november 16, 2010

This list is a compilation of resources for members Those that have not been tested by members are identified.  No guarantees are implied.  Compiled by Barbara Gaines.
Second edition

Countrywide House Calls, Doug Nagle, PA, 352-854-4985.  Works with physicians, and will bring testing equipment (x-rays, etc) to your home.  Works with many insurances, including Medicare.

Helping Hands of Ocala @ 352-502-4902

Medicare skilled nursing services.  Prescription required no private pay patients.  (A member who used this service reports that the nursing care is wonderful.)

Comfort Keepers – 352-433-4422

Dual licensed, providing home companion services and assistance with daily living, or licensed nursing services.  All staff are employees of the agency, and are bonded and insured.  They do criminal background checks and drug screening on employees. 

Accept private pay, VA, and long-term care insurance.  Services breakdown:

1.     Licensed care – minimum 4 hour day @ $20.25/hour ($81 minimum); services include bathing, toileting, catheters, etc.

2.     Companion services –minimum 4 hour day @ $16.75/hour ($67 minimum); services include light housekeeping, transportation, meal preparation, laundry, helping a person get ready for bath or shower (but not the actual showering), dressing.

Village Home Care @352-307-7300 (not tested by a MSVP Member)

Accept Medicare and many insurances.  Prescription required for services that include RN/LPN, physical therapy, and occupational therapy.  Provide after surgical procedures, Assistance with Daily Living, Diabetes education, wound care, I.V. and antibiotics.

CSI Caregiver Services, Inc. – (352) 245-4473 or (800) 282-6409 (not tested by MSVP Member) Located in Spruce Creek Professional Center.  Available 24 hours/7days.

This business provides a full array of services.  They do not accept Medicare, but do accept long-term care insurance, the medical waiver program (a county program that is low-income), and private pay. All staff have undergone strenuous background checks.   They have several MS patients now.  Services breakdown:

1.      Respite care (will do as little as one hour), with two levels of service

a.     CNA @ $16.95/hour

b.     Companion care @ $15/hour

2.     Shower/Bath care (1 hour visit) @ flat fee of $29.95

3.     Safety Assessment @ $75/hour

4.     Nursing staff relief

Recovery Home Care, located on 466, 352-753-8802; contact person Hannah Williams.

Home Instead Senior Care: 352-622-6447, located at 1411 NE 22^nd Avenue, Ocala.  Contact person is Jim Samuelson.  Will provide discount to anyone using the MS Chapter financial assistance program.

Private Pay Caregivers

Caregivers recommended by Cornerstone Hospice.  Each charges $15/hour, with a four-hour minimum:

1.      Mary Starkweather, 347-5939; cell, 598-5930

2.     Carmen Jenkins, 365-2788 (prefers mornings)

3.     Caroline Bullock, 408-7881

4.     Joyce Thomas, 343-7090

5.     Barbara Hubbard, 461-3133

6.     Clara Davis, 748-2988; cell, 461-6287

7.     Cathie Bailey, 303-2644; does bathing for a very reasonable price

MS Village People Member Patty Norwicki; 350-6146 or cell, 443-994-1199.  Patty charges $15/hour, $20 minimum. Will provide light housekeeping and meal preparation, transportation, companion services.  Several members have used her with very positive reports.

Paulette Fleishman 352-259- 4001

Kathleen McElwain,  352-553-0342

Cathy Luchetta, LVN, 259-4378, cell 610-334-7679.  Provides private duty nursing for $15/hour, with a 4-hour minimum.

Betty (referred by Mary Grunewald), 636-3139.  Betty works full time, but assisted Mary when her mother visited.  She will come first thing in the morning and get the person up, bathe and dress, and can work in evenings also.

Senior Home Companions, 874-7870.  Referred by Shelie Goldsmith.

Denise Parenti, 423-596-4469, a CNA, who is available to run errands, shop, and provide other assistance as needed.

Cornerstone Hospice, 742-6788.  Serving Sumter and Lake County Residents. 

Hospice of Marion County, 873-7400, serving Marion County Residents.

Both Hospice groups have facilities in or near The Villages.  A physician order is required for an evaluation, but each group will visit the home and provide information and prescreening without the doctor’s order and will then get the order for you.  Usually, Hospice is appropriate for a person with a life-threatening illness. Medicare and private insurance pay; each is non-profit agency that will provide services free if someone is not covered by Medicare or insurance. 

