License, Low Pay Have
Chore Workers Worried About 1991
BY TKRRY I'OPK
For the past 11 years. Rose Lcdct has
Uikcn care of an invalid woman but in
January she may be forced to quit.
Rose, 72, feeds, bathes and provides in
home health care 24 hours a day, with eight
of those hours funded through the
Brunswick County Department of Social
Service's CAP services, or Community
Alternatives Program.
CAP provides a chore worker to help
care for patients who are just one step
away from being placed into a nursing
home. Chore workers have operated
through the Department of Social Services
for 15 years.
Under new regulations which go into ef
fect Jan. 1, chore providers like Rose will
lose their jobs and must stop providing
home health care for patients unless they
become licensed as a nurse's aide. The
State Nursing Board has mandated that
anyone providing in-home patient care
must be licensed and must also take contin
uing education courses each year for re
newal. Chore workers must also become
certified in CPR, cardiopulmonary resusci
tation lifesaving techniques.
"No one else can go into that home and
take care of her," said Jcannettc Roach,
whose mother is Rose's patient. "1 don't
know how or what can be done, but we're
willing to do anything we can do to keep
her."
Rose has known the Roach family for 46
years. The family is upset that the state
could impose such regulations without al
lowing exceptions for people like Rose.
Although aimed more at the private com
panies that now provide home health care
in the state, the new regulations also affect
programs sponsored by county social ser
vices departments.
"Unfortunately, those regulations arc de
veloped to help people," said Brunswick
County Six'ial Services Director Jamie
Orrock. "Bui sometimes they end up hurt
ing people more than they help."
The Suite Division of Social Services
has gone on record opposing the new re
quirements and so have Brunswick
County's chore workers. However, 25 DSS
chore providers completed the 75-hour
Nurse Assistant 1 coursc offered by
Brunswick Community College in October,
said nursing instructor Connie Milligan.
"It's not a coursc 1 have on the schedule
at this time," Ms. Milligan said. "There was
some miscommunicalion at one time where
they didn't iliink they would nave to take
it." ?
Another course will be offered if DSS
" Unfortunately, those
regulations are devel
oped to help people,
but sometimes they end
up hurting people more
than they help."
?Jamie Orrock
DSS Director
requests one and if coursc instructor
Bernice Lewis can arrange the schedule,
she said.
"If they were to provide us with x num
ber of people, I'm sure they would work
something out," said Ms. Milligan
Chore providers operate through three
programs to provide care for patients who
qualify for Medicaid. Nineteen county resi
dents arc currently being served through
the department's CAP program, 53 receive
assistance through the Title 20 program
and 24 through the Personal Care Services
program. More chronically ill patients are
served through CAP.
Currently, there are 69 county residents
on the department's CAP waning list. That
list has been as high as 1(X), Orrock said.
"You're going to see it increase even more
with a growing elderly population in
Brunswick County," he predicted.
The county decided to operate its own
in-home health care service rather than
contract that program out to a private busi
ness. Programs such as CAP arc more cost
effective for families of chronic ill patients
than nursing home care, said Orrock. "It's
also more mentally rewarding to be able to
stay at home. Placing a person in a nursing
home is a demoralizing experience. You
can almost sec the cloud come over their
facc."
For the chore workers, the new regula
tions make no exceptions. There is no
grandfather clause that exempts workers,
such as Rose, from having to go through
the rigorous training to become licensed.
"It's just not a negotiable issue," Orrock
said. "We can go to the state for excep
tions, but I wouldn't be very optimistic."
Ms. Roach said Rose is the only person
that her mother can communicate with. Her
mother is on oxygen and cannot feed her
self. The Roach family subsidizes Rose for
the hours not covered as a chore worker.
Ms. Roach is afraid that switching to a new
chore provider will upset her mother and
further threaten her health.
If chore workers must rcccivc extra train
ing and take continuing education courses in
the future to keep their licenses, then they
want better pay. Chore worker Roy Holdcn
addressed the Brunswick County Board of
Social Services Monday to ask if the depart
ment could find a way to increase chore
providers* pay.
Chore providers arc paid $4.16 per hour,
or about SX.450 annually, Holdcn said.
County custodians earn Sll.WX) per year,
he said.
"It's really pathetic when someone can
push a brixim and make more money than
someone who must provide care for another
person," Holden said. "I'm not knocking the
custodians. 1 accepted the job at that pay, but
I didn't know that later on I'd have to be
come a certified nurse's aide or certified in
CPR."
Orrock said the county has three methods
for giving pay raises: across the board pay
increases; merit pay, which hasn't become a
county policy; and reclassif;cauon of state
positions as requested by the county. In
light of the new liccnse requirements, the
state needs to reclassify chore positions,
Orrock said, but that could take a couple of
years.
Shooting
BY TKRRY POPE
A Lcland man remained hospital
ized Tuesday aflcr being shol out
side a Navassa nightelub late Friday.
Timothy Terry Ballard, 30, of
Route 5, Lcland, was hit in the right
abdomen by pellets from a shotgun
blast outside of Valentino's, reported
Deputy M.S. Mason with llie Bruns
wick County Sheriff's Department.
