Lawmakers Huddle: Georgia lawmakers explore ways to improve home health care

Caption

Senior travelers approach a small bus outside Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Credit: Donna Lowry / GPB News

As more Georgia families need help to care for loved ones at home, state leaders are exploring ways to better support them. 

 In this week’s Lawmakers Huddle, GPB’s Donna Lowry talks with a state senator who called for a study committee on improving family caregiver services — after navigating the struggles of caring for his ailing father. 

This transcript was edited for length.

Donna Lowry: Sen. Harold Jones II, from Augusta, thank you for joining me on Lawmakers Huddle.  

Sen. Harold Jones, II: Absolutely. Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.  

Donna Lowry: Let's talk a little bit about the study committee you have right now on home health care. What is that all about?  

Sen. Harold Jones, II: One of the things I experienced from a personal level a few years ago, when my dad had a stroke, me and my mom brought him home. And what we didn't realize was that when we did that, we were now health care workers. We were health care workers. That's exactly what we were.  

And so we're, like, sitting there saying, "Well, what do we do?" We immediately jumped on the phone and hired nurses and things of that nature. But it brought it to my attention that this is happening to so many Georgians across the state. Right now, as we talk, it's happening. Somebody's being discharged from the hospital right now, and they're taking their loved one home. And they're saying, "Now what actually do we do?" And so, it takes time sometimes for services to actually kick in.  

I'll never forget. It'd been like a week and a half, so we'd already done all the paperwork and everything. My dad, he was in the service. We had to go through the VA and things of that nature. And my mom said, "Okay, we've got approved for 12 hours. So, I was like, "12 hours, that's fine" because now I can go to work, and then I can kind of come home and do the night shift. She said, "No, it's 12 hours a week." And that's when I realized we're at a whole other level right now because that doesn't amount to anything for him. We had to then hire more private nurses. And we did that really up until the time he passed. Very expensive. 

But it really got me realizing that there's a lot of paperwork that people have to go through. I was able to navigate that because I'm a lawyer, but also because I had contacts. But how about people who don't have that? What are they dealing with? And then you may have nurses that come in, but there's still going to be times when you're there by yourself with this person that needs care. What do you do? Let's bring attention to it first. But then, secondly, let's figure out what services exist. How do we actually improve those services? What are other states basically doing? And one of the best ways of doing that is through a study committee. 

So, what I've done is I've kind of divided up the themes. So, in our first meeting, the theme was basically caregiving for a person with dementia. Also, an overview of Georgia in particular. Georgia's actually become a very older (aging) state. So, we're going to have this issue continuing. And then also, what are some of the unique things that are happening as far as — or happens — to African American caregivers, because of some of our socioeconomic problems? So, we focused on that. The next meeting that we're gonna have is talking about some of the services that are actually available, how to improve those if possible, and also how to get the word out to people that these services do exist.  

Donna Lowry: You don't know what you don't know.  

Sen. Harold Jones II: That's exactly right, you don't know. And so, the hospitals do kind of sit down with you, but quite frankly, that sit-down is pretty fast. And so, we're just trying to figure out how to actually improve that particular process and then focus on what other states are doing. Also, we'll look at the particular situation with veterans, and particularly with people who are physically disabled.  

Donna Lowry: Anything particularly eye-opening in that first meeting?  

Sen. Harold Jones II: A couple of people actually started crying, which I completely understand. They were just re-living what they had been through. Because one day your life is one way, and then the next day your life is totally different.  

Donna Lowry: Any idea what legislation might come out of this study committee?  

Sen. Harold Jones II: Yeah, I think, No. 1, we possibly— we actually have legislation now that says you can take five days’ sick leave for this. I'd love to see that basically improve and get more hours on that. I'd also like to see us actually continue with the waiver from Medicaid, but also, we're really looking to have a family leave and really be able to pay people because they're providing services.  

Donna Lowry: Legislatively, is there anything about a data bank or anything like that?  

Sen. Harold Jones II: As far as the agencies are concerned, they have a lot of processes in place, but you may not know how to navigate it. That would be another theme of our meeting — to try to figure out if we can make those websites a little bit more accessible and things of that nature.  

Donna Lowry: There is more of this interview with Sen. Harold Jones II about the home health care study committee on the Battleground Ballot Box: Lawmakers Huddle podcast. For GPB News, I'm Donna Lowry.