The Connecticut Statewide Respite Care Program is funded by the State Department of Social Services and operated in partnership with the Connecticut Area Agencies on Aging and the Alzheimer’s Association Chapter of Connecticut.  The cost of these services provided under the program was $229,520.00.

Respite care provides a break, or a time of caregiver relief, from the constant physical and emotional stress of caring for a person with Alzheimer’s disease or a related disorder. Caring for a person with dementia is a stressful and demanding job; the effects of caregiving are overwhelming. Caregivers are more susceptible than the general population to depression, illness, physical exhaustion, and emotional burnout. An occasional break allows an exhausted caregiver to recoup both physically and emotionally, and to find the strength to carry on.

This program offers caregivers an assessment of services needed, the development of a short-term care plan and the purchase of services for the individual with dementia. Eligible families may apply for daytime or overnight respite care services including adult day care, home health aide, homemaker/companion, skilled nursing care or short-term nursing home care.

The program offers payment of up to a maximum of $3,500 for respite services per year. Applicants for the program must have documentation from a physician stating that the patient has a diagnosis of irreversible and deteriorating dementia of the Alzheimer’s type. In order to be eligible for the program, the individual with dementia cannot have an income of more than $30,000 a year, or have liquid assets of more than $80,000. Assets include checking accounts, savings accounts, individual retirement accounts, certificates of deposits, stocks, or bonds, anything that can be liquidated for cash within 20 days. The client’s home is not included in the assets.

Additional Information on the Statewide Respite Care Program can be obtained by contacting Mary Ellen Girard, respite Coordinator at 800-994-9422 or locally at 203-757-5449.

Respite Program Client Information for FFY’06

*CHCPE refers to the Connecticut Home Care Program for Elders

Please note that clients receive more than one service.                                     revised 11-1-2007

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