All weekend I've been puzzling over the inherent contradiction in these two statements: “Your mother will not improve in a skilled-nursing facility” and “We'll recommend her for five-day-a-week physical therapy at home.” After an excellent conversation with my Geriatric Care Manager, Jim Ferry, my suspicions were confirmed: the facility doesn't have the staff to chase down rehab hospitals for discharge so instead, they decided it would be easiest for them to push her on to me.
So, I just called and spoke with the vacation-fill-in case manager (because, apparently, people don't work today. Huh?), and firmly stated my disbelief in those contradictory statements, or pretty much anything they told me on Friday, and that I want her sent to a skilled-nursing facility close to my house where one of the women from my church works.
Keep you posted. I cannot properly care for my mother 24-hours a day while also tending/finding marketing/pr/writing/script development clients and, oh yeah, mothering my 5- and 2-year-old sons. I'm sure as hell not going to take the facility's idea of an easy way out!
Thanks for anyone who might have prayed between the time of my post of 20 minutes ago and now.
Good for you for fighting this! You're right — it doesn't make sense. Anyone would require and/or benefit from 5 day PT/OT needs to be in a facility that can provide it. People receiving home health care PT/OT usually receive it 2-3 days a week for a set amount of time. MA and OH might have different laws, but if I can help let me know.
Since I think your mom is probably on Medicare, you might think of filing a complaint with them.
Karen
Thanks Karen. The rehab hospital where she is said they'd discharge her to a VNA that does PT more often than most, if that VNA agency decided she'd need that. Basically, this has been yet another example of The System is Not Your Friend. No word yet on whether the xfer to the SNF has been approved so I'm not quite lacing up my gloves for a Medicare fight — most likely, that's just something they tell people so they'll knuckle under and accept their frail elders back to their homes. I'm cringing at the convolutedness of my writing right now but I'm pretty worked up! Thank you for your support and praise — both are greatly appreciated!
When my grandmother fell down and badly damaged her mouth, the hospital tried to first get my aunt to give pills to my grandmother, who had ripped open her lip and broken two teeth, then later, tried to get my aunt to drive her back from the hospital to the nursing home with her face stitched up. My grandmother has severe Alzheimers and did not understand what had happened and basically wanted to rip her own lip farther off. My aunt had to basically pitch a fit to get them to 1) give her shots instead of pills, and then 2) call an ambulance service. The System is not anyone's friend! Good Luck and think of yourself as being the water dripping on the stone– if you keep up the pressure, sooner or later someone will help you just to make you stop calling/visiting/siccing Medicare or others on them. Prayers are coming your way. Love Katherine
This is going to happen WAY more often as the boomers continue to gray. Thanks for the prayers and support, Katherine, and I LOVED the picture of you at the curling arena. Sure wish we were sipping some wine in the living room of your RWC apartment right about now!