Elder Care On The Air™
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Elder Care On The Air™
Aging in Place and Assisting the Disabled to Live at Home
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In this episode of Elder Care on the Air, host Michael Amoruso welcomes Charles Italiano, Esq., Deputy Executive Director of Westchester Disabled on the Move. Together, they explore what it truly means to age in place—and how individuals with disabilities can be empowered to live independently at home and in their communities.
Charles shares insights into WDOM’s mission, services, and real-world impact—highlighting how their organization supports people of all ages and abilities, whether facing lifelong disabilities or age-related challenges. Learn about the referral process, community partnerships, and the essential role of nonprofit support systems in fostering independence, dignity, and choice.
You've lived well, you've worked hard to make your place in this world. Your dignity and security are earned and well deserved. Or maybe you have a loved one who needs you more than ever. Well, we can help you help them plan life better. Amaruso and Amaruso. Welcome
SPEAKER_01to Eldercare on the Air, a weekly radio show with guests in the fields of eldercare, special needs, financial services, independent living, and yes, people just like you. Where we will empower you to make sound choices when you're faced with an eldercare or special needs crisis. My name is Michael Amoruso, an elder law and special needs attorney with Amoruso & Amoruso in Rybrook, New York, which services clients in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. You're at our new home, 107.1 The Peak. But I do encourage you to go onto our website, eldercareontheair.com. That's eldercareontheair.com. Click on the radio show tab you see. And just simply download the episode you'd like to listen to. You see, this show is designed to arm you with the knowledge and tools that you need to make sound choices to help you or a loved one age in place. If you have any questions or would like to hear topics on future episodes of Eldercare on the Air, please send us an email at info at eldercareontheair.com. That's info at eldercareontheair.com. In this episode, I'm happy to bring to you another resource for our disabled population out there. As you know, this show is really about providing resources to allow those to age in place, wherever that may be, whether it be your home, assisted living, or another facility-type setting, let you age where you want to age. Well, part of the disabled population, you don't necessarily need to be older. You know, yours truly is a good example of that. I'm disabled, but I like... Make sure that I can age in place. So I'm happy to bring you a resource. And here is Charles Italiano, who is the Deputy Executive Director of Westchester Disabled on the Move. Charles, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_04Thank you, Mike.
SPEAKER_01It's great to have you here. Why don't you first talk about your agency, Westchester Disabled on the Move. What's your mission? Who do you reach out to to help? What type of entity are you? Go ahead. At
SPEAKER_04WDOM... We exist to help people with disabilities to live independently in the community as opposed to a nursing home. And we do that with respect to any type of disability, whether you were born with it, acquired it somehow during your life, or merely age into being unable to take care of yourself the way that you used to. We are there to help you live independently. according to how you choose to.
SPEAKER_01And the acronym you used a few minutes ago, that's Westchester Disabled On The Move? Correct. WDOM. WDOM. Colloquially, yes. No, that's fine. That's fine. Just want to make sure the audience understands what that acronym is. Right. So... Tell us, are you a private organization? Are you
SPEAKER_04public? We are a 501c3 nonprofit organization, and we receive funding through various sources, such as the New York State Education Department, other nonprofits, the County Board of Legislators, other... other nonprofits dedicated to helping people with disabilities live independently, and also some private donations.
SPEAKER_01And why don't you tell me how you service individuals? How do folks find you, and what's the process once they come to you?
SPEAKER_04Well, people have referred to us as the best-kept secret in Westchester County. We receive a lot of referrals from the Department of Social Services, elder planning attorneys like you, word of mouth, and the Department of Senior Services and Programs, places like that, people who know about what it is we do. And oftentimes people will know what they need, and other times we'll have to do an assessment and ask questions of people when they come to us.
SPEAKER_01And walk me through that process. So somebody's referred to you. Right.
SPEAKER_04So we get a referral. Someone calls us up and they'll say, you know, hi, you know, my mother is getting a little older. Something may or may not have happened. Hip replacement or stroke. Something that caused a sudden decrease in independence. And they're not exactly sure where to go or what to do to get some help for that particular person in their life. Get help with simple things that many people take for granted. Bathing, dressing, getting back and forth to the restroom, cleaning up around the house. Just things that everybody has to do to live. And what we'll do is we'll figure out what they need and we can get them through the entire process A to Z for... getting the right kind of health insurance, getting the services and equipment that they need in place, and just helping them remain independent and living according to their own choices.
SPEAKER_01And how does somebody pay for your organization's services?
SPEAKER_04All of our services are completely free.
SPEAKER_01That's fantastic. How is that managed?
SPEAKER_04Well, it's managed because... we receive funding to provide various types of services. Those services include Medicaid enrollment, both MAGI and non-MAGI.
SPEAKER_01What is MAGI? Because the audience doesn't know what that
SPEAKER_04means. Okay, so MAGI is Modified Adjusted Gross Income. And that is the type of Medicaid you will get if you go through the New York State of Health, also known as Obamacare for Medicare. lack of a better way to describe it. And with that, there are no resource tests. They just look at your income.
SPEAKER_01So when you say no resource test, what you mean is there's no limitation of the amount of assets you're allowed to have to qualify.
SPEAKER_04Right, exactly. You don't have to attest to what you own or anything else. They just look at your income. And that is the sole determinant of what type of insurance. you will get through the New York State Health Marketplace. We also have Medicaid enrollment for the aged, blind, and disabled. So if you're over 65 or have a disability or blind, that is the type of Medicaid you need to get chronic long-term home health aid care. That is one of the services we do. We have another program called community health advocates, and that is largely a catch-all program for health insurance issues. We can help people join a pooled trust to shelter their excess income for Medicaid purposes, meaning that you can use that excess income to pay your bills and your living expenses rather than pay it as a premium to Medicaid or a managed care plan. And we also have the ICANN program, which is New York State's ombuds program to Medicaid managed care. We will walk you through the process for the initial home care setup. And we also provide advocacy for people in managed care. Do you get enough home care? Did you ask for additional services or equipment and your plan denied you? We can help with appeals or fair hearings. and generally help you navigate the Medicaid managed care system. We also have a navigator program to help you with the New York State of Health, facilitated enrollment for the aged, blinded, and disabled, which is the program that helps people sign up for Medicaid for home care, which we already discussed. We have various other programs too to help people find affordable and accessible housing, which is a big part of what we do because living or remaining in the community, a big part of that is having a home, a place to live in the community.
SPEAKER_01That's safe so that you can age in place.
SPEAKER_04Exactly, so you can age in your home in the community.
SPEAKER_01Interesting. Now, Charles, your organization, do you tend to focus in terms of population? Is it really the age-blind and disabled population? Over 65 or you have quite a bit of a population under the age of 65.
SPEAKER_04Right. We are one of the few. There are a lot of agencies in and around Westchester that serve people with disabilities, but those agencies tend to focus on one or two disabilities, specific disabilities. We are unique because we accept any kind of disability, any age person. If you have a disability and you require our services to live independently, we are there to help you. We do have younger people in their 20s and 30s. I've had clients as old as 105. So anywhere in between. If you have a disability and you need assistance, we are there to help you.
SPEAKER_01Now, are you there to help folks find maybe a group home for a loved one?
SPEAKER_04Not necessarily, no. We focus on keeping people out of institutional settings and in their own home in the community.
SPEAKER_01So if you have somebody that maybe needs a lot more supervision, do you work with another organization to help that population?
SPEAKER_04It depends on what kind of supervision you're referring to. If someone has dementia and they wander or... get themselves into a dangerous situation and need someone to watch them or supervise them, we do case management or service coordination for people that need that, and we can get them the 24-hour care that they need so that they can stay in their own home and not be in a nursing home.
SPEAKER_01And what about somebody that is developmentally disabled and younger?
SPEAKER_04In that situation... we would probably end up making a referral to the office for people with disabilities because they would be able to do that better than we would. Information and referral is part of the service package that we offer.
SPEAKER_01Interesting. So Charles, why don't you tell the audience how they can find your organization?
SPEAKER_04Well, we are located at 984 North Broadway in Yonkers, New York, and we have a website called WDOM.org. And our phone number is 914-968-4717. Excellent.
SPEAKER_01We are going to take a quick commercial break. If you missed any part of this episode, just log on to our website after the live broadcast at eldercareontheair.com. And you can listen to Charles talk about Westchester Disabled on the Move. It's an organization that's been around for for what, about 41 or so years? 41 years. 41 years. And I've got to tell you, I've heard of you, but it's nice to get to know your organization and really expose you out there to the rest of the community. So we'll be right back after this quick commercial break.
SPEAKER_00Amoruso and Amoruso LLP advises clients on how to obtain public benefits, including Medicaid, and more importantly, how to protect and preserve their assets, whether they be modest or significant. Find Amoruso and Amoruso online at eldercareontheair.com. Amoruso and Amoruso, a 107.1 The Peak Ask the Expert partner.
SPEAKER_03Amoruso and Amoruso, empowering you to care for the ones you love.
SPEAKER_01Welcome back to Eldercare in the Air. I'm Michael Amoruso, and I'm so happy to have you join our show again. And today, this episode is really geared towards another organization that's been around for a very long time called Westchester Disabled on the Move. And they are really here to help people that really need help and maybe can't afford it to get that assistance through private entities. And that's what Westchester Disabled on the Move is really all about. And I've got Charles Italiano here with me today. He's the Deputy Executive Director. And again, Charles, welcome to our show. It's great to have you here. And if you missed any part of this show, the first half, just log on to the website at eldercareontheair.com after this live broadcast. And listen to Charles talk about his organization, how they could be a resource to those of you out there that may need it. Now, Charles, we've been talking about the different types of population that you serve. And I get the impression that you really help focus, your organization really focuses on helping people manage their activities of daily living, which typically is eating, dressing, bathing, toileting, and transferring, that act of getting in and out of bed or in and out of a chair. And by offering assistance in that regard in an appropriate community setting, it can help keep them out of facilities.
SPEAKER_04That's exactly correct. That is our forte, helping people manage their activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living, such as shopping, transportation, issues like that. That is where our strength lies. And also related to dementia, the safety monitoring and supervision issue.
SPEAKER_01Very good. And Charles, I hate to assume anything, but I'm sure there are cases that you may be contacted by an individual or a loved one, say, hey, you know, I'm in a facility right now. I'd like to get home. We call that transitioning. Correct. Is that something that your organization helps with?
SPEAKER_04That is something we are very passionate about, getting people who do not need to be in a nursing home out and into their own home in the community. Yeah,
SPEAKER_01how do you facilitate
SPEAKER_04that? Okay, so we have young people and older people as well. One of our success stories is a person who had a motorcycle accident and became an amputee, and he was in a nursing home in his 20s and wanted out. So what we were able to do is find him affordable and accessible housing, We got him a housing voucher, found him a place to live, furnished his apartment, set him up with the home health aid that he needs to be able to accomplish his activities of daily living. And he's been living in the community now for years. He works, he drives, he has an adopted vehicle. And yes, we were very happy to help him. That's something we do quite frequently. We had another person who was in a nursing facility for decades, and we recently got him out. And he now lives alone. He has 12 hours of home care each day. We were able to get him a wheelchair. He has a motorized wheelchair on the way. And he is happy. He's making his own choices. He's not told when and what to eat and when to go to bed, when to wake up. He makes his own decisions, and he's happy, and we helped him do it.
SPEAKER_01Well, that's fantastic. So why don't you talk about the organization itself because I presume you're not the one that's doing this. You have a staff that does it. You have care managers on staff. Tell us about the organization.
SPEAKER_04We're a pretty small agency. We're not tiny, but we all wear many hats. So I actually do get involved in a lot of the work. Interesting. But no, we have care managers. We refer to them as service coordinators. And we have people working in the programs that... When there's a transition from a nursing home, you need to set... There are a lot of pieces that go into this. Does the person have the right type of insurance? Does he have the voucher in place to be able to afford to live in the community? Does he need to go through the New York Independent Assessor to enroll in a managed long-term care plan to get the home care that he needs? We have several different programs that all come together to work on these various aspects that a person will need to live independently in the community. So yes, our staff gets involved heavily with each transition or diversion, which is keeping someone from going into a nursing home in the first place.
SPEAKER_01And how does your staff... get involved in a transition case? Does the nursing home reach out to you? Does the individual reach out to you? How does that get prompted?
SPEAKER_04It actually happens both ways, right? The program called Open Doors, they go into nursing homes and inform the people that work there about this program, and people in the nursing home can sign up for the Open Doors program, and that that program connects people to the services that they need, such as getting a housing voucher, the Olmstead Housing Subsidy Program, going and getting the home care assessments from the New York Independent Assessor to set up the home care you need, finding a place to live, and also through word of mouth, we get a lot of referrals.
SPEAKER_01So Charles, let me ask you this question. What about the situation where someone's residing out in the community and they just feel like their home or apartment is just getting away from them? They have all the good intentions to make sure that things are clean, that they're continuing to do their daily routine, but they're just having some trouble and they need some assistance. That's part of aging in place. So how can your organization help someone in that situation?
SPEAKER_04We come across that very frequently. Someone will call up and explain just that to us. I can't do things I used to do. I need some help. I have a lot of trouble getting in and out of the bathroom, in and out of the shower. And... They might have a lot of misconceptions about what benefits they are entitled to regarding Medicaid eligibility specifically. And what we can do is we can assess the situation and help them apply for Medicaid. And if it's beyond our capability, if it's a little more complicated, we would refer them to an elder planning attorney. But a lot of the times people simply just have a little bit of excess income and we can help them deal with that. They're a little worried, oh, the Medicaid limit is $1,800. I'm not going to be able to get it because my income is $3,000. Well, no, that's not necessarily true. So let's take a look at the situation. We'll walk you through everything and we'll apply for Medicaid for you. So
SPEAKER_01Charles- You know, you just touched on a concept and used the term excess income. I just want to explain this to the audience a little bit. So the $1,800 number or so Charles was referring to would be sort of the maximum amount of income you're allowed to have and still qualify for Medicaid services. Anything over that, as you said, is deemed as excess income. Typically, that's got to be spent on your care first before Medicaid will pay a dime towards your care. An exception to that under federal law, which the state also follows, is that you're allowed to utilize something called a pooled income trust. And with a pooled income trust, you can take that excess income and divert it to the pooled income trust. And then it can actually be used instead of on your care, it can be used with any community bill that has your name on it. And that could be your real estate taxes, could be utility bills, a phone bill. anything to help you stay in the community and not have a situation where you're forced out of your home. So that's one of the beauties of that tool of a pooled income trust. So how do you guide them through that discussion?
SPEAKER_04Well, we will explain how a pooled trust works, just as you did, and we will give them the options that are available, and we will look and see... how many bills they might have, how much income we're talking about. Do you need less or more guidance? And we will do our best to offer the proper guidance to them, help them fill out the paperwork, and if necessary, help them fill out a disability application to the State Disability Review Unit because if you are not receiving SSDI, Social Security Disability, you're not technically considered disabled and you have to apply for the disability certification for the pooled income trust to be affected. So we will help with that. And then once a person's Medicaid is in effect, they've applied for it, they've dealt with their excess income, we will help with the next step. And that is typically getting involved in a managed long-term care plan And it involves a few different assessments. We'll help set up the appointments. And we will offer our guidance on MLTC, Managed Long-Term Care Plan enrollment, and what to expect and just generally navigate the system.
SPEAKER_01Excellent. Charles, I can't thank you enough for being on our show. Again, why don't you tell the audience how they can find your organization?
SPEAKER_04Once again, our phone number is 914-968-4717. And you can find us on the web at WDOM.org. And you can send us an email at info at WDOM.org.
SPEAKER_01Excellent, Charles. Thank you again. And, you know, one thing that we often get here at my office are phone calls from folks that are already on Medicaid. And they ask if maybe our organization can help people additional issues that may be popping up as a result of them being on Medicaid. And oftentimes it's just not appropriate. Financially, it's just not feasible. We do do some pro bono work, but there's a limit to what we can do there. That's where an organization, Charles, like yours really comes in handy because you are funded by the local community, the state governments, and you are Your mission is to be here for those just like that, that need immediate care, maybe can't afford the assistance from some other private agency out there. So you're in a wonderful niche market there to service these individuals. And one of the reasons why I wanted to highlight you guys on the show.
SPEAKER_04Right. Our services are always free and advocacy is very important to us. So, you know, please do call us.
SPEAKER_01Well, Charles, thank you again. And for all of you out there, it's just another resource, another tool in your statute as we all try to age in place. I'll talk to you all next week. Be well, be safe, and take
SPEAKER_03care.
SPEAKER_00Amoruso and Amoruso LLP and Rye assists clients with comprehensive estate planning and vital asset preservation tools that reduce financial risks of long-term care. Amoruso and Amoruso, a 107.1 The Peak Ask the Expert partner. Visit eldercareontheair.com for more details.