These Fall River home caregivers can help shield your loved ones from COVID — here's how

Audrey Cooney, The Herald News
·2 min read

FALL RIVER — As the latest COVID surge forces many to re-evaluate their daily activities, a local agency helps families care for aging loved ones without leaving their homes.

“We’re getting a lot of referrals. It’s a busy time,” said Bob Gaw.

Gaw, a Fall River resident, co-owns Preferred Residential Network, a home nursing agency that trains people to care for their loved ones, with his wife and daughter. The company contracts with MassHealth to provide the service to people receiving healthcare coverage from the state.

They train people in how to be at-home caregivers for a relative or friend, covering skills like helping a person with mobility issues get out of bed or walk, bathe, dress or use the toilet safely. The caregiver can then be compensated for their work through MassHealth if the person qualifies.

From left, Catherine Gaw, RN program director for Preferred Residential Network, Robert Gaw, director of operations, and Megan Gaw, LICSW, director of social work.
From left, Catherine Gaw, RN program director for Preferred Residential Network, Robert Gaw, director of operations, and Megan Gaw, LICSW, director of social work.

“It is a way for MassHealth to help people age in place in the comfort of their own home,” Gaw said, adding that it also helps lower the number of care facility placements that state must pay for.

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Caring for elderly parents

Barbara Figueiredo, a Fall River resident, started using the agency to care for her aging parents several years ago.

They needed help with “everything,” she said, from daily chores and cooking to bathing and help getting to doctors’ visits.

When the pandemic struck, the ability to keep her parents in their home became invaluable.

“I kept them very isolated,” Figuerido said.

She would take her parents on car rides and sat in their front lawn to get fresh air. Preferred Residential typically sends a nurse and social worker to visit clients once a month; they switched to greeting her parents from the door and conducting an evaluation from their cars over the phone.

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Figuerido’s father, Manuel DeCosta, died of COVID-19 last year, on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. He was 91.

She said she’s certain he contracted the virus from a physical therapist, not from Preferred Residential, who visited the home wearing a face shield but not a mask and who tested positive two days after visiting.

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“My father had respiratory problems, so we knew if he caught it he’d never survive,” Figuerido said. “We kept them very isolated.”

Figuerido said the heart-wrenching experience has driven home the importance of keeping her elderly parents safe and isolated.

“I’m not afraid because I know I have someone I can call,” she said.

Audrey Cooney can be reached at acooney@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River agency trains families to care for elderly amid COVID surge