HELP Adult Services

To help individuals optimize their independence and quality of life

In 1982, Mrs. Marjorie Kiewit, Mr. Willis Strauss and several other Omaha community leaders collaboratively started an outreach program, now known as HELP Adult Services, to help provide independence and peace of mind to elderly men and women who generally were frail, low-income and were unable to access services that they might need to remain safely in their homes. Our mission was and continues to be to help individuals attain a greater level of independence and improve their quality of life by providing health supportive services.

With more than 30 years of providing services primarily in the Omaha metropolitan area, but also in southeast Nebraska and southwest Iowa, HELP Adult Services is a Nebraska nonprofit that serves more than 9,200 individuals each year through the following two major programs: Respite Companions and the Health & medical Equipment Loan Program (H.E.L.P.):

1. Respite Companions program provides respite care services for individuals or families who have become full-time caregivers for a family member who is unable to take care of his or her daily needs and wishes to remain independent at home. Respite companionship helps to delay costly, out-of-home placement for many low- or moderate-income individuals by providing a regular, planned break or time-off for the caregiver who needs to attend to his or her own physical and emotional well-being. Respite volunteers are recruited, then go through background checks and training before appropriate placements are made with Omaha-area families. Typically the volunteers and families are matched for a minimum of one year. The Respite Companions program offers a significant cost savings to the families of between $13 and $30 per hour for similar for-profit services offered by national and local corporations. Many of HELP’s clients are providing care to family members with Alzheimer’s or some form of dementia.

2. The H.E.L.P. program provides recycled durable medical equipment, such as lift chairs, wheelchairs, hospital beds, walkers, bath transfer benches, and toilet safety frames for individuals who don’t qualify for Medicaid, Medicare or have the funds to purchase new equipment. Most items are donated to HELP Adult Services as a form of recycling by individuals and organizations who no longer need their good-quality, generally well-maintained, durable health equipment. If the items are not new, they are cleaned, repaired and readied to loan for a fee that is much lower than retail prices for a comparable item. If an individual or family cannot afford the equipment, it is loaned at no fee. The result of this program is that more than 9,000 items that are donated each year remain out of landfills, and more than 6,000 individuals obtain and utilize refurbished durable medical equipment and supplies. To our knowledge, we are the only organization that is able to serve thousands of families each year (other organizations, like churches, have a small closet of equipment).

We need volunteers for our respite services and with our Health and medical Equipment Loan Program. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Lynne @ holmquistlynne@gmail.com. Thank you for your interest!