Two service levels:

1.     Full service when patient life expectancy is 6 months or less.  Nurse visits 1-3 x week; Dr. visits 1 x month; CNA visits 1 – 3 x week; plus volunteers, social workers, chaplain, and supportive assistance.  Also provides equipment (e.g. hospital bed, walkers, portable potty chairs); crisis care with 24-hour nursing for short-term crisis.  Care is team-centered, with the patient fully participant in deciding frequency of visits. Hospice House is available for end of the road care.  Patients may be renewed for program eligibility at 6-month intervals.  Can provide up to 5 days of respite care in a nursing home if the caregiver is not available.  The focus of Hospice is on symptom control and pain management.

2.     Pathways is a program of less intensive services when the patient life expectancy is 12 months or less, but the diagnosis is a terminal illness.  This is a non-billable service, meaning no cost is involved.  Nurse and social workers visit 1 – 2 x a month, with 24-hour on-call service available. 

Note:  Medicare cannot be billed for service for more than one treatment provider per illness. If a person has more than one disease diagnosis, Hospice can bill Medicare for one disease, and Home Health can bill for the other.   

Airport or Cruise Ship Transportation:  Jim Grubbs, a licensed chauffeur, 750-6301, will provide transportation to all area airports or ports (Tampa, Orlando, Gainesville, and Sanford). He uses your vehicle for an approximate fee of $40/trip (not per person).  Jim will leave his vehicle in your driveway while transporting you.  He is very accommodating and trustworthy.  Many members have used him with positive comments.  It is great to have Jim drop you and your wheelchair/scooter at the front of the terminal, and return to pick you up from the same area, without the hassle of trying to maneuver bags, chairs scooters, etc. from a long-term parking facility.  One member has used Jim for transportation to Shands in Gainesville.  The price for that trip varies according to the time used.

Eagle Transport Services:  Curtiss Besley, provides transportation for people who are confined to wheelchairs, scooters, or need stretcher transportation.  The prices are high, but if needed, it works:  $90 for a doctor/chemo/radiation appointment locally; $120 to Leesburg, and $140 to Ocala.  This is round trip transportation.  If the chemo will take several hours they will make sure they are present to take you home.

Villages Taxi: 753-1415

Sumter County Transit: Door to door transportation for Sumter County Residents only.  Will transport residents outside Sumter County for medical appointments, too.  Fee is $1.50 for inside Sumter County, $2.00 outside the county.  Phone (866)568-6606 (toll-free) or 352-568-6683.  Can be very busy and may require a week’s notice.

Village Airport Van:  (352)241-2000; www.villageairportvan.com

Villages Shuttle :  (352) 259-9398

The American Cancer Society has a variety of programs available to Villages residents.  Their 24-Hour number is 1-800-227-2345.  Among their services:

     Road to Recovery: transportation to medical appointments, 3 business day notice requested.

     Hope Lodge: 352-338-0601, free housing service to those required to stay in Gainesville for medical treatment.  The Lodge is sponsored by Winn Dixie.  Contact the Lodge directly to determine availability.

     Look Good, Feel Better program at The Villages Regional Hospital provides cosmetology services to women suffering from cancer.  

     Man to Man Support Group, for men suffering from prostate cancer.

To access any of the programs except for Hope Lodge, whose number is noted, use the 24-hour number, 1-800-227-2345.

Meals – Operation Homebound.  This service is operated by North Lake Presbyterian Church, 753-8484.  For a fee of $3/day, volunteers deliver nutritious meals Monday through Friday.  Participants must have no other resource for meal preparation.  Someone must be home to receive the meals between 10:30 and 11 a.m. Monday-Friday.  

Groceries.  Goulard’s Grocery Service, online at www.goulardgroceryservice.com or 425-6009. The Villages delivery is every Tuesday and Friday, $25 delivery fee.  Order up to $200 of your groceries and they will deliver to your home.  Cash or credit card accepted.  Payment due upon delivery.

Haircare:  Kathleen McElwain will provide hair cutting services in your home.  352-553-0342.

Plumber:   Emery Dillard, 267-2084; Allen Dickson, 877-737-8491 or cell, 250-9235

Painter:  Scooter Paints, 750-3165

Electrician:  Geoff Rose, (321) 281-7573; Bella Lighting, (352) 748-1700

Computer Problems:  Jon Townsend, 250-1686; Mark Sheppard, 750-0040

Audio/Video Problems, Setup: Steve, 250-4571

Dryer Vent Cleaning/driveway sealing:  Desmond Harris, Covenant Janitorial, LLC. (352) 308-7457.  Has over 4,000 customers in The Villages.

