Home care funds threatened

[merh]

Home care funds threatened

By Julie Goodman
[e-mail]

GULFPORT — Salome McCaffrey loves soaking in bubbles, dousing her honey brown hair in tropical coconut shampoo and moisturizing her skin with Mary Kay buffing cream.

(snip)

Salome's life also is defined by several cans of Ensure poured daily into her stomach through a feeding tube, by the suctioning of mucus from her windpipe and mechanical gushing of air into the hole cut in her throat. Her reality is flexi-tubes, ventilators and catheters.

With spinal muscular atrophy, a degenerative neurological disorder similar to Lou Gehrig's disease, Salome has fought one battle after another all of her 21 years — breaking barriers in the Gulfport school district when she showed up for kindergarten class with a nurse and ventilator, ready to learn. She watched in pain as friends left for college without her.

(snip)

And now, because Medicaid says Salome is no longer eligible for her current level of home health care, she is facing the possibility of life in a nursing home.

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050331/NEWS01/503310379/1002

How about protecting the living Mr. President and members of congress?
How about worrying about their lives and passing laws to protect them?

[displacedtexan]

1. Truly sad.

I can't think of any words to express my anger and frustration regarding this situation.

[merh]

2. These bastards don't care about human life, only side shows

and headlines.

This poor girl needs to get Jesse Jackson and Terri's parents to come to her aid, to scream for her life.

:argh:

I find myself asking for forgiveness more and more these days because I really, really hate these people. :mad:

[Bridget Burke]

3. Where are the "advocates for the disabled" now?

Not the real ones--the ones protesting in front of the hospice.

All over the country, people with disabilities need help to live decent lives. And they're getting less & less.

[merh]

5. I can't figure it out - do they just want the disabled in nursing homes

and hooked up to machines? Where are the Mississippi members of that militia that was going to go save Terri and bring her to a safe house? Why don't they come to this girl's aid and make the public spectacle so that congress will pass a law to protect her right to live?

[atreides1]

4. Quick

Someone call the fundies in Florida and tell them that the president and congress refuse to "err on the side of life".

[mopinko]

6. ya know, my sister was a home healthcare nurse

who worked for a small practice. she loved her job. at the same time that the big healthcare corporations (during poppy's reign) were starting to get really fat, hers was squeezed out of business. they didn't cheat and defraud medicare, so they had to close their doors.
culture of life my shiny metal ass.

[rainbow4321]

20. The funding cuts made lots of homecare nurses leave...

I did homecare for a long time. Then when the cut$ happened and the OASIS paperwork came along <severely limiting who could qualify for homecare services>, lots of local homecare business owners passed on the cuts to the field staff all while they and their fellow administrators kept their perks and salaries.
Many of the field staff couldn't afford to stay in homecare even though they/we loved our patients and jobs. It was a really good feeling to catch a disease process early enough where the patient didn't have to be hospitalized...got to do lots of preventative care, teaching, etc.
It got to a point where homecare nurses went back to working in the hospital where one could actually earn a living.
Makes you wonder how sharply hospital admissions have risen since all the homecare funding got slashed.

[NVMojo]

7. Well, well, well, isn't this outrageous!!!???

Hypocrites strike again!!!

[merh]

8. It is so sad.

These people don't care about life.

[Rose Siding]

9. A 94 yr old woman threw herself out a 10th floor window yesterday

to avoid being institutionalized.

anip>
The 94-year-old Bronx great-grandmother who plunged to her death from her 10th-floor apartment killed herself to avoid being sent to live in a nursing home, police sources said yesterday.

An ailing Celia Torres climbed onto a stool and jumped out her kitchen window early Tuesday because she didn't want to give up her independence, the sources said.

"She had high blood pressure, arthritis, diabetes and was about to be placed in a nursing home," a police source said.

Torres' nightgown-clad body was found by neighbors about 6:30 a.m. on the grass outside 1075 University Ave. in High Bridge. She left no suicide note, and cops originally suspected that the beloved matriarch fell while trying to open the window.

