Etta Atwood (seated) pauses for a photo with her in-home aide, Linda Richardson, at Alleghany Memorial Hospital's Adult Day Care facility. Richardson is employed through the hospital.

CAP freeze leaves some local residents in need of services

This year's state budget crunch is making things difficult for some families who need help caring for disabled relatives at home.

Jayne Phipps-Boger, executive director of Community Health Services for Alleghany Memorial Hospital, said the state froze the Community Alternative Program for Disabled Adults (CAP), effective Oct. 1, 2001.

CAP, a Medicaid waiver program, provides services to adults who receive care in their homes rather than in a nursing home environment. "The in-home aide service is the heartbeat of this program," said case manager Sammy Sudduth.

He said services also include the Lifeline emergency alert system, nurse care and other home health services, nutritional supplements, adult day care, mobility aids such as "grab bars" for showers, medicines and the monitoring of those medicines.

With the monitoring comes more leeway in medication disbursement. Case manager Paula Blevins said normal Medicaid allows only six prescriptions; under CAP, there are no such limits.

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