Friday, May 31, 2013

As I told you in my last blog, a visit to an elder attorney (not 5¢, not $5,000, more like $500 for a little over an hour; and I thought it was a FREE consultation through my union) yielded a ton of confusing information but I have decided that it pays to attempt some asset protection so that there are enough funds saved to help mom with her expenses. Here we go again, back to the lawyer…

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Another visit to a senior residence. The good thing is that this one is the closest to my house and if I were a really fit and obsessive person I could conceivable walk there. This was a place I had come across on the net but at that time I was thinking more “nursing home.” This is a building for seniors that provides what appears to be a very nice menu of dining room style meals, many activities, housekeeping, laundry services, a library, movie room, computer room, hair salon, a medical satellite office from a local hospital in the building and more. On the roof is a spectacular solarium which is a great place to relax as well as  a roof garden where they hold barbeques and celebrations. The 360° view is incredible. The place had a really nice vibe, as nice as the place if not more so in some ways as the place in The Bronx that I felt was a possibility and the great thing is: no hour drive and no tolls. It seems like the perfect solution. If she is accepted, if we can swing the finances. Hopefully we will be able to get community Medicaid, as opposed to what we usually think of as nursing home Medicaid. If an elderly person lives in a residence he/she is eligible for community Medicaid to provide the services of a home health aide. It is actually cheaper than putting the person in a nursing home which can cost as much or more as $18,000. A month.

Some sample photos. You can get an idea of what the apartments look like from the furnished models.

view from solarium

inside inner solarium garden

roof garden

outdoor patio on roof

view from roof

craft room

chapel

library

movie room

dining room (seminar going on)

part of computer room

exercise room

one bedroom apt (bedroom)

one bedroom apt (bedroom)

one bedroom apt (livingroom)

one bedroom apt (livingroom)

bathroom (wish it had a safety shower)

studio sleeping area

As I was walking through the solarium I introduced myself to three elderly tenants who, without my asking, told me they loved living there. That’s something. I also noticed that the staff looked very happy, particularly the fellow running the dining room. A happy staff means something. The food is supposed to be fresh, made fresh, unlike what I believe to be frozen and canned at my mother’s current place.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Still another visit to a residence. This time to an “ALP,” assisted living program. I was not allowed to take photos probably because this place is owned by a big corporation. Yes, it was a lovely place, yes it was clean and well maintained. It had a movie theater, hair salon, the usual. In this kind of a place, which is not a senior residence but an assisted living facility, community Medicaid will pay the rent for a small studio apartment ($4,500/mo). If you want the one bedroom which was just a little larger than the studio, essentially just a wall thrown up, it is $4,900/mo. You make up the difference. These facilities include the services of an aide for activities of daily living. So, if you come here and qualify for community medicaid, your rent is paid, your food is taken care of, activities, etc. are all included. But if you are like my mom and very frail, if you need more help you have to hire personal aides and that is where the high expenses are coming in. It is probably better for me to deal with a residence where the rent must be covered than the home care which may be partly covered. ALP’s and residences are governed by different laws and regulations and that is why the residence model is less money.

And there is one other thing: no wheel chairs allowed! How do they get around that rule? The old folks have walkers with a built-in seat.

And what does my mother think of all this?

“Why can’t I just stay here?”

“Because community medicaid is “frozen in Florida and if you run out of money you go on regular Medicaid and end up in a nursing home. Remember, you were in a rehab before and it started all this crap: you were starving and neglected?” This was not the first time I told her this.

“But I hate the cold.”

“But you don’t even go out.”

And then the kicker: my mother said she “had a feeling” that my son, her grandson, “was living away from home, married (secretly) and had a baby.” Where she got that I don’t know. But when you are in the house for months, see no one but an aide or a few Hospice nurses who pop in and out, and your life is ruled by the world of television, your ideations can go a little wonky. I mean, isn’t a secret marriage and baby something the Kardashians would do?

My mother has been away from the New York reality since the mid 1980’s. The pace of her life and everything around her has slowed to a snail’s pace except for her blood pressure which you would think would slow down too. That’s what began this odyssey last fall: blood pressure that went unregulated, caused anxiety, snowballed and eventually led to dizziness, a fall, several falls, a fractured arm, the hospital, rehab, neglect, back to the hospital, back to rehab, more neglect, release on Hospice care for failure to thrive, because of negelct, pneumonia. My mother was pegged for end of life and instead all seventy pounds of her kicked the bucket’s butt and thumbed her nose, still another time. She is still here.

There’s one more piece of the puzzle: she is going to be released from the Hospice program in two days . She’s doing that well.

This series is linked: see “continued here.” Also, below the line there will be links for the previous post and the next.

The series starts here

continued here