The California Endowment announced a $643,000 grant to the Area Agency on Aging (AAA) and the North Coast Senior Services Collaborative (NCSSC) to implement a Caregiver Training, Registry and Support Project.

The three-year grant will maximize the health and safety of elders and adults with disabilities who require assistance to remain living independently.

The award was announced in the last week of August. AAA board member Beth Giraud said that the need for such services became apparent to her in the early 80s when she began caring for her elderly mother, then her father and then her mother-in-law as they needed more and more in-home support. At the time, no one trained or screened workers.

"All you would get would be a name and a phone number," Giraud said. "You would have to interview people and then depend on your gut feeling about whether they would respect your parent and take good care of them. We were going out there blindly to find services."

In 1996, members of the NCSSC identified the lack of trained in-home care providers as the greatest barrier to ensuring the health, safety and well-being of a vulnerable population. A 20-member collaborative consisting of representatives from public, private and nonprofit organizations, the group designed the three components that make up the Caregiver Project. These include care provider training, registry development and caregiver support.

In addition to the AAA and the NCSSC, Humboldt County, the Union Labor Health Foundation, and HSU's Center for Applied Sociology will participate in the new program.