New Alternative to
Nursing Home Care

Many seniors and their families prefer a home alternative to nursing home care, and there is a new option that can help make this possible.

PACE (Program of All inclusive Care for the Elderly) is a national program approved by federal law in 1997 and recently enacted for the first time in the Richmond, Virginia area via Riverside Health System.

The elderly participant lives at home with the help of a caregiver, and receives additional benefits through Riverside Pace. With PACE, seniors have their care needs met by the staff. They can be picked up at home in the morning and go to the brand new PACE center for meals, social opportunities, activities, physical and occupational therapy, counseling, medications, and physician appointments. At the end of the day, they are returned home to their families.

Nursing-home eligible seniors, aged 55 and up, who live in the Richmond metro area are eligible. Many have incomes below the federal poverty level, so the program provides access to all economic sectors. The program accepts Medicare, Medicaid, and private pay.

For more information about your specific needs, visit www.riversideonline.com/pace or call 804-549-5500. For more about the PACE program generally, visit www.cms.hhs.gov/PACE/. 


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New Rating System On Medicare.gov

If you are looking for care at home or in a home for someone you love, you want to know more than the guided tour and marketing materials tell you. You have found ways to get ratings for movies, hotels, and other products and now you have tools to help you find out about the quality of care.

Medicare has enacted a new rating system for the nation's 16,000 Medicare and/or Medicaid certified nursing homes, independent living facilities, assisted living facilities and home health care options. Quality ratings are from a low of one star to a high of five stars based on three main factors: health inspection results, quality measures, and staff ratio levels. To check facilities of interest searchable by name, city, county, state, or zip code, go to medicare.gov and look for the "Nursing Home Compare" and follow the simple steps.


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About the Grandparents

• No cowboy was ever faster on the draw than a grandparent pulling a baby picture out of a wallet

• Grandparents are similar to a piece of string - handy to have around and easily wrapped around the fingers of their grandchildren.

• It's amazing how grandparents seem so young once you become one.

• The best place to be when you're sad is Grandpa's lap.

• There's no place like home except Grandma's.