Posted Dec. 15, 2009  

South Boston-based Amramp www.amramp.com, a low-cost steel modular ramp system provider, and Greenwood Village, CO.-based Homewatch CareGivers www.homewatchcaregivers.com have partnered to create HomeNest, which the companies describe as "a completely safe, affordable system of accessibility equipment and caregiving services allowing people to forego nursing homes or assisted living facilities."

HomeNest clients will utilize a system of wheelchair ramps, lifts, commodes and showers to maneuver about their own homes with ease. HomeNest's specialized caregivers receive specialized operational training on each apparatus so they can safely transfer clients from one location to another.

According to a joint press release, unlike other accessibility systems, HomeNest components can be installed in a matter of days - not weeks or months - and features a customized care plan that may include administering medications, preparing meals and assisting with grooming and other daily tasks. This system is a fraction of the cost of a nursing home and is covered by most Long Term Care insurance. HomeNest can be a comprehensive, short term solution or a long-term, rent-to-own lifestyle choice.

According to Amramp founder and president Julian Gordon, this is an opportunity for people to finally regain the mobility and freedom they may have lost as a result of age, disease or injury without the lofty price tag commonly associated with such systems.

"People want to remain in their own homes for as long as possible and the HomeNest system allows them to do just that," Gordon says. "Clients love it because they don't have to uproot the lives they know and relocate to a nursing home or assisted care facility and their families love it because the system and the caregiver's expertise ensures that their relative will be safe in the surrounding most familiar to them."

According to the 2009 Genworth Cost of Care Survey, the median costs of nursing home care in the U.S. is $74,208 per year, and can be as much as $135,000 in major cities and metro areas. The HomeNest system, including all equipment and 12-hour caregiver services, costs between $74,400 and $82,400 in the first year and approximately $62,400 per year thereafter, a savings of up to $72,600 annually, according to the companies. HomeNest provides all of the essential services one would receive in a nursing home and is often covered by long-term care insurance.

"For the majority of our clients, you can't put a dollar figure on the value of remaining in their own home as long as possible," said Homewatch CareGivers President Leann Reynolds. "We hear it all the time from our clients and their caregivers, 'My mother/father/son is begging me to do anything in my power to keep them at home.' Now we are able to provide an extra layer of care to help keep people in their homes as long as they want to be there."

Amramp and Homewatch CareGivers are currently testing the HomeNest program in a handful of communities across the country from Baltimore County, MD to Los Angeles County, CA and will expand the coverage into more markets by the second quarter of 2010.