(Front, from left) Joan and Jim MacRae with HomeCare & Hospice 

LPN Tina Talbot (back)

HomeCare & Hospice helps 

Batavia couple stick together

BATAVIA – Home health care is helping one Batavia couple stick together.

Through a contract with the Veterans Administration, James MacRae, a quadriplegic for 39 years, has been receiving the services of HomeCare & Hospice for over a year.

Mr. MacRae is one of 7.6 million people across the United States receiving home health services, according to the National Association for Home Care and Hospice.

Two hours per day, seven days a week, a home health aide arrives in the morning to help Mr. MacRae’s wife Joan get him out of bed and ready for the day.

“After 9 a.m., Jim wants up – he’s just not a bedridden person,” said Mrs. MacRae.

Mr. MacRae has strived to live an active life since the car accident that put him in a coma for nine months and placed him in a wheelchair at the age of 23. His motorized chair is operated by a breath control tube. Adept at operating electronics, he has small computer and remote control attached to the chair help him operate a variety of household devices. His computer is voice-activated.

His wife is his caregiver much of the day, but there are some aspects of Mr. MacRae’s care requires two people. The couple was referred to HomeCare & Hospice at the end of a 2008 hospital stay.

“They do an excellent job. They‘re very well trained. It really lightens our work load,” he said.  

“It allows us to be together as a couple. The aides and nurses are willing to learn the way we do things. We’ve done it so long we know what works. They’ve bent over backwards to learn how we do things. They work with us. He gets a bath four times a week and that allows his skin care to be top notch, said Mrs. MacRae.

The pair met when Joan was working as a home health aide for another agency that cared for Mr. MacRae and she filled in for his regular aide.

“The first time was strictly professional. The second time I filled in it seemed a bit different I taught time to play dominoes; I was his arms. As we were playing dominoes we were talking and laughing, it was different. We went to an Irish dance and I pushed him in his wheelchair. It wasn’t long after that he proposed,” she said.

Mrs. MacRae no longer works outside the home, but devotes her time to her husband. The couple live in a handicapped accessible apartment. Special equipment that assists Mr. MacRae with activities of daily living takes up much of their the three bedrooms.

She added, “If we didn‘t have the agency in, Jim would have to be in a group home and we wouldn‘t be able to be together as a couple. We are blessed by being together.”

  For information on home care services, call 1-800-719-7129.