But the medical examiner ruled the death a suicide yesterday.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/story/295071p-252640c.html

[merh]

10. Oh my god, how sad is that!

I think I would do the same thing. :cry:
God rest her soul.

[Rose Siding]

11. I was glad you posted about the threat to funds

I'd wanted to share this story but the stupid Daily News' orig title was "Granny jumps to death" :eyes:

The media should be linking these events!

[merh]

18. The local media is covering these stories and making the

links (pointing out the irony). The corporate big wigs and major outlets are ignoring them.

[rocktivity]

13. My mother is a 82-year old Bronx great-grandmother

She's in a senior citizen apartment with part-time health care. But she's pre-Alzheimer's so we know it's not going to last...

:headbang:
rocknation

[QC]

12. Ahhh, the Culture of Life®! n/t

[Boomer]

14. Complex math equation

Home Healthcare: $20,000 a year

Nursing Home: $50,000 to $60,000 a year

Net Savings to Taxpayers: -$30,00 to -$40,000 a year

This would appear to be a no-brainer, so obviously I'm missing something. Why would the government insist on spending MORE money?

[Lars39]

15. Nursing home lobbyists are pushing it.

[Skidmore]

16. The health care field just makes me angry

these days. It should never have been made into a for profit business. It's ghoulish and self-serving.

[Lars39]

17. Totally agree.

I don't see how much longer all this can last.
There's got to be a tipping point.

[rainbow4321]

26. All about the $$$...

and if someone or some other industry is a threat, well, we see what happens...cut their funding so they/it will no longer BE a threat.

[merh]

19. Who owns the nursing homes?

Corporate payoffs, piratization!

[rainbow4321]

21. Not to mention the acute facilities...

Less care at home, no preventative care = higher number of admission$ to facilities <like repuke owned HCA hospitals> and LONG hospital $tays...paitents are staying forever nowadays, weeks to a month or more because of multisystem illnesses and what they don't have when they get to us, we end up giving them before they leave <infections, drug side effects>. With every hospital stay comes three, four, five MD consult$.
Pretty clear on who will benefit from the slashing of homecare funding

[Lindacooks]

22. Kicked and nominated.

[merh]

23. Doesn't seem like many of us are concerned.

This is so frustrating and so very sad.

[Lindacooks]

27. Click to nominate the story and it will go into the 'greatest' threads.

[merh]

28. It won't let you nominate your own thread!

So we will just have to try to keep it alive.

[merh]

24. kick

:kick:

[Debi]

25. We live with this worry

Although my son is not a severly physically disabled as the girl in the story he does use a wheelchair to be mobile and is not independent re: food, bathing, dressing, restroom.

The funding cuts threaten his support and each year I cringe when we do his annual review that he will be cut. (I also worry about his scholastic support...but there's not enough room on this thread for that!)

Some people who hear about his home health services act like we as a family are getting something for nothing and living off the government to help raise our child. Give me a typical teenager and I'll give you your f'ing home health dollars back!

When he becomes an adult I have no idea what we will do - he cannot live on his own and I don't want him in a home. I just hold on to each day now.

[merh]

29. I will include your family in my

prayers! :hug:

I really hate these bastards! They don't give a flying f and they pretend they do.


:grouphug: Hugs to you and yours!

[ninkasi]

40. A friend of ours

has a brother, in his 50's now, who was apparently injured during childbirth. He is a quadriplegic, legs twisted, has to use a straw like thing to power his wheel chair.

His parents cared for him all of his life, but they died a few years ago, so a sister moved into the family home to care for him. We knew that there was some kind of payment made by the state for his care, but whatever it is, it isn't nearly enough.

She has to bathe him, change him, give nourishment via a feeding tube, empty the bag that collects his waste material, everything. Her brothers and sisters try to help by taking care of him so she can go out occasionally, This is not a job done for money, but from love.

If the funding is stopped, and he is sent to a nursing home, I'm afraid of what might happen. He has always lived with family. My husband and I visit him, cut up, listen to him talk...very hard to understand, but you can get used to it. He has at least the semblance of a normal life, considering his condition.

