TOMS RIVER – After looking at a loss of $700,000 in funding for senior programs, county officials got some good news.
“We have been notified that we will receive $1,470.084 for the Jersey Assistance for Community Caregiving (JACC) Program, which is an increase of about $400,000 for the state fiscal year 2020. We were originally advised this program would see a funding cut of almost $250,000,” said Ocean County Freeholder Director Joseph H. Vicari. “We presented the facts and our concerns to the state and we were heard. This is a victory for our seniors who rely on the help they get from this program.”
Jersey Assistance for Community Caregiving (JACC) is a state-funded program that provides in-home services to local seniors to help keep them living independently in their community home as opposed to being placed in a nursing facility. According to Maria LaFace, Director of the Ocean County Office of Senior Services, for those seniors who meet the income requirement, JACC provides a wide array of supports intended to delay or prevent placement in a nursing facility, including respite care, homemakers services, personal emergency response systems, home delivered meals, transportation, adult day care, special medical equipment or supplies, caregiver training, home health aide services.
Upon learning of the loss in aid, Vicari said he appealed to state officials to explain how important the programs are for seniors.
Ocean County is home to more than 173,000 senior citizens and 30 percent of them rely solely on monthly Social Security checks to cover their living expenses. A significant portion of them are 85 and older.
“It was important we work with the state legislative districts representing Ocean County in this matter,” he said. “These cuts would have effected their constituents as well and we all needed to work together.”
Vicari called this a partial victory for the county as it continues to press for restored funding to the Visiting Home Care Service of Ocean County. This program has helped Ocean County seniors for the last 40 years using Title 20 funding through the state Division of Disability Services. This funding will end as of June 30, 2020.
“The provider stands to lose $460,000,” he has said.
On average Visiting Home Care Services (VHS) has been providing approximately 300 hours a week of home health aide services under Title 20 grant funds, which translates to about 15,600 hours of home care a year that will no longer be provided, or 50 clients a week will go without help, he added.
Tom Hester, Director of Communications for the New Jersey Department of Human Services had said previously about the loss that they were working with Ocean County to make sure the JACC programs would be covered with other funds so that no one would lose services.
“The Department continues to work with Visiting HomeCare and funding for its programs will continue through the end of this fiscal year (June 30),” he said last month. “The Department will also continue to monitor this transition in efforts to minimize any impacts.”
