Residents of Newtown’s Nunnawauk Meadows senior housing community may be eligible for assistance covering a number of supplemental services designed to help them live more independently and stay in their own homes.

The initiative, called the Congregate Housing Services Program (CHSP), provides a wide variety of supportive services to help eligible seniors, temporarily disabled individuals and persons with disabilities.

To qualify for services under the program, an individual must live in an authorized senior housing site like Nunnawauk Meadows, and need assistance in at least three of the daily living activities defined in the following Federal Regulations:

Eating (cooking and preparing meals);

Dressing (occasional assistance);

Bathing (assistance with getting in/out of the tub or shower);

Toileting (transferring on/off the toilet);

Grooming (assistance with washing hair, foot care);

Transferring (getting in/out of bed and chairs);

Walking (indoors and outdoors); and

Household Management Activities (assistance with housework, grocery shopping, laundry, and getting to/from one location to another for activities such as doctor appointments, shopping, errands, etc).

According to Marion Pollack, RN, a representative for the region’s Area Agency on Aging, participation in CHSP is only offered at a select group of 13 similar housing communities across Connecticut.

According to details provided by the state’s Department of Aging Services, for those individuals who qualify and agree to services under the CHSP, a care plan is developed by Nunnawauk’s Karen Tulipano, resident services coordinator, or her official designee, along with the individual.

Supportive services available on the basis of need are as follows: care planning, coordination and monitoring of services, congregate meals, housekeeping, home health aides, foot care, companion, transportation, and personal emergency response systems (Lifeline).

All services budgeted for through the program are contracted out with local providers in the community. The care plan is then brought before a Professional Assessment Committee (PAC) for approval of services as well as any recommended follow-up on a particular individual.

Subsequent six-month reassessments are completed with each active client and again presented to the PAC. The costs of services are shared by the participant, a Housing and Urban Development (HUD)/Rural Development grant, Senior Resources. and the State Department on Aging.

Nunnawauk Meadows is a state and federally subsidized facility owned by a special nonprofit corporation, Newtown Housing for the Elderly, Inc. The community currently provides 134 unfurnished residences situated on 65 acres of surrounding grounds.

Each resident is responsible for their individual heat, electricity, hot water, cable TV, and phone services.