Home Repair Program In Essex County Can Help Senior Citizens

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — The following news release comes via Lifelong Montclair and Montclair Township. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site here.

Preparing for emergencies like hurricanes and snow storms usually means scrambling to stores for supplies like flashlights, batteries, water and food. If you are a senior citizen with poor eye sight, limited mobility and you no longer drive, you might feel helpless and worried about the upcoming hurricane and winter season. The Senior Home Repair Program of Essex County won’t supply you with water or food, but it can help senior homeowners and their caregivers in Essex County to prepare for emergencies and to secure their homes so that they can weather the storms ahead.

Additional funds from the Essex County Division of Senior Services have enabled local nonprofit, Life Management, Inc., to extend services to a greater number of senior homeowners and caregivers in Essex County by December 31, 2018. The targeted population for services are minority seniors with low incomes, who are living in urban areas, needing minor carpentry, plumbing and electrical repairs, or ramps, stair lifts and grab bars, to name a few types of jobs. Senior owners must be age sixty and over. Also, caregivers of any age can apply for assistance if they are helping a senior living in Essex County.

Life Management has been assisting seniors with residential maintenance for over 18 years. The Agency uses contractors that have been tested and trusted throughout the years. The Agency has been replacing and securing windows, doors, storm doors and weather stripping; installing hand rails, grab bars, motion detectors, peep holes; fixing leaking pipes and toilets; unclogging drains; replacing water heaters and faulty electrical outlets and light fixtures; repairing stairs and ceilings; and installing smoke detectors throughout the County of Essex. Those are just some of the many repairs that can been done for seniors at no cost to them.

The Senior Home Repair Program funded by the Essex County Division of Senior Services wants to assist Essex County seniors and their caregivers to prepare for emergencies like Hurricane Sandy, and dangerous snow storms. We also want to help keep seniors safe from break-ins, water and wind damage, and from falls that can be caused by poor lighting, rotting stairs, uneven sidewalks and a lack of hand rails. If you are a senior citizen who owns a home in Essex County, or are a caregiver who provides for a senior in your home, you are eligible for free home repair assistance and even a ramp to help you get outside your home.

Winter will be here before you know it… doors, windows, and AC units can be drafty and deadly for seniors. If you are a senior, or would like to refer a senior for home repair assistance, please call: 973-655-0300.

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