“Mom was always very involved with us as children when we were in school. She was also very social and some might say a little eccentric,” she smiles. “But 13 years ago, my daughter Katie and I moved into her...home with her, because she just wasn’t able to take care of herself properly anymore.” An official diagnosis of Alzheimer’s came in 1995, bringing with it an increasing set of challenges.

“We’ve always been a very close family, and home was the center of it all for my mom. A nursing home was out of the question. But every day when I went to work, I worried about her all day long,” Terry explains.

Several years ago following a hospitalization at Harper, Dorothy’s Visiting Nurse Association social worker hooked the Cassadys up with AAA 1-B, and with help.

Dorothy was medically and financially eligible to become part of the Medicaid Waiver program. “We now get help for her at home,” Terry says. “A care worker comes in to bathe her and get her ready to go to the Jewish Vocational Services Caring Partners adult day center. We have respite care when we need it, and help in obtaining medications and incontinence supplies, which are very expensive. Five days a week, Mom attends Caring Partners and gets such wonderful care, attention and opportunities to socialize there.”

“Although Mom doesn’t always know us by name, she knows we belong to her. She’s comfortable in her own home of 39 years, and I really feel she enjoys her life as much as she is able to. I also believe that if she’d had to go to a nursing home, she wouldn’t still be with us today.” Terry says. “I’m just so grateful that we’ve been able to work with AAA 1-B to keep my mom at home.”