Handyman Services:  Tim Miller, (352) 217-0561

Handyman Connection:  1-800-88-

Abraham Mitchell, handyman services: cell, 352-408-5437; office, 352-504-8842

2 Brothers Appliance Contracting:  751-1660; reliable and do not charge a service call fee.

Pat Cibrone, Village resident, cleans the homes of many MSVP members.  She is reliable and trustworthy, and reasonable.  Phone 350-2395.

Great resource for home health aids at a reasonable cost:  www.drleonards.com

www.Dynamic-Living.com, phone (888) 940-0605, also has some useful products.

Scooters, wheelchairs, lift devices, and repairs: 

1.     Watkins and Riggs, Inc., (352) 873-4411, email Watkins-n-riggs@earthlink.net.

2.     Central Mobility & Rehab Equipment, (352) 742-7775.

VHA (Villagers Homeowners Association) has a helping hands project where they loan durable medical equipment to residents at no cost.  They also accept donations. Contact is Bill Dyer, 751-1192.

Central Florida Chapter of the MS Society works with a group to provide home health needs from a lending closet.  Contact person is Pat Chuck, 407-478-8882.

LOVE INC has a lending closet; contact 693-2601.  They will also take donations of used equipment.

Most of the companies offering MS drug therapies have some sort of program to provide low cost ($10/month or lower) drug therapy.  The manufacturer, such as TEVA or BIOGEN provides information through your neurologist who has prescribed the drug.

There are other resources also.  The Partnership for Prescriptions program, advertised by Montel Williams, has a website where anyone can access information on how to obtain benefits.  www.pparx.org.

Another website allows you to check to see what benefits are available to you, with an interactive program.  www.benefitscheckup.org.

Grocery store pharmacies have many generic drugs for $4 (or free, as in the case of antibiotics).  While this does not help for MS therapies, reducing the costs of other drugs taken can be useful.  You can call the stores, ask in person, or check the prices online by going to the websites of the stores, clicking on the “pharmacy” department, and checking the list of low cost drugs.

Examples:   www.sweetbaysupermarket.com; www.publixsupermarket.com; www.walmart.com;

www.target.com.  Both Walgreens and CVS pharmacies have prescription saver clubs where for a small annual fee (Walgreens is $20) you may purchase generic drugs at lower costs.  CVS has a program to purchase prescriptions for $9.99 for a 90-day supply.  www.walgreens.com or  www.cvs.com.

National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) helps fund MS drugs.  www.rarediseases.org; phone 1-800-634-7207.

The Paralyzed Vets Association  (PVA) offers assistance to vets who have service connected MS.  They help with medical equipment, funding home modifications, and a variety of other services.

Lake County Senior Services: 352-326-3540; 1211 Penn Street, Leesburg, FL 34748

Marion County Senior Services: 352-620-3501; 1101 SW 20^th Court, Ocala, FL 34474

Sumter County (Mid Florida Community Services): 352-793-6111; 100 E. Dade Avenue, Bushnell, FL 33513

Department of Elder Affairs: 352-620-3457:  provides a number of services to seniors and disabled.  One important program for members is the Nursing Home Diversion Program which allows applicants to continue living in their homes or a community setting such as an assisted living facility.  The program offers coordinated acute and long-term care services to frail elders in the community setting.  While there may be a short waiting list, it is important to apply as soon as the need for services is perceived.  One of the requirements is that the applicant has a degenerative or chronic condition that requires daily nursing services. 

SHINE- Serving Health Insurance Needs of Elders:  helps to traverse the slippery road of health insurance, including assistance with choosing the appropriate insurance and drug plan, as well as problem solving health insurance issues.  Contact Betty Cunningham, 800-963-5337.  Meets several days a month in The Villages.

Respite care provides a break for those caring for another person.  Usually working for a few hours once per week, respite care providers cannot provide any physical services such as feeding, bathing, lifting, they simply will sit and visit with a person, perhaps read or play games, to allow the primary caregiver time off from caregiving duties.  Two local churches provide respite care regardless of whether someone is a church member:

1.      St. Timothy’s Catholic Church, contact Melissa Kryman at 750-4302.

2.     St. Mark’s Catholic Church, contact Mary Goedan at 874-1722

Counselors who have provided services to some of our members:

Ellen Bachmeyer, LCSW, 352-209-6211 

Joyce A. Smolarski, M.D., psychiatry, Family Care Center at The Villages, 352-753-6886

Carol Fortune, Psychotherapist, 352-638-2264

Nick Ungston, M.D., 352-787-0081

MSF:  www.msfocus.org

MSAA:  www.msassociation.org

MSLifelines.com

Caregiver.com

Caringtoday.com

www.familycaregiving.org

www.nationalmssociety.org