Personal Assistance sometimes called attendant care, is help with a variety of activities, such as getting out of bed, bathing or meal preparation. Not having this basic help often prevents people from living independently, working or being an active part of the community.

ENDependence Center of Northern Virginia, Inc. (ECNV) has a Personal Assistance Services (PAS) Program which provides four principle services:

1. Personal Assistant Services (PAS) Registry 
2. Department of Rehabilitative Services (DRS) PAS Program
3. Department of Rehabilitative Services (DRS)/Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) PAS Program
4. Service Coordination for the Medicaid Consumer-Directed (CD) PAS Waiver

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1. Personal Assistant Services (PAS) Registry

ECNV maintains a PAS registry, or list of individuals who are available to provide personal assistance. The registry offers consumers a good resource for finding providers, many of whom have home health care training and are willing to work at a mutually agreeable rate that can be lower than prevailing rates charged by home care agencies. The registry, which is updated on a regular basis, may be obtained by request from the PAS Coordinator. Please contact Ruchika Lalwani at ruchikal@ecnv.org for further information about PAS services.

Assistants listed in the registry have completed an application that provides information about their experience and qualifications including personal references. The applicants are then required to attend a training workshop orienting them to the philosophy of consumer-directed services before being added to the registry. The applications are kept on file for use by consumers who are recruiting new assistants.

ECNV does not conduct background or reference checks but encourages consumers to do so before hiring a provider. ECNV does not offer personal assistant management training to consumers.

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2. Department of Rehabilitative Services (DRS) PAS Program

Through the Virginia Department of Rehabilitative Services (DRS), in cooperation with Centers for Independent Living (CIL's) and consumers, the DRS Personal Assistance Services (PAS) Program was developed as a model program. It has successfully kept many Virginians out of nursing homes, on the job or with families. It helps low-income consumers who are not Medicaid-eligible, find and pay for their own providers. The DRS PAS Program offers participants the opportunity to choose, hire, fire, schedule and manage their personal assistants. The DRS PAS program now has over 200 consumers receiving services statewide. Currently, there is a waiting list due to limited funding for the program.

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3. Department of Rehabilitative Services (DRS)/Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) PAS Program

In conjunction with the DRS PAS Program, active DRS clients seeking employment or participating in school or training may be eligible for funding from the DRS/VR PAS Program. The funding for this program comes from another source and does not have a long waiting list.

ECNV provides consumers and families the information and assessment needed to participate in the two DRS programs. Once accepted into these programs, many individuals use ECNV's PAS registry to find their providers.  

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4. Service Coordination for the Medicaid Consumer-Directed (CD) PAS Waiver

ECNV provides Service Coordination for the Consumer-Directed (CD) PAS waiver. Participants in this program must be Medicaid eligible and capable of managing their own attendant care.

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