My in laws are well into their 70′s and he has a heart and kidney problem and she has diabetes and Alzheimer’s and i am trying to find a good home health agency to come in and help her bathe and dress and groom because he is in his 80′s and takes blood thinners and the least little scratch is very dangerous to him , he could bleed almost to death. She is functioning like a child and can not do the things she used to do , she needs assistance with her bathing and medications and food preparations. I have tried several agencies since all they have is medicare but they are trying because some times they will show up and some times they just don’t. I even had one aide from a place to take money and jewelry from them . My mother in law does not know any better than to offer it , she is thinking like a child would. So will medicaid help them in any way? OR is it the same ole ordeal, with , limitations and guidelines? Need advice soon or we will have to move them to a family members home and hope all goes well there but i highly doubt it.
August 5th, 2010 at 9:00 pm
if your in laws have only SS as income there are homes that accept the SS for their care
that is not to say it would be any better than what you already have but it appears you really don’t have a choice between putting them in a care facility or a family member take them in
August 5th, 2010 at 9:38 pm
i feel so sorry for your in-laws health problems.
when my father was dying and we were told he had up to 6 weeks to live, we (my siblings, nieces etc) took care of him. just before he died, which was actually 7 days after we brought him home, there were 3 of us taking care of him and that was an ordeal.
i checked into nurses aids and found the cheapest to be $14.00 per hour and that was just a LPN. the agencies that are coming in, cant think of the name, may appear once a day or couple days a week to check on meds, hospital equipment etc, but they are only there for maybe a hour hour and then go.
check with medicaid to see if they are eligible. if they have any assets, they will have to sell or use 1st, since by law have to be broke to qualify. since all they have is medicare, they may only have their home and no other assets.
if not qualified, you may have to have your in-laws move into your house or other family members.
when my grandmother had Alzheimer’s, her 5 children each took turns staying with her and their father. each spent 2 days a week living with her until she died which was 3 years later. my father knew that every sunday night he would stay till tuesday morning when another sister would stay and he could go home. so if he wanted to take a vacation, he could only take 5 days so he could be home in time to take care of his mother.
good luck