Thursday, January 19, 2012

Changes to Home Health for Seniors

I am a 93 year old woman.  I don't have much wrong as far as medical issues go, but I am a 93 year old woman.  I can't drive anymore, because I can't see well enough to pass my drivers test. I have vertigo, but it's not much of an issue.  My husband passed away many years ago.  I have no children.  I have been getting home health care, like helping me take a shower and cooking, since my memory isn't so good anymore and sometimes I forget to eat or take my medicine.  I live on a fixed income of less than a thousand dollars a month.  I don't run my air conditioner in the summer and I try not to run too much heat in the winter.  Now my Home Health nurse has told me that Medicare is making changes and since I have no documented health issues that meet their new guidelines, she will no longer be able to come see me, or check on me or have anyone come by to help me.  She said medicare expects my family to do all this for me.  I don't know what I'm supposed to do.  But I'll be ok. She asked if I have any relatives or neighbors I can get to help me, but I don't want to be a bother to anyone, besides I don't have any close relatives.  The ones I don know of, would rather put me in a nursing home than be bothered.   
This is a scenerio told to me by my mother's Home Health nurse, today.  She said due to the new Medicare guidelines, they have to teach family members to care for their sick and elderly.  The problem is when there are no family members or the family members that are there are incapable.  We vote for the men and women in office to be our voice.  If you asked 100 people what they thought of the new healthcare, and if they were aware of the affect this is having on our sick and elderly, you would get the same 100 answers.  It is horrible and we need to do something.  But what?  One idea we had is; if we had a documentary made of these issues, a camera following the nurses into the homes and telling these people that they are no longer eligible for assistance, of the real issues created by these new guidelines, then maybe something will be done! 

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