Attendant Care

Most of us take for granted our abilities to feed ourselves, brush our teeth or get out of bed and get dressed each day. Spinal cord injured Arkansans with quadriplegia, who cannot move their arms and legs don't take these for granted.

They must depend on someone else to perform even these most mundane activities for them. Many depend on family members. Some have public or private insurance that provide for a few hours of assistance each day. For those eligible individuals with quadriplegia who have neither, ASCC provides a long term attendant care program (LTAC). Designed to keep individuals out of nursing homes, this program allows individuals to remain in the community with the assistance of a personal care provider who assists them with basic needs such as getting in and out of bed, hygiene, dressing and meals for up to four hours a day.

In order to apply for long term attendant care from ASCC, individuals must meet a number of eligiblity requirements. A person must meet the following:

Meet ASCC's medical and financial eligibility requirements.
Have a spinal cord disability resulting in quadriplegia.
Sustained a spinal cord disablility while a resident of Arkansas.
Have been a resident of Arkansas for the past five years.
The client must accept all responsibility for recruiting, training, managing and reimbursing the personal care attendant.

Because the long term attendant care program is small and has very limited funding, it is unable to serve all eligible clients. In order to apply, please contact your Case Manager.

At times people with spinal cord disabilities who are usually independent suffer from secondary conditions that require some form of attendant care. ASCC also provides funding for short term attendant care to assist clients who need temporary care within the community to prevent institutionalization or hospitalization. In order to be eligible for short term attendant care a person must meet the following eligibility requirements:

Meet ASCC's medical and financial eligibility requirements.
Have a prescription from their physician describing the number of hours and the number of days or weeks that short term attendant care is needed.
The client must accept all responsibility for recruiting, training, managing and reimbursing the personal care attendant.

In order to apply for the short term attendant care, please contact your Case Manager.

The ASCC does not hire, train or maintain a list of personal care providers. For additional information, you may want to contact the Red Cross Personal Care Training Program, your local independent living center or your local Employment Security Division (ESD) office.