (D-NY-1), a key figure in the health reform effort in Washington.
Ms. Brotman has received home care services from Oakdale-based, South Shore Home Health Services, for approximately 18 months. Home care services enable Ms. Brotman, who is 94 years old, to live at home, in her community, while managing multiple chronic medical conditions. Without these services, Ms. Brotman, would experience greater physical challenges as a result of her pain, fatigue, and limited mobility, and would eventually end up in a nursing home.
“Home care allows patients like Ms. Brotman to remain in the community, while receiving the services they need to be safe and independent,” Congressman Bishop said. “Expanding access to cost-effective and patient preferred home care is one way to better serve the elderly, disabled, and chronically-ill.”
“We are honored that Congress Member Bishop took the time to meet Sylvia and our staff,” said Eileen Gerard, South Shore Home Health Services. “Since 1985, South Shore Home Health Services has been a regional leader in the home health care field. We are a nationally-accredited home care agency, committed to ensuring and maintaining patient choice, dignity and well-being. We are happy to have the opportunity to share our work with Congress Member Bishop and the broader Long Island community.”
“As a member of the House Education and Labor Committee, Congress Member Bishop is working hard to solve our nation’s health care situation,” said Phyllis A. Wang, HCP President. “I am pleased he took the opportunity to observe home care, because it is an affordable long-term care solution that can help address the nation’s growing health care costs.”
Congress Member Bishop’s visit was arranged by the New York State Association of Health Care Providers, Inc. (HCP), a statewide trade association representing the full spectrum of home care and hospice agencies in New York. HCP’s Home Care Connect program provides State and Federal Legislators—as well as the media—the opportunity to experience the benefits of home and community-based care.

- Consumers will recruit, interview, hire, train, supervise, and (if needed) dismiss their personal assistants.
- Consumers may hire as many personal assistants as needed to accommodate their life styles, authorized hours, and individual needs.
- Consumers will be able to distribute paychecks to their personal assistants on a weekly basis.

What does my Personal Assistant (PA) need to begin working for me?
Your PA will need a physical within the past year, proof of immunizations, a PPD, health assessment, and your PA must be able to legally work in the United States. Applications with all current information and requirements can be sent upon request.

What benefits are available to my Personal Assistant?
- A competitive salary
- Paid vacation
- Paid holidays
- Medical Benefits
- Dental
- Free Life insurance policy
- Retirement plan – 410K

Why should I choose South Shore Home Health Services, Inc. to be my CDPAP provider?
South Shore Home Health Services, Inc. is owned and operated by two Registered Nurses who have worked in the health care field for over 40 years. South Shore Home Health Services, Inc. has been providing CDPAP services since it was first offered as a pilot program. We are committed to assisting each consumer in achieving his/her goal, while encouraging independence.
South Shore Home Health Services, Inc. has experience in all different aspects of home care and our healthcare team is friendly, knowledgeable and looking forward to helping you with the CDPAP process.

How do I become a CDPAP consumer?
If you are a Medicaid recipient approved for home care and you are self directing, or have a person who is willing and able to be your administrator, call your local Department of Social Services to request enrollment in the Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP). Once you have been approved for CDPAP, you can begin the process of hiring your personal assistant. South Shore Home Health Services, Inc. can guide you. CDPAP allows you to hire friends or even some family members to assist you with your care. Ask our CDPAP specialist for details.