My Mom has now been admitted to an Alzheimer's unit. Prior to that I was providing care to keep her in her house and then my house as long as possible. I applied for Medicaid and there is some money I need to spend. Can I receive a reimbursement for providing care and mileage?
Plus I'm raising a 9 year old little girl by myself with no child support. my Father just passed away about a year ago, and all my mom gets his his soc. sec. of about $1,513.00 a month, so she don't qulaify for food stamps or anything else. I'm getting food stamps and medicade for both my daughter and I. I do have a home health nurse that comes visit my mom every 2 weeks. I had the advantage program at one time for both my mom and dad, but all they did was send a caregiver to help for a total of 15 hours a week, and all they did was wash there clothes, give them baths and clean their area, and then left, sometimes they would come and sometime they would'nt. ( had a hard time finding someone to come out) they also gave me frozen meals or T.V. dinners that would were out dated and little frozen cartins of milk that were out dated. and also gave me shower chairs and hand held showers, plus adult pull-ups and bed pads. ( got overwelmed with those) also got toilet risers for both bathrooms. I had to quit the advantage program coz they couldn't find the right girls who knew what they were doing some would use my my detergent to wash just a little bit of clothes and fill my wash machine to the fullest and our water bill would go sky high. some girls would come and suppose to stay for 3 hours and then leave after 30 min. or they would be too busy talking on their cell phones, and not paying attention to my parents. and now the state of Okla. has sent me a bill for about $ 800.00 and says it was an overpayment, since I quit the program because it wasn't closed right in time. I have no job and I'm about 2 months behind on the house payment and I need help in getting things done around the house, and with this little $1.513.00 all I can do is make house payments and utilitys and try to by moms meds and barily gas for our vehicle to get her to drs. app. and try to take care of my daughter at the same time. it seems like there is no hope for me I'm stressed out, tired, and at my ends. I will not put my mom in a nursing home since I saw what happen to my dad after one week there with him. I will not use any adult day care here in Lawton Okla, coz they seem to not watch their paients very well, I saw on the news here that one of them had lost a patient, by letting them walk out.
so if there is something out there that I'm over looking please some one let me know. I'm at my ends wit.
Go to the main Texas Web site and look for a department on aging. It may be under human services or something. Then find a phone number if they don't have comprehensive help online. This should lead you to county and other local options. There are Federal dollars for respite that go to waste because people don't know they qualify. You need to dig, but you'll get some help. Your county social services is good, too, but I'd start at the state level.
Carol
I don't know about North or South Carolina but California does not have this type of program YET. Washington state does. Idaho does not. Boomers will change this, so stay tuned for changes in this regard.
Shelley
I have found a CNA that was just let go from the nursing home due to budget cuts. She is willing to help me out when I need her. It will be a cash deal between us. Until Mom's assets are gone, and she can go on Masshealth,(Massachusetts Medicaid Plan) I'll plug along as best I can. When she does get on the state plan, I can get paid up to $1500/month, tax free, by the state to take care of her. Please check with your state to see if they have a plan like this. They would rather pay us, than shell out thousands more to a facility. Take care everyone, and hang in there. At least we can live with ourselves!
Your hospital should be able to give you some home health workers for a period of time since she was just released. Get your Dr. to call Visiting Nurse and the social worker. Every time there is a change in her condition, you are eligible for additional help.. mom's blood pressure was high, I got the Visiting Nurse for another month!!!!!!
Your legislators can help you find programs and if there are no programs in your area, you need to make them aware of your needs.
http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml
Perhaps if we all contact our legislators about this, programs like these will be available to all of us.
Carol
To everyone seeking reimbursement, GOOD LUCK!!!!! Rose
MiindingOurElders (Carol), thanks for your response and the link. I went to the site, and I believe it to be a good one with lots of info. After I further review it, I will post my results.
PEACE2 (Kathy), welcome and I am also new to this message board, and it was my first post. It has been quite effective. So far I've gotten two responses very quickly and both have given me viable leads. Go for it, you deserve to get paid, as do we all. Hopefully, these leads will prove fruitful for all of us.
Welcome, we are all caregivers; you don't have to have them in your home to be a caregiver. I took care of mom and dad in their home for 3 years before dad dies and mom moved in with us.
Welcome!
I'm glad you are making use of in-home care. Some of these agencies are wonderful. Home Instead has a good reputation, as do many others. This type of help works well for many.
It does cost money, but it is worth it for the sanity of the whole family. You remind me of some of the caregiving I did over the span of 20 years (total of seven people). I used nearly all of the help available at one time or another, though there is much more recognition of need now.
Welcome to the site. Browse topics or start your own. You've found a good place to share your wisdom and ask for support.
Carol
Carol
It costs $5000 per month to live in a nursing home so the government will do anything to keep people at home.
There are lots of categories on the left side. If none of this fits, you may find links to other agencies that can help you. There's a link to their main state Web site, too.
Carol
Also, if anyone out there is from Illinois, I do know they have a program there as a friend of mine got paid $l,500.00 a month to care for her mother in her home in Chicago. However, I don't know the particulars and I have no way to contact my friend.
Carol
Best of luck with this. It shouldn't be so hard, but it is, especially when you want to go back. You may need an attorney.
Carol