Blog #3 Wildcard

So I overheard a conversation between my supervisor and another employee yesterday. She was telling my supervisor how she really needs help taking care of her mother and sister. Her mother is over the age of 65 with several health problems including strokes, and her sister is suffering from systemic lupus erythematosus in her knee (leads to cancer). Medicare is paying 50% of both their expenses, and they were just accepted by Medicaid after applying a second time. She did not know if there were any alternatives for her care giving. Since we just finished part-two, LTC service providers, I pulled our textbook out and offered my help.

I told them about adult day care centers, and just as the book stated, a lot of people are not aware of adult day care. I explained the services the center provides. I included details such as their availability Monday through Friday during the day only, and the center may offer traveling arrangements. She also told me that a friend visits for a couple of hours to help them out. Then, I informed her about the services from both home health care and assisted living. I told her that her mother and sisters expenses should be covered since they are Medicare and soon Medicaid. I don’t know how extreme her mother’s condition was, but I also told her that she should probably look into a nursing facility for her mother. She was quick to disagree, but was very happy that I introduced her to several services that she did not know existed.

It felt great being able to help her, but I also felt bad because she is the primary caregiver and works we all work full-time. I’m only an intern here at SAMHSA and we’re working hard because our office is understaffed so I can only image what she is going through. She seems to be avoiding institutionalizing her mother due to her past experiences. She was enraged when she discovered that the nurses were not taking care of her mother properly while in the hospital, and I will not even mention the things she told me. I can see that we need to deliver much better quality of care and keep our moral values high.

I gave her the best advice and she is waiting for assistance from Medicaid. I told her to look into the services I mentioned while she is waiting. If there is someone reading this that has advice that she could benefit from please feel free to respond. Thanks!