Need help in your home? It's available.

Are you disabled, or are you a senior and you just can't move around as well as you used to, and are things like household chores now a bit of a challenge for you?

Do you need someone to cut your grass or remove snow from your driveway?

Workers from the Red Cross Home Maintenance program can help.

Yes, there is a fee, but the Red Cross will try to help you with that too.

The Sault's Diane DeBello has been a Red Cross Home Maintenance client for snow removal since the winter of 2013-2014.

"They've helped me quite a lot.  I couldn't shovel snow any longer," DeBello told SooToday.

For the past year, DeBello has also had a Red Cross Home Maintenance home help worker come in once every two weeks to do some household cleaning tasks that are now a bit difficult for her.

DeBello contacted Mara DeFazio, Canadian Red Cross Sault Ste. Marie and District Branch assistant manager, who coordinates the Red Cross Home Maintenance program locally.

"I thought 'I'll call the Red Cross' and Mara (who DeBello calls 'my angel') came and helped me," DeBello said.

DeFazio made the necessary arrangements for a Red Cross home help worker to help DeBello clean her home.

Previously, the Red Cross arranged for a contractor to remove snow (lots of it over the past two winters) from DeBello's driveway.

As for home help, "I have a girl Mara sent me who's very good," DeBello said.

"She (a Red Cross home help worker named Kim) cleans all along the ceiling line, the lights, the ceiling fans, my stairs, the base boards and out from the base boards, I still can vacuum but it's getting in the corners or anything that's heavy I can't do that Kim does."

"I'm very grateful for the snow removal," said DeBello, who can drive, but needed someone to remove snow from the driveway of her home.

"What we want to do with the home maintenance program is allow seniors to remain in their homes," DeFazio told SooToday.

"We want them to be able to continue doing what they can do, so we're not striving to do absolutely everything, we want people like Diane to do what she can and we'll do the other pieces."

"It's teamwork."

"She and her home help worker Kim have a system going where 'this is what Kim does and this is what Diane does' and they respect the roles each other has and it makes life a lot easier for Diane," DeFazio said.

DeBello has the same home help worker, Kim, come in on a regular basis.

"I'm extremely grateful for that, I asked for that and I thought 'maybe I'm asking for too much,' but apparently I wasn't," DeBello said.

"We take that into consideration and we try to make the best match possible (between client and worker)," DeFazio said.

"For a lot of people it's their first introduction into community support services so we want it to be a good one."

"We want them to be able to laugh together, like Diane and Kim, because this is someone coming into your home and cleaning your home and touching your belongings so you have to feel comfortable, so we made the match and it's the same worker for consistency."

DeBello said the Red Cross home help prevents her from attempting too much cleaning and possibly injuring herself, and therefore helps her maintain a quality of life level.

Not having to clean too much and not having to shovel snow has enabled her to continue teaching art classes.

With the last two heavy winters we've had, what has the snow removal component to the Red Cross Home Maintenance program meant to her?

"I wouldn't have been able to drive my car and I wouldn't have had the money to pay for snow removal, that's very expensive," DeBello said.

"It's important to note too if Diane couldn't get out of her home (because of snow), and if she needed an ambulance, how could the  paramedics get into her home?" DeFazio said.  

"They couldn't have, so we need to make sure the driveway is clear so she can get out, go to medical appointments, get her food, go and give back to her community because it's important to her to give back."

"She's a very talented artist and needs to be able to teach that to others," DeFazio said.

"Without snow removal, the mail doesn't have to be delivered or the meter won't be read, so we clear the driveway, the exits, the steps, and around the meter so someone can come and read it."

After first contacting the Red Cross, DeBello said help came almost right away, as her needs were pressing.

"There is a waiting list, it could be a day, it could be a week, and the Red Cross gives priority to the most urgent cases and when Diane called it was urgent, she said 'I can't do this,' so that's when we prioritize and say we need to get there," DeFazio said.

Red Cross home help workers are paid employees, and contractors are paid by the organization to remove snow and cut grass, De Fazio said.

"They are all upstanding citizens, they are people that are safe to come into the home and be on the property, so we do go through criminal record checks and reference checks."

DeFazio, through recent information provided to SooToday, indicated there are 326 home help clients, 852 snow removal clients and 212 grass cutting clients.

There are 26 home help workers, 14 snow removal contractors and 10 grass cutting contractors.

Funding for the Canadian Red Cross Sault Ste. Marie and District Branch Home Maintenance program comes from the Northeast Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) and an annual allowance given by the city of Sault Ste. Marie.

"We're always growing (because of an aging Sault population), there isn't a day that goes by where we don't get a phone call where someone needs help, and that's why we're here to improve the lives of vulnerable people," DeFazio said.

"There was a waiting list, but we're on top of that."

DeFazio hired four additional workers in February and plans to hire more to meet a growing local need for the Red Cross Home Maintenance program services.

"I have one grandmother who passed away and she did have care and assistance, and I have another grandmother managing with community supports and I always think 'I need to hire people that I would send to care for my own grandparents,'" DeFazio said.

"I have that expectation that our workers treat our clients like family."

Those in need may call the Red Cross at 705-759-4547 and be referred to a co-ordinator.

Home Help costs $14.50 per hour and $28 per snow removal and grass cutting job.

However, DeFazio said if a client cannot afford that, the client can fill out a means test and the Red Cross will look at a client's needs and expenses.  Results of that means test determine if a client is eligible for a subsidy.

For DeBello, seeking help from the Red Cross was a form of following advice from her father.

"He was an American World War II veteran who fought in three theatres of war, and he told me wherever he went the Red Cross was always there to help the GIs."

"The help is awesome," DeBello said.

(PHOTO: Diane DeBello, Red Cross Home Maintenance Program client, with Canadian Red Cross Sault Ste. Marie and District Branch assistant manager Mara DeFazio. Darren Taylor/SooToday)