• To qualify for our program, there must be a caregiver and a care recipient living in the home together. The caregiver is the person who is taking care of the care recipient full-time, 24/7.
• We do not provide respite directly – we can only offer reimbursement for respite services. We also cannot endorse or recommend any particular facility or individual.
• Things our funding can be used for: paying for sitters, adult day centers, hospital stays, physical therapy for the care recipient, mental health therapy for the care recipient, summer camps, tutoring, school extracurriculars, et cetera.
• Funding cannot go towards things like therapy, cleaners, vacations, food, etc for the caregiver – funding is only for situations where the care recipient is under someone else’s care.
• There are no barriers to enrollment such as income limits or insurance requirements or being enrolled in a similar program.
• Caregivers are eligible for $600 of respite per year for the entire household. We are unable to offer $600 per care recipient.
• We operate under several different funding fiscal years, so re-application times vary. We reach out to caregivers several months before their fiscal years end to let them know if they have funds left over.
• Caregivers can hire anyone to help with their loved one in order to relieve the caregiver – this is called the respite provider. Caregivers can use individuals or facilities as their provider.
• Caregivers pay for respite services up front and the TCC will reimburse those funds using a voucher system. As of this year, we have switched from a check system to direct deposit; as part of enrollment, we will send you a direct deposit form to fill out (we also require a voided check).
• Reimbursements will arrive the following month after the voucher is received.
• The TCC can pay facilities (camps, day cares, etc) directly – we just need an invoice from the facility. Please let us know if you would like us to pay the facility directly. (We send these payments as checks.)
• Individual respite providers cannot live in the same household as the caregiver and care recipient, and must be over the age of 18.
• The respite provider does not have to have any particular skills (First Aid, CPR, etc).
• In order to be fully enrolled, caregivers must provide a proof of diagnosis dated within the last three years. This can be a medical form, a health care statement from a home health agency, a doctor’s office printout or a healthcare provider letter. The diagnosis itself can be more than three years old, but the document that shows the current diagnosis will need to be dated within the last three years and contains the name, date of birth, and diagnosis of the care recipient.
