Paul Szmal: Good morning, it's 8.39, it's FLX Morning Monday, it's Guest-O-Rama Day, so all four slots are full and joining us from Finger Lakes Community Action, Wanda Felix and Michelle Graves. The website is FingerLakesCommunityAction.org. Good morning to both of you.
Wanda Felix, Michelle Graves: Good morning. Good morning. Thank you for having us, Ted. We're happy to have you here.
Paul Szmal: We're going to talk today about the Safe Homes Program. This is a grant-funded program where people can get home repairs based not so much on the home, but on you, the occupant. So tell us about how the Safe Homes Program works.
Wanda Felix, Michelle Graves: Okay, well, this is a new program that starts October 1st, and the Safe Homes Program is a grant-funded program through Finger Lakes Community Action that's designed to provide eligible recipients free safety repairs and modifications to their homes to help provide peace of mind. Safe homes can help people remain in their homes and to be more independent. The goal of this program is to reduce the risk of falls, improve safety, increase accessibility, and to improve functional abilities as well.
Paul Szmal: So what are a couple of examples of the type of safety repairs that this program will do in a home?
Wanda Felix, Michelle Graves: Well, we can do metal ramps, wooden ramps. We can do smaller things like grab bars and handrails. We could also do walk-in showers, stairlifts, motion sensor lighting. We can replace appliances if they are unsafe. Just basically every job scope will be different, and everybody's needs will be different. But we can do a lot in the bathroom and kitchens as well, and we can even do walkways. If somebody has uneven walkways or rotting steps or rotting decks, we can replace those as well. Anything that they need to make their home safer.
Paul Szmal: What are the eligibility requirements for safe homes?
Wanda Felix, Michelle Graves: You have to be at least 55 years old or of any age with a doctor-diagnosed disability that affects your mobility or safety. You have to live in either Wayne, Ontario, or Livingston County, and you have to be income eligible. We do follow the HEAP guidelines for income eligibility, and you also can be a renter or owner with this program. If you do rent, however, we will need your landlord to sign off on any structural type modifications that we do.
Paul Szmal: I wanted to ask Michelle one question. You are an occupational therapist, so talk about how you work with the people in these programs to help them reduce their risk of falls other than what's in their home.
Wanda Felix, Michelle Graves: Sure. Basically, I will be able to go out into their homes, and I will assess the person doing any types of activities in different types of their homes, whether it be their bathroom, living room, bedroom, all the areas that they have to go to. I'll find and see how independent they are or how unsafe that they are, and then from there I can make the recommendations that are needed to put the correct things in place to help them continue to be more independent or safer throughout their home so that they don't have to feel like that their home won't ever be able to allow them to stay there long term, and we want them to be able to stay there for as long as possible.
Paul Szmal: Just so you both know, I realize this now, we've got one of you on Zoom and one on phone, and I don't think you can hear each other, so I can't hear you both, so I heard Michelle just fine just then, but you're not going to be able to hear her. So back to you, Wanda. Talk about the process of going into a home and determining what the needs are. How do you make an assessment and then recommend what work can be done?
Wanda Felix, Michelle Graves: Okay, well initially we have an intake phone call after somebody is referred. When we do the intake, we also determine eligibility. We do ask those eligibility questions that I discussed a few minutes ago, and if they are eligible, they go on our list for the occupational therapist to come in and do a home assessment. And that's Michelle. So when Michelle or our other occupational therapist, Deanna, set up the home assessment, they will go in and they are the ones that go through every single part of the home, inside and outside, and determine what the needs are, the safety needs for each individual person.
Paul Szmal: One of the great things about the Safe Homes program is it literally has no strings attached. There's no lien of any kind placed on your home. There are no residency requirements. You don't have to stay for a certain number of years. It's just immediate. If you have the need, the program will take care of it.
Wanda Felix, Michelle Graves: That's terrific. That's right. A lot of programs out there, Ted, do put liens on your homes or have stipulations where you might have to live there for several years after the modifications are done. We do not do anything like that. No stipulations, no strings attached, like you said, and we're really proud of that. I'm just really glad that we don't have to do that.
Paul Szmal: So if Safe Homes comes in and you find you can make some modifications, but maybe this resident has some other needs, how can you work with other programs or other agencies to help meet those needs?
Wanda Felix, Michelle Graves: First, we do try to do an interagency referral and see if another program within our agency can assist with the needs that we cannot help with. If we cannot, that's when we'll provide other free resources in the community. We have wonderful community partners that we can call and see if they're able to assist for emergent needs. Because we are not an emergency-type service, for more emergent needs, we would probably have to call one of our community partners to assist until we can get in there and do our part as well.
Paul Szmal: Where does this grant funding come from for this program and others? Do you have someone who just is always on the search for organizations that have grant money available?
Wanda Felix, Michelle Graves: We have a couple of wonderful folks in our agency that do just that. My supervisor, Ryan, is wonderful at finding grants. Also, my other supervisor, Greg, they do a wonderful job at researching grants that are available and applying and hoping for the best. This is just one of those grants that Ryan found that we applied for and got approved for.
Paul Szmal: I'm sure it depends on time of year and demand and everything, but typically, if someone's approved for the program, how long will it be until they can get the work done?
Wanda Felix, Michelle Graves: Well, it really just depends on the contractor, I will say. Turnaround time will probably be anywhere between a month to two months. It could be sooner and quicker. It really just depends on how many contractors we're able to secure and their availability to start the work. A lot of contractors, this time of year, are super busy, so we'll see, but we try to turn around as quickly as possible.
Paul Szmal: The program is called Safe Homes. You have to be at least 55, or you can be any age if you have a doctor-diagnosed disability affecting your mobility or safety. You have to live in Wayne, Ontario, or Livingston County. You must be income eligible following the HEAP guidelines for income eligibility. And then, if you're eligible, you can get safety work done on your home.
Call the office at 315-333-4155. That's extension 3120—315-333-4155, extension 3120. Email safehomes at waynecap.org. Finger Lakes Community Action is a division of the Wayne County Action Program, and the website is fingerlakescommunityaction.org.
We've been talking with Wanda Felix and Michelle Graves. Thanks so much for your time, and thanks for this great program for the community. We appreciate you sharing it with us.
Wanda Felix, Michelle Graves: Thank you so much for having us, Ted, and thank you, Michelle.
