A government-funded program that supports live-in caregivers was the topic of discussion when Adult Family Care (AFC) director Jeanne Leyden recently appeared on Somerville Community Access Television (SCAT).
Leyden was a guest on the program Voices of Somerville, to discuss how AFC supports live-in caregivers for older adults and those with disabilities.
“A lot of people in AFC are nursing-home eligible, but they choose to remain in a residential setting,” said Leyden. “I love that there’s a program like this, for people who need daily assistance.”
AFC provides a tax-free stipend to caregivers of eligible participants. Leyden said roughly 80% of people in the program know each other, either as family or friends. The rest were connected through AFC, after a vetting process by nurses and social workers that takes a number of factors into account.
“We do a whole screening process, really ask them what they’re looking for in a home,” said Leyden. “We’re trying to find a match, so that somebody in need of care lives with somebody they get along with.”
AFC is a program of Somerville-Cambridge Elder Services (SCES), but with a wider service area, covering much of the Greater Boston Area and North Shore.
Leyden also touched on other aspects of how AFC works and other SCES programs during the interview.
Hosted by Sonja Darai, Voices of Somerville, is a program from the Office of Somerville Commissions and the Somerville Department of Communications.
