Home Care

Last month I wrote about a 70- year-old friend of mine with diabetes who fought to return home after a hospitalization, instead of going to a rehab. Well, it has happened again. A 61-year-old woman from Charlestown called me last week. Let's call her “Laura.” She is a MassHealth member. She broke her leg, and was sent to a major hospital in Boston. She spent three days in the hospital. At discharge, the staff hospitalist gave Laura a list of three rehabs, and told her to pick one. Laura didn’t know what a rehab would be like, but she picked one facility she had heard of.

“We need each other,” said FriendshipWorks Executive Director Janet Seckel-Cerrotti, “especially older people who have to fight diminishment and the lessening social connections that come with age and fragility.” The comment sums up Seckel-Cerrotti’s belief in the value of FriendshipWorks, a volunteer organization based in Boston. Working with a staff of 15, she organizes the activities of a group of about 200 volunteers in the Boston-Brookline area who serve their clients. Both English and Spanish are spoken.

State policymakers are once again trying to change the health care system to save money, produce better health outcomes, and increase the consumers’ satisfaction with their care. If the subject of long-term services and supports (LTSS) ever comes up, it is usually in the context of the larger health care system.

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