Getting By With a Little Help

By Elizabeth Pope
August / September 2007

Sound Off: What Are Your Long-Term Care Health Plans? AARP Segunda Juventud Assisted Living and Long-Term Care Study Thinking Long-Term (febrero/marzo 2007) Can You Afford Long-Term Care Insurance? (diciembre 2006)  What You Need to Know About Long-Term Care Insurance (diciembre 2006) Return to Article

Latinos traditionally prefer to care for their older loved ones at home, says Conchy Bretos, a Miami-based housing consultant. But that's a challenge for low-income families who can't afford extra help for a frail elder. Because Medicaid pays only for nursing home care, not for everyday assistance at home, many seniors in public housing are forced out of their homes prematurely. "Most people need just a little help with dressing, meal preparation, bathing, and supervision," Bretos says. "They don't need full-time doctors and nurses."

Bretos, formerly Florida's Secretary for Aging and Adult Services, came up with an innovative idea: get exemptions from Medicaid to bring assisted-living services to public housing. Now 40 public-housing projects in 18 states help people like Luisa Montoto Quiñones, 95, who can get three meals a day, housekeeping, a nurse round the clock—plus bingo and arts and crafts. 

In 2006 Bretos's eldercare solution won her the $100,000 Purpose Prize, awarded by Civic Ventures, a San Francisco think tank, to social entrepreneurs age 60-plus. 

For more information, visit the Eldercare Locator, or call them at 800-677-1116.

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