Jeanette Wolfberg is reporting in The Columbia Paper Columbia County is awaiting resolution of insurance and liability issues before it begins contracting directly with personal care aides for services to local senior citizens. County Office for the Aging Administrator Kevin McDonald told the county Board of Supervisors Health and Human Services Committee on November 14 one question is whether aides will need their own insurance and if the county will provide it. A personal care aide helps with housekeeping, cleaning, grocery shopping, laundry and basic daily living chores. To increase the pool of personal care aides available, county officials decided in September to subcontract with the aides directly, and have nurses from the county Department of Health handle their training and supervision. After the issues are resolved and the PCA subcontracting put in place, “I think the program will expand,” said Hudson 4th Ward Supervisor William Hughes. The Health and Human Services Committee is not scheduled to meet again until early next year. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.