“This service is a life saver.”

“You guys have changed my life.”

“I am so blessed with the services. My life is so much more improved.”

“Without the help, I would have to go to a nursing home facility.”

Ask clients of Catholic Charities Maine’s Independent Support Services (ISS) about the difference the service has made in their lives and those are the type of responses you will get.

Independent Support Services is one of Catholic Charities’ longest running programs, dating to 1967. Its aim is to help seniors and other adults with physical limitations live independently in their homes for as long as possible by providing light housekeeping, helping with grocery shopping, or taking them to appointments.

“It could be dusting, cleaning countertops, putting groceries away, that kind of thing. It could be doing laundry, vacuuming, scrubbing floors, cleaning bathrooms. Changing bedding, that's often something that's really difficult for an older person or someone with a disability to do,” says Kimberly Dumond, ISS director.

Independent Support Services currently has 1,377 clients around the state. Each of them can receive up to two hours of assistance each week. Providing that help are 76 independent support workers, employed by Catholic Charities Maine, and 389 self-directed workers, often friends or relatives, whom the clients hire and pay themselves and then receive reimbursement from Catholic Charities.

Bob Gilbert of Palermo has worked for ISS for 13 years.

“I like serving people. I used to work in a hospital, and so the next best thing is to work with people to keep them in their homes,” he says. “I go home happy, knowing that they’re happy. That’s what drives me in this job.”

Albert Smith of Arundel, who has worked for ISS for about a year, agrees. He says he was a social worker who supervised caseworkers but took the job with ISS because he wanted to be able to personally interact with clients and have a direct impact on their lives.

“It’s such important work,” he says. “I see it as, if I’m not going to do it for my consumers, who is going to do it for them? Not everybody has a support network around them.”

Smith assists 17 clients, while Gilbert is paired with 15, but more people like them are needed. There is a shortage of independent support workers, and as a result, ISS has 180 current clients seeking to be paired and a waiting list of more than 1,500 people, who were referred to the agency for help.

“Maine has one of the oldest populations, and it is a very rural state. If you’re elderly and you’re living alone in a rural area and you’re not able to drive, how do you get your food? How do you get your prescriptions from the pharmacy? It’s vital,” says Dumond. “It’s also about dignity. When you’re able to be in your own home, you have a sense of dignity. You feel valued. And sometimes, we have to lend a hand to make that happen. That’s one of the cool things about Catholic Charities and our mission. We’re here to take care of one another.”

The positions are paid and can be either full- or part-time, although Dumond says they hope that someone can commit to at least 12 hours a week. Within guidelines, workers and clients come up with their own schedules. Gilbert says that flexibility is one of the many benefits of the job.

“I would highly suggest that other people think of it because it gives you a little autonomy working on your own and setting your own goals with your clients,” he says. “I would also add that it’s a very fulfilling experience for me.”