Faces of affordable housing: Meet Kathy Cass of Laconia

Editor’s note: Affordable housing is about everyone in our community being able to afford a home that supports good physical, financial, and emotional well-being. This occasional series produced by Lakes Region Community Developers, Lakes Region Community Services, and Laconia Housing features stories of people who live in affordable housing in the Lakes Region to demonstrate the diversity of people who thrive in affordable housing and how it enriches our communities.

Originally from Athens, New York, but from Colebrook at heart, Kathleen "Kathy" Cass is a resident at Laconia Housing’s Tavern Inn Apartments. After enduring difficult health and housing issues, Kathy has finally found a forever home where she gets all the care she needs while living independently and being close to loved ones.

Kathy’s story is one of strength and resilience. A single mother for a long time, Kathy dedicated 15 years of her life to working with the developmentally disabled population, inspired by her son, who lives with disability. During her time at work, she endured a severe back injury and, unfortunately, had to retire after her third back surgery. With the loss of her main income source and after the passing of her mother, Kathy moved in with her sister in Concord. What she thought would be the solution to her changing life was just the beginning of a series of challenges she would face.

In August 2018, Kathy became sick with a serious illness. To make her condition bearable, she was put into a medically-induced coma lasting most of the time until her recovery in March 2019. Letting her strength and her will to overcome shine through, Kathy’s symptoms subsided, and her health improved. However, during the time Kathy was ill, she incurred many expenses and medical bills, which caused stress. Kathy’s daughter came to the rescue and moved in with her mother to help care for her and pick up some of the unpaid bills. The local visiting nurse association also aided Kathy with her rehabilitation.

Refusing to surrender to life’s twists and turns, Kathy began making calls daily to search for a place where she could win back her life and sent in many applications — with no luck — all while spending the days with her son and the nights with her daughter in her basement studio apartment. Kathy’s research for affordable housing put the wheels in motion for positive changes. In July 2022, Christina Shepard of NH Health Families called the director of nursing at Laconia Housing Home Health Agency, and the process of finding Kathy a home was initiated. Within six weeks, she was able to move into her own apartment at the Tavern Inn Apartments in Laconia and start a long-overdue, bright, new chapter.

“I am very happy to have found this place. I love my nurse, Cathy, who visits me weekly. I am close to my family, whom I can spend time with. I am grateful to live as independently as I can, having my health care needs met, without feeling that I am imposing on someone else’s house. I am so grateful for the entire staff at the home health agency,” Kathy said.

Kathy’s daughter, who had put everything on the back burner to help her mother, said, “It is such a relief that my mom is being taken care of. I am eternally grateful for the services she is receiving. I can be her daughter and she can be my mom. It is the greatest gift you could give to me. I can breathe again.” She can now enjoy spending quality time with Kathy without worrying about her mother’s health or how to make ends meet.

This family’s story had a happy ending and shows how affordable housing services can help individuals overcome hardships and return to living independently and with dignity, surrounded by a network of family and community support. For all who have similar stories to Kathy’s, or who have endured similar challenges, Laconia Home Health Agency, owned by Laconia Housing Authority, is a Medicaid-certified agency with the mission to allow a person to live in their home independently. The agency provides services to these individuals to assist them with daily living activities like showering, dressing, reminders to take scheduled medication, housekeeping and laundry. Without these services, or the ability to fulfill these tasks, seniors would be considered nursing home appropriate.

Moreover, individuals in the Choices for Independence program are eligible to reside in Laconia Housing Authority’s Sunrise Towers, Sunrise House and the Tavern Inn Apartments. They have an assigned registered nurse who manages their plan of care and maintains good communication with the person’s physician and case manager. The team of caregivers and managers surround the individual with these services and support their desire to remain independent in their home and community.