Will the fundies be picketing for Mike, so that he can stay in the only home he's ever known? What help will there be for your son? They are both people who are aware of who they are, and can interact with those around them. Why spend more to send them to what must seem a hellish life in a nursing home, when for less money they can receive home health care, and be part of their family?

There will be no religious right-wingers screaming to save them,count on it. And the money? Straight into the pockets of the Idiot's friends. He is the worst president ever.

[Lindacooks]

30. kick again - somebody please nominate!!

[merh]

31. So, the repukes can claim to care about the quality of life

and folks who have family members that need care, yet they cut funds for the care of the most needy and we can't get DU to pay attention!

:argh:

HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ninkasi]

41. I nominated after I posted

It looked then like it had 8 nominations. This is an issue that could have an effect on any of us, or our loved ones.

[bonito]

32. Wow! thats were we are

sounds like my wifes condition, but theres really not very much help out there, except refinancing to get through the hard times and 600. and something disability, doesn't go far, but when I can work, ( I install flooring) it really helps, this has been going on since 97. and raising 4 children, trying not to burden them so much because they have there lives too, and both of us want that for them. although its been very hard , the depression doesn't help but somehow I find a way to get through, i have really have learned allot, not giving up even in the worst of times, learning to detach, trading passion for compassion( a biggie) and really we've been married for 30+ years ( forget about the concept of time) I think about life because thats what I am, awareness, something got me here this far, and in gratitude (love)I have become pro life, An I feel not only grateful but honored for the chance to give back

[merh]

33. Great big hugs to you and yours!

I will include your family in my prayers. :hug: If ever you need to vent, feel free to pmail me or post a thread! Take time for you so that you can continue to be strong for the others! :hug:

[bonito]

34. And hugs to you and yours!

I cant belive I got my feelings out at last! via your post! WOW! Oh oh, a thought, if I am life, than I have no weakness, gota go, a new door opens! thanks so much. peace.

[merh]

36. The door is always open!

Vent as you need. Express as much as you want.

Peace and all good wishes! :hug:

[Occulus]

39. Typical republican response:

(by the way, just typing that title makes my head hurt):

1. You should have chosen to have fewer children
   
2. You should have chosen a more lucrative line of work to support your four children
   
3. You should have chosen smoeone else to marry (that's my personal favorite response)
   
4. You should choose to do things that don't get you depressed
   

See, if you choose the right life, you won't have any problems at all!

Did I get everything right? Feel free to add to the list...

(I would like to apologize to you personally if you took offense to this; I'm not making light of your situation, but rather their typical responses to situations like yours)

[bonito]

35. She is welcome in my house anytime!

Not just words!

[merh]

37. The repuke gov just signed legislation that cut the home care

visits from 60 to 25 a year and prescriptions from 7 to 5 a month.

The culture of life indeed!

:mad:

[Sgent]

38. The sh*tty thing about the bill

Is that the state doesn't even pay for home care. Keep in mind that probably 95% of all home care is provided to Medicare patients. Meaning that Medicare pays 80% of the bill. Medicaid picks up the other 20%; however, MS gets a 3/1 reimbursement from the feds.

Net calculation, for every dollar pushed into the economy, it costs the state $0.05. Especially since much of home care money is spent on salary's, this will cost the state more money in lost taxes than its spending on care.

[Ayesha]

42. Also in CA

The Governator wants to cut home care funds in CA too, despite a ballot initiative approved a couple of years ago to improve home health workers' pay from pathetically low to almost-reasonable.

I am in a wheelchair, and the only reason I'm not receiving these funds is because my parents won a malpractice suit against the doctors that were responsible for my condition. But now Chimpy wants to make such suits impossible, so nneglectful doctors will be able to go on injuring people without penalty, and those people will have no money and further deplete home care funds, and the cycle will go on and on.

Culture of life, my ass!

[Debi]

43. Just keep living.

Be an example and and advocate and never be silenced!!! :hug: to you!

[merh]

44. Never Give Up!

:hug: