PONTIAC - The Livingston County Board gave the green light Thursday to start a new community health care pilot program which focuses keeping elderly people in their own homes.

MaLinda Hillman, Livingston County Health Department administrator, presented the plan to the board.

The program would allow nurses and county health employees to provide services, including medical checks, homemaking tasks and meal assistance, to low-income, elderly residents. The goal is to help people stay in their homes and avoid needing to go to nursing homes.

"This is not a 24/7 program," Hillman said. "A staff member will go in and provide a service and then leave."

To qualify, the client must be: at least 60 years old; ineligible for currently available home or community-based services; able to live safely in a home with the services being provided on an intermittent basis; a Livingston County resident for one year or live with a son or daughter who has been a resident for one year.

The cost for services will be adjusted by income. The maximum income one may have is $40,001.

A single individual who earns less than $18,000 a year and a couple who earns $22,000 would not have to pay anything. An individual who earns $27,001 to $36,000 and a couple who earns $31,001 to $40,000 would pay 50 percent of the service cost.

Those in between those figures would pay 25 percent of the service cost.

Money used to start the pilot program, which will last 18 months and potentially cost $1 million, will come from the interest earned on the $23 million now in the county's nursing home construction fund. The county accumulated the money from landfill user fees, but later decided not to replace the county-owned Livingston Manor nursing home.

Board member Carolyn Gerwin said she would like to see that fund held in place until the state's Health Facilities Planning Board rule on the county's application to close the home.

"This sounds like a really excellent program," she said. "I just wonder if it would make more sense to wait until the nursing home due process was done in the event that the state would tell the county that we are not permitted to close the nursing home."

Hiring and other startup procedures should take two to three months, and no clients will be enrolled during that time, Hillman said.

Hillman said the program would not interfere with any other services currently offered in the county.

Nursing home package

In another matter, the board approved a $1 million-plus package for settling benefits for 77 current Livingston Manor employees whose job would end if the home closes as planned.

The package totals $509,676 for salary, health insurance and time-off payouts. Another $554,400 is calculated for those employees taking a possible 26 weeks of unemployment benefits.