Respite care for family caregivers in Centennial, CO

The free hour of company

Arapahoe County's senior page lists two companion programs that fit a caregiver's week. Volunteers in Action Caring Connections provides a weekly hour of socializing with a volunteer, 303-713-9144, and A Little Help offers transportation, yard work, friendly visits and help with technology, 720-242-9032. Neither is labeled respite on the county page, and neither replaces a paid caregiver.

What they do is put a second, unpaid pair of hands into the week, which is often the difference between a manageable Tuesday and a Tuesday that ends in tears. A Little Help's friendly visits and tech help are worth particular attention in Centennial, where a caregiver helping a parent set up a video call with a doctor or a grandchild is doing something the county recognized as hard enough to staff.

Meals that arrive at the door

Volunteers of America's Meals on Wheels serves Adams, Arapahoe, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Gilpin, Jefferson and Larimer counties, and an individual must be 60 years of age or older to receive meals. Routes run Monday through Saturday throughout the Denver metro. For Adams, Arapahoe, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson, Gilpin and Clear Creek, referrals go through Volunteers of America at 303-294-0111 or [email protected].

There is no charge for the meals. Recipients are asked to contribute what they can afford, and no one is denied service because of an inability to make a contribution. For a family that is stretched thin, a hot meal at noon removes twenty minutes of work from a day where twenty minutes is the margin. It also removes the trip to the kitchen at the end of a shift.

Counseling, advocacy and the directory

The Area Agency on Aging for the Denver Regional Council of Governments serves Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson and Gilpin counties, so Centennial falls inside its region. Its programs include a Network of Care Directory and Resources, information and assistance, Medicare and health insurance assistance through SHIP, advocacy and ombudsman services including aging abuse prevention, Veteran Directed Care, Options Counseling and Case Management, and volunteer opportunities.

The City of Denver's Older Adult Resource Guide lists the Aging and Disabilities resource center at 303-480-6700, the ombudsman for assisted living and nursing homes at 303-455-1000, and Older Adult Case Management at 303-480-6704. The ombudsman line is the one families rarely think to call and the one that matters most when a placement goes wrong.

Arapahoe County's senior page points older adults to AgeWise Colorado at agewisecolorado.org and to the Network of Care directory for local agencies, programs and facilities. Two free directories beat an afternoon of guessing, and both are worth an hour of a caregiver's time.

A coalition built around this exact question

The Colorado Respite Coalition, a program of Easterseals Colorado, exists for caregivers of older adults and publishes a family caregiver resource titled Caring for an Older Adult. Its office is at 940 Wadsworth Blvd., Ste 120, Lakewood, CO 80214, and its phone is 303-233-1666. A ten-minute call to a program whose whole job is this question is often the fastest way to find the volunteer, voucher or service a family did not know existed in their own town.

Options Counseling and Case Management, also listed by the Area Agency on Aging, is the other door for a caregiver who wants to talk it through with somebody who is not selling anything. It is the difference between a family that hires help because someone pushed them into it and a family that hires help because somebody sat down with them and worked out what the week actually looks like.

Planning the week the respite covers

The households who get the most out of respite plan it like a shift, not like a favor. They decide in advance what the person will eat, what the good part of the day is, and what the caregiver will finally get done with the free hours, and they write it down where the caregiver will see it. A volunteer who knows the routine can sit with someone for two hours and be company instead of a stranger with a clipboard.

The other half of the plan is what happens if the caregiver cannot make it. Respite that depends on one person is not respite, it is a second job. Ask any program you call who covers when the regular volunteer is sick, and ask what happens if the person being cared for refuses to open the door that morning. The agencies and programs that can answer those two questions have run them before, and the ones that cannot are guessing.

And keep the paperwork in one place. Which program, which number, which day of the week, which volunteer. When the paid hours start, the family usually finds that some of the free programs have quietly become the backbone of the week, and that knowing which ones are which makes the whole arrangement easier to explain to a relative who wants to help but does not know how.

What paid respite looks like

Free programs cover what they cover. The gap is usually the weekend, the evening, or the spouse who needs to sleep through a full night. A paid respite visit in Centennial is non-medical home care: bathing, meals, light housekeeping, medication reminders, company, and a walk if the weather allows. Our rate is $43 an hour, the Denver metro band, with a three-hour minimum, so a visit is a real block rather than a rushed hour.

Live-in care is a flat $650 a day for households where the question is not a weekly visit but who is there at two in the morning. Caregivers are matched on skills and personality, and there is no long-term contract, so a schedule can change when the household's needs change.

Families tell us the same thing: the hours work best when the caregiver has a plan for them. A bath and a walk while the family member goes to the grocery store. Three hours every Tuesday and Thursday so the rest of the week has a shape. If the hours get used for a third round of care, the money was spent in the wrong place. If the days in Centennial are getting heavy, start with the free 20-minute phone conversation at (303) 757-1777.

Local resources in Centennial

• The Colorado Respite Coalition, a program of Easterseals Colorado, states that respite care is temporary relief for family caregivers, publishes a family caregiver resource for Caring for an Older Adult, and lists phone 303-233-1666 at 940 Wadsworth Blvd., Ste 120, Lakewood, CO 80214. Source
• Arapahoe County's Senior Resources office is at 1690 W. Littleton Blvd., Littleton, CO 80120, phone 303-738-8080, email [email protected]; the county says it serves more than 100,000 residents over the age of 60 and its programs are offered at no cost to the client. Source
• The county's senior page lists Volunteers in Action Caring Connections, a weekly hour of socializing with a volunteer, at 303-713-9144, and A Little Help, which offers transportation, yard work, friendly visits and tech help, at 720-242-9032. Source
• Volunteers of America's Meals on Wheels serves Adams, Arapahoe, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Gilpin, Jefferson and Larimer counties, requires recipients to be 60 or older, runs Monday-Saturday routes across the Denver metro, and takes referrals for Adams, Arapahoe, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson, Gilpin and Clear Creek at 303-294-0111 or [email protected]. Source
• Meals on Wheels has no charge for the meals, asks recipients to contribute what they can afford, and does not deny service because of an inability to make a contribution. Source
• The Area Agency on Aging for the Denver Regional Council of Governments serves Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson and Gilpin counties, and its programs include the Network of Care Directory and Resources, information and assistance, Medicare and health insurance assistance (SHIP), advocacy and ombudsman services including aging abuse prevention, Veteran Directed Care, Options Counseling and Case Management, and volunteer opportunities. Source
• The City of Denver's Older Adult Resource Guide lists the Aging and Disabilities resource center at 303-480-6700, the ombudsman for assisted living and nursing homes at 303-455-1000, and Older Adult Case Management at 303-480-6704. Source
• Arapahoe County's senior page points older adults to AgeWise Colorado (agewisecolorado.org) and the Network of Care directory for local agencies, programs and facilities. Source

More resources for Centennial families

• Dementia Care at Home in Centennial, CO
• Home Care After a Hospital Stay in Centennial, CO
• How to Choose a Home Care Agency in Centennial, CO
• Paying for Home Care in Centennial, CO