News of Jeanie

[Virginia]

Agate, if a caregiver stays over night I have been told they make more, so I am thinking you are certainly in the ballpark. For people who do not qualify for Medicaid it is nearly impossible to have 24 hour a day care unless you are wealthy. This is what I have always been told.

Of course some people have Long Term Care Insurance which would cover a portion for those persons. I have Long Term Care Ins., but for in home care the policy only pays $55.00 per day. Therefore, if I needed 24 hour care I would have to sell my house - I guess. But I had a friend (now deceased) who had LTC Ins and her policy paid as much at home as it did in a facility. I do know it is very expensive if you are paying yourself. I don't know anything about Medicaid.

[agate]

In some states--maybe all states--the state puts a lien on a person's house to pay itself back for the in-home care the person gets through Medicaid.

Some years ago I had a good friend--a person who was my helper for some years and later we became friends. She owned her own house, which she and her husband had built back in the early 1960s and owned free and clear with no mortgage. She had to stop working due to worsening emphysema and eventually needed in-home care.

By then she was eligible for Medicaid, which in WA state allowed you to own your own home. So she was eligible for in-home care, which she received for some years, BUT the state owned her property at the time of her death.

I'm pretty sure she had been hoping to leave it to her daughter. The daughter disappeared at about the time when it became clear that the state had a lien on the property.

I have no idea how the state balances its books with this arrangement but it's quite possible that in most situations, the state ends up being reimbursed for only some of the cost of the in-home care if it lays claim to the person's property.

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

agate & Virginia ~

Here is something I found about the average wage per hour for in home caregivers in Florida:

https://www.indeed.com/career/in-hom...n%20the%20most.

Before COVID, it was $8.58/hr. During COVID, it is $21.83/hr.

I think most in home caregivers work 12 hour shifts. It depends upon the agency for which they are working. The IHSS maximum hours for care per day is 9 hours. The remaining 15 hours are referred to as "an unmet need."

It is really tragic to me that people work hard all of their lives, plan for retirement, pay off their mortgage, pay their bills and taxes, and then they have a catastrophic illness, or they need assistance in their Senior years. Medicare should cover in-home care. They cover nursing home care.

In Jon's and Michael's cases, Medicaid opened the door for their IHSS care and my employment as a vendor for the remaining 15 hrs/day. As they were at home, I was supporting them, paying for many of the things/equipment they needed, which Medicaid denied or offered subpar substitutes, and maintained our home with the income I earned for providing their 24 hour care.

Of course, they were indigent and qualified for this assistance and didn't have any property. We couldn't even have a burial plot for them. We didn't need one, as we're all being cremated, and our ashes will be combined into a reef to be placed in the ocean to feed sea life. Nonetheless, the point is ... a burial plot is considered an asset, which can be sold.

I wonder what AARP's take is on the in home care situation for Seniors. We definitely need changes to help Seniors, like us, like Jeanie, when we need care. Instead of shuffling us off to a nursing home, if we can stay in our homes, that is the "least restrictive environment" for us. Many of us probably could stay in our homes, if the resources were available to pay for our care. It only seems fair and right that we should be given that benefit after our years of contributions to the government's coffers.

Prayers for all ~

Love & Light,



Rose

*Virtual Hugs Are Germ-Free!

[Parsi]

Say "hello" to Jeanie for me.

[Virginia]

I will Parsi as soon as I talk to her, which I hope will be soon.

[Virginia]

I talked to Jeanie this afternoon. She got the screw in her leg fixed and had a good meeting with the Doctor before he did it. It had been the responsibility of the residence she is in to get her to the appointments and they didn't do it. So it had not been up to him.

She will see the Doctor again on the 23rd, but until then cannot put any weight on that leg. She did seem to like the Doctor very much. He had a partner who died of COVID.

She is still pretty much in bed, but doesn't like to get up because of the problem of getting her back in bed. She gets out pretty good using a board, but it is getting back in that is the problem. She wouldn't make any comment on using any kind of hoist. I think she just doesn't want to. They had her up yesterday and the chair she uses broke. Since that meant that until it is fixed she cannot get up again she said "thank you Jesus". The person helping her told her Jesus didn't do it, and she said "Oh yes He did". So, she really is against getting up.

She says that she is now on Medicaid and she thinks when she gets to go home they will give her some "in home care". So, she is hoping to be able to stay on it. She thinks it will be a long time before she can go home since she is still not putting weight on that leg. One of the PTs is very good and puts some resistance against her leg (I am guessing the good one) from the bottom, and she says that is good.

Her back and shoulders itch from the shingles and she still burns on the side she had it on, on her stomach. She is not taking any pain pills now.

