Living Independently

To aid Ohioans with severe physical disabilities in their quest for independence, RSC’s Personal Care Assistance (PCA) Program provides financial resources for the activities of daily living. These personal care services may include but are not limited to dressing, grooming, bathing and toileting, food preparation, feeding, medicating, turning, repositioning, transferring and assisting with ambulation.
Through the PCA program, many Ohioans have been able to find and maintain employment and have left institutions for the personal independence of their own homes or apartments.

Eligibility

To qualify for the Ohio PCA Program a person must:

• Be 18 years of age or older
• Be an Ohio resident and obtain services in Ohio
• Be severely physically disabled
• Not be receiving services from RSC’s vocational rehabilitation programs
• Need no fewer than 8 consecutive weeks of PCA and no more than 455 hours per quarter
• Have adjusted income not exceeding 600% of the poverty level
• Be capable of instructing and supervising a personal care assistant
• Be living independently or through PCA be capable of living independently
• Agree to be subject to periodic evaluation of need for continuing PCA service

Priority

Limited funds are made available to eligible individuals based on the following priorities:

1. People who have a job and need a personal care assistant to keep the job.
2. People who are actively seeking a job and need PCA to find and keep a job.
3. People in state accredited job training program who need PCA to participate in training.

Participant Responsibilities

If approved as eligible for PCA services, each program participant is responsible for the following duties:

1. Screening, interviewing, selecting, instructing and supervising the personal care assistant.
2. Paying the personal care assistant’s wages in a timely manner agreed upon by the two parties.
3. Following all obligations, procedures and payments of employer costs as required by law.

Who Can Be an Assistant?

To be eligible for employment as a personal care assistant you must:

• Agree to the terms of work;
• Perform tasks to avoid injury and discomfort for the PCA client;
• Perform other personal care tasks as agreed upon;
• Report to work as scheduled;
• Maintain the PCA client’s privacy and dignity.