The direct services offered through our main program, the ALS Patient, Family, and Caregiver Support Program, include making home visits, answering basic requests for information and referral, guiding families through intimate dialogue about disease progression, dying and death, coping with a spouse’s death, and other issues related to ALS, and the subsidy of respite services and durable goods that are not covered by insurance. We refer ALS patients to specialists in integrative therapy, such as craniosacral therapists or massage therapists, as well as counselors, attorneys, home cleaning services, and even contractors, depending on whether or not a family’s home requires construction for wheelchair access. 

When providing services to ALS families, we work with each family one-on-one. We get to know them and let them identify their own needs and their own level of desired assistance. Often our time is spent simply being present with families, and listening.

We are active listeners and are sensitive to the many stages of grief involved with facing terminal illness. This sensitivity is the essence of how we serve others. We know that each family member can be at a different stage, which is why we serve the entire network of care for each ALS patient. 

A diagnosis of ALS brings with it life-altering decisions and unforeseen challenges. Many of the physical needs that ease the difficulty of living with ALS are not covered by health insurance. This is where CCALS steps in to help with things like:

• Ramps
• Chairlifts
• Three-Position Reclining Chairs
• Bath and Shower Chairs
• House Cleaning Services
• Prescriptions
• COQ10 Assistance

Click here for a virtual tour of some of the equipment CCALS offers

Our network of counselors has specific expertise with ALS. We draw on these experts and others in planning workshops, retreats, and respite weekends tailored to individual needs. Patients and caregivers find added support when we match them to others like them to share the similarities of their experiences.

Van Service
One significant challenge when living with ALS is finding adequate transportation. CCALS owns and loans a wheelchair accessible van to our clients for both everyday needs and special excursions. Families use the van for everything from weekends away with the family to grocery shopping and trips to the movies, common experiences often taken for granted until the ability to have them is gone. 

As one woman described her friend’s predicament with ALS, "My friend had been confined to her home '24/7' for two years, except for the very occasional (and prohibitively expensive) outing. When she found out she could borrow your van, she was a changed person. She was able to: visit her sister in New Hampshire, visit her parents' grave, visit a friend by the seashore, eat out, go to the movies and go shopping --- all things she had not been able to do, and which most of us take for granted."