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HomeLink brings help to seniors

HARC matches clients who need to learn job skills with senior citizens who need companions and help with chores.

By KAREN DAVISON
Published December 23, 2005

CARROLLWOOD - Viola Lois Utley's troubles started 10 years ago when she stepped onto a chair to hang drapes.

She fell, hitting both knees. She worked through the pain for five years, until scar tissue from surgery left her with knees that don't work so well.

"I can't do too much bending," the 62-year-old said. She walks with a cane but sits in a wheelchair because her couch is too soft and low. Last time she sat on it, she couldn't get up.

Her disability checks don't stretch to home repairs. Keeping up with her house and yard in north Tampa proved too much for her. After working two to three jobs at a time her whole life, she needed help.

"I refuse to give this house up," she said.

Richard Lilliston, CEO of the Hillsborough Association for Retarded Citizens, knew of too many people like Utley. He had a solution in mind: match seniors who need a hand with HARC clients who need job skills.

The result: a program called HomeLink, in which people with developmental disabilities visit seniors who want companionship and help with chores, yard work and errands.

As far as Lilliston knows, it's the only program of its kind in the country.

Betty Ashley, 25, serves on Deidra Bass and Wanda Simmons' team.

"I do companionship. I like to clean. I like to vacuum. I like sweeping and dusting in the house," she said. "I like the ladies. I like to talk to them. When you talk to them, it's relaxing for them."

On a recent visit to Rita Fulco's north Tampa home, Ashley and her team worked inside the house, while a second team that only takes care of yard duties worked outside. Fulco, 77, lay in bed in her pink nightgown and purple socks.

"I didn't even know there were such things," Fulco said of the program.

While she talked, Ashley cleaned the bathrooms and mopped the floors. Robbie Sherouse, 22, took out the trash, dusted, cleaned the top of the refrigerator and washed the stove.

"I think it's great," said Fulco, whose husband died last January. "When you're alone all week and you have nobody. ... "

In 2004, after three years of applying for grants from various sources, HARC got a one-year, $125,000 grant to fund HomeLink from AmeriCorps through Volunteer Florida. HARC received a second yearlong grant in September.

To make the whole thing work, HARC needed an agency to refer seniors into the program. HARC's CEO, Lilliston, talked to most of the senior community organizations, he said, but they agreed to let his clients work only in yards, not inside homes.

"Most of the senior agencies didn't see it as a viable option," he said.

Then he talked to Linda Cortese, director of ElderNet Services at the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay, located on Bearss Avenue in Carrollwood.

She liked the idea.

HomeLink also picks up seniors from other sources.

Gauging the results of companionship and the weekly visits isn't so easy.

Thomas spoke of a senior in last year's program who "was on the verge of being put into assisted living. She was able to remain in her own home. She passed away in her own home," she said. "It gave her hope. How do you track that?"

The same problem holds true for capturing all of the successes of the HARC team members.

Team leaders can note clients' improvement in time management, and their progress in basic math and writing, money management and communication skills - all of which they work on every Friday at the HARC Life Achievement Community Care Center at 2714 W Kirby St. in Carrollwood, near Waters and Armenia avenues.

But the leaps in self-esteem and confidence are tougher to document, though they translate into a transition into the community. Last year, seven of the 10 HARC clients in the program got jobs.

Betty Ashley's goal is to work for a veterinarian or a pet store.

"I like to take care of the animals," she said. "I like to clean the cages. I like to feed the dogs and cats."

Ashley, who lives in a group home, is saving all of her biweekly living allowance from HomeLink for a house and car. She wants to live in the country or in Brandon.

"I want to build my own barn," she said. "I dream about that."

Ashley has lots of dreams. Some involve Robbie Sherouse, her teammate, whom she met three years ago at HARC.

"One day I'll marry him," she said.

For her November birthday, Sherouse bought her red roses. On a recent date, "we went to her mom's house and caught the bus to the Brandon Center," he said. He lives with his grandparents in Mango.

Sherouse hasn't pinned down his job goals yet, something HomeLink will help him do by next August. He left his job as a stocker at a small discount store because "they didn't show me where everything went."

HARC tries to avoid difficulties like that. It will provide these clients with a job coach who will initially stay with them on the job.

"They just need a little extra boost," Thomas said.

Viola Lois Utley, the woman with the troublesome knees, got connected to it through her Meals on Wheels driver.

"When she told me about this, I almost fell," she said.

The HARC team members cut the overgrown grass in her front yard and banished the snakes from it.

"They do such a fantastic job," Utley said. "I'm beginning to fit in the neighborhood."

They decluttered and cleaned her living room. The sofa, once covered with papers, is clear.

"Thanks to them, I can say, "Come in and have a seat,' " she said. "It's taken a burden off me. If they hadn't helped me, I don't know where I'd be."

As the year progresses, the HomeLink staff will look for "natural support" - churches, neighborhood kids or family - to take over HomeLink's duties with each senior.

Utley doesn't need to worry. Seniors without support will stay with the program next year if funding exists. It will be Lilliston's job to find the funds.

"People just look at (HARC clients) with one role - disabled - and that requires them to be taken care of. That's not the reality," Lilliston said. "They can go out and help society."

[Last modified December 22, 2005, 09:27:09]