Roommate program hopes to improve caregiving for people with disabilities in Minnesota
Elliott, 39, was a rental-property owner when he started Bridges, which provides group homes and services for the developmentally disabled. He became interested in such services after his younger brother suffered traumatic brain and other injuries in a 2003 car crash.
There were no group homes in
Group homes for disabled folks who meet income guidelines, plus related home-health services, can run up to
And, as I wrote in July, the state Legislature, hit with the budget-busting pandemic, declined to pass bills that would have increased the reimbursement rate to home-health agencies who pay personal-care attendants a median income of about
And there is a shortage of these home-health aides.
The crew at Bridges, based in
“We want to kill Bridges with Rumi,” Elliott said. “The current system is inefficient and antiquated. We spend billions caring for the disabled in
“[The] four-person group home was a good first step [beyond state institutions of 50 years ago]. There’s a need to push innovation harder. You are still segregated in a four-person home. You live with three other people and staff. A group home is about
Under a state waiver that now covers 100
“That’s life-changing,” Elliott said. “And the
Bridges tends to focus on individuals with high needs, who otherwise would be in a group home or even in the remaining state hospitals or a ward of
“We think of ourselves as social entrepreneurs and we’re getting more and more confident in this model,” Elliott said.
Vacancies for group-home beds are scarce. That means that clients often must leave their home community and go to group-home settings with two or three people they don’t know.
Safety concerns are allayed by background checks on personal-care applicants, plus interviews and several face-to-face meetings until it’s agreed that the parties are comfortable with each other.
About 15% of the time, the two parties live in the caregiver’s house or apartment and about 15% of the time, they live in housing that is owned or rented by the person with disabilities. Otherwise, Bridges helps them find an apartment and they split the rent.
This venture has been met with bipartisan interest at the State Capitol, including Sen.
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