Cathie Rodkey, Douglas County Visiting Nurses, Rehabilitation and Hospice Care’s new Private Duty Plus manager, center left, and Virginia Hayes, RN with VNA, center right, conduct a training session for new employees for the Private Duty Plus program Monday. At least 20 new employees are being hired for the positions.

A nonprofit Douglas County agency is expanding its services to help keep seniors at home longer.

The new program is called Private Duty Plus.

It also aims to lend new mothers a helping hand or to provide relief for parents of handicapped children.

The services that the new program can provide are endless, said Cathie Rodkey, manager of Private Duty Plus for the Douglas County Visiting Nurses, Rehabilitation and Hospice Care agency.

She rattled off a number of jobs that Private Duty Plus employees can handle — preparing meals, paying bills, buying groceries, running errands, walking pets, watering plants, light housekeeping duties, picking up mail, keeping someone company, going on a trip or to the movies, and driving someone to school or an appointment.

Rising demand

Private Duty programs are popping up across the nation as the population grows grayer. There are at least 18,000 programs, according to the National Private Duty Association, which was formed in 2002 to enhance the strength and professionalism of private duty providers.

“The demand for home care is, of course, increasing,” said Kim Stoneking, executive director. He said research shows that nine of 10 seniors prefer to live in their own home.

The VNA’s new program will be licensed through the state’s Department of Health and Human Services. The program also provides home health aides who can help with bathing, lifting someone from a wheelchair and giving medications.

“It’s very entrepreneurial. We can do whatever they need to have done,” said Judy Bellome, VNA chief executive.

The program offers help for services that don’t qualify for Medicare or Medicaid. People can pay through long-term health insurance or out of pocket. The cost for services starts at $17.50 an hour.

“It’s just adding one more service to the already existing ones to make sure we offer the full spectrum of care,” Bellome said.

The perfect match

The VNA is careful about whom it hires — something seniors might not do if they hired someone on their own to walk a dog or fix their lunch. The VNA does background checks, and employees go through four hours of training. The agency then will try to find the best match for clients.

“We are going to be careful about who we put in your home,” Bellome said.

The agency is hiring 20 part-time workers to begin the program, and the hiring couldn’t have come at a better time. During a training session, five women said they welcomed the opportunity to get paid for helping others.

“I feel like this is going to be an asset to me personally as well as financially,” said Deborah Horn, Lawrence.

Her mother, Eloise Caldwell, Lawrence, also applied for a position. Caldwell worked as an electrocardiogram technician in Denver for 24 years. She retired and moved to Lawrence, where she worked at LMH for nine years. After a couple of years off, she once again is looking for something to do.

“I thought this would be a good opportunity to get out and be able to be of service to someone,” she said.

Bellome said her father-in-law, who had Parkinson’s disease, was able to live with her family for three years because of a Private Duty agency. The employee would come to their home between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. while Bellome and her husband were working and the children were at school.

When her father-in-law showered, he wanted someone to be outside the bathroom, but nearby, in case he fell. He would need assistance with fixing a sandwich or pouring a drink because of his tremors.

At first, Bellome said her father-in-law was reluctant to accept help, but quickly found himself enjoying the company. He and the retired nurse liked to listen to opera together.

“So for him, it was companionship, but it also was a safety factor as well as he couldn’t fix his own lunch,” Bellome said. “It was perfect for him.”

Bellome said she was the administrator for the Private Duty program, but to use it firsthand was eye-opening.

“To see what it meant to our family, was really a big deal,” she said.