I asked her to let me get her an IPad. I told her she didn't have to learn to come on here, but just play games and things like that. She said she didn't want one, that between meals, PT, people coming in to give her or her roommate medication, that she didn't want to bother with anything else.

She says hello to everyone and asked about all of you. I told her we all miss her.

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

Virginia ~

Thank you so much for this update on Jeanie. I'm relieved that she finally had the surgery and is recovering as well as possible. I knew that the rehab facility was supposed to provide or arrange for transport for patients. Grrr ... these places get away with so much subpar care, and it is infuriating.

Perhaps Jeanie's hesitation about getting up and out of bed with a board, with assistance, with a hoist/lift, is because she's afraid of falling and breaking another bone. She has fallen so many times, so I can understand how she would have this fear.

And what kind of lousy wheelchairs do they have in this facility, which break with a patient sitting in it?! They're probably the cheapest, most basic institutional kind with no padding on the seat or back, fold up, tuck out of the way. The chair is probably uncomfortable for her if she has wounds on her coccyx or rear end. And her back and sides from the shingles.

I doubt that Jeanie has an alternating air mattress or mattress topper. I hope she at least has an egg crate topper.

Other than the staff interruptions, what does Jeanie do for distraction? Does she have a TV? Books or magazines to read? A deck of cards to play solitaire? Music?

And I'll bet she misses Lacy, who also misses her. Who is caring for Lacy now?

This is good news that she is on Medicaid now with a promise of covered "in home care." When that opportunity arrives for her, she will likely need an RN or LVN visit twice a week, an aide three times a week for bathing and grooming, PT visits twice a week, possibly a visit with an OT to set up her living arrangement to suit her needs, order any necessary equipment, and a case manager, who ensures that all of her needs are being met.

These are services, which Jon received under Medicaid. Jim received some of that same care with his Medicare supplemental insurance. Of course, I provided their 24 hour care. With Jon, I was his paid caregiver via IHSS and a vendor through another social services program. With Jim, I volunteered.

Has Jeanie had contact with her sons and daughter-in-law?

I think of and pray for Jeanie every day and night. I just wish that there was something, anything that I could do to make her feel better, safer, stronger, loved.

Thank you again, Virginia, for connecting with Jeanie and sharing her journey with us.

Love & Light,



Rose

*Virtual Hugs Are Germ-Free!

[Virginia]

I had asked her previously about an alternating mattress and she doesn't like them. She says she can turn herself in the bed and is not concerned about getting bed sores.

Jim comes by the window and brings Lacy who is staying with him now. She talks to Lacy through her cell phone. Andy hasn't been since his hip surgery, but Tori is getting him out to some places, so he probably will be back soon. No one is allowed inside. They bring her mail and whatever she needs to a desk inside and they give her everything. She does have contact with her sons and DIL and Tori.

She does have a TV.

It may be just as well that no one can go in. So far there has been NO COVID in the place she is in. As we all know if one or two cases got in by mistake, it would take off like wild fire. She understands that and sees her sons when they come to the window, but talks to them all the time on the phone.

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

Virginia ~

Thank you for answering my questions.

While there are alternating pressure low air loss mattresses, which turn the patient side to side, the main concern with wounds is being on a mattress that is too hard or soft to prevent bed sores. Jim could turn side to side, but the futon mattress we have, which is excellent, still caused him to have skin breakdown on his coccyx. An alternating pressure mattress, like Jon (and then Jim) has/had/still have, alternates the pressure from head to toe in a cycle of 5 to 20 minutes, depending upon need.

I got an alternating mattress overlay for the futon, which worked, until Jim declined in February, which is when he moved to Jon's bed.

Jeanie is probably slender, without a lot of meat on her bones, so she is susceptible to skin breakdown on a static mattress. I would suspect that every patient in the rehab should have an alternating pressure mattress. If you are in bed all of the time, it is particularly necessary.

I agree that it is best that no one comes into the facility during COVID. As we've learned this year, COVID runs rampant through nursing homes.

Knowing that she is communicating with Andy, Jim, Tori and her DIL, makes me feel a little better. And, of course, that she sees Lacy. I do hope that Lacy is adjusting to not being with Jeanie. Dogs are noted for grieving for their masters. Even though she hears her voice and maybe sees Jeanie, it isn't the same as being in her home with her there. She hasn't felt her touch or sat in her lap for months now. Separation is so hard for both of them, I am sure.

My prayers continue for Jeanie, and thank you, Virginia, for keeping us updated on her situation.

Love & Light,



Rose

*Virtual Hugs Are Germ-Free!

[Virginia]

Rose, Jeanie is quite over weight. She has mentioned it on here on several occasions, so I feel it is alright for me to say that. If it was something she had just said to me, I would not mention it. She has told her weight.

It is a sad situation. I am afraid Jeanie will be in there a long time.