Bluegrass PACE Care Helps Kentuckian to Walk Again

Dec 15, 2023

Barbara Harris, current participant in Bluegrass PACE Care, believes that enrolling in PACE is the best decision she ever made for her physical, mental and emotional health. At the Bluegrass PACE Center, she’s found a new community outside of her home, made new friends and receives patient-centered medical care. As a result, she’s learning to take her first steps post-amputation.

“The Bluegrass PACE Center is wonderful because I love my home and I want to be there, but at the same time, you get tired of sitting in the house with nowhere to go and nothing to do,” Harris said. “So they pick you up and bring you to the Center where you have all day to socialize, can eat a good meal and get your medicine.”

Transportation is provided by the Bluegrass PACE program to and from the Center, as well as to and from any appointments arranged by the PACE team. At the PACE Center, participants receive primary care, therapy, meals, recreation and personal care, as well as meals and the opportunity to engage in social activities.

At the Bluegrass PACE Center, participants receive the full continuum of medical care, social care, long-term services and support needed by elderly adults so they can live safely in their homes. Upon enrollment in PACE, participants and their caregivers meet with an interdisciplinary healthcare team that includes doctors, nurses, therapists, social workers, dietitians, personal care aides and van drivers among others. This team develops an individualized care plan that addresses the participant’s needs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

“Bluegrass PACE Care has improved my quality of life by being able to get out of the house and socialize,” she said. “I feel younger, and I haven’t had this much get up and go in quite a few years,” she said.

Several years ago, Harris’s leg was amputated due to poor circulation. She was unable to walk because her prosthesis was too heavy and didn’t fit correctly. The team at Bluegrass PACE Care measured Harris for a new prosthesis and the therapists are working to strengthen her legs to prepare her to walk when the new leg arrives.

“Bluegrass PACE Care is having a new prosthetic leg made for me, and they’re also giving me therapy to learn to walk with it, which is a big help,” she said. “I’m proud of my progress because the other leg, I couldn’t use; it was just a door stopper.”

Bluegrass Care Navigators was the first PACE program to enroll participants in Kentucky and currently serves Fayette, Jessamine, Franklin, Woodford and Anderson counties; participants must live in these counties to qualify.

For those with Medicaid and Medicare, PACE services are 100 percent covered. For Medicare only, private insurance or private pay, contact Bluegrass PACE Care to discuss associated fees. To qualify, PACE participants must be aged 55 or older, qualify for a specific level of care that may otherwise require a nursing home, live in the service area of Bluegrass PACE Care, and be able to continue to live safely in the community with the help of PACE services.

To schedule a free consultation with a member of Bluegrass PACE Care to discuss eligibility and services, ask questions, tour the PACE Center and meet the team, please call 859.687.9410, toll free at 866.422.6722 (TTY 800.648.6056). For more information, visit bgcarenav.org/PACE.

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