Gloria St. Clair attends school, works two jobs, cares for her two school-aged children while being caregiver to her 80-year-old dad who has Alzheimer's.
"I just need some help," she said.
St. Clair, who lives in Cleveland, Tenn., is among several Tennesseans waiting for family members to receive community-based or home-based care through the state's Choices program, which started this month in Southeast Tennessee.
Choices, part of the Medicaid Waiver program, allows up to 9,500 people age 65 and older or age 21 and older with a disability the option to have in-home care or to have community-based services instead of being placed in a nursing home.
Those who qualify for Choices must require the level of care provided in a nursing home and they must qualify for Medicaid long-term care, according to the TennCare website.
In the past, no more than 6,000 people received financial assistance through program. And if one of those 6,000 people died or dropped out of the program in the middle of the year, the slot had to be held vacant until the beginning of the fiscal year in October, organizers said.
Now slots no longer are held dormant, said Sharon Kelly, owner of Sharon's Adult Services in Cleveland.
"This is wonderful," said Cheri Fletcher, owner of Cheri's Adult Day Center in East Brainerd. "Caregivers really need to have time away. They're at it 24/7."
She said she has seen some caregivers die sooner than the people they're helping.
St. Clair said she can speak firsthand of the stress that comes from being a caregiver and looks forward to her father receiving in-home or adult day care assistance. He's been on a waiting list since May 2009, when the 6,000 slots filled up.
"I'm exhausted," she said.
Her job has been threatened because she sometimes has to leave to care for her father, she said. Even though she prepares his medicine and sets it out for him to take, he sometimes drops it on the floor, she said. He has also had accidents falling, she said.
Kelly said she hears stories daily from tired family members trying to care for their loved ones.
"Can you imagine what caregivers go through?" she said.