According to the report, Marshall
McKoy Jr. of Route 4, Lcland, was
in the parking lot at the nightclub
when the suspect approached and
fired at him, hitting McKoy's vehi
cle with at least 15 pellets. Ballard,
who was a bystander, tried to run,
but was also hit by the shotgun blast.
Detective Gary Shay is investi
gating the shooting. The nightclub
is on Cellar Hill Loop Road.
Ballard was taken by private ve
hicle to New Hanover Memorial
Hospital in Wilmington where he
was admitted, Del. Shay reported.
In oilier reports on file at the
Sheriff's Department:
? Detectives have ruled that a Sup
ply man found dead in his home
died front natural causes. Lynwood
Thomas Chandler of Route 5, Lum
berton, was found dead around
11:30 a.m. Saturday at his vacation
home in West Tanglcwood. A
neighbor reported he had not seen
the victim for a number of days.
Deputy Ken Mcsscr obtained per
mission to enter the home, where he
found Chandler lying paitly on a
bed in a rear bedroom.
? Burglars vandalized and then look
an estimated $15,559 in boat motors
and tools from Mike's Marine on
N.C. 130 west, Shalloiie, sometime
late Friday, re|xirted Deputy Douglas
Todd. Thieves cut a hole in a fence
and a garage door and cut the line to
an alarm box to gain entry. A lire ex
tinguisher was sprayed inside the
building and paint was poured on the
floor, windows and merchandise.
? More than S3,7(X) in saplings and
shrubs were removed from die en
trance to River Gate Estates on N.C!.
904, reported Franklin Gore on
Sunday. The shrubbery had recently
been planted. Deputy R.J. Hoag
land's report stated.
Leaves One Injured
? Someone look a drive on the 18th
hole at Carolina Shores Golf Course
late Sunday, hut with a sports car in
stead of an iron. Fred Edwards re
ported someone drove a vehicle on
to the 18th green, spinning and slid
ing the vehicle across the turf and
taking a flag pole worth $35. The
incident occurred around 10:50 p.m.
? Brunswick County School Bus
No. 130 was put out of commission
last week when someone broke 12
of its windows while the bus was
parked at Shoreline Estates, report
ed John Keith Hcwctt. Del. Shay is
investigating.
? Someone also broke the windows
to a 19X9 Nissan owned by Robert J.
Robinson of Route 3, Supply, re
ported Del. Shay. Only one window
was spared in the larceny, which
was reported Thursday. A video
camera and tripod was Liken from
the car.
? A Navassa woman awoke Thurs
day to find her car missing. Daisy
Young Jennings of Main Street re
ported someone took the keys and a
video cassette recorder from her
home and drove off with a 1987
Pontiac Bonneville valued at
$ 12..3(H).
? Someone hauled away a utility
trailer from Holdcn Brothers Pro
duce on U.S. 17 south. Shallottc, re
ported Kelly Holdcn Friday morn
ing. The 12-foot trailer is valued at
$600, Deputy G.A. Caison reported.
? A boat and motor valued at
$1,200 was reported stolen from a
Bricklanding location, reported the
owner, Jerry Ransom of Route 4,
Bladcnboro. Deputy Don Stovall re
ported the 15-foot 1978 Carolina
flat-bottom boat had a 40-horsc
powcr motor.
? Burglars entered a home in Hurri
cane Haven between Oct. 26 and
Nov. 24, reported property owner
Richard Hearn of Sanford. A rear
door was pried open and thieves
look $759 in appliances. Deputy
W.F. Moore reported.
? Another home was entered in
Seagull Mobile Home Park, report
ed Donald Lynn Pennington of
Route 6, Shallottc, on Friday. A
lock on a utility shed was cut and
removed along with S948 in tools
from inside. Deputy Stovall's report
stated.
? Pamela Todd Strickland of Route
9, Shallottc, reported someone pried
open a glass door and damaged a
window in gaining entry to her
home and taking an estimated SS34
in jewelry and causing $700 in
damages, reported Deputy George
Stanley.
? An estimated $449 in fishing gear
and boating equipment was taken
from a home on N.C. 179 south of
Shallottc, reported property owner
Evcrctte Fritts of Lexington on
Wednesday. Deputy Hoagland re
ported someone pried open a back
door to gain entry.
? The Fisherman Cove Grill on Kir
by Road was broken into Wednes
day night, but nothing was reported
missing, reported William Eades.
Deputy Charlie Wilson reported a
hole had been knocked into a si le
uiHir to the business causing $100 in
damage.
? Norman Ray Allen of Charlotte re
ported Thursday that someone broke
die windshield to his vehicle parked
at a residence on Boonesncck Road
around 12:30 a.m. Deputy Wilson
listed the damage at $250.
WmUUs
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all winter!
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your favorite flavor.
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STAFF P*KDTO BY DOUG HJTTf *
O'Neal "Knot" Varnam of Varnamtown takes advantage of the pleasant weather Sunday to fly his
radio-controlled airplane at Holden Beach. The strand made a nice runway at low tide, though the
gulls may not have known what to make of the plane.
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